"Demonstrated Interest" for Virginia Colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

Agree and wish they were explicit in the questions. DP here and I also heard an admissions officer also say in an online info session a couple years ago that he recommends talking about how VT can help towards your goals (the clearest way to express interest in those Qs). Mentioned it here and DCUMs insisted there is no way VT reads those questions or cares about them. I think that's a big part of the very unpredictable admissions results. DS took that advice and did write about why he wanted VT to help towards his goals and was admitted vs friends with better stats. VT is very clear that other than demographic characteristics the ONLY things they look at are transcript + those questions. Of course the questions are important.

[Anonymous]

^^^And test scores if you choose to submit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

Agree and wish they were explicit in the questions. DP here and I also heard an admissions officer also say in an online info session a couple years ago that he recommends talking about how VT can help towards your goals (the clearest way to express interest in those Qs). Mentioned it here and DCUMs insisted there is no way VT reads those questions or cares about them. I think that's a big part of the very unpredictable admissions results. DS took that advice and did write about why he wanted VT to help towards his goals and was admitted vs friends with better stats. VT is very clear that other than demographic characteristics the ONLY things they look at are transcript + those questions. Of course the questions are important.

Meaning they don't read your essay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

Agree and wish they were explicit in the questions. DP here and I also heard an admissions officer also say in an online info session a couple years ago that he recommends talking about how VT can help towards your goals (the clearest way to express interest in those Qs). Mentioned it here and DCUMs insisted there is no way VT reads those questions or cares about them. I think that's a big part of the very unpredictable admissions results. DS took that advice and did write about why he wanted VT to help towards his goals and was admitted vs friends with better stats. VT is very clear that other than demographic characteristics the ONLY things they look at are transcript + those questions. Of course the questions are important.

Meaning they don't read your essay?

They don't read the common app essay and they don't look at recommendations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

Your College-Bound Kid did an episode on demonstrated interest. The consensus was that when colleges say they don't consider demonstrated interest on their website/CDS, they mean they aren't actively tracking who opens emails, or visits in person or virtually, e.g., data-driven metrics that are used algorithms to determine if your kid is likely to accept. (This is all about yield rates!). However, ED and school-specific essays are indirect forms of demonstrated interests that some schools will admit they care about, e.g., Tulane, Virginia Tech, etc. Applying ED is essentially demonstrated interest and a means to increase the yield rate, even though many schools will claim they don't care about demonstrated interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

Things like answering supplemental questions and what you say in an interview or application, aren’t considered DI for CDS purposes. So even if they don’t track DI, they can still consider your likelihood to enroll based on those statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

Thanks for this. It makes sense and seems like the *minimum* in expressing interest.

Per the common data set, they do NOT consider demonstrated interest. Should one always take that to mean, you have to do this minimum (answer optional questions/show why you like the school).

If you have time listen to the episodes for VT and W&M on the following podcast: https://www.collegeadmissionstalk.com/episodes/

Very enlightening

[Anonymous]

WM is a slut for Demonstrated Interest.

[Anonymous]

What about the "other" VA schools -- namely VCU, CNU, GMU and ODU. Does my B student benefit from "demonstrated interest."?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about the "other" VA schools -- namely VCU, CNU, GMU and ODU. Does my B student benefit from "demonstrated interest."?

I know UMW gives you additional merit money just for doing an interview

[Anonymous]

The better Virginia public unis are tired of NoVA students treating them as “safety schools”.

Whether they publicly say it or not, if your DC really wants a particular in-state public uni, it is wise to make sure that is clear to that university admissions staff. This might be done in various ways, but the school-specific essay is an obvious example method and ED is another way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard a VT admissions officer explicitly state on a podcast that students show demonstrated interest through the VT-specific essays/prompts AND by applying ED/EA.

+1
And even though they say they do not consider interest, my kid made sure to participate in online admission info sessions as well as visit campus and go on a tour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The better Virginia public unis are tired of NoVA students treating them as “safety schools”.

Whether they publicly say it or not, if your DC really wants a particular in-state public uni, it is wise to make sure that is clear to that university admissions staff. This might be done in various ways, but the school-specific essay is an obvious example method and ED is another way.

+1
I honestly can't understand why someone *wouldn't* demonstrate interest by visiting, clicking on email, signing up for info sessions, etc. - whether the school says they track that activity or not. Why wouldn't an applicant want to learn as much as possible about a school they're applying to? Some kids seem to think they can just shoot off an application and be accepted, without having any real interest in the school or intention of attending. I think this is blindingly obvious to adcoms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The better Virginia public unis are tired of NoVA students treating them as “safety schools”.

Whether they publicly say it or not, if your DC really wants a particular in-state public uni, it is wise to make sure that is clear to that university admissions staff. This might be done in various ways, but the school-specific essay is an obvious example method and ED is another way.

+1
I honestly can't understand why someone *wouldn't* demonstrate interest by visiting, clicking on email, signing up for info sessions, etc. - whether the school says they track that activity or not. Why wouldn't an applicant want to learn as much as possible about a school they're applying to? Some kids seem to think they can just shoot off an application and be accepted, without having any real interest in the school or intention of attending. I think this is blindingly obvious to adcoms.

There are kids who are strategizing their college experience their freshman year and there are those that don’t even look until there senior year. I had a 4.9 student last year who didn’t visit any schools until after he was accepted. Some kids are so busy doing all the right things but that doesn’t mean they arent interested.