I’m a senior in high school that lives in-state (NOVA), and want to major in engineering at Virginia Tech. Below are my specs:
31 ACT (35 reading, 28 math. However, I took the December ACT, which could bring both/either of the scores up)
3.78 GPA weighted (don’t know my unweighted)/first quarter senior year weighted 4.43, unweighted 3.86
APs: World, US, Calc AB, Lang/this year: Calc AB again, Spanish, and Computer Science
DE classes: Physics/this year English
An assortment of other honors classes
EC’s and other awards/recognition:
Done summer camps such as NASA VASTS
Recipient of the Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Program for outstanding performance on the PSAT
Have been awarded two varsity letters
Volunteered close to 120 hours
Chosen by one or more teachers in my school to be a mentor to freshmen due to my exemplary character (their words, not mine)
A key weakness in my application: I got a C- in AP Calc AB last year, although I passed the exam. I’m retaking it so that I’m ready for college-level calculus.
So, looking at the above, what would you say about my chances at VTech Enginering?
whats your act english score… they don’t look at reading or science just math and english…
If your going to engineering i suggest you raise you math act score. I was accepted into engineering with same GPA with an overall 29 on my act… my math was 35.
@warriorlord1 Hi,
I got a perfect score on the ACT English. I’m sorry, I thought they looked at reading and math.
Thank you for your tips! I really appreciate. I’ll see if the December date’s score improves. If not, could I send another score to VTech for a test date in, say, February? Or would that be too late?
Thanks so much for your response.
I think its better to look at stats of people who did get in early decision…
The 25th percentile for general engineering is 4.0 for last year.
I got in with a 3.8 for general engineering but i was OOS
your ec is above average so that’ll play to your advantage.
I THINK you should be good if you write 3 good essays.
The C- in AP Calc is the sticking point - you’re right on that. VT engineering really doesn’t like C’s in math, and the C- is pretty close to the D level… You said you’re retaking this year - what grade will you have at end of 1st semester? Since you’re from NoVa, your GC should have a lot of experience with VT. What do they think and can they highlight the fact you passed the AP Calc exam and are hopefully showing better grades in it this time around?
I think by the end of this semester, I will have either an A- or a B+. I’m not sure about what my GC can do, because they don’t request letters of recommendation.
@theindianmc - think it’s worth a shot to chat with your GC and explain your situation / concerns. See if they have some ideas of how to highlight those things that offset the C- like your test scores in math and how well you’re doing in the retake. That may lead them to volunteer to talk with VT admissions…some GC’s that send a lot of students there do have an “in” to at least talk with the right people. Your grades in general are on the low side for engineering there but it’s unclear what this year’s pool of candidates look like. The ED’s that I’ve seen self reported don’t seem dissimilar to previous years but not sure that’s a good indicator. Good luck! Where else are you considering?
Hi there! I literally got a D in calc last year (retook it over the summer and wrote an essay explaining myself). I got into Purdue and Penn State for engineering anyway. I wouldn’t stress about that too much. With your ACT score, I think you’ll be fine.
This is what you should know….If you don’t get into Virginia Tech engineering but you want to be a Hokie, do whatever it takes to get into physics. They are not a second choice option but it is the closest major to get most of the classes you need to do an internal transfer/add to engineering. Most of the students that came in with my daughter that still wanted engineering kept physics as a double major. The advising is the best on the campus and they go above and beyond for their students. The department wants the students to succeed. Diane the advising legend has helped students with situations other than academics. The students love her and she loves the students. Every parent should want their son or daughter to have a “Diane” in their life at a large university. The students say she loves diamonds but that is because she is a diamond. I am so glad that my daughter did not initially get into engineering because she would have never met Diane.
OP, hate to contradict ^^ but be VERY careful making a decision to start out in another major with the objective of transfer into CoE. The process for doing this is significantly changing for next year and it will be even more difficult to make this change. They are putting in a hard cap on # of students who can make the transfer into CoE each year, and will no longer guarantee admission to an engineering major even if you meet the 3.2 GPA requirement and take the required courses. It’s not clear how the hard cap # will be implemented and spread around the various engineering majors. After this new policy has been in place a few years, it will be easier to see the impact of this change and how likely it is to be successful doing this, but for now it’s a huge risk.
@JustGraduate Hey, thanks for your concern. I genuinely appreciate it. If I don’t get into the College of Engineering directly, I intend to transfer from NOVA (community college) after a year. Would you say that’s a safer/better path?
@theindianmc Yes that’s probably a safer approach BUT do some research to make sure. Am not sure if you’re better off doing 1 year CC or going the full associates route…I’d recommend checking with VT engineering on this path, give them a call when the dust settles from all the acceptances and see what they say. If you do go the CC route, make sure you get everything you can out of the chemistry, physics, and math courses you take there. Don’t just get the minimum grade you need to transfer it. First off, VT WILL want to see A’s in order to accept you. But more importantly you really need a solid foundation in these courses if you are going to succeed in subsequent engineering courses at VT. And frankly I hear mixed about the prep that engineering student get from CC. So make sure you push yourself to learn everything you can, even if you don’t need to do that to get through the classes there.
One thing to keep in mind is that the changes the engineering department has made in transfers into engineering are very new. So no one knows how it’s going to work out, if they’ll back off and allow more students in, how they’ll decide who to take of the ~325 they say they’ll accept in transfer. I don’t know if these changes will affect CC transfers. It seems they are targeting internal transfers with these changes more than anything.
Good luck! Hopefully you get in and this is a non issue
I touched on this on another thread but may be relevant. Son graduated HS 2015 - did not get into VT Eng (did get into VT for Math). Ended up going to George Mason (Engineering) first year, carefully choosing his classes to match VT Engineering track - actually his GM advisor was very helpful with this process. He applied early 2016 to both VT and UVA for engineering and was accepted at VT and placed on WL at UVA (once he got into VT, took his name off the WL so do not know if he would have been accepted.) We were told by admissions if you are in another major, it can be difficult to get the necessary engineering classes first year which is why he choose to go to Mason. Worked out well and he is very happy as a sophomore at VT! Good luck!
@VAEng I may consider that path. I see two downsides, however: 1. It’s more expensive than the community college for one year route, and 2. It may be harder to keep your grades up at an actual university, which, although I don’t think will be a problem, may become one as I’m a transfer student and they’re looking for top notch grades.
One plus about GMU is direct admit into your specific engineering major…at least that was the case for my son a couple years ago. Don’t think that would make a difference in the classes you take freshman year though. Your point about grades at CC vs GMU is worth considering, as well as the $$ difference. But you never know - you might be happy enough at GMU to stay for your degree.
@JustGraduate One of the reasons why I’m very hesitant to go there is because they don’t have enough options in engineering–there’s no aerospace or chemical engineering, and their other engineering programs, besides their computer science-related ones, aren’t that well-known. Unless I decide that I want to do computer science, I don’t think I’ll go to or stay at Mason.
