Virginia Tech gets 1,000 more freshman than last year

[Anonymous]

DD just returned yesterday from VT and said that almost everyone she knows there is engineering/hard sciences. She isn't crossing paths in her or boyfriend's dorm with liberal arts majors/has met a few in business.

She also commented that Sands (is that the President?) wants his legacy to be huge growth at VT and that's why they oversubscribed I'm guessing grand ideas of Amazon could also be a factor. She's irritated at Sands' grandiosity at the expense of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD just returned yesterday from VT and said that almost everyone she knows there is engineering/hard sciences. She isn't crossing paths in her or boyfriend's dorm with liberal arts majors/has met a few in business.

She also commented that Sands (is that the President?) wants his legacy to be huge growth at VT and that's why they oversubscribed I'm guessing grand ideas of Amazon could also be a factor. She's irritated at Sands' grandiosity at the expense of students.

That is happening in many schools. My DC attends RPI and they are forcing rise third year student to take their first semester in the summer and then be gone either fall or spring the next year. That way they have 12.5% more capacity to accept more students. This is the first year and they are having a very very rough start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New: over 8000 in freshman class confirmed.

https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2019/05/unirel-qanda-admissions.html

Almost 50 percent of the current overage in accepted offers is in the College of Engineering, and close to 50 percent of the overage in the college is concentrated in two majors—computer science and computer engineering—that are linked to the commonwealth’s plans to greatly expand the pipeline of talented graduates.

One possible solution is to modify our requirement that first-year students live on campus for the 2019-20 year. Another consideration is incentivizing students to start classes earlier, during the Summer Academy, or later than the fall semester. We are also working with faculty and our facility teams to explore ways to better coordinate the scheduling of classrooms so that we can schedule courses and utilize classroom spaces more effectively.

So they’re planning on trying to sweet talk some of the freshman into a spring or summer start? What a cluster.

Wow. I was angry when this news first broke, because it seemed to show an unacceptable level of incompetence that they botched the numbers so badly. This is making me start to think it was intentional, that they knew it would suck, and are trying to hide behind “just one of those things—some years you over-enroll.” So now I’m even angrier!

I just don’t see how they can maintain the quality of education or services they have been advertising to bring all of these students here. These families are going to put down $$$ for this?!?!

Did you read the interview or just conclude “wow” and get angry/angrier from DCUM’s rants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just returned yesterday from VT and said that almost everyone she knows there is engineering/hard sciences. She isn't crossing paths in her or boyfriend's dorm with liberal arts majors/has met a few in business.

She also commented that Sands (is that the President?) wants his legacy to be huge growth at VT and that's why they oversubscribed I'm guessing grand ideas of Amazon could also be a factor. She's irritated at Sands' grandiosity at the expense of students.

That is happening in many schools. My DC attends RPI and they are forcing rise third year student to take their first semester in the summer and then be gone either fall or spring the next year. That way they have 12.5% more capacity to accept more students. This is the first year and they are having a very very rough start.

RPI purposely chose this since they are in massive debt and need to make more money. They are also forcing all kids to live on campus with a meal plan for 5 semesters this way. They don't give a crap about their students. They need money. This terrible new program won't last but maybe 2 years and they will think of something different.

If VT wants to go bigger, they need to build for it. I don't think they purposely upped their yield. I think they just accepted too many mediocre students and URM/Pell that VT ended up being their best option. Whoever is director of admissions should be fired for not taking that into consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

And they can’t force kids they accepted as fall admits to wait until spring. They’re just hoping to find volunteers, which is unlikely. I can’t believe they did this again after doing this year before last. They need to get their act together. My dd is headed out of state, but 95% of her friends chose Tech and they are not happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

Dorms on campus and dining hall meals with friends are a major part of the college experience, especially as a freshman. Of course there are options, but that’s not what these kids signed up for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

Dorms on campus and dining hall meals with friends are a major part of the college experience, especially as a freshman. Of course there are options, but that’s not what these kids signed up for.

We just went to a VT visit day for high school juniors. This was in March. They were absolutely touting the dorms, the requirement for freshman to live on campus, and how great campus life is. They certainly seemed to think it was an important part of the VT experience. For them to so completely change their tune a few weeks later is awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to say, VT was my son's first choice but now I'm secretly relieved he was not admitted. I think we dodged a bullet here.

My daughter was accepted but thankfully didn’t choose. It was a little too conservative for her. So thankful too though.

+1

DC decided that big schools including VT were not the right fit. But DC has friends heading to VT who are already stressing about the gigantic freshman class and not only housing but also courses--how can any freshman get even minimally decent academic advising, or any attention if there are problems, if classes are so huge that the school is trying to get kids to start earlier or later in the school year? Housing is f course the first thing on people's minds but is anyone else worried that students will simply be lost in the herd academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

There are many dining halls and many many great restaurants right on campus. We ate at a few. VT is known for its food. One line from a third person does not a truth make

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

Dorms on campus and dining hall meals with friends are a major part of the college experience, especially as a freshman. Of course there are options, but that’s not what these kids signed up for.

We just went to a VT visit day for high school juniors. This was in March. They were absolutely touting the dorms, the requirement for freshman to live on campus, and how great campus life is. They certainly seemed to think it was an important part of the VT experience. For them to so completely change their tune a few weeks later is awful.

