@57special - we worked with a college counselor to help him with deadlines and planning out his work. So I called her about the WL, since it seemed surprising to me, given his other admittances. She told me that they have been really picky with VA students this year, given their high level of applications, and that in recent years their percentage of OOS students has gone up, particularly given the school’s need for the higher revenue that comes from OOS students.
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Thanks @Pathnottaken ! He’s ok with it - frankly, he didn’t like VT as much as I wanted him to (given the pricetag) so I think it’s probably a relief for him in a way, that he doesn’t need to choose it just because of the money. And you’re right, he has a lot of great options. He’ll be fine, it was just surprising to all of us (which sounds snotty, and I don’t mean it that way - I mean given where he’d already gotten in, we thought it likely he’d get in to VT as well.)
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@ChezCurie - I was told that so far this year, the average admitted student has a 4.2 (weighted) GPA. Which is what his weighted GPA is. It sounds like they got a ton of applications this year and could afford to be very very picky. Several of his friends applied to VT, and all but one were either outright denied or put on the WL. The one who did get in had similar stats to my son, but he also indicated that he’d be interested in the Corps of Cadets - which we figure may have shown some unique interest and greater dedication to actually attending, thus pushing him to the top of the heap.
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@sevmom - thanks for the pep talk! I think you’re right, if he’d done ED, then maybe he would’ve gotten in. But he just didn’t know what he wanted then and, heck, still doesn’t. I’m hoping though that the ED option may be what helps my younger son in the future (assuming he’s still interested in VT when the time comes). Because looking at just the pool of people we know who didn’t get in, I don’t know what it takes to get admitted there (if you want engineering).
But you are right, my current son has some great options, and still has a decision to make. And we’re very lucky in that we have gotten enough merit aid from the schools where he’s been admitted to make them affordable enough, so they really are real options. He’s in a great place and is happy.
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The same thing happened to my nephew at VA Tech this cycle. He too has some great choices, being a legacy it kinda stung. Good luck on his decision; he has some awesome schools to choose from!
VT’s CDS (section C7) says that level of applicant’s interest is not considered, but alumni/ae relation is considered.
https://aie.vt.edu/strategic-analysis/common-data-set.html
NOVA mom here. It seems everyone was denied or WL this year. We know kids who got in to UVA and T20 schools waitlisted at Tech. NMFs waitlisted.
I think they are really having trouble determining yield this year after a few crazy years. Remember before Covid when yield was so high they had to house them in hotels?
Pretty sure they under-admitted and will rely heavily on their WL. Our counselor has told kids to continue to show interest. Send mid-year grades. Let them know you will attend if admitted if it’s your #1.
Crazy year.
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Aside from ROTC, VT is best known for its engineering (other sciences are also very strong). Had your son applied for, say, Comparative Literature, he’d probably have been accepted outright. He’s obviously an outstanding student. But he’s competing for engineering. That’s a completely different playing field. He’s undecided about engineering. VT has too many die-hard future engineers than they can possibly accept. Of course your son probably didn’t say he was undecided but his resume probably did. He’s not posting 5’s in Calc BC or 800 in Math2. His school may not start students on calc until junior or senior high but plenty of students self teach and take those exams very early. This isn’t a suggestion he should have. But his not doing so, in light of what he has achieved, suggests he has well rounded interests but is not clearly a future engineer. At VT he is competing against some of the strongest future engineers in the country
Historically a considerable portion of students starting as engineer majors select other majors by the time they graduate. This is more true of schools with well rounded curriculums, live VT, that offer the full scope of academic topics and where there is no shame in opting out of math and science as a career. Chances of switching out of engineering is lower in schools that focus exclusively on engineering, math and science. So at a school like VT, admission usually considers that factor-how likely it is that a student starting out as an engineer major graduates as one. That isn’t to say that “undecided” has less of a shot at being admitted. It’s just that they won’t be compared to other potential engineer majors. Sounds like your son has loads of great options without worry about VT. Good luck to him and your family.
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It may be more related to the admission selectivity of the school – schools with stronger students are less likely to have students switching out of engineering because it is too difficult or too much work for them.
