As a long term Virginia resident I am concerned that my daughter was wait listed at VA Tech. She was also informed that last year no one was admitted from the wait list. She has a 4.09 GPA, 1970 on her SATs, numerous AP/honors courses, symphonic band, National Honor Society, German Honor Society, and Music Honor Society. I am concerned on several levels. First as a tax payer in Virginia for more than 40 years I am very upset that a Virginia student with my daughter’s qualifications is not being provided an opportunity for an education at one of Virgina’s highly regarded universities. Second, no explanation is provided for her rejection and it appears that several of her peers with lesser qualifications were accepted. Questions - Is there a way to obtain an explanation from Virgina Tech? Is there a way to confirm her wait list/rejection was not an error. Is the fact my daughter is from Northern Virgina the reason she was not accepted? I am one very concerned Virginia parent. Any thoughts or experiences from other Northern Virginia parents would be most appreciated.
Well, it’s not true that no WL students were admitted last year. 750 were. http://www.ir.vt.edu/work_we_do/commonDataSet/14-15/2014CommonDataSet.html Look at section C2.
You won’t get any explanation. That would open a Pandora’s box of contacts, arguments and negotiations. You can, however, ask your GC to tell VT the school is her first choice and that your daughter fully intends to go there if accepted (if that is true).
@JoAllis There are a couple of waitlist threads on the Virginia Tech subforum. You will probably find more people with specific knowledge of VT over there, and perhaps they can provide sound advice, along with what “Erin’s Dad” has stated.
It is true that no one was admitted off the waitlist last year for the class of 2019. The Common Data Set has not been posted for the Freshmen class attending 2015-2016. My daughter is a Freshmen at VT. They had like 500 more people accepting then they expected. They did not have enough dorm space available for all of those extra students so they offered money in a form of credit to the upperclassman if they would give up their space on campus. The Common Data you looked at was from the incoming Freshman class for Fall of 2014 thru Spring of 2015.
@JoAllis, You did not mention your daughter’s intended major and that might shed some information. For example, is she planning to major in Music or German or in a technical field? If your daughter took an Honors class when an AP class was offered, then Admissions will see that as taking an easier path and not challenging herself. When we attended “A Day in the Life of an Admissions Officer,” they were very clear that Honors classes do not impress. They want a student to take the most challenging course offered. (Admissions did acknowledge that some high schools do not offer many AP classes.)
Further, applying from NOVA does raise the bar. In Arlington County, for example, it is possible for a student to earn 5 high school credits in middle school. By earning those 5 HS credits in MS, it opens the door for the student to start taking AP classes in his sophomore year and take the “discriminator” classes in his junior and senior years. By discriminator, I am referring to Calculus BC, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, the 5th or 6th year of an AP foreign language, etc.
Did she have Cs, especially in junior or senior year. Were the AP courses core subjects like math or english or electives like economics or art? What ia numerous? Which major? All of those things are important as well.
I think somewhere on the admissions page there is information on how to appeal an admission decision. IIRC it says they want to hear from the student and not the parent.
What major did your daughter apply to? It makes a difference. Engineering majors have the highest stats and University Studies admits are not as far behind as I would have expected. They have stats delineated by major here:
http://www.ir.vt.edu/work_we_do/demo_enroll/admission/studentAdmission.html
Here is the link for appealing a decision. It is very specific on what they will consider and if an appeal is available.
http://www.admiss.vt.edu/apply/appeals/
-The appeal will only be accepted from the student, not from a parent or guardian.
-The appeal must be submitted within 30 days of receiving the notification of the original decision.
-The appeal must contain NEW information that was not included in the initial application. Examples of new information might include updated standardized test scores or a new transcript if it is determined that a teacher submitted an inaccurate grade. Additional letters of recommendation are not considered new information. Grades or test scores earned in the February/March time frame or later will not be considered.The appeals process is not a re-review process of the existing applicant file. Appeals will not be considered for applicants who are not submitting new information.
-The appeal should include an explanation of why the new information was not submitted originally.
-The Admissions Committee will notify you of its decision in writing.
One other item to note, and I could be wrong… but it may appears to be harder to get in as a NOVA student given the weight added to AP classes inflates the GPA more than other areas in VA. I thought AP classes earn an extra 1 point and Honors .50. So, if you get an A in the AP class, this equates to a 5. If it is an Honors class, and extra .50 is added. This weighting makes the NOVA area student’s GPA (if taking significant AP/Honors) much higher than other areas in Virginia where this level of weighting does not occur. This is why it is impossible to look at stats alone to determine if a student will be accepted or to compare between students. There is so much work by admissions to normalize the results and factor in all the other items that are more subjective. I wouldn’t want their job for anything.
You didn’t mention essays and/or recommendations. I hear they carry weight too. I am sympathetic to in-state hard working kids that don’t get into their state schools…
We are very lucky to have many great state/public schools in Virginia such as UVA, William & Mary, Virginia Tech, James Madison, George Mason, Longwood, Radford, Old Dominion, VCU, Christopher Newport, Mary Washington, etc. So, there are plenty of state options other than Virginia Tech that accept in-state students. It does hurt however when we do not get accepted to the one we want the most.
