Showing posts with label Assistant Director. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assistant Director. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Time to review your application

By Amanda Sparks
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

The weather might be cooling down, but things in the undergraduate admissions office are heating up! We're sure that things are pretty busy for you as well, but make sure you are keeping up with your application to Virginia Tech.

Even though you should have submitted you application by now if you were planning to apply to Virginia Tech, there are still a few things you could be doing.

To track your application, visit the application status page. If you submitted your application within the last few days, please keep in mind that you had lots of company. As a result, it might take up to two weeks for you to be able to see your application status online. Please try to be patient and know that we are processing your application as fast as possible. Keep checking the application status page.

Don't hesitate to contact our office with any questions you may have. This can be a stressful time of year for you, but it doesn't have to be complicated!


Posted by 4 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, October 18, 2010

Deadlines, Deadlines, Deadlines

If you are planning to apply to Virginia Tech here are a few dates to keep in mind:
To apply online, visit www.admiss.vt.edu/apply/freshman.

To check out what we look for, visit www.admiss.vt.edu/apply/freshman/what_do_we_look_for.

Once you apply online, you must create a guest account. Please check out the guest account FAQs for more information.

Here's what Juan Espinoza, Senior Assistant Director, has to say about the application process:


Posted by No comments:
Labels: , ,

Monday, October 4, 2010

Say hello to your Admissions Officer

By Jonathan Schramm
Senior Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

If you're reading this blog then you're probably a prospective college student or perhaps the parent of one (?). Either way, you know that the time for submitting college applications is fast approaching. You know it's time to start visiting college campuses, attending information sessions, and heading off to college fairs to start narrowing down your search. Doing any or all of these pretty much guarantees that you'll meet your Admissions Officer along the way.

Admissions Officers are those people with the smiling faces greeting you on campus, giving you presentations, and standing behind those colorful tables with all the free stuff on them. They are also the ones who review your admissions applications once they're submitted.

Virginia Tech's Admissions Officers are designated certain parts of the state and the country, so that you can find them easily. For example, in Virginia I review applications for parts of Henrico County, the Peninsula, Virginia Beach, the Northern Neck, and the Eastern Shore. Out of state I review the entire Midwest. Click here to say hello to your Admissions Officer. We always like to hear from you parents too...


Posted by No comments:
Labels: , ,

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

S1N1 Defined

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

Everyone has heard of H1N1, right? But have you ever heard of S1N1?

S1N1, also known as Senioritis, is a curious, seasonal virus that creeps into high schools all across America around this time of year. It is curious in that it seems to affect only one population of students: Seniors who have finally figured out where they’re going to college, and are just too excited to worry about piddly old high school anymore. Keep on the look out for the symptoms future Virginia Tech students. And get your vaccinations now! S1N1 is highly contagious.

The symptoms are as follows:

- Shortness of Breath – resulting from skipping through the halls with your Virginia Tech t-shirt on, thinking of nothing but coming to campus.

- Hallucinations – people everywhere start looking like orange and maroon turkeys.

- Sudden Verbal Outbursts – as you shout “Let’s Go!” and, when your friends look at you strangely and do not return your call, you say “Hokies!” in reply.

- Fainting Spells – resulting from thoughts of cheering on the Hokies at Lane Stadium in a sea of orange and maroon.

- Blurred Vision – as you get so psyched for college you can barely see straight!

The only cure for S1N1 is the knowledge that your admission to Virginia Tech is based on satisfactory completion of your current coursework, and that Virginia Tech reserves the right to revoke your admission even after we receive your final high school transcripts.

You never know when S1N1 will strike. So be warned seniors, wash your hands and remain ever diligent. We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Posted by No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, April 2, 2010

Admissions, it's personal

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

Here at Virginia Tech we're proud to say we review applications in a holistic manner, which means we consider the entire student: both their academic and personal qualities. I've discussed academics in my last three posts, so now I'd like to highlight the more personal side of admissions.

