VA Tech EA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Son’s classmate got into Cornell and UVA. Waitlisted at Tech.

Why is this surprising? This is why sometimes people get turned down for being overqualified for a job. The schools try to accept kids they think will actually attend the school. If they admit all high stats kids, they'll be under enrolled. Waitlist allows them to see how many of the high stats kids withdraw and use that to judge which ones are really interested.

Except this year, VT will have probably zero high stats kids to choose from. Now their ranking (whatever your source) will plummet, and fewer high ranking students will bother applying in the future. Is that what VT wants?

Also, is the VA public college/uni system looking to give white kids NO options - because if that happens, there will be big lawsuits. You can't say "we want 90% first generation". It doesn't work that way. Look at what happened to TJ.

Do you really think white kids have no options? Chances are your high stats kid got waitlist because of a lower stats white kid who VT thinks will actually go there. A white kid who wrote his essay about being discriminated against for being conservative got in. Clearly they aren't excluding white kids. Also, you do know there are first generation white kids also, right? And yes, they can just say they want x percent first generation kids. Having parents who went to college isn't a protected class. I know first generation white kids and Asian kids. First generation isn't race based.

I expect we'll see the caliber of students going to the next tier of VA colleges continue to go up -- JMU, GMU, VCU, CNU depending on major choice. If your budget only works with in-state schools there are still great options. DS got into VT but GMU was also a strong option for his major, although he'd have been disappointed to stay so close to home for college.

[b]


But VT is the only polytechnic in the state, which is why it should not be turning down the top high stats kids from in-state families which desperately need . Let the privates do that, but not the publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Son’s classmate got into Cornell and UVA. Waitlisted at Tech.

Why is this surprising? This is why sometimes people get turned down for being overqualified for a job. The schools try to accept kids they think will actually attend the school. If they admit all high stats kids, they'll be under enrolled. Waitlist allows them to see how many of the high stats kids withdraw and use that to judge which ones are really interested.

Except this year, VT will have probably zero high stats kids to choose from. Now their ranking (whatever your source) will plummet, and fewer high ranking students will bother applying in the future. Is that what VT wants?

Also, is the VA public college/uni system looking to give white kids NO options - because if that happens, there will be big lawsuits. You can't say "we want 90% first generation". It doesn't work that way. Look at what happened to TJ.

Do you really think white kids have no options? Chances are your high stats kid got waitlist because of a lower stats white kid who VT thinks will actually go there. A white kid who wrote his essay about being discriminated against for being conservative got in. Clearly they aren't excluding white kids. Also, you do know there are first generation white kids also, right? And yes, they can just say they want x percent first generation kids. Having parents who went to college isn't a protected class. I know first generation white kids and Asian kids. First generation isn't race based.

I expect we'll see the caliber of students going to the next tier of VA colleges continue to go up -- JMU, GMU, VCU, CNU depending on major choice. If your budget only works with in-state schools there are still great options. DS got into VT but GMU was also a strong option for his major, although he'd have been disappointed to stay so close to home for college.

[b]


But VT is the only polytechnic in the state, which is why it should not be turning down the top high stats kids from in-state families which desperately need . Let the privates do that, but not the publics.

The publics can’t accept all the high stats kids who apply. You need to get this through your head and stop repeating the exact same thing, over and over.

[Anonymous]

VT rejects highly qualified in state applicants if they do not apply Early Decision. VT does not want in state applicants to apply to UVA or consider merit packages from OOS universities. VT is the only public school in the country that has this policy.

[Anonymous]

It’s…kinda gross IMO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

Well stated. The worst cases are those where applicant really needs to go in state for financial reasons but doesn’t know this ED game. Applicant thinks they can apply to UVA, VT and some other in state schools, get fair consideration, and then decide. But if they are too qualified VT rejects them.

For us at least we go in with our eyes open and can afford OOS Unless DC is truly 100% VT all the way I will encourage applying to multiple schools in and out of state. This ED or Else Policy is a huge turn off.

[Anonymous]

There are many things that are yield management: Admitted students days, tours, ED, etc. They are intended to keep yield higher and all schools do at least some of them. Yield protection is a special category, where schools reject those that are likely to reject them.

