Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does VA have colleges for average kids anymore? Or decent safeties? There seems to be a big drop off between the top 4 schools and the rest.

I assume VCU, CNU, Mary Washington, Longwood, ODU would all fit the bill?

Admittedly, that is a very broad and diverse range of different types of public universities, but I would have had JMU in that category, as easier to get into than UVA and VT, but not anymore??

It's definitely easier to get into than UVA. For VT it's more about major. There are majors at VT with very high admit rates.

Really?? I know it's harder to get into Engineering at VT, but I didn't know there were majors that had very high admit rates. Do we seriously have to wait until 2/28 for EA release date at VT?

You can dig into the data here: https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index#college

Limiting it to in-state applicants, here are a few I found with admit rates >70%. A lot of these are newer/small majors.
Smart and Sustainable Cities (78%)
Environmental Policy & Planning (74%)
Sustainable Biomaterials (91%)
Packaging Systems and Design (82%)
Water Resources Policy and Management (88%)
Polymer Chemistry (78%)
Systems Biology (82%)
Mathematics (74%)
Statistics (74%)

There are a lot of majors with admit rates in the 60% range for in-state students.

Yes but keep in mind for VTech it can be hard to change your major if you try to game the admissions stats.

DP. It's only hard to change majors if you're trying to get into one of the "restricted" majors - CS, business, or engineering, for instance. It's not a problem at all to switch other majors. Here's a list of restricted majors. My DC is in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS) at VT and had no trouble at all switching to a different major.
https://www.registrar.vt.edu/dates-deadlines/Change_of_Major_Dates.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In From MCPS
3.73 uw, 4.5 W
8 APs
1320 SAT
Okay ECs

Shocked at some of the deferred profiles!

Above student was probably unlikely to attend if accepted- JMU assumed it and decided against giving up a spot that wouldn't be taken. Protecting their yield.

I think you may have misread- the pp said their kid got in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does VA have colleges for average kids anymore? Or decent safeties? There seems to be a big drop off between the top 4 schools and the rest.

I assume VCU, CNU, Mary Washington, Longwood, ODU would all fit the bill?

Admittedly, that is a very broad and diverse range of different types of public universities, but I would have had JMU in that category, as easier to get into than UVA and VT, but not anymore??

It's definitely easier to get into than UVA. For VT it's more about major. There are majors at VT with very high admit rates.

Really?? I know it's harder to get into Engineering at VT, but I didn't know there were majors that had very high admit rates. Do we seriously have to wait until 2/28 for EA release date at VT?

The late Feb EA release date for BT is a big turn off, especially when RD is released mid March…you only find out like 2 weeks sooner…what is the point of offering an EA option

+1 VT was DS's clear first choice so it was very frustrating to wait so long, even knowing his major had a high admit rate and his stats were really strong. You still worry that it won't be an acceptance.

This is why both VT and JMU need to have ED.
DP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance is very school dependent, and in my Fairfax County school Naviance data (McLean/Langley), a 3.6 gpa is not a safety or a slam dunk by any means. Even with a 34 ACT.

Interesting because I'm looking at Gonzaga scattergram and last year everyone with 3.2 and over got in, regardless of test scores (scores ranged from 1030-1500 but I'm not going to check who was test optional bc there are a ton of kids who applied), So a 3.6 with 34 GPA would absolutely be a slam dunk

Definitely very school dependent. At the higher performing FCPS high schools (like Oakton, Chantilly, Langley, etc), it is more difficult to get into JMU because they are competing against a lot of high stats students from those high schools. At Chantilly, for example, they generally need closer to a 3.9 gpa to get an acceptance. (Obviously, other factors come into play -- I'm just talking in general.)

This just seems like a bogus way of doing things. I mean it should be based on s whole school district, not an individual school.

Admissions are always, always based on the individual school and the peers at that school. Are you new to this?

Anonymous wrote:In From MCPS
3.73 uw, 4.5 W
8 APs
1320 SAT
Okay ECs

Shocked at some of the deferred profiles!

Above student was probably unlikely to attend if accepted- JMU assumed it and decided against giving up a spot that wouldn't be taken. Protecting their yield.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does VA have colleges for average kids anymore? Or decent safeties? There seems to be a big drop off between the top 4 schools and the rest.

I assume VCU, CNU, Mary Washington, Longwood, ODU would all fit the bill?

Admittedly, that is a very broad and diverse range of different types of public universities, but I would have had JMU in that category, as easier to get into than UVA and VT, but not anymore??

It's definitely easier to get into than UVA. For VT it's more about major. There are majors at VT with very high admit rates.

