VA Tech

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If your student is not interested in engineering, the GPA/test scores of admitted students and acceptance rate at VT will be similar to JMU.

Evidence/citation for this assertion?

Not true for business either. My ds was waitlisted and never moved from waitlist for VT, but was admitted to the honors college at JMU.

Vt publishes all kinds of data by major and demographics, go look it up.

+1

Engineering and Business turn down a lot of very good students

Why is the overall acceptance rate over 60%? Does any other major university have such a gap between a handful of majors and everyone else? It just doesn’t make sense.

It’s not. As stated upthread (and cited!) in-state acceptance is 47%. According to VT itself, overall acceptance was 54.8% for most recent data.

VA generally & VT specifically put out very detailed data. Google is your friend, y’all

https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index#university

You can look for acceptance data by major, college & departments filtered on demographics

Is there an out of state yield problem? Strange that OOS has a higher acceptance rate. Normally it’s the opposite and in this cause it’s hurting their selectivity.

When you look at the data you see that VT's engineering school is about 50% in -state with the rest OOS and international. I interpret this to mean that VT has to rely on it's engineering school to generate the OOS tuition it needs to survive. VT also has a higher and sometimes significantly higher OOS acceptance rate for engineering, so in-state kids are at a disadvantage, which i find problematic for a state school.

THIS. The OOS engineering kids are often weaker, not the case for other public E schools. Data shows matriculated students have an avg SAT math of 700: that does not make a rigorous Engineering peer group. Talk to professors and students: it is not a great school.

[Anonymous]

Vt. Definitely yield protects a student we know got into all public. Ivys and a few ivys plus top private. but got waitlisted and did not come off of it . In state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’d rather him not go that school and go to a less “weed out” college so I didn’t push back at all when he said he wanted to submit his scores. There are other schools he is applying to that I think would be a better fit where he has a better chance of getting in

Smart to choose colleges using the "best fit" as the college selection metric.

Btw, we also will not be applying to engineering programs which intentionally "weed out" students. There are plenty of other good choices for engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’d rather him not go that school and go to a less “weed out” college so I didn’t push back at all when he said he wanted to submit his scores. There are other schools he is applying to that I think would be a better fit where he has a better chance of getting in

Smart to choose colleges using the "best fit" as the college selection metric.

Btw, we also will not be applying to engineering programs which intentionally "weed out" students. There are plenty of other good choices for engineering.

Sounds like your kid could be a good candidate for engineering technology. Lot's of good schools offer these programs, which are a bit less math and science intensive. If your kid has high academics schools like Rice, Yale and Harvard also offer a BA in engineering, which aren't ABET accredited, but offer some exposure to engineering as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’d rather him not go that school and go to a less “weed out” college so I didn’t push back at all when he said he wanted to submit his scores. There are other schools he is applying to that I think would be a better fit where he has a better chance of getting in

Smart to choose colleges using the "best fit" as the college selection metric.

Btw, we also will not be applying to engineering programs which intentionally "weed out" students. There are plenty of other good choices for engineering.

VT Prof here.

CoE is not intentionally "weeding out" students it admitted. On the contrary, all departments are under immense pressure to ensure low DFW (D grade, F grade, Withdrawal) rates for their courses and to ensure high graduation rates with low average graduation times.

To the extent that it appears that some courses weed out, I'd blame insufficient preparation and unrealistic expectations, but certainly not policy or intent on the part of the institution. Tech does not overadmit with the idea of right-sizing their class later. Also, admission decisions happen entirely outside of the college of engineering's control; that is, no one in the college is even asked, other than giving the admissions office enrollment target numbers to hit. Admissions is projecting (not protecting) yield and admits accordingly (and was off in both directions multiple times in the recent past as has been widely publicized).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:IDK. My daughter goes to what is considered a "middle-tier" Fairfax county high school. In her friend group, everyone who applied to VA Tech got in, literally everyone. These are smart, hardworking kids, but not superstars.

My one kid goes to TJ. The acceptance odds for VT are not great for it and really random looking when you go to Naviance.

My other kid goes to a solid but “mid tier” FCPS HS - oddly lots more green check marks in naviance and less of a random pattern to who is in vs rejected. I don’t think VT is a fan of magnet programs.

It seems to me they don’t like being considered a safety and like to yield protect. So they deny kids who seem overqualified for the school. I know multiple kids who got in to “better” schools and denied at Tech.

They say right on their website that they do not yield protect.

Do they count demonstrated interest? UVA says they don’t. I could see Tech using that as a proxy. Like high stat person who doesn’t visit has a lower chance than someone who shows interest, all other things being the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your student is not interested in engineering, the GPA/test scores of admitted students and acceptance rate at VT will be similar to JMU.

Evidence/citation for this assertion?

Not true for business either. My ds was waitlisted and never moved from waitlist for VT, but was admitted to the honors college at JMU.

Vt publishes all kinds of data by major and demographics, go look it up.

+1

Engineering and Business turn down a lot of very good students

Why is the overall acceptance rate over 60%? Does any other major university have such a gap between a handful of majors and everyone else? It just doesn’t make sense.

