Thank you. I missed the RD admissions are made if space is available. That makes it all make sense.
I really think it all depends on the school - there is no way that the large state schools that are managing 70-100k applications/year have time to really digest the school profile and consider how the lack of honors and APās early on (of the lack of grade inflation) might affect the studentās GPA. My D25 also waitlisted at VT Engineering as well as several other large state schools, but having much more success with smaller private schools that have fewer applications and are more familiar with our high school. When we toured U of Washington, they outright said they donāt consider your school profile!
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I think those are the most difficult - trying to get all of your thoughts down and make an impact in a limited word count. It seems like it might be a more efficient way to review applicants, vs weeding through a 600-count word salad.
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They farm out those essays to an army of faculty/staff/alumni reviewers. I imagine asking folks to read and rate 4 short essays with very specific prompts is a much easier ask and produces more standardized ratings than for a longer & more open ended essay.
Agree 100%. You really have to be strategic in what you talk about. It actually hurts those people who had a million activities to polish there college resume. Like my kid took really hard courses and was active in ECās but not insane amount we focused on her core ECās and Volunteer activities and tied it into the essays. 120 words is short short short. No fluff can be added.
Wondering if they use AI to do a first round of scoring. There was an article that some colleges do that for preliminary screening before any humans read them
S25 is planning to accept VT Business admission offer in a week after his final pending decision for a reach schoolā¦ We wonāt have time to visit VT but would like some insights on housing. is the housing deposit refundable and if we sign the contract, do we still have to pay full year housing costs if we decide to withdraw. Anyone knows which dorms are good for Business school kids in terms of location, ease of access to classes and student profileā¦ I assume we will be alloted housing based on availability. thanks for any info provided. My kid is very excited for VT Pamplin school for sure over Rutgers business school/Penn State undecided for reasons only known to him!
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Yes. The $400 deposit is refundable before May 1st. My understanding is the housing contract is void if you request a refund.
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Nicest campus in America (although PSU is nice too), best food, weather, nature. Lots of reasons 
If you google Pamplin and best dorms, several websites list several dorms.
Good luck to your son.
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thanks for the infoā¦ definitely VT looks nice on photos
Can not agree more. At the end of the day we wanted our kid at a place where they were happy the campus brings a smile to her face and the school spirit couldnāt be better. She has grown up seeing from me how strong the Hokie network is. Not many schools can compare to that.
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Breathtaking in person and easily walkable and makes for an enjoyable walk. So many schools we visited we couldnāt imagine our kid making the walk everyday. The way Tech is organized is unmatched. Itās big but still feels small and the way it blends into the downtown is unmatched.
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How does it compare to PSU? Walkability and such?
My daughter thinks VT is tiny compared to PSU and all the Big-10 schools she visited. For the most part all the academic buildings are on one side of the drillfield and the dorms are on the other side. The farther you live from the drillfield, the closer you are to the football stadium and Cassell Coliseum. The whole campus is very easy to navigate and has a very different feel in terms of size than PSU.
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My kid fell in love with the campus and hasnāt looked back. Kid did apply to several other schools (since kid is an engineering major and wasnāt sure if would get in). Kid got accepted with amazing merit to several other great schools but VT gave no merit - however it is still on the top. Going to Hookie Focus to just make sure but I doubt if it will change! All the posts I have read so far says it is one of the best campus, great food, great atmosphere. Part of me wants kid to be happy but part of me wants to send kid where they have merit. We are lucky to be able to have two choices but I keep reading that āgo where it is cheaperā but I do worry that that pursuit (savings would be about 10-15K a year so definitely significant) kid may end up somewhere they are not happy and would that impact the next four years? I am lost as what to do. Any advice from those who have been there before.
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In the end, itās what can you afford?
If you can afford Va Tech, then itās fine. Itās when people have to change their lives or delay their retirement that I worry.
The thing about now is you pick what you think is best. But you really donāt know. You could get a bad roomie or bad profs or be homesick. Thereās likely many a school out there where a kid can be happy - and one truly never knows where up front. At one, maybe theyād meet a spouse Thereās just no way to know. But itās likely thereās multiple places one can like.
