Virginia parents do not have many good in-state options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I count about 39 public colleges or universities here (including community colleges) here. If you can't make that work (especially with the UVA guaranteed transfer agreement) then there is something wrong with you. We are blessed to have so many options in Virginia, especially with the obscene costs of OOS and privates (some at a whopping $93K a year now). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Virginia

Something wrong with me (us)!

OK!! Go spend $78K a year!

Spending $44 at UMD.

UMD is $60K for OOS Virginians.

Merit aid

So irrelevant fo purposes of this post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I count about 39 public colleges or universities here (including community colleges) here. If you can't make that work (especially with the UVA guaranteed transfer agreement) then there is something wrong with you. We are blessed to have so many options in Virginia, especially with the obscene costs of OOS and privates (some at a whopping $93K a year now). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Virginia

Something wrong with me (us)!

OK!! Go spend $78K a year!

Spending $44 at UMD.

UMD is $60K for OOS Virginians.

Merit aid

So irrelevant fo purposes of this post.

No it's not. Many Virginia kids will choose to go OOS because of merit. If UMD didn't give us a break, kid would have probably ended up at WM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in Maryland. VA has WAY more public options

+1. I'm in MD and would love to have the in-state options of Virginia.

[Anonymous]

VA is definitely in the top 3 as far as public education at the college level. Its second tier schools JMU, GMU, etc, are better than a number of state flagships.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:VA parents with subpar kids REALLY need to stop complaining about UVA admissions. If they doubled the size of the school or limited OOS enrollment so your kids could get in it wouldn’t be the same school AT ALL. There are plenty of other perfectly fine in state options. Leave the elite to the elite.

100%. My 3.96/4.52, 1560, NMSF would have been a huge drag on the institution.

Are you saying that your kid with those stats did not get in? What kind of extracurriculars did they have? Were they just an egg head and nothing else?

This kid may be unusual, but he/she is not unique. My kid had a 3.98/4.52 GPA, 35 ACT, a full IB Diploma, was a two-time captain for 2 teams (showing leadership skills) and was an Eagle Scout, and did not get in to UVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With VT now being in the top 50 in the US news, expect it will get only worse.

This year’s USNWR rankings are not based on academics and are irrelevant to many posters on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA parents with subpar kids REALLY need to stop complaining about UVA admissions. If they doubled the size of the school or limited OOS enrollment so your kids could get in it wouldn’t be the same school AT ALL. There are plenty of other perfectly fine in state options. Leave the elite to the elite.

100%. My 3.96/4.52, 1560, NMSF would have been a huge drag on the institution.

Are you saying that your kid with those stats did not get in? What kind of extracurriculars did they have? Were they just an egg head and nothing else?

This kid may be unusual, but he/she is not unique. My kid had a 3.98/4.52 GPA, 35 ACT, a full IB Diploma, was a two-time captain for 2 teams (showing leadership skills) and was an Eagle Scout, and did not get in to UVa.

UVA is strange. It was similar for me ages ago. Still can’t figure it out—especially in comparison to the people I knew that year that did get in.

Fwiw, I know many that got into much higher ranked schools and rejected from UVA. It’s really unpredictable there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VA is definitely in the top 3 as far as public education at the college level. Its second tier schools JMU, GMU, etc, are better than a number of state flagships.

Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan are clearly the top three. UVA is number 5 now, below UNC. Try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA is definitely in the top 3 as far as public education at the college level. Its second tier schools JMU, GMU, etc, are better than a number of state flagships.

Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan are clearly the top three. UVA is number 5 now, below UNC. Try to keep up.

Post refers to all colleges within the state, not individual universities. Try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:And just an aside, OP... I DO get it. I wish there was a traditional college big-state U that pretty much admitted everyone with a 3.0 and above. That's the missing piece in VA. We have VT and UVA -- but they have become so selective that even a 4.0 student cannot expect to be admitted to VT. And forget about UVA.

Isn't that basically JMU? It's got an 80% acceptance rate, and fits the archetype of the school for kids who are a step down academically from the state flagship.

The thing with JMU is that it's a regional university. Other states have XXX State Univ. and Univ. of XXX. The two big name powerhouses. JMU just doesn't compare with name recognition. I'm sure JMU is just as good academically as the big state U types of schools (except in the CS and Engineering majors). It's just the name recognition that is a negative.

And those 2 colleges in VA are UVW and VaTech. Almost 50K undergrads between the two of them.

But it doesn't drop off significantly after that---you have JMU/GMU and a whole list of other good public schools. Much better than most states. JMU is ranked 100 points higher than my states "2nd flagship". and JMU is VA's 3rd ranked school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And just an aside, OP... I DO get it. I wish there was a traditional college big-state U that pretty much admitted everyone with a 3.0 and above. That's the missing piece in VA. We have VT and UVA -- but they have become so selective that even a 4.0 student cannot expect to be admitted to VT. And forget about UVA.

Isn't that basically JMU? It's got an 80% acceptance rate, and fits the archetype of the school for kids who are a step down academically from the state flagship.

Sun Belt conference not SEC/Big10/Big12 and it's not close to a flagship. I think the thing we're missing is a Ohio State/Nebraska/Alabama - a huge flagship that takes almost every qualified in state applicant. I think VT is actually the closest that we have to big-state U here. It's relatively easy to get into outside of STEM majors but still has a good reputation, they have major sports and the school itself is pretty big

I'm kind of confused- PP was looking for a big school with fairly easy admission standards that provides the traditional college experience. I think JMU kind of fits that bill. I went to University of Michigan (in-state), and I see JMU playing a similar role in the Virginia college system that Michigan State plays in Michigan.

yes, they are similarly "ranked". But VA has it better because you have UVA and Vatech , not just UMich.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OP is welcome to their opinion, of course. But then, there is also reality. Since engineering was mentioned, see the programs available at VCU, ODU, and VMI. And there are some targeted engineering programs at some of Virginia’s HBCUs, Norfolk State University and Virginia State University. And at small privates like Randolph-Macon.

OP here.

Y’all may disagree all you want but I have seen more and more Virginia kids heading to the OOS public schools like UMCP, Pitt, UDel, etc.

Am I the only one seeing this trend? Have you all not seen the threads comparing JMU and OOS public such as “JMU vs Pitt”?

A[b]ctually, you haven't' because OOS has become obscenely expensive.

+1. UCLA is now 76K OOS. UVA is 37K. Families don't go OOS unless they have to. you are trolling

or unless they have enough money to be full pay without any issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VA is definitely in the top 3 as far as public education at the college level. Its second tier schools JMU, GMU, etc, are better than a number of state flagships.

Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan are clearly the top three. UVA is number 5 now, below UNC. Try to keep up.

Post refers to all colleges within the state, not individual universities. Try to keep up.

+1

[Anonymous]

GMU offers decent engineering and CS programs but not everyone in Northern Virginia wants to go to a school in Fairfax.

Just because it is not the location that your kid wants does not mean it is a bad in-state option.
- Someone who attended SUNY Binghamton and managed to have a good experience there.

[Anonymous]

OP is nuts. Virginia has a lot of good public colleges for only 8.6M residents. Way more options on a per capita basis than vast majority of states of a similar size.