We have an auto admit program in the community colleges and state schools, here in Virginia. If you have the required GPA, you can transfer directly into UVA, VT, and W&M from CC.
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I didnāt imply itā¦ the school essentially says that if VT is really your first choice you should consider applying ED.
100% agree that applicants and parents are allowed to be disappointed/frustrated. My post was meant to be taken in itās entirety though, and the details were pretty specific to a single poster as I sensed things might start heading the direction of last yearās results thread.
Thankfully this thread has been better than last year, where a drive-by account kept referring to other applicants as inferior to their āsuperiorā student, followed by some brigading from accounts opened 24 hours later that we all pretty much figured were sockpuppet accounts of the original poster. I kid you notā¦ that happened. Oh, and there were a few posts that were, letās say, a little racist-adjacent in tone. Thatās not lamenting, thatās sense of privilege gone haywire.
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Understood, thanks for the reply! No need for racist or superior comments, but I do think there is room for compassion for those of us (including me) that are a little disappointed for our students. 
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I can understand the disappointment. The good news is that your student will still have a lot of really good options, and hopefully they will soon be able to realize that this admissions decision was just because the school was looking for something different, not that they are lesser than some other kid who was accepted.
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It may be someoneās first choice as a school, but not first choice financially. Families that need to weigh options (and donāt qualify for aid) arenāt so fortunate as families that can easily pay or those that qualify for aid and can back out of an ED agreement if their aid comes in below what they were told on the NPC.
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Did anyone get denied or deferred? Seems Iāve only seen accepted or waitlisted.
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Son accepted OOS into COE and Honors- very good SATās, grades, ECās, varsity athlete, and all the other stuff. Plenty of kids with similar or better stats apparently didnāt get accepted and that does seem unfair. However, with VT I believe there are a few things that worked to his advantage.
- Family history - had a sibling graduate in 4 years a few years ago from COE
- Our OOS HS is a known commodity at VT (we were told so) - meaning Admissions knows kids will likely succeed
- Relevance of essays - Service, Growth, Challenges, etc. - with so many other factors taken out of the formula due to TO and elimination of subject tests, etc., they really look critically at essay responses.
- Expressed interest - did your kid attend the Admissions ZOOMās, click on the links, etc., or better yet, did you venture to campus and get your name in their system?
I know that these items are frequently talked about at Admission briefings, but realistically how much of this was actually done or focused on (or even possible)?
I believe these items are what made a difference for our sonās opportunity. I believe that there is a strong shift in priorities by Admissions from Stats to more of these differentiators.
Yeah, Iām not buying that changing majors āalmost neverā delays graduation. I think the percentage of students that graduate in 4 years is now around 45%ā¦thatās got to be due to something other than the kids wanting to stay around and eat the cafeteria food. Also, my point was 1 change of major, okayā¦ (we had 1 kid do that and graduate on time), but the example of this individual was 6 or 7 timesā¦cāmon, letās get real, thatās gotta delay graduation. Also, from what Iāve observed in kids changing majors seems to be less about finding their passion, and more about taking easier classes towards a less demanding curriculum. I would think very few Film/Theater Majors transfer into Engineering or Data Science along the way.
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Oh yeah, ZERO MERITā¦
ā¦nor did we expect any. Virginia Tech absolutely loves full-pay OOS students.
Still, itās a great deal.
DD accepted - surprised but pleased as it was a reach for her.
In-state, 3.8w, test optional, 7 AP/IB. School of Architecture and Design. She has regular ECs including rec and varsity sports, volunteering, and part-time / summer jobs.
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In my daughterās friend group, a small number got in, a slightly larger group was waitlisted and one was rejected.
Itās probably the money with OOS somewhat but also wanting enough OOS kids to maintain more of a national profile to the school. But, I do think it can be particularly tough for many instate kids to be rejected from their instate options. Virginia has very good public schools that seem attractive to many kids, including out of state ones.
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Took an official tour of campus last summer with a tour guide, went on several virtual meetings, and clicked on some of the links, but still waitlisted for COE. Just not in the cards this year.
So they say they do not track demonstrated interestā¦and their college data reporting states that too. But several posters have pointed to demonstrated interest being a possible factor-- so do they track demonstrated interest but just not admit it? Maybe Iāve been wrong to take colleges at their word on that! Genuinely curiousā¦
Definitely denied over here. 
(Before someone attacks me, Not complaining just answering a question)
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My daughter was accepted, and she didnāt do any demonstrated interest.
Maybe they do, maybe they donāt. I can say that they definitely checked my sonās name off on their roster when he showed up for his official visit and tour. The way I look at it is this - demonstrated interest is the easiest and cheapest way for schools to attempt to manage their yield (assuming schools are concerned with their yield). Is it a huge factor? Who knowsā¦? But all things being equal, demonstrating interest sure canāt hurt. I can say that the 1 very selective school my son has been rejected by was the only school we didnāt visit in person, nor did we go to their recruiting event here in our town. I realize this proves nothing, but I personally believe it definitely factors in some (possibly small) percentage.
Complain away, it is disappointing-good luck with your other options!!
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FWIW, I think your son would be accepted off the WL. I think I read that VT ranks the WL. We heard going into this that VT would likely WL our son (1550 SAT, 4.4 GPA- billions of CS ECs) because they tend to waitlist high stat kids in Virginia. Iād assume your son is at the top of the WL if you cared to stick it out, but I can understand your sonās frustration at achieving what he did and having to wait for a second chance lotto when other gets got right in. Really sort of ruins spring senior year.
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