On the Freshman Application, there are a number of opportunities for applicants to get themselves across on paper. We consider:
  • Diversity, in its many forms: ethnic, racial, diversity of thought, diversity of religion, geographic diversity, socioeconomic diversity if you happen to be the first in your family to go to college, etc.
  • Interest in the Corps of Cadets: we see this as an indicator of leadership.
  • Legacy: if you happen to be the son or daughter of a Virginia Tech graduate.
  • Activities: we like to see quality vs. quantity.
  • Community Service: as long as it's not court ordered. (just joking!)
  • Optional Personal Statement/Essay: 7 different options to choose from.
  • Letters of Recommendation are not solicited, but you can send them in (just make sure they are sent by your high school with your transcript).
So you can see, even though we receive over 20,000 applications we take everything into consideration.

As always, let us know if you have any questions. It's always nice to know we have readers.

Anyway, tune in next time when we talk about a rare disease high school seniors seem to catch this time of year, called S1N1.

Posted by 4 comments:
Labels: , , ,

Friday, February 12, 2010

Application Review Process: Yep, you guessed it! We care about test scores too!

By Jonathan Schramm
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admissions

So far, in my blog series on the application review process, I've discussed two important factors that can affect the outcome of admissions decisions at Virginia Tech: curriculum and grades. There is a third, and that is standardized test scores.

If you think of academic qualities like a tripod, all three legs have to be there for the application to stand up to scrutiny. In the case of selective admissions, the three legs are curriculum, grades and test scores.

The last is pretty straightforward. You either have competitive test scores or you don't. It may seem unfair. It's three hours of your life for goodness sake, usually on a Saturday morning, when you haven't had a wink of sleep and are stressed out of your mind. You go in, reading glasses askew, hair unkempt, and you come out with a number attached to your name.

But there is a reason they're so important, and there's a reason they're called s-t-a-n-d-a-r-d-i-z-e-d test scores. High schools are so different from district to district that it's not always advisable for colleges and universities to make decisions based solely on an applicant's grades and curriculum. So the standardized tests are one way we can tell applicants apart.

At Virginia Tech, we do all we can to insure your best score comes through in the review process. For instance, we'll accept both the ACT and the SAT. We also "super score," meaning we'll take the best score from all your exams and put them together so you have the best possible chance for admission. Right now we're just looking at the Critical Reading (SAT)/English (ACT) and the Math portions of the tests, but will use the Writing for placement
purposes. The average SAT last year was a 1250 and the average ACT was a 26.

I hope that helps clear some things up. Tune in next time when we talk about personal qualities, the softer side of the review process.

Posted by No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, September 7, 2009

Greetings from Assistant Director J


By Jonathan Schramm,
Assistant Director, Undergraduate Admissions

Greetings all! Now that we here in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions finally find ourselves with a moment to breathe, having worked diligently to bring in our largest, most qualified class EVER, we've thought about it, and decided that it's high time we set some time aside to blog about Virginia Tech. We like talking about it so much, why not write about it too?

I've volunteered (or did someone volunteer me? I can't remember? Anyway…) to discuss the admissions side of things. Some of our outstanding Hokie Ambassadors will be commenting on the student side, so you'll be hearing
about VT from multiple points of view. While I'm sure their entries will be a little more thrilling than mine, as someone who – among other "duties as assigned" – actually goes out and recruits students and reviews their applications when they come in, I hope I can provide you with unique insights into the inner-workings of admissions at Virginia Tech.

We'll start with the recruitment cycle and end right around the time decisions go out. Along the way we'll discuss everything from campus visits to application deadlines, from high school curriculum to standardized tests— and many other relevant topics. Now, I'll try to respond to as many comments as possible (for individual inquiries, please contact the office directly)
and will likely turn a few into blog posts of their own.

As is often the case with projects of this sort, this is, and will likely remain, a work in progress, but hopefully our words will help calm some nerves, dispel some rumors, and answer any questions you may have about this wonderful university that is Virginia Tech. I'm guessing we'll probably have some fun along the way too…

Well. Thanks for stopping by, and as always… GO HOKIES!

More information regarding Virginia Tech:




Posted by No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)