So I say budget first. If you can afford something with little impact to you overall, then go for it.
In the end, outcomes wise, itās likely the other school (I donāt know what it is) will produce a similar outcome. My son turned down a top 10 engineering school against my beliefs for a very low ranked school because he got his own dorm room vs. a housing crunch - and works with those kids and kids from an even higher ranked school as well as lower ranked than his - and they all make the same (or started at the same). Thereās likely little difference where the student will end up - ABET certification is an equalizer.
Best of luck whatever you decide.
Itās the problem with having choices - you actually have to choose
One possibility could be - if you can afford Va Tech, approach your child with the - Iām happy to send you there but if you go to choice B, Iāll have money for you for grad school or Iāll take half of what we save and put it in an account toward a home down payment for later - and see what they say.
Anyway, it sounds like no matter where he ultimately he ends up, heāll get a great education. Sort of - heads he wins, tails he wins.
Congrats.
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My older kid (S22) chose the more expensive engineering school over the less expensive. It was a $12k difference per year, so a similar amount to yours. The schools are, on paper, essentially peers and are similarly sized with similar career outcomes. In fact, on this board the less expensive school is often recommended and recognized before the more expensive school. But he just loved the intangibles of the more expensive school. We could afford both without affecting our planned savings, so that was an important consideration. But once we got under the affordable amount, we let him make pro con lists and decide on his own. He wonāt have any extra $$ from us for grad school, but heās not planning on grad school and, if he does need it eventually, is hoping to get it partially covered by a future employer.
I think as long as you are clear about what your child would be forgoing with the more expensive school (e.g. extra $ towards a car, house, grad school) and it fits within your budget, then why NOT go to the school they fell in love with?
For my S22 while, the other school had a really strong program but he just felt like the campus was depressing and not him. A total vibe thing, not a measurable thing, but something that was important to him. So I guess another thing to consider is how much does your kid like VT more than the second choice? Is it a big difference? For my current S25, Iām struggling with this issue for a different reason - he ALSO prefers a more expensive school over a less expensive second choice. But in this case, I really believe that the cheaper school is so markedly better that I am not as supportive of the choice for him. Itās funny, itās almost the same situation - he has nothing on paper to say one is better than the other, itās just the vibe. Part of the difference here, though, is that I think heās not giving second choice a fair shake and I really think heād fit in better and find his people easier and ultimately be happier at the second choice school, so I really want him to go to accepted students days and then make a choice. If he ultimately picks the more expensive school that will be ok, itās under budget, but Iām not quite as supportive as I was of my older child making the same choice.
So I guess Iām saying, even in one family this answer can go two different ways. I think as long as you can afford both and you are clear with your kid about what the extra cost means, and they make their pro/con list accordingly you canāt go wrong.
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Take āall the postsā with a grain of sandā¦everyone is in different situations and if youāve saved enough to make your kids #1 choice a reality without going into debt/changing your lifestyle or dipping into your retirement savings, then donāt think twice. Thatās the benefit to having saved all that money IMO - that you are not bound by the cheaper school.
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Agree. My older D22 got into better programs for her major, but in the end shecould not see herself on those campuses for one reason or another whether it was vibe, location, size of program, etcā¦ In the end, I think if all are affordable they need to go with their gut of where they think they are most comfortable and what is right for them vs. top ranking if it is not drastically different. If they are not happy or fit in at the college they ultimately choose, it will not matter how great the program is if their quality of life does not match up.
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As a previous poster mentioned, for the most part, the VT campus has a residential side and an academic side, separated by the drill field. The dorms that border the drill field will be the closest to Pamplin and the other academic buildings (but they have no a/c, which is not a big deal to most students). Other dorms on the residential side are across the street from Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum (which is great for game days). All are walkable to the academic buildings and almost everywhere one needs to be on campus. They also have a campus bus system. For the size of the university, the campus really is relatively compact and walkable.
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