Agree about Michigan! My oldest got in 2 years ago EA, and his friend with similar stats was deferred and then waitlisted til he finally declined. Two years ago they got almost 40,000 EA apps and I’m sure this year was higher. I’m not sure how you release decisions in December/early Jan and get through all of those which is probably why they defer en masse.
Glad you saw UVA! My oldest got in for engineering but decided on Georgia Tech. Now my senior is waitlisted at both Georgia Tech and UVA for business . What a crazy year!
Michigan this year didn’t even release EA until Jan 29! My son doesn’t like that their Engineering campus is essentially in timbuktu but I think it’s a better option than Purdue for CS as it’s much more well rounded and more opportunities in general as I know Purdue has the biggest internship fair in the country or something like that, but I don’t view that as the means to an end for college. That’s a big part of it, but also everything else the college has to offer and fit. A hard working driven student will find a good job and internship no matter where they go to school but there is more to school than that.
Mine has the WL at GT and still has to write the letter there. Speculation is that Michigan will have a huge drop today including rejects so if he’s in this batch maybe we will have some closure there. He also applied to Northwestern because it’s close, even though he really has no interest to be close but they do tend to take a bunch from our school, but we read somewhere on an interview the President who’s retiring gave that something like 1/25 is being accepted so that is essentially a lottery and that’s coming out today as well. So possibly more closure, or more head spinning. I am just thankful he’s my easy go lucky kid.
@srparent15 Can you elaborate a bit on what you were able to see at UVA? We may drive down next week. Did you follow a plan or just winged it? Did you know someone at UVA that walked you around? Were you able to meet anyone that represented the school? Thanks!
Well in typical fashion another waitlist with Northwestern, but an admit after the deferral from Michigan so my son’s list is changing. Purdue goes off, Michigan is on and UVA remains right up there after our great visit!
@QQsubs Someone I went to hs with her daughter goes to UVA. So her daughter was able to hook us up with one of her friends in Engineering who then took us around campus for 2 hours and on our own little private tour everywhere. Honestly, it was better than a university student led tour. None of the bs scripted stuff. It was all so genuine and she wasn’t working on trying to sell anything. She’s also from Virginia so we could hear thoughts on why she picked UVA vs VT as an in state person for engineering which was really helpful for us since we’re OOS. Also, met briefly with my friend’s daughter and got her take on what it’s like for an OOS student. Asked about Greek life and if it’s a big deal or not. Not sure my son is into that or not, but still could hear about it, etc. We were able to go into some buildings with her so that was nice, and some buildings were just open anyway. Newcomb hall was open and the bookstore as we went into both without her.
Not sure if someone asked me about dorms, but also saw where dorms were which are really all over campus and got a sense of where new ones are and older remodeled ones and what’s preferable and why, etc. Really a beautiful campus. Flying out was sort of a hassle, but I have a kid in Ithaca so we already deal with that hassle and it won’t matter next year as much when I’m an empty nester and not in a hurry to get home and can drive to a major airport if necessary and he chooses UVA.
She didn’t want to feel pigeon-holed at a school known only for Tech and felt that UVA had everything so that she could really be exposed to all fields and that if she changed from engineering it would be much easier. Also more opportunities at UVA in general. It’s sort of how I felt about Purdue but my son is going to college so it was up to him to come to that conclusion on his own and if not that would be ok too because he would want that environmen then. He may have it if he gets into GT off the waitlist and chooses that.
Good to hear your visit went well at UVA. And even better that you had an authentic tour of grounds. Did you happen to go inside the Alderman Road residence halls? Just Curious. My son was rejected from NU yesterday, but we made a third trip there last weekend (we live close as well), and he definitely was not feeling it there, each time we would visit he just couldn’t get that “spark” for campus. He wants to explore college outside of IL, and he couldn’t put his finger on it, but the school just isn’t for him. Although, we all realize it’s a great quality school. So, when he received the decision it didn’t sting . And like you, the list is finally starting to get narrowed down. April 9, can’t come soon enough so this can all be done!
That was exactly our impression too. We asked every engineering student we came in contact with and they all gave a version of that answer which is a great reason to choose UVA! My son had done two summer engineering programs, one at NC State and one at Michigan, so he was very confident in his decision to become an engineer and knew he wanted to do civil engineering. Had he been on the fence, UVA would have been a bigger player. He did love it though! It also helps that Georgia Tech was urban as we live in a college town - he has been there done that :).
Congrats on Michigan! My son also loved Michigan, and he spent two weeks there doing a program where he rotated through engineering specialties.
@bigs3 Mine always felt NU is too close. It’s only about 20 mins from here, but it’s such a top school that depending on his options it may be hard to turn down at the end of the day and like you said, it’s close enough to go for another visit. I don’t think he wants as huge of a school as Michigan and may put NU over that if he is accepted, but still not sure where he sticks UVA in all of that. I think he needs to go back to UM to take a look but not until after the April decisions now since we’re so close.
@VirginiaBelle Yes, precisely re UVA and the majors. Same with Michigan. It’s just a more well rounded education than going straight to a Tech school, which is one of my concerns if he gets off the waitlist at GT. He may not like that. He doesn’t care about the grind or working his butt off since he’s done that for 4 years, but I think it’s just the option of have the whole diversity of more options, etc. The girl that took us around was a Civil Engineering major so that’s funny about your son. She had no problem getting a summer internship and will be in Va Beach.
@rbc2018 Not so much about inability to change majors but everything being geared towards the Engineering and Tech aspect, especially funding. Similarly at Purdue. Since CS has their own school at Purdue he could easily change into Engineering or anything else, but you don’t really go to Purdue unless you’re in a Stem field.
Question about visiting campus-how recently did you go? I assume the campus isn’t closed to visitors so if I went with D21 we could at least walk around and explore the grounds?
Thursday. Yes the bookstore was open. Newcomb across from the bookstore was also open. The student also took us into a bunch of buildings but not sure if they were open or if she used her ID for all of them but many were pretty empty or had only a few students studying.
We visited last week and it was very lively. Students out and about (with masks) probably due to a sunny warm day. They had night life too. Students were friendly and asked if we need to know anything about the campus or if we wanted a picture. It was so nice seeing a campus that had some activity. We also visited William and Mary. Less students were out but the colonial Williamsburg area had many tourists and places to eat. Both colleges were beautiful and we are so glad we went.
. What a crazy year!