VT is Out

[Anonymous]

Many kids at our school choose VT over UVA for engineering. Can’t say it’s a safety for UVA denial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of tippy top students take a shot at T20, have UVA as a backup and throw in an application to VT as a super safety. VT got tired of this about 5-6 years ago. Now VT has to thread the needle pretty carefully to pick up those that really want to come there.

+1 my son applied five years ago. When looking at his school scattergrams, there was a very clear pattern of acceptance in the upper quadrant. His year there were a lot of surprises of higher stat kids getting waitlisted or denied. Ever since ( I have a couple younger kids), the VT results are hard to predict and that upper quadrant of the scattergram is a real mix. Nobody should count on it as a safety

Obviously, no one should count it as a safety -- especially for engineering, business, etc. But the very high stats kids with excellent short essays are all getting in. The very high stats kids with bad essays (in VT's eyes) are not.

[Anonymous]

My older two kids were waitlisted. My youngest just got in. She's a stronger student, but I think the real difference is that she took a lot of time writing her essays, and her extracurriculars matched her desired major.

I feel bad for the students who didn't get in and wanted to go. I thought maybe something was off with the recommendations, but then I remembered VT doesn't look at those. My advice (not that anyone asked) to future students would be to really take your time with your essays. Make sure you are answering what you would contribute to VT and the community, not just why VT is a good choice for you.

[Anonymous]

Agree with this-essays are more important than folks think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many kids at our school choose VT over UVA for engineering. Can’t say it’s a safety for UVA denial

But that can be a foolish decision if the kid is not 100% committed to engineering or doesn’t have the chops to get through the weed out classes at VT. 80% of all students change their major at least once. My own UVA kid switched out of aerospace engineering into politics. Thank heavens he didn’t pick George tech, even though it was the premier program for aerospace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My older two kids were waitlisted. My youngest just got in. She's a stronger student, but I think the real difference is that she took a lot of time writing her essays, and her extracurriculars matched her desired major.

I feel bad for the students who didn't get in and wanted to go. I thought maybe something was off with the recommendations, but then I remembered VT doesn't look at those. My advice (not that anyone asked) to future students would be to really take your time with your essays. Make sure you are answering what you would contribute to VT and the community, not just why VT is a good choice for you.

100%
We had a stellar student waitlisted 5 years ago. Her essays were subpar, at best. She landed elsewhere and that worked out well.
Another of our kids was accepted yesterday. Excellent student but lower stats and similar rigor.
Much better essays.
Tech says they are important. Believe the school, whatever the school.

[Anonymous]

Waitlisted
1530 very high rigor 4.05 weighted instate.
Thought his essays to the prompt were decent.
It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the term "high rigor". Suppose two students from the same school have the same 4.05 GPA, can one student have "high rigor" but not the other? Maybe rigor is for comparison between different schools and not within a single school?

[Anonymous]

PP - not quite.

A high rigor eg could be AP Chem vs Chem Hons or Calc AB vs Calc BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - not quite.

A high rigor eg could be AP Chem vs Chem Hons or Calc AB vs Calc BC.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - not quite.

A high rigor eg could be AP Chem vs Chem Hons or Calc AB vs Calc BC.

This …

could be APs vs DEs from same school.

Either way though… all the deferrals and waitlists needs so much patience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DS waitlisted. 3.9 gpa, 1320 SAT and it was probably a reach but not his top choice. He is accepted at all 5 of the other schools he applied to so lots of good choices. Good luck to all!

Which school did he apply to?

My kid had very similar GPA and a higher SAT, 1390.

Waitlisted VT.

Accepted to major state universities like Indiana, Pitt, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, JMU, Mason, Tennessee, etc. Some with generous merit.

. 3.9 uweighted?

Weighted.

Rough freshman year coming out of covid school but good grades and rigor in the later years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid waitlisted!! Totally shocked! IB candidate highest rigor 3.98 GPA 4.46 weighted. 790 SAT Math!! College counselor said he’d definitely get in.

Engineering instate…

My kid has similar stats including IB and engineering, also wait listed.

Is the issue with IB not having strong enough math program to be competitive for engineering?

Don’t think so IB analysis HL covers most of it-but just to be safe my kid also took AP Calc BC as an ELECTIVE. Has an A in both.

IB math is known for being weaker compared to AP.

FCPS,really needs to get rid of IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually do believe VT wait lists some very high stat kids if they don't apply ED ( Which they stopped ) as a way to yield protect OR give the spot to someone who really wants and needs it. If that it turns out the high stats wait listed kid really does want or need the spot, they will be pulled off the wait-list first.

I only have anecdotal evidence of this, no proof.
I know VT appreciates economic diversity and first generation kids. They are a public U and are here for the to educate the students and benefit the community

I actually think that high stat kids that view VT as a safety either aren’t putting in enough effort on the extra questions/essays or their ECs were not community-minded (maybe they were primarily academic. Or sport. VT seems to heavily emphasize community service)

Ultimately, we will never know why anyone gets deferred, WL or rejected. So it’s all just conjecture

This was my high stats kid.

Engineering major. In at Northwestern, Michigan and Carnegie Mellon, wait listed VT. They thought the short essays were stupid, so I am sure they did not put 100% effort into them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid waitlisted!! Totally shocked! IB candidate highest rigor 3.98 GPA 4.46 weighted. 790 SAT Math!! College counselor said he’d definitely get in.

Engineering instate…

I’m so sorry. That is surprising!

Truly surprised by this….perhaps they didn’t think he will accept…

Does VT play the yield protection game?

Nope. This has been discussed ad nauseam in this forum. They state right on their website that they do NOT yield protect. They probably were inundated with other students with equally good or better stats.

Yield Protection
Virginia Tech does not participate in yield protection.
https://www.vt.edu/admissions/undergraduate/counselor-corner.html

As well as some with worse stats, who got in anyway. Stop acting like the high stats applicant got drowned in a sea of high stats applicants.

Stop pretending you don't have sour grapes. Are you the parent who comes back year after year to moan that your "high stats" kid didn't get in? Please get over it.

You think that is one parent posting year after year, who has popped out kids faster than the duggars?

No. There is one parent whose kid didn’t get in several years ago and they come back every year to relive their bitterness because of course, their kid “deserved” to get in.

Yeah, it's probably new parents each year.