Did it ever occur to you that just too many people who were accepted said "yes". Go back and read the article. The admissions office even had a consultant team in this past year to work on algorithms to guesstimate how many students of the accepted class would actually enroll. Obviously they didn't take into account the fact that most parents, especially in Virginia, are waking up to the fact that they simply cannot afford 70K - 80K a year in after-tax dollars for private for four or five years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

Dorms on campus and dining hall meals with friends are a major part of the college experience, especially as a freshman. Of course there are options, but that’s not what these kids signed up for.

We just went to a VT visit day for high school juniors. This was in March. They were absolutely touting the dorms, the requirement for freshman to live on campus, and how great campus life is. They certainly seemed to think it was an important part of the VT experience. For them to so completely change their tune a few weeks later is awful.

Did it ever occur to you that just too many people who were accepted said "yes". Go back and read the article. The admissions office even had a consultant team in this past year to work on algorithms to guesstimate how many students of the accepted class would actually enroll. Obviously they didn't take into account the fact that most parents, especially in Virginia, are waking up to the fact that they simply cannot afford 70K - 80K a year in after-tax dollars for private for four or five years.

NP: That might be how they want to frame it, but they way undershoot and overshoot yield every other year and do it in equal magnitude (last year they way thought more would say yes than did), aren't getting much better at it. Sure getting yield right is hard, but VT is consistently worse at it than comparable schools (both public VA schools and other tech schools) and since half the time their problem--including last year--is that the expect more kids to say yes than actually do, it can't be about what a great deal they are. And it's not like their applications soared--they just consistently get their predictions--predictions that every college has to make every year--more wrong than others tend to. Other colleges undershoot by less regularly and overshoot very occasionally--but are careful how much they overshoot because it's a bigger problem. Undershooting just gets solved by waitlists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They can try to get students to start in the summer and offer classes into the night, but they can only fit so many students in their dorms and their cafeteria. I've heard from a Va Tech junior that their lines in the cafeteria are already terrible.

Least of the problems. You can preorder food from so many different places as part of the dining plan and just do a fast pick up. Might be different for boy who eat more and need the all-you-care-to eat Dining hall.

Dorms on campus and dining hall meals with friends are a major part of the college experience, especially as a freshman. Of course there are options, but that’s not what these kids signed up for.

We just went to a VT visit day for high school juniors. This was in March. They were absolutely touting the dorms, the requirement for freshman to live on campus, and how great campus life is. They certainly seemed to think it was an important part of the VT experience. For them to so completely change their tune a few weeks later is awful.

Did it ever occur to you that just too many people who were accepted said "yes". Go back and read the article. The admissions office even had a consultant team in this past year to work on algorithms to guesstimate how many students of the accepted class would actually enroll. Obviously they didn't take into account the fact that most parents, especially in Virginia, are waking up to the fact that they simply cannot afford 70K - 80K a year in after-tax dollars for private for four or five years.

NP: That might be how they want to frame it, but they way undershoot and overshoot yield every other year and do it in equal magnitude (last year they way thought more would say yes than did), aren't getting much better at it. Sure getting yield right is hard, but VT is consistently worse at it than comparable schools (both public VA schools and other tech schools) and since half the time their problem--including last year--is that the expect more kids to say yes than actually do, it can't be about what a great deal they are. And it's not like their applications soared--they just consistently get their predictions--predictions that every college has to make every year--more wrong than others tend to. Other colleges undershoot by less regularly and overshoot very occasionally--but are careful how much they overshoot because it's a bigger problem. Undershooting just gets solved by waitlists.

It is a great deal. Instate Virginians pay an annual total price of $26,240 to attend Virginia Tech on a full time basis. This fee is comprised of $11,093 for tuition, $8,920 room and board, $1,150 for books and supplies and $2,137 for other fees. That is 45% less than other Virginia state universities. Now top privates are as high as $76K-$80K a year, and more than half of our nation's college students take 5 or 6 years to complete. MC and UMC Parents cannot pay these outrageous private tuitions, so they go in-state, and obviously, VT is the state school for engineering, computer science, data science, etc. This result you are seeing happened because more parents than ever before said "You got into VT; we can only afford $26K a year for four years, we have to have reserves for a) grad school; b) our own retirement; c) taking care of elderly parents". Our DS had the dilemma of deciding between Georgia Tech, Purdue, VT and UVA. We let him decide but he knew that money was tight, especially since we've already put one child thru college and have two more going into the system.

If you read the article you will see that the admissions office hired a consultant practice to help them accept the right number of students. If there is any blame to be had it is assigned to those consultants. No school wants a problem like this. My own SLAC was oversubscribed and I wound up in a forced triple and many students in motels in the area around the school. We were miserable and it was not the freshman experience I wanted.

It's very simple. More families/students accepted offers than the consultant's algorithm said would. My guess is that the consultant couldn't feel the pulse of what is happening in all of the Virginia, California, Michigan and Texas schools. Parents want their children to get into these schools because of the obscene cost of the privates. AND more and more you see that students need a master's degree on top of the four year degree. Parents need to save for that as well.

[Anonymous]

^^is it still “a great deal” if you don’t have housing and your classes are crowded and you’re treated like cattle???

Serious question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^is it still “a great deal” if you don’t have housing and your classes are crowded and you’re treated like cattle???

Serious question.

Aren't you jumping to hyperbolic conclusions? How do we know they won't have housing? Tech could be bringing in air-conditioned trailers as we speak. How do we know they will be treated like cattle? One PP says "a friend of a friend" had to stand in line in dining hall. Oh the horror! When we toured we ate at the terrific restaurants that have pizza, sushi, Japanese teppan, etc. etc. The food is amazing at Tech. Why don't you wait and see how Tech decides to handle it.