Engineering focused schools may have less switching out of engineering because (a) the students may have self-selected, and/or (b) those switching out of engineering transfer to some other school to find their new major.
There’s nothing in that resume posted by OctoberKate to show an undecided engineering major, unless you think the essays or recs were not great, but I doubt that, given he got into Purdue and CWRU engineering.
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@VAGator one of my son’s friends got into MIT… but waitlisted at Tech. That’s really helped him look at it with some perspective. Our counselor said the same thing about staying on the waitlist, sending mid-year grades etc. But I don’t think we will - he wasn’t in love with the school and is, I think, actually relieved that now he doesn’t have to feel like he HAS to go with the least expensive option. With the merit aid he’s gotten from the others, they are all about the same price, so now he can go where he really wants. I mean, I was still hoping he’d decide to love the inexpensive choice, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
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@obscuredfacts1 I think what’s frustrating me most about this scenario isn’t even that he didn’t get in - it’s more like WTH do you want VT? Virginia isn’t that large of a state, how many better engineering students could there be in the state for this - supposedly state school? And what I’m seeing on this and other message boards is news from out of state engineering students who got in - with lesser scores. So what if we couldn’t afford one of the more expensive out of state options? What’s a VA resident who wants to be an engineer to do? Again, this is really kind of just me grousing because it’s not really relevant for us, but it does make you wonder.
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Your DS has plenty of great choices and he doesn’t want to attend VT. Maybe his VT spot went to an equally deserving student who doesn’t have the plethora of other choices and financial wherewithal your DS has and who really wants to go there. Maybe it worked out best for all involved.
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Virginia is a large enough state and it has many very high stat kids capable of engineering. And increasing application numbers , 45,000 + for limited spots across all majors. It is tough. Good luck to your son @OctoberKate . He has great options.
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Exactly. The #1 STEM HS in the country is in VA. Northern Virginia is very populated and has a ton of great college prep high schools. Many kids accepted to Ivies from my DD’s school alone.
That said, I’ve heard they have started accepting more Full-pay OOS kids to make money. But I believe state law requires minimum 70% in-state.
Most importantly, Tech has had a really hard time predicting yield since the over-enrollment debacle of 2019. So I’m sure they will pull heavily from the waitlist.
@InquiringMom2 - oh, I don’t disagree for my kid. I guess I was just doing a bigger picture think. You are right, all worked out well for him and he’s fine, and hopefully his spot did go to someone else who needs it more. What I was really thinking about are the several kids we know who didn’t get in the VT who had similar stats, and can’t afford to go elsewhere. I feel for those kids. I think, maybe bigger picture, VA needs to expand it’s undergrad engineering options. Clearly the demand is there. Maybe not at VT, maybe they need to build a program at JMU or something, but with so many in-state kids forced out of state, you’d think they’d want to keep the money here somehow.
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@OctoberKate UVA, VT, GMU,JMU, VCU, ODU all have engineering programs. There is a clear path for kids from community college to the 4 year colleges as well . There are lots of public options in Virginia for kids interested in engineering, beyond Virginia Tech. And UVA and VT engineering are not cheap , even for full pay instate students.
@sevmom Oh! Good to know! Are all those schools ABET accredited too? When we looked at JMU I only saw one major in general engineering and I didn’t really keep looking because we are hoping for more breadth and depth than that (and I didn’t look at the other schools, because they weren’t matches for my kid in other ways). But that was a few years ago, so maybe things have changed or I missed something. Anyway, I’m glad that there are options beyond VT and UVA (the only two I was aware of). And I’m glad to hear you mention the clear path from community college - when we heard the speakers from community college who presented to our highschool, and the speakers from the VA colleges that did roundtable presentations, it really sounded like the path from community college really only worked for liberal arts kids. I’m glad to hear that may not be the case.
Yes, they all have ABET accredited programs, some more than others and some more recent than others. VCU, GMU, ODU have very well established programs. Christopher Newport has more recent accredited programs in computer and electrical engineering. Many public schools in Virginia also have Computer Science, Cyber security, etc… which are very popular these days. Lots of public options in Virginia. Good luck!
