VT results are available

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD came home last night and told me that many high performing kids at her top rated FCPS high school were wait listed for VT. My DS is at VT and he had a 3.8gpa (weighted) and 28 ACT score. I think his essay (which I will say was excellent) got him in.

I think admissions standards are just tougher this year. What was a solid "in" last year, is not the case this year.

Somehow everyone has a 4.1 GPA and 96th percentile SATs. It's unreal.

I think intended major has a lot to do with this. At most colleges, COE has higher admitted stats than other colleges within a university. Let’s be realistic.

[Anonymous]

Yikes, how does VT have a 73% admit rate, then? I fear for my kids. Thank god the recruited athlete hook still exists.

[Anonymous]

Virginia tech is very transparent about their admission statistics compared to most colleges.

Here, you can search by college/major and see for yourself
https://irweb.ir.vt.edu/webtest/FreshmenSummary.aspx

*Spoiler alert: the admitted stats vary widely depending on major!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges don't put too much weight on these essays. As I wonder how many had professional college coaches "edit" them or parents just about write them.

I totally disagree. The focus of my son's life is just not at school and only showed up in his essay. A sustained interest over 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, this is my personal experience. A lot of our Asian (Korean) friends were denied from VT and their stats were a lot higher then 3.2 GPA and 26 ACT.

Truth be told, it isn't just Asian kids being rejected with those stats.

Yep - parent of a white male here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges don't put too much weight on these essays. As I wonder how many had professional college coaches "edit" them or parents just about write them.

I totally disagree. The focus of my son's life is just not at school and only showed up in his essay. A sustained interest over 10 years.

I would think that his transcript and test scores would need to reflect a certain scholastic competence, though. It wasn't just the essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges don't put too much weight on these essays. As I wonder how many had professional college coaches "edit" them or parents just about write them.

I totally disagree. The focus of my son's life is just not at school and only showed up in his essay. A sustained interest over 10 years.

This kind of shit is beginning to piss me off.. The essays, ECs, wiping poor people's butt, CPR for dying turtles, etc should be ADDITIONAL FACTORS that should probably count for about 1% or less of the selection process. After all, college is meant to get an education, right? If turtle-loving is the objective, why not just intern at a pet store?

Not one of the International admits do that kind of crap. Do you think the hordes of Chinese coming to American universities care about the poor, the environment, or anything else other than maximizing their return on investment? Why should it be different from us?

[Anonymous]

Calm down PP. Sounds like you are bitter and angry, looking for a scapegoat. Hope your kid did not get that from you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD got in, school of engineering. She also got into UVA school of engineering.

Do you mind posting some stats PP?

girls applying to the engineering programs at state schools probably have a slight advantage to boys. Schools are trying to bring up the ratio of female STEM students....I hope this would get my less than stellar DD into one of those programs.

[Anonymous]

I am pretty sure that UVA and W&M did have a cap on OOS students. Somewhere in the 38% range. Can anyone veriify? Not sure about Virginia Tech and the other state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Same thing for UVA, it really concerns me as my oldest is applying for colleges in a few years. It’s a budget balancing method, and it sucks for instate students.

The data doesn't back this up at all.

People are really jumping to conclusions without any significant evidence.

No one is jumping to conclusions. It’s a budgeting method to increase the tuition of OOS students and increase the percentage acceptance rate of OOS to offset increased costs or raise more money. Many states do this. Virginia does NOT have a cap on the number or percentage of OOS students a state university can accept, the universities themselves set their own numbers, so it fluctuates from year to year. More people live in Virginia and those people have children who graduate high school and want to go to an in state school and the demand has increased substantially. Earlier this year UVA agreed to allocate about 200 more spots for instate students, but it isn’t enough.

Look at NC. By law each incoming freshman class must be at least 82% in state. The state will not budge and their government has publically stated it will not change OOS ratios to balance their education budget. Their priority is to their own in state students. I wish Virginia would place a similar priority on its citizens. You’re following yourself if you think money isn’t the issue.

Several bills have been introduced to get the GA to act on it, but nothing passes.
http://www.vagazette.com/news/va-vg-state-adm-guidelines-1116-20161116-story.html

We've talked about the bills here before. They are PR. The rep can go home and tell people that they are fighting the good fight. They have no intention of them ever passing.

W&M, UVA, and VT agreed to ratios years ago. It just so happens that VT isn't as popular outside of Virginia, so their admissions rate is higher for that group. W&M and UVA have enough cache outside Virginia that their admissions rates are lower for that group. It's much harder to get into W&M and UVA from outside Virginia.

The stats are readily available if you want to see the proof:
http://research.schev.edu/enrollment/B08H_report.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yikes, how does VT have a 73% admit rate, then? I fear for my kids. Thank god the recruited athlete hook still exists.

It doesn't. That's the big story this year. So many students applied that the admit rate dropped to 56%. VT sent out a notice to all college counselors a few days in advance to warn them. Also, when you look at the admit rate for VT you have to factor in that most of those students self-select to apply there because both they and their counselors know the statistics needed to get in (same with W&M and UVA) so you can't compare the admissions rate to private universities or colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, this is my personal experience. A lot of our Asian (Korean) friends were denied from VT and their stats were a lot higher then 3.2 GPA and 26 ACT.

Truth be told, it isn't just Asian kids being rejected with those stats.

Yep - parent of a white male here.

Bingo. Living in No. Va does have its disadvantages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope colleges don't put too much weight on these essays. As I wonder how many had professional college coaches "edit" them or parents just about write them.

I totally disagree. The focus of my son's life is just not at school and only showed up in his essay. A sustained interest over 10 years.

This kind of shit is beginning to piss me off.. The essays, ECs, wiping poor people's butt, CPR for dying turtles, etc should be ADDITIONAL FACTORS that should probably count for about 1% or less of the selection process. After all, college is meant to get an education, right? If turtle-loving is the objective, why not just intern at a pet store?

Not one of the International admits do that kind of crap. Do you think the hordes of Chinese coming to American universities care about the poor, the environment, or anything else other than maximizing their return on investment? Why should it be different from us?

I really don't think that a student coasts through HS getting barely B's and mediocre test scores their entire HS career and then is accepted into a competitive college based primarily on their fabulous essay. Might as well start admitting them via lottery if that's case.

[Anonymous]

Do they have acceptance stats for in state by region? Everyone talks about how hard it is to get in from NOVA, what kinds of stats do accepted students from southwest VA have?