My fear is that large public universities will see a massive spike in enrollment from in-state students because of this pandemic. Parents will want students within state borders, and close to home, in the event that we face something like this again. Also, people will start looking more closely at the value proposition of in-state schools vs. out of state publics and privates. That could mean a massive over enrollment at large public universities like VT. They always “accept” many more students than they can accommodate due to historical yields. In a time of historical disruption I believe it’s reasonable to expect historically high enrollment…which would be catastrophic for a school logistically.
My son starts to lose interest in VT after being waitlisted (we are in state) and now is leaning to tOSU (Columbus) for biological sciences. This is going to hurt my bank account for sure.
@GKUnion That’s certainly possible. It’s also possible that students will decide to start at community college and defer their enrollment. If fall classes stay online, I can see where a new freshman would think it rather pointless to pay much higher tuition/fees to say they attend a major university when they are sitting at home taking online classes just as they would with CC. Perhaps universities with higher OOS percentages will need to pull from their waitlist if either scenario actually happens.
It is true. I have a neighbor who’s daughter was planning to go to TN and is now looking at possibly changing to a VA school closer to home.
of course it would mean less then out of states to VA. So overall college enrollment would be the same (but less out of state students percentage - meaning also less revenue for the school)
I think the real question, though, is whether VT is willing to risk pulling from the waitlist early and end up with more than they want…AGAIN. Their waitlist is obviously pretty big, so why not just wait until May 1st when you KNOW what your numbers are and then start pulling from the waitlist. Ohio State didn’t over-enroll last year like VT did, so I’m sure they can extend a bit to sure up their numbers. Every school is different, but VT definitely went into the year more conservative than most.
Yeah, I would actually think that this would be even more reason for large public schools to hold off pulling from the waitlist. They could see a huge spike in their in-state acceptances, which might skew their in-state/OOS percentages, but not likely change their overall students.
@HokieCrazy VT could pull from the waitlist before the matriculation deadline for any major if the offered cohort has been accounted for by matriculation or decline of offer and seats still remain.
So, in other words, if everybody (or very close to everybody) has accepted or declined their offer before May 1st, they could start pulling. I guess my point is I doubt that happens very much sooner than May 1st…right? And do they factor in how many kids could be pulling out of their deposits after May 1st since so many schools are using waitlists these days?
Reading everyone’s posts makes me feel better about my son being waitlisted for COE. He is OOS, 1440 SAT (760 math), many activities, 2 varsity sports, many AP’s, good grades, etc. He was admitted to COE at all other schools he applied to, several with merit $ & scholars programs. He chose not to stay on waitlist because he as admitted to his first choice, University of Maryland. I am just really surprised at the fantastic credentials of those on the wait list.
Past years have shown waitlist pulls close to 10 days before matriculation deadline. I’m not sure I follow the refund question - if you matriculate before May 1 and then decide you don’t want to attend, you can only get a full refund of the fee if you request it by May 1. Do you mean will they factor the # who will leave that money behind if they are waitlisted elsewhere and choose to leave VT enrollment for the chance they could be pulled off waitlist at another school? Not sure how firm the historic data would be and how they would profile an applicant. Risky move if you’re that student. Is there any data to suggest that schools are utilizing a waitlist more now than in prior years? For the last several years much of the guesses/predictions about VT waitlist size and numbers pulled have generally been inaccurate. Don’t be too shocked if that happens again.
Well, I hope you’re right. The earlier the better for my son, if they start pulling. And no, I’m not talking about people that pull out for the “chance” of being pulled off another waitlist. I’m referring to the ones that DO get pulled from the waitlist (at any point in time) and leave that deposit behind. That’s still a lost student. So, my question is, do they factor that into things when trying to land their ideal class size, because that could happen as late as July 1st for a lot of schools.
@PLO2020 did he get the National Buckeye Scholarship? That is making it a lot more attractive for us.
@HokieCrazy I wasn’t necessarily talking about timing, I just meant that if yield is expected to go down, the waitlist kids getting pulled up might be a bigger group than they anticipated. And you are OOS, right? That’s even better for you if they think the OOS yield will go down with all of the pandemic uncertainty (and I’m also thinking about summer ‘melt’ numbers going up if they keep classes online going into fall).
Still not following your question - is this the example you are referring to?
1.) Student on VT waitlist
2.) Student pulled from waitist and offered spot at VT
3.) Student accepts offer, deposits to VT, but then days/weeks later decides not to attend VT and forfeits deposit
I’ve got to think that is extremely rare. I also think it’s really rare that schools run it all the way up to July 1 for final incoming class. Wait list offers come with a pretty firm yes/no deadline requirement as I understand it. So assuming offers started May 2, I would not be surprised if the majority of seats are filled within a few weeks, even if a particular major’s list has to be revisited for a 2nd tier. Maybe there’s a sprinkling of spots that remain to be filled after that, but likely a small enough number that it falls within normal/accepted tolerance for projected incoming class.
Nope, I’m referring to:
- Student on XYZ waitlist
- Student accepts VT offer
- May 15th (or some other random date), Student gets pulled from XYZ waitlist and accepts
- VT loses a student
I think that’s pretty common and would be difficult for colleges to predict. Also, my son is on 4 waitlists at the moment. Because of the tight windows that you mentioned, it’s certainly possible that somebody would need to accept…and then later pull out because of another waitlist. Although, I do agree that this would be rare.
This was years ago, but a son did get off 2 waitlists. Only applied to 3 instate schools- accepted to his 3rd choice, waitlisted at the other 2. Got off 1st waitlist on Mother’s Day- lost deposit as well as non refundable housing deposit on 1st school. Got off VT waitlist on June 4th and then we also lost the deposit on the second school. But Virginia Tech was worth it! Three applications, eventually 3 admissions, but what a wild ride! Good luck to those still on the waitlist!
Something else to consider…a bunch of schools are extending their matriculation deadlines to June 1st (VCU, for example).
Yeah, I understand that this is happening and the reasons behind it, but not sure it actually makes much sense. I doubt very strongly that anybody will be free to travel in April or May to visit the schools, so what would change in that month? It’s really tough on these kids that waited for decisions before visiting the schools, but not sure the month delay is actually going to help them. I hope VT doesn’t extend their date, as it would likely affect when waitlists would start being leveraged.
I’m not sure I follow VCU’s logic. Their admissions page states that they have extended the deadline for matriculation due to COVID impact on K12 schools. I’m not connecting the dots.
I’m thinking they (VCU) were way behind the curve on acceptances so far this year.
I really hope VT does NOT extend their deadline!