I’m back as my son has now heard from all of his schools and has gotten what aid he thinks he’ll get. I’d really love to hear any thoughts on pros or cons any of you might have. I truly don’t know anything about engineering schools and relative strength of program and/or ability to place students in future jobs. My son and I can get a solid idea for other things - like feel of the school and students, the unique nature of their programs, but if one is solidly a better choice to help with future career, we have no idea.
To re-iterate a little about him - he wants to be either a civil or mechanical engineer, doesn’t know for sure. Really wants a program that has an opportunity in the first year to learn about the different disciplines. Wants someplace that will give him good coop or internship options so he can gain some solid real world experience. He is much less concerned about “what if I don’t want to be an engineer” than he was when I first posted this thread - I think that was a little bit of anxiety panic popping up. He has an IEP (he’s dyslexic) - while he’s really strong at advocating for himself, it would be helpful if a school had strong disability services and having smaller classes (or sections) and professors more engaged with students would be great. He rows crew - although not a make or break, he’d like to continue rowing (club is fine) in college. He’s a pretty sociable guy in general.
So - here’s where we are in terms of acceptances/aid:
- Purdue - he got in, but has declined. He decided it was just too far away from home.
- RPI - he got in, and got great merit aid, but is going to decline, he just really didn’t like the feel of the school when he visited.
- CWRU - He got in,with merit aid will cost $53k. He likes the size of the school, likes the variety of options of class types available, likes the resources in the ThinkBox. He met with the crew captain (it’s a club team) and while he could likely have fun on the team, his HS boat posts faster times, it may be hard to not be successful. Although on paper this should be a strong candidate, something he can’t name is just telling him it’s not right.
- Pitt - he got in, with merit aid it will cost $34,400. He also got in to the Honors college. Honors will make the school feel smaller, which is appealing. He likes the fact that if he wants to try out a random class, Pitt has everything. He likes the school spirit, but wonders why in our guidebook (Fiske’s) it did comparitively badly on the “quality of life” scale (2 out of 5 - every other school on this list got a 3 or 4). He also wonders if their engineering program will position him as well as the others. He can row on the club team here, they seem better than the CWRU club.
- WPI - he got in and with merit aid this will cost $56k (this is about the top end of what we can pay for). He really liked the vibe on campus when he visited - like the physical set up and the students he met “felt like him”. But we’ve read a lot about recent mental health and stress issues there, which are worrisome. Clearly a strong engineering program, but does it have broad cachet (he likely won’t stay in New England, will that be a problem)? He’s a little concerned about what happens if he decides he doesn’t want to be an engineer, but the business program at WPI would give him a solid fallback (and he can always transfer if he needs something really different - WPI is a strong program such that transferring shouldn’t be unfeasible). He wouldn’t have the breadth of non-STEM classes available as a “fun” elective as the other schools. He could row on the D3 team here, he’s been recruited by the coach and this would be a good fit for his skill set and interests - he is really excited by this option.
- Lehigh - he got in, but got zero merit aid so cost is approx $78,600. This cost is above what we can afford. He’s going to try to appeal for some merit aid, but if he doesn’t get it, then this is a no. But if he DOES somehow get last-minute aid, he wants to figure out how to balance this school with the others (like what cost would it need to be to choose this over something else). This has been his top choice, but largely because he was so heavily recruited to row here. The women’s rowing team is D1, the men’s is club, so men cannot get an athletic scholarships, however they do have access to the same coaches, trainers, and facilities. He really liked the size of the campus and the feel of it, and really liked the availability - and emphasis on - combining engineering/STEM classes with humanities offerings. I have been somewhat concerned about what I keep reading about it being a party school - not that he’ll have a hard time finding his own crowd, because crew will do that for him, but because I don’t know if that means that this degree would be less respected.
So - if this were your kid, what would you tell him in terms of pros and cons for the schools? How would you advise him?
I don’t know if this is uncool or not, but I’m going to tag a bunch of folks that were giving me advice above, hoping this will bring this long-quiet thread back to your attention. 
@chrisntine @eyemgh @momofboiler1 @mikemac @JackH2021 @sevmom @Mwfan1921 @gingerlenny
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