Enrollment management is dependent on estimated yield. Virginia Tech had a series of misses, both under and more publicized over enrollment in recent years to to issues with their models. Waitlists are supposed to provide some buffer for error.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VT rejects highly qualified in state applicants if they do not apply Early Decision. VT does not want in state applicants to apply to UVA or consider merit packages from OOS universities. VT is the only public school in the country that has this policy.

This is such BS. My high stats applicant applied EA and was accepted, as were several of his friends. We get that your kid was not accepted, and others here on DCUM might have been rejected as well - but you understand that is a TINY sampling of the thousands of VT applicants, right? It clearly makes you feel better to blame the rejection on something nefarious going on, when there is not. As at many other universities, it always helps to apply ED. But there are still plenty of high stats applicants getting in EA and RD. And as at ALL universities, there are no guarantees - for anyone.

Your last line is ludicrous and your constant sour grapes are beyond tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It seems like now a good discrimination/victim hood anecdote is the golden ticket.

Seriously, WTF are you talking about? Being discrimnated against is "victimhood?" Instead of playing the victim yourself, how about just opening your eyes to events in our country. Just TODAY, the House passed an Equality Act that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orentation and gender identity. That legislation is not likely to pass in the Senate. If your kid can't write a 120 word essay based on discrimination they've experienced or seen, perhaps your attitude is the problem.

How does writing an essay on something like this, esp if you have not experienced it or seen it firsthand, contribute to helping the problem? You don't think kids will embellish their experiences just to check that box????

I can write an essay on just about anything and telling you what you want to hear. Any halfway decent writer can . . .

Well, if you've read these boards much, people are in utter denial, so willfully obtuse they couldn't dream up a fictional scenario. It's beyond them, hence the ballyhooing.

Frankly, if you really can't think of a single thing that you either experienced or witnessed, whether in person or even on a national level, you could write a great essay on how difficult it was for you to write the essay and reflect on that fact.

^^^^ This.

Frankly, I was closer to outrage than serenity over this essay prompt.... until I read your response. Bravo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VT rejects highly qualified in state applicants if they do not apply Early Decision. VT does not want in state applicants to apply to UVA or consider merit packages from OOS universities. VT is the only public school in the country that has this policy.

This is such BS. My high stats applicant applied EA and was accepted, as were several of his friends. We get that your kid was not accepted, and others here on DCUM might have been rejected as well - but you understand that is a TINY sampling of the thousands of VT applicants, right? It clearly makes you feel better to blame the rejection on something nefarious going on, when there is not. As at many other universities, it always helps to apply ED. But there are still plenty of high stats applicants getting in EA and RD. And as at ALL universities, there are no guarantees - for anyone.

Your last line is ludicrous and your constant sour grapes are beyond tiresome.

It's fairly well-established that VT engages in yield protection for high stats kids to better manage their enrollment--often waitlisting highest stats kids. And they did begin to use an admissions algorithm to help enrollment management after their major problems with predicting enrollment--which has been elsewhere shown to do this very thing: https://www.brookings.edu/research/enrollment-algorithms-are-contributing-to-the-crises-of-higher-education/
When a school offers major merit awards to kids who they initially waitlisted...it fits the narrative.
It's also true that their acceptance rates are higher for OOS applicants than in-state, contrary to other VA public school's practices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

Well stated. The worst cases are those where applicant really needs to go in state for financial reasons but doesn’t know this ED game. Applicant thinks they can apply to UVA, VT and some other in state schools, get fair consideration, and then decide. But if they are too qualified VT rejects them.

For us at least we go in with our eyes open and can afford OOS Unless DC is truly 100% VT all the way I will encourage applying to multiple schools in and out of state. This ED or Else Policy is a huge turn off.

+1 parents are finally waking up to this twisted game

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

Well stated. The worst cases are those where applicant really needs to go in state for financial reasons but doesn’t know this ED game. Applicant thinks they can apply to UVA, VT and some other in state schools, get fair consideration, and then decide. But if they are too qualified VT rejects them.