I concur with Bboop42, what is your DD’s unweighted GPA? Also, class rank may also play a part. Also as Bboop42 pointed out, Virginia has many great schools. Did your daughter apply to any other schools besides Tech? Perhaps she will be accepted to one of the other fine Virginia institutions?
If she applied to the school of engineering it would explain a lot, their program is becoming very competitive. I was lucky enough to get in with a 1890 SAT, however I had a few friends with similar or higher test scores get rejected or waitlisted as well.
I am in the exact same position as your daughter. I am from North Carolina and both my brother and sister wen to VT and its been my dream since I was a little girl. I was completely shocked to find out that I was wait listed, especially because I applied Undecided which I thought would make it easier for me to get in. I have a 4.0 weighted GPA and I made a 1940 on my SAT and got a 29 on the ACT. Im in 2 national honor societies and I was on the varsity tennis team for all 4 years while also being the captain. I have been an active member of DECA and have gone to internationals every year I’ve been a member. I also complete 25 hours of community service a year. My friend who had the exact same scores and GPA as me got in, yet I have much more extracurriculars than him while also being a legacy. The email they sent back to my initial email asking the reasoning regarding my waitlist decision was very vague and unhelpful. I now have to enroll in a school that i don’t want to go to and wait until after May to know if I got in or not. If I even get in, which the stats from last year make me very worried, it means I can’t pick a roommate and I will probably end up in a crappy dorm. Im not happy whatsoever with this entire process. I wholeheartedly believe I should have been admitted and I think its completely unfair how people with lower qualifications than me are getting into this school .
@rachmo98 What were your grades? did you and your friend take all of the same classes and get the same grades in those classes? What major did your friend get admitted too? Also, who ever said University Studies is easier to get into? I’ve just heard engineering and architecture are harder.
Given the way GPAs vary greatly I think this would shed much more light.
@undercover007 he was admitted into the engineering program and although I’m not exactly sure of every class he took, we both took similar classes and received similar grades. I took 5 AP’s not receiving lower than a B in any of them. My school has a weird grading scale (7 point instead of 10) so I received 2 C’s which were both 84’s in honors classes one in freshman and one in my sophomore year. All other classes I have received A’s and B’s. I just assumed applying undecided rather into a certain school would make it easier on my application but i guess not!
The admissions process is definitely one that frustrates a lot of people including me. I got into Tech but I know some people who got rejected or waitlisted and they had really good stats. It really shocks me!
Unfortunately, many of the stats being provided are right at Va Tech’s mid-50% range. (Again, pure stats without any look at the quality, etc.) That effectively means 50% of admits will have higher stats and 50% will have lower stats than you. Basically a 50/50 chance. Heck, being in the top 25% based on stats alone is not a guarantee as there are so many equally qualified students and they do want a mix of students. I understand being disappointed, best of luck as it will all work out in the end.
I am very sorry to hear about your situation. I applied to Virginia Tech regular decision and was accepted.
My stats are:
4.1 GPA
650 math SAT
620 reading SAT
Good EC’s
Good letter of rec
Wrote 3/3 essays (very well written)
From Nova
Female
Açcepted into Engineering
You should ask your daughter if she wrote all 3 essays that were possible, and read them to see how well they were written. As I have been going through this forum, I have noticed that a lot of people who only wrote 2 essays were rejected. Of course the students rejected are most likly to feel that they’re essays played a part than (those açcepted who only wrote 2), and were more likely to report this, emphasising what I found, I really do think essays may have played a role. When a rep came to my school he said that essays were very important.
Your daughter has a good SAT score so I am a little confused about that. Maybe you could specify what she got in M and CR (those are the only 2 considered). Tech doesn’t place much emphasis on extra curricular since most people applying do have numerous leadership positions and are actively involved in many clubs. Also what classes did she take? Did she take a high level math class? If she didnt take calculus I am dedinately not surprised she didnt get in. Providing more information would help.
Also they probably wont provide a reason, although it wouldnt hurt to ask but idk. I got denied from CNU’s HN program even though my stats were higher than friends who got accepted, my mom phoned to inquire and they did not give us a reason.
Lastly, remember that she was only wait listed, and she still has a chance. If not she can always transfer. Good luck to both you and your daughter.
I recently got into Virginia Tech Engineering School’s Class of 2020. Living in North Virginia is a HUGE disadvantage especially to some other Virginia schools such as UVA and William and Mary. I also got into UVA(somehow) but I was definitely expecting to get waitlisted with these statistics:
2240 SAT
4.1 GPA (defintely low for a North Virginia Student)
National Honor Society
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts)
Varsity Letter from schools Marching Band
Symphonic Band
Varsity Baseball
Debate/Speech
Took full IB (which is harder than AP)
Participated in Road to IB (I basically tutored younger kids)
I knew kids that had more activities than me and better SAT and GPA scores but got waitlisted from Tech and UVA. Living in North Virginia is an absolute wall for getting into the top in-state colleges.