Virginia Tech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the MANY murders and the stigma of 90's safety school makes it unappealing to me as a parent.

It really is pretty scary. The beheading of a student in a VT school cafe, the mass shooting on VT campus, and then two VT freshman students who lured and murdered a 13-yr old girl. What is going on in Blacksburg?

What are you talking about? Beheading in a cafe. Had not heard that one. That would have been all over the news.

It was. A Chinese grad student beheaded another Chinese grad student. It was in 2009. really a tragic isolated incident. Tech has gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues after a few problems...that, and the mass shooting.

The mass shooting could have happened anywhere. In fact, it has happened at many other places. Too many places.

From my perspective, I graduated from Tech in 1987, and am doing really well for myself. I would be delighted if my DD chose tech, but she prefers (and was admitted to) W & M. Her stats would make Tech a safety. She hated UVA -- too pretentious.

[Anonymous]

Yes those students were at Tech for 2 weeks before he killed her so I'm not sure I'd count that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the MANY murders and the stigma of 90's safety school makes it unappealing to me as a parent.

It really is pretty scary. The beheading of a student in a VT school cafe, the mass shooting on VT campus, and then two VT freshman students who lured and murdered a 13-yr old girl. What is going on in Blacksburg?

What are you talking about? Beheading in a cafe. Had not heard that one. That would have been all over the news.

It was. A Chinese grad student beheaded another Chinese grad student. It was in 2009. really a tragic isolated incident. Tech has gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues after a few problems...that, and the mass shooting.

The mass shooting could have happened anywhere. In fact, it has happened at many other places. Too many places.

From my perspective, I graduated from Tech in 1987, and am doing really well for myself. I would be delighted if my DD chose tech, but she prefers (and was admitted to) W & M. Her stats would make Tech a safety. She hated UVA -- too pretentious.

Why is their race important?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the MANY murders and the stigma of 90's safety school makes it unappealing to me as a parent.

It really is pretty scary. The beheading of a student in a VT school cafe, the mass shooting on VT campus, and then two VT freshman students who lured and murdered a 13-yr old girl. What is going on in Blacksburg?

What are you talking about? Beheading in a cafe. Had not heard that one. That would have been all over the news.

It was. A Chinese grad student beheaded another Chinese grad student. It was in 2009. really a tragic isolated incident. Tech has gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues after a few problems...that, and the mass shooting.

The mass shooting could have happened anywhere. In fact, it has happened at many other places. Too many places.

From my perspective, I graduated from Tech in 1987, and am doing really well for myself. I would be delighted if my DD chose tech, but she prefers (and was admitted to) W & M. Her stats would make Tech a safety. She hated UVA -- too pretentious.

Why is their race important?

Not so much race but in this case, culture. Chinese grad students tend to have a insular culture; they keep to their own social groups. Even a Chinese American would have trouble cracking the social groups. In other words, this would not really impact an American undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the MANY murders and the stigma of 90's safety school makes it unappealing to me as a parent.

It really is pretty scary. The beheading of a student in a VT school cafe, the mass shooting on VT campus, and then two VT freshman students who lured and murdered a 13-yr old girl. What is going on in Blacksburg?

What are you talking about? Beheading in a cafe. Had not heard that one. That would have been all over the news.

It was. A Chinese grad student beheaded another Chinese grad student. It was in 2009. really a tragic isolated incident. Tech has gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues after a few problems...that, and the mass shooting.

The mass shooting could have happened anywhere. In fact, it has happened at many other places. Too many places.

From my perspective, I graduated from Tech in 1987, and am doing really well for myself. I would be delighted if my DD chose tech, but she prefers (and was admitted to) W & M. Her stats would make Tech a safety. She hated UVA -- too pretentious.

Why is their race important?

Chinese is a race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think college is more than just the education side. Where are our kids the happiest? Do they love it there? How is the quality of life?

Most kids who go to VT don't just like it, they LOVE it. There is a lot to be said for that.

Absolutely true. Still a safety for some but who cares? Those colors are a perfect example. Objectively hideous but they wear it proudly. That’s love.

+1 I think VT is just baffling to people who are primarily focused on prestige and selectivity. VT manages to enroll a pretty high-stats student body while having a high acceptance rate. Kind of an anomaly in the college admissions world. And they don't seem interested in playing the "move up the ranks" game and in fact have stated the goal is to increase the size more with a particular focus on enrolling more underrepresented/1st gen students.

Yes but they seem to want to do this by dumbing things down, which is insulting to those students, and frustrating for the rest of us who want their kids to go to a university that's striving to be the best, not the "mediocrest."

"Like, writing is SO HARD you guys, so let's just have the kids write 4 short essays instead of one long one."

The four questions are actually very intentionally drawn from research on what makes students successful. I appreciate them asking students to be clear and succinct and getting just the info they want from students. At other schools that size, they get the usual Common App essay and I doubt anyone actually reads them because it's all about the numbers. We've been told VT actually does care about the answers to the 4 questions.

No they don’t
They receive over 30,000 applications. Do you actually believe that they read all those essays? At most large schools, a computer sorts for GPA, test scores, and other criteria and only the kids on the fence have their essays read.

