I’m of the opinion that kids should go to a school that wants them. Things happen for a reason. Virginia Tech is a great school but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it(unless you’re in-state and don’t have the means to go anywhere else). All these highly qualified, high stat students have a wealth of school choices…schools that actually want them.
I will say…except for the SAT/GPA scores, the kids at our HS aren’t really forced to update their statuses, so depending on your HS, the data may still be relatively incomplete.
It’s my understanding the student will receive a phone call if they are being taken off the wait list. Makes sense - the school is going to want to get that info out and a reply as soon as possible. I do believe there is a deadline to accept as well.
Naviance data can be skewed as well, depending on how diligent the HS guidance office is on collecting back end acceptance info and whether a student is honest in communicting to guidance. For our son’s HS it was pretty accurate, but YMMV.
VT does post a lot of data by college. You can look at data for current frosh class (2019/20) by college.
For example you will see that the engineering freshman matriculants had a median math SAT of 706. Admitted student math SAT would have been even higher (enrolled stats tend to be lower than admitted, as higher stat students have more options/may enroll elsewhere)
Every admissions decision is a conscious decision. Here’s info from the schools in your OP re: what they look for:
Cornell - “Our admission process is highly individualized, and we spend lots of time evaluating whether you’ll be a good fit for the culture and philosophy of our university. The result is an incredibly rich mix of students, which is one of the best things about Cornell.”
UW-Madison - “At UW–Madison, our holistic application process is designed to help us find remarkable students—students who will add to the legacy of UW–Madison. We don’t use formulas or charts, and there is no required minimum test score, GPA, or class rank. We read each application thoroughly, one by one.”
Sounds pretty holistic.
@ShenVal18 why no enthusiastic yays where she was offered? Because she did not even apply to those schools. This was her number 1 (really, I don’t understand why).
@Makingsense , I’m sure that I am misreading/interpreting this but I am not sure I understand this statement. Are you saying:
- She got into schools that she didn't apply to? or
- She got scholarships that she didn't apply for at all of the schools that she applied to and was admitted to?
We get what holistic means but it still doesn’t justify their decisions. Our school looked at the 20 applicants and the decisions based on grades, SAT, activities, and major and the decisions do not make any sense. This is not the case for any other school and it’s not like 2 students were similar and one got in, it is WAY off from any logic. Good luck to everybody and I hope they figure it out to avoid confusing and disappointing future deserving students.
@Redi2cruise2024 Yes, she had 2 schools offer her half ride scholarships IF she applied (smaller private schools with no engineering programs)… and that was before negotiating. She also had one larger school OOS Technical University in the midwest tell her if she applied there would be scholarship money for her… app fee waived. They did have a program that interested her, she applied, was accepted within 36 hours and had basically an instate tuition offer within another 48.
Not the norm (never should be), but it does happen.
Just curious - has anyone actually called Admissions? Not in order to confront them about the wait list, but simply to see if they will answer factual questions like:
- How many students are on the wait list?
- Is it possible they will pull students off the wait list before May 1st?
I understand it does no good (and could be counterproductive) to call them to fight, complain, etc. However, how can they object to a reasoned and calm person seeking info which will assist in a student’s decision process?
@Makingsense , that’s awesome!
My heart tells me that they will pull from the list this year and I’m pulling for all of these hardworking students who want to call this home. I don’t recall seeing if she has any other acceptances, but does she have any other schools that she can consider and get excited about if for some reason Tech doesn’t pull from the list?
@Redi2cruise2024 They seem to be saying that their student was offered scholarships to schools they did not apply to, including one that was almost a full-ride. And that they did not apply for scholarships at the schools the student was accepted to.
I didn’t know that a school could offer confirmed merit aid to a student without an application in hand. Maybe offered in this sense means a pitch by a school’s admissions office that “you’ll be a strong candidate for X scholarship” or “if you apply you’ll be eligible for”. I’m not sure how they would know merit without stats from an application, but maybe there’s a process for that?
@ShenVal18 I am really not sure what you keep trying to prove? She HAS applied for scholarships to ALL schools she has applied to. You keep trying to discredit what I am saying… but whatever trips your trigger.
Now you are calling me a liar?! While I hate to burst your bubble, at least in our neck of the woods in the programs our kids are enrolled, this is not commonplace, but not all that unusual either. I know VT does not do such things, but the whole world does not do as VT does.
Fact - 2 small privates, “Mr. xxxx, we are calling from U-XXXX (actually XXXX College and XXXXX U), we are recruiting YYYYYY and are willing to offer our XXXX scholarship in the amount of $$$$$$”. Both were via phone, one was also via mail. Yes, they are real universities and colleges. Because she did not apply, we will never know whether they were legit offers, HOWEVER, they were both offers of specific value with guaranteed acceptance into the school.
Fact - The U of LMNOP - in the midwest, that state’s tech university (not to be confused with a tech school), did not offer before app, but sent her a fee waiver and noted she would be eligible for scholarship X. She DID apply and within 48 had a scholarship offer that basically reduced OOS tuition to instate rates. She will likely not take that offer because she has other schools in mind.
No one is accusing you of anything.
In post #83, you say “If you must know the truth, at this time my child has applied to no other school top scholarships, but she has been offered very good scholarships by some very good schools” and in post #127 you say “why no enthusiastic yays where she was offered? Because she did not even apply to those schools.”