For us at least we go in with our eyes open and can afford OOS Unless DC is truly 100% VT all the way I will encourage applying to multiple schools in and out of state. This ED or Else Policy is a huge turn off.

+1 parents are finally waking up to this twisted game

Yep. If you want engineering and aren't willing to ED to VT, should be sure to also apply GMU, VCU, etc. In the long run I'd think VT's policy is likely to improve the engineering programs at those schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

This is a very thoughtful post but neglects a lot of kids that are in between the two categories. One, lots of people aren't aware of VT and the ED situation. Many are the first kids in family applying for schools. At our school visit from Tech in early fall nothing was even implied that they had to go ED if it was their first choice or one of their favorites. So my DC applied EA and also to others EA because they weren't ready to commit in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s…kinda gross IMO

Agreed. The problem with this discussion is that both sides have valid points and neither will even contemplate that the other is partially right.

For the VT boosters - obviously VT is practicing yield protection by waitlisting these supposed 4.5/1570 in-state students. I believe it as I have heard from several TJ families that their high stats kids were waitlisted. You are kidding yourself if you think this is based on a "holistic" evaluation and that these kids (who are reportedly also applying to Harvard and Princeton) are study robots and have deficient applications and just forgot to do community service and that service is a uniquely VT thing to consider. These types of kids are well aware that Princeton and Harvard also value service and have planned accordingly. VT is waitlisting them because they think these types of kids will have better offers and won't come. The irony is that most of these kids won't get into Princeton or Harvard based on the 4-5% admission rates there, and VT would be a better school if some of these higher stats kids ended up at VT. They might even pick VT over UVA or other top-30 schools because of stronger engineering or price.

For the disgruntled reject/waitlist people - you may not like what is happening but it has been going on for years and is well known. If you really want VT and you have high stats, you need to apply ED. If you are treating it like a safety and get waitlisted or rejected, that's on you. With applications going up year after year and more and more applicants using ED, it is not likely to change. You will likely have other options but VT may not be one of them. Also note that VT has struggled with predicting yield and has let in close to 3,000 off the waitlist the last two years, so they are waitlisting tons of kids and then will figure it out later once they have a better sense of how many people will attend.

This is a very thoughtful post but neglects a lot of kids that are in between the two categories. One, lots of people aren't aware of VT and the ED situation. Many are the first kids in family applying for schools. At our school visit from Tech in early fall nothing was even implied that they had to go ED if it was their first choice or one of their favorites. So my DC applied EA and also to others EA because they weren't ready to commit in November.

It would be nice if VT were more transparent about it, but they are not. The two highest stats kids in our school's Navience data were waitlisted - 4.6/1580 and 4.55/1600 - while kids got accepted with 3.9/1010. Must be that holistic review. So as a public service to all, don't count on VT admission regardless of your stats unless you apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VT rejects highly qualified in state applicants if they do not apply Early Decision. VT does not want in state applicants to apply to UVA or consider merit packages from OOS universities. VT is the only public school in the country that has this policy.

This is such BS. My high stats applicant applied EA and was accepted, as were several of his friends. We get that your kid was not accepted, and others here on DCUM might have been rejected as well - but you understand that is a TINY sampling of the thousands of VT applicants, right? It clearly makes you feel better to blame the rejection on something nefarious going on, when there is not. As at many other universities, it always helps to apply ED. But there are still plenty of high stats applicants getting in EA and RD. And as at ALL universities, there are no guarantees - for anyone.

Your last line is ludicrous and your constant sour grapes are beyond tiresome.

It's fairly well-established that VT engages in yield protection for high stats kids to better manage their enrollment--often waitlisting highest stats kids. And they did begin to use an admissions algorithm to help enrollment management after their major problems with predicting enrollment--which has been elsewhere shown to do this very thing: https://www.brookings.edu/research/enrollment-algorithms-are-contributing-to-the-crises-of-higher-education/
When a school offers major merit awards to kids who they initially waitlisted...it fits the narrative.
It's also true that their acceptance rates are higher for OOS applicants than in-state, contrary to other VA public school's practices.

Link to this claim?