@RealityCheck13 If she is accepted and decides to go to VT, start looking for sales on boots, sweaters, and jackets! She’ll probably have no issues with fitting in, but that change in climate may be an eye opener! 
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I think Covid response is a very important aspect to college decisions and I appreciated the information.
That’s exactly it… we don’t. OOS enrollment for CoE has been higher than IS only 2 out of 6 years in the data set - in rough numbers 2017 OOS was 20% higher and 2021 was 33% higher. In contrast, IS has been higher 27%, 5%, 26%, and 60%.
I think all students brave enough to apply to engineering or VT engineering specifically are highly qualified. Never seen someone interested in EE or ChemE or Aero with low grades - just doesn’t seem to work that way. This is a very large sample - 1000s of kids - to imply that IS group is different from OOS. Plus you can see that this is a recent thing - it wasn’t like that before. They were more even in the past. We can’t assume that VA kids just suddenly got less academically talented?
That’s why I think it is actually true - that given very similar qualifications among all applicants, VT is looking for students who would pay higher tuition. And I agree - typically more difficult for OOS. Purdue accepts like 60% IS for example.
We are in Chicago. Looking forward to Feb 18th. Or not…
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If my math is correct, 2019 IS enrollment was 56% and 2020 was around 64%. Seems pretty similar to the Purdue example? In addition, there are lots of assertions that things are more difficult for OOS applicants at other state universities - have these schools stated as such?
2021 Out-of-State versus In-State Acceptance Rates at Top Public Universities - College Transitions
| School Name | In-State Acceptance Rate | Out-of-State Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia Tech | 40% | 17% |
| Purdue University | 69% | 60% |
| UCLA | 12% | 16% |
| UNC-Chapel Hill | ~41% | ~13% |
| University of Florida | 46% | 28% |
| University of Georgia | 53% | 40% |
| University of Michigan | 42% | 20% |
| University of Texas at Austin | 42% | 15% |
| University of Virginia | 36% | 19% |
| University of Washington – Seattle | 59% | 51% |
| University of Wisconsin -Madison | 68% | 55% |
| William & Mary | 48% | 32% |
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Acceptance rate and enrollment rate are not the same thing, and the conversation was specific to the CoE. Yield or anticipated yield determines anticipated enrollment and that can differ widely depending on the university and their prior enrollment data. VT’s enrollment in 2020 had more than 2.5x the number of IS students as there were OOS and in all years that number is very close to 2x or slightly higher except 2021 which I contend is an outlier which counterbalanced 2020.
Great point. The conversation was indeed CoE specific. Thanks for the clarification and relatable information.
It’s all good. The website crashed to a 502 error before I could complete my post. Here’s the rest FWIW:
Offer rates can be really misleading re: how they ultimately impact the makeup of the student body because the university can only venture to guess as to who will accept their offer. Purdue’s enrollment for 2020 was 45% IS while VT’s IS enrollment for the same year was 60% + Both also showed a spike in OOS enrollment vs. IS enrollment in 2021, with VT still having a greater ratio of IS and Purdue at an IS deficit. One school’s model for funding all their programs and offerings works out ok at a deficit of IS students and the other (VT) works out for them at an average of 60% IS historically. Is one or the other biased towards out of state offers? IMO, no - there would have to be a much higher correlation between offers and enrollment for that to true in either case.
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Awesome! I agree. A school’s model for funding and student body composition goals might be contributing factors.
Ok. I am at the point in the process where I am looking for signs. I know this is irrational, but here goes: Did anyone else’s EA applicant daughter receive the women in engineering student magazine this month? DD applied way back in August or September and this is the first time she’s received it. Did she get moved onto a more specific mailing list. Hoping and grasping at straws…
A number of my daughter’s friends received acceptance letters over the weekend and started posting on IG. She’s sweating bullets because still no word. Wondering if these were just very delayed ED acceptances and not EA. Anyhoooo, who knows? All she can do is wait!
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Oh wow- like actual letters?? Or emails?
I asked that very question and she rolled her eyes and grunted at me and asked “what does it matter? The point is I didn’t get one.” That said, in the convos with her friends she recounted to me they all universally said “letter” and they received it before the portal updated.
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Sounds like what my daughter would say! Thank you for info. We haven’t received anything either! This admissions cycle has been gut wrenching. Best of luck to you all!
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My daughter received a “Save the Date” Women’s Engineering Preview weekend email around Jan. 21. I tried to read something into it, but it clear states that it does not mean you’ve been admitted. Sigh…
Good luck to daughter as well! And yes, process had not been fun. I’ll be glad once this is behind her.
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Nothing wrong with taking it as a positive sign! Good luck!
No letters and no magazines for us:smiling_face_with_tear:
Early decision came out December 10th, which is usually earlier than expected… The VT website contraindicates itself in two places, one saying it’ll come out Mid-feb and another saying late-february. Mid would be Febuary 15th, and if the trend of descions coming out early continues, could it come out tomorrow the 11th???
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