Are Grades and Test Scores all that Matter at Big State Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VT does not focus on grades and test scores. I have no idea what they do care about though.

+1
After hearing about some of my kid’s friends not getting in to Engineering, I agree completely

Maybe because they have thousands of highly qualified students applying so the competition is fierce?

Except they accept a large percentage of students. Competition really isn't that fierce there. They do seem to yield protect though.

They accept a large percentage of qualified students. It's a big school and they get thousands and thousands of applications. They can't accept everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) It's going to vary based on the state school. You cannot generalize across all states.

2) It matters whether your kid is in state or out of state. Many states have quotas/percentages for OOS and stats will need to be higher.

3) It's going to matter what program your kid is applying to, which renders Naviance next to useless. Example -- computer science, biology, or business at UMD -- extremely competitive, and not comparable to say an English major.

4) If your kid is applying to a school, they should take every aspect of the application seriously no matter the size, public/private, big/small, instate/out. Schools don't require supplemental essays for no reason. Do it right or don't do it at all. Don't give the overworked admissions officers an easy reason to give your kid the boot for failure to follow directions.

5) If you want your kid to apply to a big state school that really only cares about grades and (possibly) test scores, consider Canadian universities.

I see the bolded a lot, or variations, and it doesn't track with our experience in the class of 2022.

With a couple of notable exceptions -- engineering, performance music, divinity, education -- you're not applying for the major. You apply to the school. And the "school" is most often just Arts and Sciences. So you're not "applying to biology" ^^^^ VS. "applying to English." You're not 'admitted to biology' or 'admitted to math' versus 'admitted to psychology'. You're .... admitted to the university. In the large majority of cases. Whether that's for math, chemistry or gender studies.

That's actually not quite true. You do indeed apply to your major. You have to list what you plan on majoring in, and they definitely take that into account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) It's going to vary based on the state school. You cannot generalize across all states.

2) It matters whether your kid is in state or out of state. Many states have quotas/percentages for OOS and stats will need to be higher.

3) It's going to matter what program your kid is applying to, which renders Naviance next to useless. Example -- computer science, biology, or business at UMD -- extremely competitive, and not comparable to say an English major.

4) If your kid is applying to a school, they should take every aspect of the application seriously no matter the size, public/private, big/small, instate/out. Schools don't require supplemental essays for no reason. Do it right or don't do it at all. Don't give the overworked admissions officers an easy reason to give your kid the boot for failure to follow directions.

5) If you want your kid to apply to a big state school that really only cares about grades and (possibly) test scores, consider Canadian universities.

I see the bolded a lot, or variations, and it doesn't track with our experience in the class of 2022.


+
With a couple of notable exceptions -- engineering, performance music, divinity, education -- you're not applying for the major. You apply to the school. And the "school" is most often just Arts and Sciences. So you're not "applying to biology" ^^^^ VS. "applying to English." You're not 'admitted to biology' or 'admitted to math' versus 'admitted to psychology'. You're .... admitted to the university. In the large majority of cases. Whether that's for math, chemistry or gender studies.

That's actually not quite true. You do indeed apply to your major. You have to list what you plan on majoring in, and they definitely take that into account.

+1. DS applied to engineering. It’s a tough admit