Virginia Tech’s Smyth Hall, an academic building on the Ag Quad, houses offices and classrooms for several departments, including the Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Science.
Virginia Tech is poised to welcome its most diverse freshman class in university history for the fall 2020 semester.
An admissions snapshot of accepted offers from this week shows a 27 percent increase in students that identified as African American compared to the same point in time in 2019, and a 25 percent increase in students who have identified as Hispanic/Latinx. Hispanic/Latinx students represent 10 percent of the incoming freshman class – a historic high for Virginia Tech.
The data also showed the university is projected to reach its freshman class target of 6,675 – the second largest incoming class in history – with students representing 46 states and 46 countries. Virginia Tech’s growing national and international reputation and its experiential learning and campus life programs led to more than 31,000 admissions applications received this past cycle. The academic performance of the incoming class remains strong with an average freshmen GPA of 3.96 and an average SAT score of 1272.
“The unprecedented success of last year’s class compelled us to manage this year’s cycle closer than ever,” said Luisa Havens Gerardo, vice provost for enrollment management. “It provided us with an opportunity to continue aggressively pursuing our strategic goals to balance access, excellence, and affordability in order to shape an impressive entering class.”
“Our strength of academic programs and the opportunities we have created for engaged and experiential learning continue to make Virginia Tech a very attractive option for students across the commonwealth and the nation,” said Cyril Clarke, executive vice president and provost. “As we finalize our plans for welcoming students for the fall semester, we remain focused on the importance of providing all Hokies with the quality of experiences and opportunities they expect from Virginia Tech.”
In anticipation of normal summer “melt” (students who accept admission but choose not to enroll), the university has received a total of 7,131 acceptances from their standard admissions plans, which include early decision, early action, and regular decision as well as from subsequent offers from the wait list. Virginia Tech has historically employed enrollment management best practices for utilizing wait lists as part of its annual admission target planning and enrollment strategy.
