College profile
Virginia Tech
Listed in federal data as “Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University”.
VA · Public · Small city · 47,208 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Top feeder high schools: Norfolk Academy (9), Collegiate School (9), Greenwich High School (8), St. Christopher's School (5.6), Cape Henry Collegiate School (5). Graduates per class year, from each high school's own published list. 104 high schools' lists name Virginia Tech; every one is ranked below.
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer and Information Sciences grads from here earn about $144,103 four years out; animal sciences grads about $47,224 — a 3.1× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 6× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$36,951/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$81,698/yr) still runs about 6× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 10 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Virginia Tech?
The high schools sending the most graduates per class year to Virginia Tech, from each school's own published list: Norfolk Academy (9), Collegiate School (9), Greenwich High School (8), St. Christopher's School (5.6), Cape Henry Collegiate School (5). 104 high schools' lists name Virginia Tech.
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
All 104 schools, with the class years each list covers
Published, but not ranked — these schools name Virginia Tech on a list of where their graduates enrolled whose class years we cannot read ("Since 2023", or no class year printed), so their totals are shown rather than divided: Woodlawn School (8, not stated).
How this is counted
104 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Virginia Tech on it. Between them they printed 345 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Virginia Tech, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
Is my high school on this list?
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
All 17 schools, with the class years each list covers
How this is counted
17 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Virginia Tech on it. Between them they printed 133 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Virginia Tech, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 116 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- Students drawn to Engineering or Business, Management, & Marketing (the two biggest majors)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
- Students who thrive in a large, programmatic environment
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1240, or ACT below 27, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
43% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 7% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
High-school GPA
4.09 avg weighted GPA, enrolled first-years
| Enrolled first-years | 4.09 weighted |
weighted (school-reported, can exceed 4.0). Virginia Tech Common Data Set 2024-25 (Office of Analytics & Institutional Effectiveness) ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2024-25) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Virginia Tech actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Virginia Tech's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$669K ahead at full price +$717K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Virginia Tech
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Virginia Tech actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Virginia Tech's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $144,103 |
| Computer Engineering. | $122,026 |
| Applied Mathematics. | $117,990 |
| Industrial Engineering. | $116,641 |
| Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. | $108,726 |
| Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering. | $106,633 |
| Chemical Engineering. | $106,011 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $104,839 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $102,902 |
| Construction Engineering. | $102,699 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to Virginia Tech
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on Virginia Tech?
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Get your child's odds at Virginia Tech →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
Related reading
College admissions · October 2026
College applications · October 2026
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantVirginia Tech is a public four-year college in VA. It admitted 57% of applicants (47,208 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1240–1420, ACT 27–32. 43% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 7% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class. Average enrolled GPA 4.09 (weighted, 2024-25, as published by the college).
Cost: about $24,953 a year on average with aid, $36,951 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $81,698 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $717,168 ahead with aid, $669,176 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer and Information Sciences, General ($144,103); Computer Engineering ($122,026); Applied Mathematics ($117,990).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 3% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 48% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Virginia Tech: 104, 345 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Norfolk Academy (9.0 per class year, 45 over 5 class years, 2021 - 2025); Collegiate School (9.0 per class year, 9 over 1 class year, Class of 2026 College Enrollments / 2023-26 4-Year College Enrollments, counted column "Class of 2026 College Enrollments"); Greenwich High School (8.0 per class year, 8 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/virginia-polytechnic-institute-and-state-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Virginia Tech: 17, 133 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Millburn High School (14.0 per class year, 14 over 1 class year, Class of 2025, counted column "ACC=Accepted"); Bronx High School of Science (The) (11.0 per class year, 11 over 1 class year, 2025); Archbishop Mitty High School (6.0 per class year, 6 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/virginia-polytechnic-institute-and-state-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/virginia-polytechnic-institute-and-state-university.json
Questions families ask
What is Virginia Tech's acceptance rate? Virginia Tech is a public four-year college in VA. It admitted 57% of applicants (47,208 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Does Virginia Tech require the SAT or ACT? Virginia Tech is a public four-year college in VA. It admitted 57% of applicants (47,208 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
What SAT or ACT scores do Virginia Tech students have? Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1240–1420, ACT 27–32. 43% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 7% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class. Average enrolled GPA 4.09 (weighted, 2024-25, as published by the college).
How much does Virginia Tech cost? Cost: about $24,953 a year on average with aid, $36,951 a year at full price for in-state students.
What do Virginia Tech graduates earn? Median earnings ten years after entry: $81,698 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $717,168 ahead with aid, $669,176 ahead at full price.
Which majors at Virginia Tech pay the most? Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer and Information Sciences, General ($144,103); Computer Engineering ($122,026); Applied Mathematics ($117,990).
Which high schools send the most graduates to Virginia Tech? The high schools sending the most graduates per class year to Virginia Tech, from each school's own published list: Norfolk Academy (9), Collegiate School (9), Greenwich High School (8), St. Christopher's School (5.6), Cape Henry Collegiate School (5). 104 high schools' lists name Virginia Tech.
+30 more programs
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com). These figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.