[Anonymous]

Heavy military focus. It's shady

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heavy military focus. It's shady

Yes, how dare they try and keep our country safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heavy military focus. It's shady

Good lord. There’s nothing shady about it. It is what it is. There’s a corps of cadets, a small percentage of every class and they are not obligated to continue in a military career. Do you have any idea how many schools have some kind of ROTC program?

-person who hates war, but knows that alone doesn’t stop wars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think college is more than just the education side. Where are our kids the happiest? Do they love it there? How is the quality of life?

Most kids who go to VT don't just like it, they LOVE it. There is a lot to be said for that.

Absolutely true. Still a safety for some but who cares? Those colors are a perfect example. Objectively hideous but they wear it proudly. That’s love.

+1 I think VT is just baffling to people who are primarily focused on prestige and selectivity. VT manages to enroll a pretty high-stats student body while having a high acceptance rate. Kind of an anomaly in the college admissions world. And they don't seem interested in playing the "move up the ranks" game and in fact have stated the goal is to increase the size more with a particular focus on enrolling more underrepresented/1st gen students.

Yes but they seem to want to do this by dumbing things down, which is insulting to those students, and frustrating for the rest of us who want their kids to go to a university that's striving to be the best, not the "mediocrest."

"Like, writing is SO HARD you guys, so let's just have the kids write 4 short essays instead of one long one."

The four questions are actually very intentionally drawn from research on what makes students successful. I appreciate them asking students to be clear and succinct and getting just the info they want from students. At other schools that size, they get the usual Common App essay and I doubt anyone actually reads them because it's all about the numbers. We've been told VT actually does care about the answers to the 4 questions.

No they don’t
They receive over 30,000 applications. Do you actually believe that they read all those essays? At most large schools, a computer sorts for GPA, test scores, and other criteria and only the kids on the fence have their essays read.

You’re wrong about how computers are used in admissions offices.
VT trained around 120 faculty and staff to assist with reading those little statements. This is published. You can google it.

[Anonymous]

DH decided to go to cheap schools, paid off his student loans by the time he was a second-year associate, and is now a big law partner. He has colleagues who make the same or far less than he does who are still paying off student loans. For him, going to the brand-name school would have been a poor financial decision. There is part of me that thinks that people who pass over the free ride for a top tier school are getting duped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH decided to go to cheap schools, paid off his student loans by the time he was a second-year associate, and is now a big law partner. He has colleagues who make the same or far less than he does who are still paying off student loans. For him, going to the brand-name school would have been a poor financial decision. There is part of me that thinks that people who pass over the free ride for a top tier school are getting duped.

My most successful friend didn’t go to college. He created and sold a business for somewhere near $75m and retired on his fiftieth birthday. If I’m following your logic college is a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the MANY murders and the stigma of 90's safety school makes it unappealing to me as a parent.

It really is pretty scary. The beheading of a student in a VT school cafe, the mass shooting on VT campus, and then two VT freshman students who lured and murdered a 13-yr old girl. What is going on in Blacksburg?

What are you talking about? Beheading in a cafe. Had not heard that one. That would have been all over the news.

It was. A Chinese grad student beheaded another Chinese grad student. It was in 2009. really a tragic isolated incident. Tech has gotten much better at dealing with mental health issues after a few problems...that, and the mass shooting.

The mass shooting could have happened anywhere. In fact, it has happened at many other places. Too many places.

From my perspective, I graduated from Tech in 1987, and am doing really well for myself. I would be delighted if my DD chose tech, but she prefers (and was admitted to) W & M. Her stats would make Tech a safety. She hated UVA -- too pretentious.

To be fair (and I have no dog in this race), if I remember correctly, the mass shooting incident involved a young man who had had mental issues at high school and had an IEP. He didn't disclose to Virginia Tech so they were unaware of any issues that the student had. This came out from his parents after. Same with the Chinese student. Yes, the race is relevant because that culture would discourage use of mental health services or having a disability plan because that would involve losing face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH decided to go to cheap schools, paid off his student loans by the time he was a second-year associate, and is now a big law partner. He has colleagues who make the same or far less than he does who are still paying off student loans. For him, going to the brand-name school would have been a poor financial decision. There is part of me that thinks that people who pass over the free ride for a top tier school are getting duped.

My most successful friend didn’t go to college. He created and sold a business for somewhere near $75m and retired on his fiftieth birthday. If I’m following your logic college is a waste of time.

Fair enough. Here’s an article that says the same thing, but with research.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/what-is-an-elite-college-really-worth/521577/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where Parchment gets its cross-admit data, but FWIW, they report 16% of those who got into both MIT and VT went to VT.

https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Massachusetts+Institute+of+Technology&with=Virginia+Tech

In comparison, %s choosing other big state schools when also admitted to MIT:
UCLA: 8%
Michigan-Ann Arbor: 10%
Berkeley: 12%
UVA: 16%
Penn State: 20%
UMD College Park: 33%
UNC Chapel Hill: 33%

Note that some of these sample sizes must be pretty small since the confidence intervals get large.

Parchment may be pretty accurate with like-to-like schools (e.g. Harvard and Yale), but is less meaningful when you get to more dissimilar schools. Numbers are small, and special cases may influence.