Those read to me that a.) she had not applied for scholarships from schools that she applied for admission to, and b.) that she was offered scholarships by schools where she hadn’t applied for admission. I must have misinterpreted post #83 - I guess what you meant there was that she had applied for scholarships wherever she actually applied for admission but that they just weren’t the top scholarships at those schools?
@Redi2cruise2024 cruise My student has also been offered scholarship money to schools she has not applied to but they do not have her major so not an option. So yes, it does happen.
@5OnTheHill, thanks for the information and @Makingsense explained their circumstances quite well to clear up my confusion.
If DS received any type of “guarantee no application scholarship” opportunities from schools he didn’t share it with us. (Especially if it required another essay) If he had no interest in a school he wouldn’t have applied regardless of merit especially if they didn’t have his field of study. He was pretty disciplined and only wanted to apply to schools that he knew he would be happy attending. Heck, I couldn’t even get him to apply to his other Parents Alma Mater. Lol. sigh
He did get emails some of the “fee waivers and no essay and you will “eligible” for merit offers up to a $ amount. I only know this because the email came directly to me. Further investigation of some of these schools still left them over our budget so… yeah there’s that.
Again, I wish everyone who has to wait a bit longer to receive a final decision the best. My DS has not made a final decision to accept but I assure all that if this and/or ANY school that he chooses not to attend, he will be freeing his spot as soon as decision is made.
This is exactly how some schools protect their acceptance rate - flood the market for applications, regardless of whether a student is really qualified and then reject tons of them. Viola - low accceptance rate. Starts after your student fills out certain data on PSAT, etc. We got a ton of fee waiver and scholarship-eligible direct mail and email for schools that there was no realistic chance our student would be accepted into. The smaller private LAC’s are almost forced to do this each year based on declining enrollment numbers. From what I can tell, a student paying full boat to a private school is definitely the exception rather than the norm. Almost immediately they offer a tuition reduction to bring cost comparable to your in-state rates. And so many seem to confuse “eligible” with “offered” when it comes to scholarships.
Speaking of undecided (AKA University Studies), does anyone know how many they usually end up accepting? I’m sure there’s a number like there is for Engineering, Architecture, Business, etc., but I can’t find it anywhere. Asking because that’s the pool my son is treading water in.
Update (what happens when you go to a bi-racial church with kids all over the area going to almost all schools AND the main school in question is also predominantly of an ethnic group of greatly distributed members of a close knit cultural segment of society).
3 more valedictorians in our area - 2 were waitlisted to COE, one did get admitted, however, not to the COE.
Almost all wait listed (that I am aware of) top 10 COEs are of Indian or other Asian heritage. It is not that non-Indian or other Asian have not been examined, it is that in the schools in question, these are the students that make up the top 10. 1 of the now 15 top 10ers wait reported is white. Also, to be fair, almost all these accepted, to my knowledge, are of Indian or other Asian decent… also because most of those we know that applied to COE are in that group… 2 of the 3 white applicants to the COE have been accepted (not a large sample to choose from).
The heartbreaking mostly confirmed case of the day… a child’s parents are here on non-immigrant working (not sure if H1, E, or other) visas (not permanent residents or citizens but are legal) and thus he had to follow the VT international student process (makes sense). He completed the app and VT requested more info. The info was provided, he has email confirmation of submission and acceptance of information and application. When they were not notified of any status the COE parent called admissions to discover that the application had been discarded and not processed because the additional information request had never been answered (VT’s explanation). They refused to accept the proof that it had. The admissions answer was, if you are still interested in VT, apply next year… Understand this conversation is reported from one side, some info is certainly left out, however, what is known is, student applied, more info requested and provided with proof of acceptance, application was discarded and will not be considered this year.
Why do I care? My child still says they want to to go (so they are getting lots of information which is flooring me) I really don’t care, it would be easy to move on if the flow of data ceased. I honestly don’t want her to go to a school that is not more transparent and forthcoming.
I know VT phones have been lit up from livid people in our area, sadly, for many English is not their primary language so some may be lost in translation, but this is all beyond belief. I did have a discussion with the GC at our school and was told whenever they come to the school they have the discussion about recruiting minorities, she is quite shocked that it appears so many higher achieving minority students were passed. The GC is in shock overall. This is going to reflect very poorly on VT in the schools hit the hardest, especially since they are not willing to provide straight answers other than seat limits.
@Makingsense i really feel for, your child. Are you in NOVA? I have heard VT makes it ultra competitive there. I do feel like your child will get in but I know the waiting won’t be easy. I know the more you think about it the madder it probably makes you. Don’t let it consume you cause there are so many theories. My son was waitlisted but it was not his number 1 I see similar situations where kids got in with much lower stats same major. My thoughts of VT have gone way down at least admissions. Luckily my son has other options
@jgwolf I know. I am really not angry, just amazed. Again, to be fair, wait list does mean that the students did meet the criteria and will be offered a seat if sufficient seats open up, so they were not denied. I think everyone understands wait list. It is the apparent discrepancy in how they chose who goes on the list that is baffling.
The two questions really are:
- Why was my child wait listed? Answer (valid) - because there are more qualified applicants than spaces.
- How did you choose those who went on the wait list? Answer - .
Without an answer, the likes of me can speculate all day long given a narrow stream of data that seems to indicate they intentionally wait listed a specific group of kids where higher class rank was a common theme among those kids. Heck, I would be fine if the selection process was, “we put all qualified individuals in a hat and drew names”… sadly the stats don’t appear to support that.