Thanks for these great tools. I think it’s great that VT is so transparent. I wish that all other schools were as well!
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Doesn’t look like it.
My DD was admitted to the college of Science as undecided science
So…no In state engineering coming off the waitlist. There are kids in my local high schools setting on the waitlist with 4.3-4.7 GPA’s. State schools should not be this hard to get into. This is infuriating! Where do they go???
Is this hearsay, or how are you certain that the in-state engineering applicants currently on the waitlist will remain there?
Any in state kids get in from northern virginia for engineering off the waitlist? Anyone?
@GoodingsTavern It’s a combination of hearsay, not being familiar with how the admissions/waitlist process works, and paying an ounce of attention to chance/results posts on this forum. Nothing posted on CC is statistically relevant to your (or your student’s) situation… sample size is way too small. There’s literally been less than 10 CoE waitlist result posts and a poster is trying to expand that to an overall trend/situation? Nevermind that no one knows the full story behind those who were pulled (what did they indicate their specific CoE major might be for instance)?
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To their second choice schools, which are likely awesome options in their own specific way… like thousands of applicants do every year.
Okay, so where does the student who is in the top 5% of their graduating class that applied to two virginia schools with a 4.7 and is a merit scholar and has NO other options because they cannot afford out of state go? Virginia Tech should be a safety school in this instance. It’s easy for someone to say go to your second choice school, but when you are up against 20-30% application increases and you live in Northern Virginia it’s not so easy. And I assume you aren’t from Northern Virginia because everyone here is talking about the VT waitlist. This is not made up or a small minority of kids on the waitlist. Like valedictorians are on this waitlist. A lot of kids are now being driven out of state themselves because of this. This is not based on a small sampling of CC information. Why hasn’t VT released their admissions statistics like UVA did? At least UVA was transparent that they accepted almost double from OOS.
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@npc2020 You have no idea where I am from, so let’s get that out of the way first hand. No one said you were “making things up” other than in reference to another poster’s question as to whether your input is accurate re: what admissions was actually doing. You don’t know that answer nor do I. Realistically, your otherwise mentioned “social” sample size still is statistically insignificant. What we do know is that VT has historically not admitted more than approx. 33% OOS applicants and in several years that number has been 30% or less. There is no reason or data to conclude that this year has been otherwise, although you did post back in Feb. that you were certain this was a “money grab” and that VT was admitting tons of OOS applicants vs. IS - which you would have no way of inferring unless you were basing your results info on the sparse statistical representation from this very CC forum. VT posts their admissions stats after all results have been accounted for. Has for years. Were I a betting person I would wager $100 that if you want to circle back to this thread when stats are posted we’ll see similar? Trade Venmo’s?
Look, that all said I’m sorry I don’t have a better answer to your student’s decision to only apply to 2 in state schools. Maybe there are late options for other in state schools? Maybe 1 year OOS and transfer? Maybe Comm Coll and transfer? I get the financials thing. Best of luck.
I would love to know how many of the 33% of OOS applicants accepted are for engineering. We will just agree to disagree. I really don’t care where you are from. But it definitely isn’t Loudoun County, where a large majority of kids are sitting on the waitlist for engineering. A counselor at my high school confirmed that only 3 kids were accepted to engineering. Over 100 kids applied. So, let’s agree to disagree. I am signing off.
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My son received merit from several OOS state schools that brought the price down to very close to our in-state option. I would imagine that valedictorian-caliber kids from VA could achieve similar results if they thoughtfully apply to OOS schools known for giving merit awards. I think this year has been a frustrating slog for so many, with things turning out quite differently than expected. Best of luck to you.
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Virginia is so competitive that it certainly seems like a good idea to apply to a few instate schools if you need to stay instate. Some of our Virginia schools seem desirable, even to many OOS families, even without merit aid. Some states don’t have this issue as much and their top instate students are more likely to get into their better state schools if they desire with less effort (exceptions being probably top California schools, Michigan, some top engineering public schools in some other states,etc). It is tough . Engineering is very competitive and the VT forum people may know the numbers-instate vs. OOS engineering numbers? I think a 70/3O type split seems reasonable to have a more national student body.