I think a lot of publics do. UCs, with the exceptions of Merced, Santa Cruz and Riverside, don’t have the admission rate of VT, but have large gaps between Business, Engineering, CS and non-STEM majors.

Of course it makes sense. It’s a tech school. It excels at engineering and mathematics, not soft humanities. Would you go to Georgia Tech for a history degree? No, you would not. But GT (also public and a tech school) does have a small history department

This again? I have kids at VT getting *gasp* humanities degrees and receiving a wonderful education. MIT, VT, GT - all of these schools are excellent all around, not just at “tech”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vt. Definitely yield protects a student we know got into all public. Ivys and a few ivys plus top private. but got waitlisted and did not come off of it . In state.

They state right on their website that they do not yield protect. This has been cited over and over.

“Yield Protection

Virginia Tech does not participate in yield protection.”

https://www.vt.edu/admissions/undergraduate/counselor-corner.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vt. Definitely yield protects a student we know got into all public. Ivys and a few ivys plus top private. but got waitlisted and did not come off of it . In state.

They state right on their website that they do not yield protect. This has been cited over and over.

“Yield Protection

Virginia Tech does not participate in yield protection.”

https://www.vt.edu/admissions/undergraduate/counselor-corner.html

Well then that settles it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IDK. My daughter goes to what is considered a "middle-tier" Fairfax county high school. In her friend group, everyone who applied to VA Tech got in, literally everyone. These are smart, hardworking kids, but not superstars.

My one kid goes to TJ. The acceptance odds for VT are not great for it and really random looking when you go to Naviance.

My other kid goes to a solid but “mid tier” FCPS HS - oddly lots more green check marks in naviance and less of a random pattern to who is in vs rejected. I don’t think VT is a fan of magnet programs.

It seems to me they don’t like being considered a safety and like to yield protect. So they deny kids who seem overqualified for the school. I know multiple kids who got in to “better” schools and denied at Tech.

They say right on their website that they do not yield protect.

Do they count demonstrated interest? UVA says they don’t. I could see Tech using that as a proxy. Like high stat person who doesn’t visit has a lower chance than someone who shows interest, all other things being the same.

We always visited and expressed interest even if the school says they don’t consider it. Especially if it’s a top choice school, as VT was for our DC. It can’t hurt.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone share stats for their admitted student studying a non-STEM major. I have a kid interested in Political Science / English / International Relations. They have a higher SAT in relation to their GPA. Some health issues affected their grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone share stats for their admitted student studying a non-STEM major. I have a kid interested in Political Science / English / International Relations. They have a higher SAT in relation to their GPA. Some health issues affected their grades.

I have two kids at VT, one a current student and one who graduated last year. As applicants, both had 4.0+ unweighted and 34/35 ACT. My graduate majored in National Security and Foreign Affairs w/a language minor and my current student is majoring in International Affairs, also w/a language minor.

Definitely apply! The programs and opportunities there are fantastic. GL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’d rather him not go that school and go to a less “weed out” college so I didn’t push back at all when he said he wanted to submit his scores. There are other schools he is applying to that I think would be a better fit where he has a better chance of getting in

Smart to choose colleges using the "best fit" as the college selection metric.

Btw, we also will not be applying to engineering programs which intentionally "weed out" students. There are plenty of other good choices for engineering.

Sounds like your kid could be a good candidate for engineering technology. Lot's of good schools offer these programs, which are a bit less math and science intensive. If your kid has high academics schools like Rice, Yale and Harvard also offer a BA in engineering, which aren't ABET accredited, but offer some exposure to engineering as well.

No. Strong student, very well prepared, but only will be applying to engineering colleges that have a higher graduation rate than VT and no international "weed out" classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I’d rather him not go that school and go to a less “weed out” college so I didn’t push back at all when he said he wanted to submit his scores. There are other schools he is applying to that I think would be a better fit where he has a better chance of getting in

Smart to choose colleges using the "best fit" as the college selection metric.

Btw, we also will not be applying to engineering programs which intentionally "weed out" students. There are plenty of other good choices for engineering.

Sounds like your kid could be a good candidate for engineering technology. Lot's of good schools offer these programs, which are a bit less math and science intensive. If your kid has high academics schools like Rice, Yale and Harvard also offer a BA in engineering, which aren't ABET accredited, but offer some exposure to engineering as well.

No. Strong student, very well prepared, but only will be applying to engineering colleges that have a higher graduation rate than VT and no international "weed out" classes.

It only gets harder from the weed out classes at any engineering school. How is your cupcake going to handle the upper level engineering courses if they are worried about the first classes of calculus, chemistry and physics. A well prepared, strong student isn't getting weeded out at VT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone share stats for their admitted student studying a non-STEM major. I have a kid interested in Political Science / English / International Relations. They have a higher SAT in relation to their GPA. Some health issues affected their grades.

I have two kids at VT, one a current student and one who graduated last year. As applicants, both had 4.0+ unweighted and 34/35 ACT. My graduate majored in National Security and Foreign Affairs w/a language minor and my current student is majoring in International Affairs, also w/a language minor.

Definitely apply! The programs and opportunities there are fantastic. GL.

How did they achieve over a 4.0 unweighted?