<p>Major: Mechanical Engineering/ Aerospace
IB Diploma Candidate from a large, public school from NOVa (Fairfax County), VA
Male
Asian</p>
<p>Academics:
GPA: 3.9 (Weighted) [Upward trend- 3.2 in 9th grade --> 4.2 in 11th grade]
ACT: 28 Composite [E:32 M:30 R:24 S:26]
School doesn't rank
Rigor of Courses: IB Diploma - IB English HL2, AP Calc BC, IB Math Studies, IB Physics HL2, IB Design Tech, IB Spanish SL2, IB World Topics HL2 </p>
<p>Extracurricular Activities:
Varsity Crew - 11,12 [Qualified for Nationals]
Science Olympiad- 10,11,12 [1st place Hill Climber, Anatomy]
FIRST Robotics Team - 10,11,12 [Vice-Captain]
Work at Safeway
Volunteer Tutor for GIVE, Math Whiz - 10,11,12
President of Key Club - 10,11
Treasurer of Spanish Honor Society - 10,11</p>
<p>I think it's important to note that VT only looks at ACT Math and English sections so the 28 composite score won't be used in their admissions process. Also, I immigrated to the US in 8th grade and was even taking ESOL classes at one point. Combine this with the upward trend in my GPA, and I think that this could really help me. I am also talking about this in my college essays. </p>
<p>Please be completely honest in your posts! Its time for some hard truth..</p>
<p>Hi - I know very little about the ACT, as the SAT is much more common where we live. Also unfamiliar with IB courses, but they are quite high level, like AP classes? The useful bit of hard data I can give you is that in our high school (suburban, well recognized in the state as excellent public school, sends many kids to Ivies, etc, every year) we have Naviance, which lets us see data on previously admitted students to various colleges. The average weighted GPA of students admitted to VT is 89.97 and the average ACT score is 27. The admit rate is 63%. From what you have listed, if you were in our school, your chances would be extremely good. Have you checked the Common Data Set? This can give you better info on the stats of the admitted students for each recent year. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info! I had totally forgotten about Naviance. I checked it out for my school and the average is 4.1 GPA and 27 ACT. I really hope they see the upward trend in my GPA… </p>
<p>And IB diploma is basically like taking all AP classes but there a few additional requirements.</p>
<p>I don’t THINK that they factor in the reading on the ACT, and I’m fairly sure they don’t factor in the science score (my understanding is that they convert your ACT score to a SAT score, and then superscore you, and I don’t know what they’d covert the science score to) so that will actually help your ACT score a bit. Being from NoVa hurts, but you fit fairly well with the average so I’d think there’s a decent chance you get in. Not at all a sure thing but not a hail mary either.</p>
<p>There’s nothing definite in college admissions. You’re a match based on your stats. I’m aware how annoying an answer that is; I graduated in engineering and would love to be able to give you a % chance you have of getting in. Admissions is a bit of a crap-shoot though, and nobody really knows how much of a factor “guy from NoVa” is versus a certain GPA or a certain test score. So yeah, it’s not a great answer but it’s really all I can give you.</p>
<p>Just a note about Naviance. It is a great tool as it show statistics specific to your school. What it doesn’t account for is the increased competition, which we all know gets more intense each year. Also, for a school like VT it does not make a designation for acceptance data for e’school and architecture students (which are more competitive) and the rest of the school. So Naviance is showing you an ‘average’ for your school, however this isn’t the average for the e’school students that were accepted last year (the data most important to you). What you are seeing is several years of data for the entire school averaged. </p>
<p>There is yet another small glitch that you need to be aware of specific to the ACT. When a student takes the ACT or SAT their scores are entered into the Naviance database. Many times a student does better on one format then the other, sometimes significantly so. To show an example, my son took both formats taking the ACT cold getting a solid score but significantly lower then his SATs. His ACTs were not submitted to any school he applied to, however if you look at Navience at the schools he applied to his ACT datapoint shows an acceptance for that score. It’s very misleading as VT (and every other school he was accepted to) did not accept him with that score, they accepted him with his SATs. This is going to be especially problematic in areas where the ACT isn’t as prominent. So the OP is looking at the ACT data average for his high school and it is entirely possible that a number of those ACT scores being averaged in were never submitted to VT, but higher SATs. </p>
<p>Your very best source of information is going to be your GC. Ask what students within the last year or two applying to the e’school have looked like, specifically with ACT scores that were actually submitted, as well as GPA. This more up to date information is going to be far more helpful to you.</p>