Virginia Tech

[Anonymous]

Hi! Wondering what the Stats/extracurriculars of people you know they have been accepted/what helps to get into Tech from Northern Virginia. Looked on Naviance and etc but just wondering other examples of accepted kids too. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Really depends on major.

Here's the VT common data set. Lots of data to look at in terms of gpa and test scores vs major.

https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index

It seems like over the last couple of years, if you really want to go to VT you need to apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really depends on major.

Here's the VT common data set. Lots of data to look at in terms of gpa and test scores vs major.

https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index

It seems like over the last couple of years, if you really want to go to VT you need to apply ED.

And not necessarily be an engineering or CS major

[Anonymous]

All of my DC's friends who applied to VT early action this year got in, which was not true for UVA, W&M, or JMU. I think they all got the memo about applying EA because DC doesn't know anyone who waited for RD.

These kids all do orchestra, some clubs, a couple do sports. They all have solid grades and SATs, with lots of APs. I'd guess all are top 10-15% of the class (large FCPS school), but not necessarily top 5%. I don't think any applied for CS or engineering. More like environmental science, humanities, etc. They all seem pretty excited about VT and several are choosing it over UVA.

[Anonymous]

ED to Bowdoin or some ding dong Liberal Arts school and become a barista?

WTF? The Stem bias and ignorance on this board is off the charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of my DC's friends who applied to VT early action this year got in, which was not true for UVA, W&M, or JMU. I think they all got the memo about applying EA because DC doesn't know anyone who waited for RD.

These kids all do orchestra, some clubs, a couple do sports. They all have solid grades and SATs, with lots of APs. I'd guess all are top 10-15% of the class (large FCPS school), but not necessarily top 5%. I don't think any applied for CS or engineering. More like environmental science, humanities, etc. They all seem pretty excited about VT and several are choosing it over UVA.

It does seem the best shot at VT is to not be one of the top students in your HS and it's definitely easier if not applying to the engineering school (which includes CS).

My DS is a freshman there and that describes him -- prob top 10-15% but not top 5%. Major is Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, which is in the college of science.

VT also says they put a lot of emphasis on their short answer questions and I think he did a good job with those, especially the one about service, which is a very important value for VT. He had minimal ECs but one was a long-term service activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

ED to Bowdoin or some ding dong Liberal Arts school and become a barista?

WTF? The Stem bias and ignorance on this board is off the charts.

I think it's just one primary person who responds a lot. Their language is fairly recognizable.

[Anonymous]

^^Adding to this, I took a look at that link for admissions rate... for an in-state White male students, the acceptance rate for College of Engineering was only 26.1% while the rate for Computational Modeling & Data Analytics was 82.4%.

[Anonymous]

Wow.

[Anonymous]

I would also encourage you to look at the admission rates by major. Even some of the liberal arts ones are more competitive than others. Your best bet is to select one that offers a higher acceptance rate both overall and for your demographic (white male). If it’s his top choice apply ED but if not certain than do EA. And don’t blow off the questions - they are very clear they look at those and DO NOT use the Common App essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of my DC's friends who applied to VT early action this year got in, which was not true for UVA, W&M, or JMU. I think they all got the memo about applying EA because DC doesn't know anyone who waited for RD.

These kids all do orchestra, some clubs, a couple do sports. They all have solid grades and SATs, with lots of APs. I'd guess all are top 10-15% of the class (large FCPS school), but not necessarily top 5%. I don't think any applied for CS or engineering. More like environmental science, humanities, etc. They all seem pretty excited about VT and several are choosing it over UVA.

Yup, DS applied EA to VT for non-engineering/CS and got in (Bio major). Top of class, leadership, job/internship/varsity sports letter. Several of his friends who applied EA for engineering or CS were WL. Ultimately he chose somewhere else, but there was definitely a line between Engineering/CS vs. Non

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Adding to this, I took a look at that link for admissions rate... for an in-state White male students, the acceptance rate for College of Engineering was only 26.1% while the rate for Computational Modeling & Data Analytics was 82.4%.

tangent here but can you tell me if your kid took CS in high school or what piqued his interest in this major?

[Anonymous]

Does Tech allow you to have a 2nd choice major in case you're rejected for the first choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^Adding to this, I took a look at that link for admissions rate... for an in-state White male students, the acceptance rate for College of Engineering was only 26.1% while the rate for Computational Modeling & Data Analytics was 82.4%.

tangent here but can you tell me if your kid took CS in high school or what piqued his interest in this major?

He loves math and maps and always liked looking at data visualizations in things like almanacs and fact books. Also took a 1-week data science summer program that furthered his interest. He did take a CS class in HS but doesn't love CS. He's fine doing programming as a means to an end of playing with the data. He also took a geospatial data analysis class in HS and liked that a lot. The CMDA major has a few paths within it (physics, economics, cybersecurity, geospatial) and he's taking intro classes to a few paths but thinks he'll probably focus on geospatial.

The major is only a few years old and has a weird name. It might get more attention if they labeled it "data science." But it's nice that it's a small program, only about 100 students per year.

Another comparison on the wide variation in acceptance rates... there's a pretty new major at VT in Sports Media & Analytics -- acceptance rate for in-state White males was 12.1% last year. But, students in CMDA (82.4% acceptance rate) also do sports analytics projects so if the interest is really on the analytics side, probably better to apply to CMDA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Tech allow you to have a 2nd choice major in case you're rejected for the first choice?

No. They used to but took that option away a few years ago. Too many students who really wanted to be in engineering came to VT under a 2nd choice major and could not transfer in and were unsatisfied with that experience.