VT - what is is like currently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

"Sheer numbers"? My kid's FCPS high school had 40+ applications to VT - only 12 were accepted.

[Anonymous]

My son's best friend attends UVA and says he sees people from his high school ALL the time.

[Anonymous]

A word about the cliques. I mentioned DD in a post above. Engineering freshman. We are from DC. She has mentioned the NOVA kids all knowing people from HS but in a positive way. She said they say hi to people, caught rides with one another, reached out to to someone to see if they could take something home for them etc. I haven’t heard anything about the social side of cliques. DD roommate is from NC. The two best pals down the hall are from PA and CA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

"Sheer numbers"? My kid's FCPS high school had 40+ applications to VT - only 12 were accepted.

Really? 100 (literally) kids from last year's graduating class at our FCPS high school were accepted at VT for fall 2022. 43 chose to enroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

+1. Same with my UVA kid. He never saw his high school classmates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

"Sheer numbers"? My kid's FCPS high school had 40+ applications to VT - only 12 were accepted.

Really? 100 (literally) kids from last year's graduating class at our FCPS high school were accepted at VT for fall 2022. 43 chose to enroll.

There are 36,400 students there. If your child is stuck in a high school clique it’s of their own doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

"Sheer numbers"? My kid's FCPS high school had 40+ applications to VT - only 12 were accepted.

Really? 100 (literally) kids from last year's graduating class at our FCPS high school were accepted at VT for fall 2022. 43 chose to enroll.

There are 36,400 students there. If your child is stuck in a high school clique it’s of their own doing.

I don't disagree. I was just pointing out that only 12 VT acceptances from an FCPS high school is not at all typical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A word about the cliques. I mentioned DD in a post above. Engineering freshman. We are from DC. She has mentioned the NOVA kids all knowing people from HS but in a positive way. She said they say hi to people, caught rides with one another, reached out to to someone to see if they could take something home for them etc. I haven’t heard anything about the social side of cliques. DD roommate is from NC. The two best pals down the hall are from PA and CA.

+1
My DD’s roommate is from upstate NY. Her other good friends are from Colorado and Texas. And of course, lots of friends from VA, but she doesn’t hang out with (or really ever see) anyone from high school, which is how she likes it! She has caught rides home with other kids from NoVa, but no one she previously knew. VT has been a fabulous experience for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside all the stats stuff for a minute, will weigh in on current atmosphere. DC is a freshman from a DC a private. Not a top 3. VT is home for her—She adores it. Engineering major. She has made a nice group of friends. The calc class is very challenging but she is holding her own. She is in a living learning community for women engineering majors called Hypatia. Access to mentor resources, speakers, help with resume, practice sessions with employment fair, etc. highly recommend.

My DC is applying to VT from a DC private as well. All the talk here of high school cliques is a bit disconcerting. Is it hard for kids that didn’t go to a FCPS high school to make friends? Are the high school friend groups excited to expand their group of friends to include new people? It sounds sort of awful.

It is awful- and SO strange! Why are these groups of HS kids sticking together and not branching out to expand their social network and meet new people? My DD is there with about 30 from her HS. She is one a a small handful who went for an unknown roommate (met online, so not totally random, but not a known HS friend). She's intentionally meeting new people, joining clubs, etc. But the vast majority from her HS (and from what she can tell many hs) are choosing to form cliques and just stick to what is familiar and known.
Is this a byproduct of covid policies? Just so weird. Your kid won't have trouble meeting people to connect with and likely wouldn't want to break in to one of the FCPS 13th grade cohorts.

This does sound strange. Is it like that at every other VA public? How about JMU and UVa?

Not at UVA. They simply don’t send the sheer numbers from a single high schools as they do at Tech or JMU. My kid is at UVA And almost never sees anyone from their HS.

"Sheer numbers"? My kid's FCPS high school had 40+ applications to VT - only 12 were accepted.

Really? 100 (literally) kids from last year's graduating class at our FCPS high school were accepted at VT for fall 2022. 43 chose to enroll.

There are 36,400 students there. If your child is stuck in a high school clique it’s of their own doing.

THIS ^^^
You would have to go out of your way to hang out with high school friends - choose to room with them, etc. My daughter said no one she knows does this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some posters here who REFUSE to believe the VT admission got really tough.

Yes the admission rate is still relatively high. But getting in as a Virginia resident is difficult. Getting in from Nortern Virginia is even more difficult. Getting into VT engineering from Northern Virginia is really difficult especially if your DC is a white male.

VT used to be a safety school 30 years ago. JMU used to be its peer school. Things got changed but some posters just don’t want to accept the current trend.

+1 My kid in 2021 with a 4.83/4.0 from a Governor's School, #4 of 600+, 35/1560, 3 varsity letters with a captainship and state championship, state and regional chemistry awards, senior internship with an orthopedic surgeon and all of the other bells and whistles (NHS, Spanish Honor Society, Science Honor Society, Special Olympics). Accepted to Duke, Vandy, UVA (Echols Scholar), W&M (Monroe Scholar), Pepperdine Presidents Scholarship and Pitt Honors was waitlisted at VT for the College of Science (Chemistry). The 3 ahead of them are all at a HYPSM and the one after is OOS at a coveted UC. Of the total top 5, 3 were waitlisted the other two accepted to engineering but as I said are at a HYPSM. I would say admissions are unpredictable at VT and don't take it for granted.

But your snowflake didn’t want to attend Tech and they can tell that.

Yes my fragile little snowflake used little ole tech as a safety...kinda how it all works. Students pick reaches, targets and the ole' safety...you seem defensive, so who is the snowflake? My kid is just fine. Have a blessed weekend.

You’re funny! Not all schools work like that now, sorry. Yield protection. So again, Tech knew your “fragile little snowflake” as you say did not want to come. I’m not defensive, BTW, I have no children who applied to Tech. I’m just don’t ignore schools’ current admissions landscape.