I wondered about exactly this point with D21 applying to a bunch of Southern schools. How would these universities view and compare kids from public high schools in our neck of the woods (the Boston suburbs) to kids from in-state public high schools or kids from rural communities, etc? This seems pretty nuanced; more art than science. A GPA doesn’t tell the full story.
Now you’re speaking in thinly veiled code, which is veering off of the purpose of this thread. Yes, colleges want to put together a vibrant, diverse, interesting class. Maybe you can just leave it at that instead of insinuating something else? (and I see you just edited your post. Good.)
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There is plenty of variation in rigor and opportunities within states, you don’t have to assume things about an entire state. Admissions officers use data about each high school to judge those things. And, this is why test scores have always been useful (to validate GPAs), although obviously a lot of people these days don’t like the idea of scores.
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LOL. I’m not veiling anything. I think I’m being very clear. Just grades and schoolwork won’t get you in. You need to have something they want (See the list above). Otherwise it’s a crapshoot.
Okay, perhaps I misunderstood what you were getting at (I hope that’s the case). I also wanted to add-- yield isn’t only about rankings. VT has had some serious problems properly estimating yield in the last few years (fall 2019 being the poster child), so there is a practical component as well to them trying to predict who will come.
Lots of kids have similar GPA’s and rigor. Someone above said that you need to demonstrate passion about something and that can really come through in the “Ut Prosim Profile”. VT states on their common data set that the “profile” is very important in the selection process. They want students that are passionate and creative in their approach to problem solving. Note that VT calls it a “profile” on not an “essay”.
Yes, those essays are critical. I see students with amazing lists of ECs posting but what really matters is how those ECs come through in the very short essays, showing how you would fit in the VT community. The CDS puts extracurriculars generally only in the “considered” category, not even “important.” A long resume isn’t really going to add much to VT’s review.
My S21 really had very few ECs compared to many I’ve seen listing their profiles and was accepted (+>75%ile SAT and GPA for the major). But what he did have included long-term service commitment to one organization and he talked about the very personal connections he made to people through that and several summers working at the same camp and was able to talk about leadership in that context. Add in personal time spent exploring the topic he plans to major in (for the long-term goal Q)and he covered all the bases without having a long resume.
With so much emphasis on the 4 questions which can be challenging to answer in just 120 words, the VT process is always going to be unpredictable. An admissions’ teams reaction to an essay is always going to be so subjective.
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What bothers me about the emphasis on essays is that you literally don’t know who wrote it. The student? The parent? A high-priced ‘essay coach’? Or the student wrote something and then it was ‘edited’ by 15 people. I think the emphasis on essays disadvantages students in many of the ways people complain about standardized testing. At least with the tests we know who took it (okay, except for a few celeb kids). I know, it is what it is, but sometimes people act like the essays are an equalizer and I think they are the opposite.
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Totally agree. VT could also be a lot clearer about what they are looking for, although that would probably even more benefit those who have “coaches” contributing more than they should to the essays. For example, it was tossed out in one admissions info session we attended that in the “long term goal” Q they are really looking for a career goal/why this VT major fits in your goal. That’s not mentioned anywhere in the prompt and if we hadn’t happened to attend that session I don’t know that my son would have taken the question that way.
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That’s interesting because my response to that question centered around me working towards my Eagle Scout, and didn’t discuss my major choice or VT at all, but I got in
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Which goes back to how subjective and unpredictable the whole process is! Congrats on your acceptance!
Neither did my D. She talked about reducing environmental waste. She was accepted too.
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Oh you chose university studies too? I also applied for university studies (undecided) and I also live in NOVA ( FCPS as well haha) I got deferred ED, and now waitlisted when EA came out… your stats are definitely better than me in every category. Im the first in my family to possibly go to Tech if I get accepted. however im not a first generation.
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Another thing that a lot of people don’t know is that any faculty or staff at VT can grade the essays. Admissions regularly asks if anybody wants to, since it’s a lot to read. Then the reader rates the essays 1, 2, or 3. So it may be random employees (without any particular training on this) grading the essays rather than admissions people. The idea that those essays would then be pivotal in deciding acceptances seems unrealistic.
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Interesting…my future engineer wrote about wanting to finish getting certified as an equine massage therapist (COVID interrupted the training). I will say, answering those questions in <120 words was tough, I think those essays took her as long to write as some of the essays that were twice as long.
Similar situation here w/stats (single legacy) and waitlisted for engineering, so disappointing. We live out of the country with the military and I worked hard to establish in-state residency for my student (the spouse, not the active duty parent, is the resident). Now I’m thinking he should have applied as out-of-state to have a better chance, who knew?
But maybe not, after reading more messages here it seems many highly qualified were accepted and many were not. Good luck to all either at VT or elsewhere.
ADMITTED on 2/19 at 2/19pm EST
MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering
GPA - 3.71 UW, 4.13 W
RANK - top 10%
Honors - National Honor Society, Mathematics National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society.
CLUBS / LEAGUES - Math League, Science League, Competer Science Club, Ski Club
AP Classes - AP Comp Sci A (4), AP Stats (3), AP Calculus AB, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C Mech
Honor Classes - Algebra 2/Trigonometry, Biology, World History, French 2, Precalc, Chemistry I, US History I, Chemistry II, Physics, US History 2, Intro to Robotics
College - “Jump Start Program” / “College Dual Enrollment Program” - 4 classes total; 3.85 GPA
SAT - 1370 (690 Read/Write; 680 Math)
SPORTS - Varsity 4 years Swim; Captain; School Record; planning to swim for Div III team (not yet accepted into UCSC team though). Volleyball JV. Club competitive swimmer 14 years.
JOB - over the summer; mostly lifeguard
VOLUNTEERING - some + Interact Club (Rotary)
OTHER - White, Male, Out-of-State (NJ), Public High School
Not a minority, not 1st Gen, no Vet, OOS
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@VTAdmissions Is a student notified by email if they are selected off the wait list?
I have seen people say emailed and called.