did he choose to do the community college for a year with guaranteed admission Fall 2024?
Son was offered 3 options: Waitlist, VertoVols Abroad or Pellispi CC with guaranteed Spring 24 admission. Letter cited campus capacity but they still want him. With his sister already there, I can absolutely vouch for campus capacity issues. He is declining all 3 options
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Always curious to understand why decline a waitlist? It keeps an option open, doesnât cost anything and doesnât commit anything? Unless the DS/DD has gotten in someplace that they had already ranked well above the waitlist school - in which case even the acceptance from UT would have been declined (?).
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Sending you best wishes
What specifically do you mean by transfer scholarship $$ offered? How is it a year of savings? We are OOS, so saving is a huge factor we would love to learn more on. LOL
Fair point. He would have evaluated going there if offered admission and factored in merit $$$. As of now, he has been accepted to several other schools that are ranked higher on his list and has earned significant merit money commitments from them. I do think UTK was a bit of a âthrow inâ since his sister is there. We have Vols season tickets so we have been on Rocky Top for some pretty amazing weekends and I think those fun times persuaded him to apply as well. He is also looking to wrap things up and make his decision. I told him the same thing you mentioned and he said he wonât go there and doesnât want to keep a spot from someone that would.
Makes complete sense. DS was waitlisted at VT (along with a lot of others!). I would say itâs in sonâs top 3 schools so makes sense to stay on WL. If the kiddo wouldnât have accepted admission even if - makes sense to not accept the WL offer.
Iâll also say that UTK was a âthrow inâ for my son at the time of doing applications but has quickly gone up into that same top 3. You just never know.
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Similar. My S accepted to VT engineering and WL here w vertvols option. We were thinking wouldâve def been other way around.
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Exact same here! He knew when he got the VT acceptance that he would not go to UT - probably even he had gotten merit there. We are OOS for both. Crazy that UT was his safety school and the lowest ranked of any school that he applied to.
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OOS as well. However we havenât visited UT so we donât want to rule it out but it wouldnât be too wise to take over VT engineering would it?
Just on the ranking of the program? No. But weigh out financials and visit the schools (different vibes at them). If the kid doesnât vibe with the school it really doesnât matter how good the overall program is, theyâre not going to do well in it. Ideally the financials align with the best environment with the best program. 
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VT engineering is ranked 16th and UT engineering is 68th (US News). The UT campus is great. Lots of recent improvements, on the river. Obviously more of a city school than VT. And letâs be honestâŠthe success of their football team this year and beating Alabama and parading the goal post to the river created a lot of interest that might not have been there otherwise 
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And Iâll just throw in what Iâve tried to reinforce with my DS.
$55K - VT
$35K - UT (after merit)
$80K difference over 4 years.
In your chosen field whatâs the need for a masters degree? Once you have a masters no-one cares where you got your UG and if the price difference of UG funds the masters - thatâs the better path.
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I get it. We are in-state NC. If he gets into NC State (was deferred), he is going there over VT. Program not ranked as highly ranked in engineering but it is still #33, tied with Vandy, Yale, Notre Dame, Brown and some others
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Yes we will factor in cost and we donât even know if he will get in to UT. Def prefers a rural country campus like VT/Clemson, does UT have an urban feel?
And agree on the grad school cost factor
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I wouldnât call it Urban - but itâs much more a âbig school in a cityâ than "a big school that is the town (VT). Much less green space at UT - buildings much closer together. Great Smoky Mountains are only 30 minute drive from UT though hence why Iâd shy away from calling it Urban.
UT - 910 acres, undergrad enrollment ~25K
VT - 2,600 acres, undergrad enrollment ~30K
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Son also prefers rural. UT def not that kind of vibe. Lots of cars, busy streets around. One side of the campus borders the river which is nice. We liked it, but son prefers Clemson campus a lot more. But thatâs just his vibe.
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Oh yah he would def prefer VT then. Thanks this is good info. One of the deal breakers for FSU was its a beautiful campus then has a cut through main thoroughfare thru the heart of its campus. Tractor trailers, construction trucks, all sorts of insanely loud cars and pickups. Such a shame.
Thanks for the good info both of you
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US News/World Report 2023 Best Engineering Schools: VT-30; UTK-62. UTKs brand new Zeanah Engineering complex (opened last year) is state of the art with 26 different labs inside. Their Nuclear Engineering program is ranked #6 in the country. Plus the real reason we go to college: UTK female:male ratio - 55:45; VT female:male ratio - 43:57. Go Vols!!
Similar situation here. In state, 1550 SAT (one try); 4.5 weighted GPA; 11 AP classes; 2 dual enrollment classes; tons of EC and other good stuff; waitlisted at VTâŠgo figureâŠ