Really?? I know it's harder to get into Engineering at VT, but I didn't know there were majors that had very high admit rates. Do we seriously have to wait until 2/28 for EA release date at VT?

You can dig into the data here: https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index#college

Limiting it to in-state applicants, here are a few I found with admit rates >70%. A lot of these are newer/small majors.
Smart and Sustainable Cities (78%)
Environmental Policy & Planning (74%)
Sustainable Biomaterials (91%)
Packaging Systems and Design (82%)
Water Resources Policy and Management (88%)
Polymer Chemistry (78%)
Systems Biology (82%)
Mathematics (74%)
Statistics (74%)

There are a lot of majors with admit rates in the 60% range for in-state students.

Yes but keep in mind for VTech it can be hard to change your major if you try to game the admissions stats.

True, but if you are changing within a college, it's less of an issue. You definitely shouldn't apply to a less-popular major expecting to transfer into the Engineering or Business colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC also got in and probably won't be attending, considering JMU being a safety for them. Looking at others who are accepted/rejected, is JMU competing with UVA/WM/VT these days for similar stat students? I thought they are for mid-range kids - not putting anyone down. Or do majority of students these days have inflated grades and mid-range SAT score that they don't submit?

I think they are turning into the third choice school for non-stem kids, maybe for some stem kids too. At DD's school, VT has the reputation of being a miserable place

DP. VT has the complete opposite reputation at my DC's high school. It's a place the kids are clamoring to get into.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, pretty wild.

JMU was a safety for DS, but DS was deferred w/ a 3.74 UW GPA

Accepted into Penn State engineering.

Not as simple as my DS had high GPA and was rejected, while your DS with lower GPA was accepted- must be the school they're applying from. At the risk of stating the obvious, a top priority of admissions officers is protecting their admissions yield. If an applicant to JMU has a high GPA/test scores and isn't applying ED, the school might assume that it's a safety and the applicant isn't likely to attend JMU if accepted. With a certain number of spots to fill the incoming class, that leaves JMU holding the bag, having denied another applicant with lower grades/scores who was more likely to attend if accepted. All schools just trying to fill their dance card. That's why 'demonstrated interest' can be important. Applying ED largely removes the unknown for the school, which is why this improves applicant's chances of admission.

Anonymous wrote:Acceptance is very school dependent, and in my Fairfax County school Naviance data (McLean/Langley), a 3.6 gpa is not a safety or a slam dunk by any means. Even with a 34 ACT.

THIS ^^.

Accepted, in-state, 3.9W, TO, 5 AP's, 2 varsity sports, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does VA have colleges for average kids anymore? Or decent safeties? There seems to be a big drop off between the top 4 schools and the rest.

I assume VCU, CNU, Mary Washington, Longwood, ODU would all fit the bill?

Admittedly, that is a very broad and diverse range of different types of public universities, but I would have had JMU in that category, as easier to get into than UVA and VT, but not anymore??

It's definitely easier to get into than UVA. For VT it's more about major. There are majors at VT with very high admit rates.

Really?? I know it's harder to get into Engineering at VT, but I didn't know there were majors that had very high admit rates. Do we seriously have to wait until 2/28 for EA release date at VT?

You can dig into the data here: https://udc.vt.edu/irdata/data/students/admission/index#college

Limiting it to in-state applicants, here are a few I found with admit rates >70%. A lot of these are newer/small majors.
Smart and Sustainable Cities (78%)
Environmental Policy & Planning (74%)
Sustainable Biomaterials (91%)
Packaging Systems and Design (82%)
Water Resources Policy and Management (88%)
Polymer Chemistry (78%)
Systems Biology (82%)
Mathematics (74%)
Statistics (74%)

There are a lot of majors with admit rates in the 60% range for in-state students.

Yes but keep in mind for VTech it can be hard to change your major if you try to game the admissions stats.

In From MCPS
3.73 uw, 4.5 W
8 APs
1320 SAT
Okay ECs

Shocked at some of the deferred profiles!

Anonymous wrote:Deferred
4.1 W
4 DEs
Did not submit test scores
Varsity sport

NoVa female? Sorry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected
3.6 W
6 APs
Did not submit test scores
Varsity sport

In at Penn State and VCU.

When did Penn State become a JMU backup? Talk about a fall!

It's the branch campuses that seem easier (that's what mine go, and not accepting it). It's University Park that's the tougher one. That is still harder to get into than JMU.

My DS who was deferred by JMU, got into PSU - University Park, but it is a Summer admit, which doesn't bother him. It's the cost that bothers me.

Deferred
4.1 W
4 DEs
Did not submit test scores
Varsity sport