Same for us. As an example, Michigan State’s merit offer and net price is well below the in state price for UCONN, which for Conn kids is difficult to get into since everyone applies. Miami of Ohio’s offer is also below the cost of UCONN in state, for us.
Virginia, like some other states, has some very difficult state schools to get into.
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This year is especially chaotic because of the massive increase in apps due to test optional. I understand, it is extremely frustrating to have a high-achieving high-stat kid get denied by flagship state schools, forcing you to pay OOS tuition to have that caliber of education (yes there are plenty of other in-state schools. No, they are not all the same caliber, that’s just reality).
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Where does the student who is in the top 5% of their graduating class that applied to two virginia schools with a 4.7 and is a merit scholar and has NO other options because they cannot afford out of state go?
Well we don’t know the full scope of this applicant (top student who spends all of their time on their studies is not as impressive as a top student whose time is more balanced) or the school profile (4.7 in a school with an average of 3.7 is a lot different than a 4.7 in a school with an average of 4.2) but regardless it sounds like this student was ill advised. If the student was only applying to two schools, one of them needed to be a safety. The link above shows year prior data for College of Engineering was a 54% acceptance rate for in-state applicants, and it goes down with more well represented demographics (for instance white male in-state engineering students were admitted at a rate of 48%). That’s not a safety school. With other new factors at play changing the applicant pool (test optional promise, first admission cycle with VA laws in place for undocumented students to now be eligible for in-state tuition), only applying to two schools and no safety was a big risk with no way to predict how the dynamics would be affected this year.
I can appreciate pursuing affordable tuition and/or not wanting to go far, and I appreciate the disappointment and frustration of this application cycle on top of what’s already been a difficult time to be a senior. This student is in a tough spot, but its not at the hands of OOS applicants or Virginia Tech itself (and all hope is not lost yet as the waiting list pulls are just beginning). Virginia is a big state and they can’t pull everyone from the same school or county despite their stats. The 48% of white male in-state students admitted to the College of Engineering last year was 736 students, and high-schools.com shows there are 623 high schools in VA (its not clear if K-12 schools are included in that number either), so you can start to see how easily it becomes as competitive as it is to be admitted when you begin to drill down the overall 70% in state acceptance figures for the whole university.
Test optional made rich universities richer by contributing up to $10 million dollars in application fees and lowering acceptance rates to lowest in history few touching 2% and 1%. As some one said world is hacked to make the rich even richer. Any tweak you do it gives rich more leverage except taxes on them. So don’t rally blindly behind things such as politicizing SATs and ACTs. If universities base their decisions objectively then middle class Americans will get an opportunity. At least poor can try to get certain scores expect an opportunity. Essays and references you can’t compete with private high schools. There is no auditable government oversight on how these admissions committees make decisions. Are these readers qualified to read and free of prejudices. My point is, human intervention is the worst component in admissions. The less humans involved in it the better it is for the student. Human brain can’t function effectively under that volume of application reading and free from prejudices. Ultimately the test optional move benefits the rich schools and privileged private high schools. Middle class Americans must avoid entertaining these top ranked universities because they don’t serve your demographic but the average state school or small private schools in their backyard. Virginia Tech I am hearing conflicting stories - one there is a yield protection strategies preventing admissions to high stats Loudoun students. Also demographic targeting of Asians in Northern Virginia thus giving equitable opportunity to rest if the state. Equitable opportunity we shall support.
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Why did you direct that post at me, implying that I support test optional? It was done this year out of necessity to accommodate students who were unable to take tests due to Covid. Unfortunately that also caused an avalanche of apps as kids who otherwise would not have been competitive decided to apply to places without scores. It doesn’t mean necessarily that this is what universities will switch to in the long run. I’m not ‘rallying’ behind anything, merely stating information.
I don’t really follow most of your lengthy comment, but students should apply where they want to apply. If you don’t want to apply to a ‘top ranked university’ then don’t.
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I should have posted it separately in the thread not meant to reply your post. Pardon
my poor mechanics. You can tell I am new to college confidential.
You might try framing your comments as suggestions or ideas, rather than definitive statements of what is best for everyone. Different students have different goals and different circumstances, so advice that might work for some won’t work for others.
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