I was just waitlisted by va tech. I have a 3.59 gpa, 1320 combined sat score, and 8 AP/IB classes. I’m a white female from nova and I applied to the accounting major (not sure if this could have hurt me). I only wrote 2/3 essays (which I now obviously regret) and my recommendation from my counselor explained my lower gpa because of a bad sophomore year. Va Tech was my number one and I would really like to know where I went wrong on my application and if there’s anything I can do to amend it. Any response would be much appreciated as I’m very anxious but not very hopeful for being accepted as there seems to be no consistency in wait listed students offered spots.
Please help. Ask any questions you need to know in order to help me I just wanna know where I went wrong
Well there is not one place you might have gone wrong. But not completing an essay was, as you now know, not a good idea. You were waitlisted not rejected. So send them a letter of continued interest. If true, tell them you’d take an offer if one was extended. And, see if your guidence counselor will “make the call”. That is, a call to the adcon to let them know that you are a strong student, that you will take an offer if one is extended. That will probably move you up the list. All schools have one eye on yield. An assured “yes” is better than an unknown. Most students on wait lists are not sure bets. You would be if your GC backs you up with that call.
Thank you so much. I will definitely do all of that
Another factor that probably caused that decision was your SAT score. I am not trying to be mean but testing nowadays has definitely become a competitive factor! 
I got into Tech with a business major so feel free to ask any questions/concerns you have and I would be happy to help.
I meant 1320 for cr and math (sorry I thought that was what combined score meant) i got a 720 on the cr and 600 on the math
Hokiehopeful12- Do you know if the accounting major is one that particularly difficult to get into? I figured that might be it because I know people with lower scores that got into different majors and I only chose accounting because people told me I should choose a major. I’m tempted to call them and tell them I don’t care what major I’m put in, I just want to be accepted and attend
I got accepted into University Studies with a 3.99 GPA and a 1270 (only CR and Math) score. Idk how?
@anxious4accept with that many AP and courses and a 3.59 I would imagine you have quite a few Cs or are mostly a B student. I’m assuming those AP and IB courses were weighted… With that being said it would be hard to get admitted.
Friend was wait listed with a weighted GPA of 3.33 (Took all IB courses) and was admitted. She graduated HS two years ago though. She’s now in Pamplin!! 
@undercover007 yeah my sophomore year I had mostly cs and ds while taking one ap class but I was also going through a lot of personal stuff which I explained in one of the essays. My junior year I took 3 ap/IB classes and got all as and a b+. I feel like it wouldn’t make much sense for them to penalize me so much for sophomore year which isn’t even supposed to be such a major year
@RVAphysics thank you! that actually makes me a lot more hopeful! I’m hoping that when I talk to tech it helps me out a lot but I understand it’s gotten a lot more competitive so I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high
@starwalker13 yeah I feel like there were a lot of people on the border and my major might have hurt me but a lot of the decisions that are so close in gpa and sat were probably just somewhat random. Of course your gpa is a lot better than mine too so that might have been what they were more focused on. A lot of my friends who had higher gpas but I had better scores than got in so that could definitely be a factor
Your SAT is pretty good, however your GPA is not. I know you said you had a bad sophomore year, but what happend? Death/illness, or goofing off. I had similar stats (SAT wise) to you and got in, however my GPA was approx. 4.1 so that’s a difference. I also wrote all 3 essays, which I feel is why I got in, but I’m not sure. Sorry to hear about you getting wait listed.
I know I posted earlier, but after reading what other ppl said along with what you said, your math SAT is kinda low @ 600, 650 or 680 would’ve helped you. Also I don’t know how much they pay attention to the personal stuff you were going through. I mentioned that I had suffered greatly from chronic illness, IBD. And I still had a 4.1, they should pay attention to your personal story thou especially since you bounced back so much with your grades, but your math SAT might also be a factor.
@Funnybunny98 yeah there’s definitely a huge gap in my math and cr scores and my grades in math in general are lower than my other grades which is why I was thinking that applying to the accounting major could have hurt me. I think at one point I had figured out that without my sophomore year grades I would have almost a 4.0 (of course you can’t just factor out a year) but I felt that I had very well explained the many issues that happened in my family my sophomore year (death in the family, divorce, my sisters illness) I almost felt like I was saying too much and would come across whiny even though it was all true and affected me. I’ve already been accepted to vcu and am waiting to hear back from jmu but my cousin has suggested that I could go to one of the schools for a year and then transfer, which obviously isn’t ideal and I might end up just staying at the school. I just feel like tech was such a perfect fit for me and it’s upsetting to know I was waitlisted and probably won’t get in.
@anxious4accept I’m really sorry that you were waitlisted. I know this doesn’t help much now, but I had the exact same mentality as you many years ago when I didn’t get into Tech. I was really devastated, not very excited about going to VCU for my freshman year and really discouraged at many points in time because I wanted to go to Tech so badly. I ended up transferring for my sophomore year and looking back I overall appreciated my freshman year experience. It’s tough being in this position, but college is an exciting time no matter where you end up and what path you take. Good luck!
@financiallylost yeah I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I feel like it might not necessarily be a bad thing for me to spend a year at vcu. I feel like vcu offers a lot more diversity and is in a city which is a huge difference from va tech. If I end up going to vcu it will definitely offer me a much different college experience than tech or jmu would and if I end up switching I end up switching. It’s just a little annoying to me because I know many people who were accepted that don’t want to go nearly as bad as I do from what I can tell 
@anxious4accept well that’s your answer. They don’t really admit people with a history of those grades. You were probably waitlisted instead of denied because you are doing better now.
@undercover007 they really wouldn’t admit me because of bad grades my sophomore year? I thought the whole point of their essay was to explain why your grades were bad, it seems a little backwards to have an essay question for explaining bad grades and still not admit after bad grades are explained. Especially being on such an unimportant year and having shown my ability to bounce back from it. I suppose I just really don’t understand their admissions process.