UVA info session today said “most rigorous in ALL 5 core subjects.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They want four years in HS, not just four years. I posted above about my daughter (a senior) taking AP French. This is her fifth year of language and she is only taking it because UVA wouldn’t count her first year which was taken in 8th grade.

To the PP who says colleges get to set their criteria, yes, that’s true. But this rigid foreign language criteria for a public flagship versus a private school is frustrating.

But UVA has to set bright lines. It is a state school with a small (compared to privates) admissions office. As explained above, UVA wants to see those kids who can tough it out even in a course they don't like and still get an A because that demonstrates a love of learning or grit. Those are the students who will succeed at UVA. Also UVA sees itself as training citizens of the world (like Jefferson) who will increasingly need to communicate in many languages in order to succeed in a future business and social world dominated less by English (hint!! Take Chinese! now! Get fluent!)

+1. To the point about UVA needing to set firm guidelines because it us a public school with relatively fewer dollars spent on atteacting and selecting students, note that UVA received almost 60,000 applicatioms last year for only 4,400 seats. It takes money to process that many applications so priorities must be set. All of the top flagship publics have rules, guidelines, cut-offs, etc to help them balance out in-state from OOS, URM (yes they are still doing that to get around the scotus decision), full freight vs scholarship, whatever Asian-American goals/limits it wants to reach, and so in, so that the University can arrive at 4,400 students fitting all of its goals. Not an easy task.

But this isn’t a firm line. UVA takes tons of kids OOS and from urban and rural Virginia without four years of language in high school/AP language. It’s only a few high schools in NOVA where kids have to meet this standard.

Right. Because it is oublic fot the entire state. It wants to serve all the counties but sime years only 1 or 2 have the record. In some counties none have the record. In Nova some 600 get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CAS at UVA requires 2 years of a foreign language to graduate (can test out). So be aware of that for kids who don’t like languages. They don’t offer introductory spanish, so cant pick that up to start. Italian is another language kids like to take if want to switch in college, but those classes are very hard to get into.

True. My DS did not like foreign language but did the mmax his private offered. At UVA CAS he could have continued Spanish but chose German. He had such a wonderful experience tgat he went on a winter break with a group of UVA german students to Munich to study language, history and tour. We were glad he had the opportunity because we didn't have the money to do much traveling, and certainly not overseas, when he was young. I was very impressed at the breadth of languages taught. I was pushing Chinese (even a rudimentary understanding is helpful in understanding China from a political and business front, but while studying the offerings (i think some 60 are offered), UVA offered Hebrew and Urdu.

BTW for those who
have issues with a high school teacher or how the language is taught, you can pick up couses at your local community college during summer or the school year. DS did the former; some of his classmates did the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Our admissions process at UVa is a holistic one."

Translation: we'll do whatever the heck we want and change the rules whenever we see fit to do so."

And that is OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't it be nice if counselors asked your child where they want to go in 9th grade and helped them get there? So frustrating that they get to senior year and they are like oh sorry, you didn't take a foreign language senior year so it's not an option for you.

Many schools tell the students and parents in 9th grade and again in 10th to pay attention to what schools want, and specifically recommend taking all 5 core areas every year especially if they want UVA and better. On top of that they encourage the best students to take the hardest level of each, and encourage students who are bright but not top to “right size” the rigor. We have experience going through a test-in public magnet and a private school. The top kids were steered correctly at both. There were some middle of the pack kids not pushed whose parents were surprised Uva was off the table end of junior year. They were not paying attention to the trajectory their kid was on, and did not understand the level of rigor that was “above average”(5-6 APs with DE too, not maxed in all core subjects) versus top (10-12 no DE other than vector calc). The key is to know the kod you have and understand where they are in the context of the school.

Our tiny private was not goimg to offer a fourth year of foreign language, but I had read a college admissions book so took that excerpt to the headmaster and viola we got a fourth year of instruction. The kids in the course got into UVA, MIT, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has long said foreign language is a core class and that they want core all 4 years of HS. Of course there are exceptions, but this is the #1 reason my DC is taking AP foreign lang and AP sci this year

Well if they nix my kid because he has AP Bio and AP Physics in the spot that would have AP Spanish 5, then que sera sera.

I also don't even know what mutli-variable calculus means. Is that past BC Calc?

Nix him, they will. Where else is your kid looking?

At least you aren’t complaining now that you know the ground rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Our admissions process at UVa is a holistic one."

Translation: we'll do whatever the heck we want and change the rules whenever we see fit to do so."

OP here. Yeah this is how it felt. We asked if it would be looked down upon to forgo AP foreign language to instead take a second AP science (child’s interest) and were basically told yes but we were welcome to try to explain it. But the woman was about 25 and didn’t even go to UVA so I was wondering if she even actually knew. I’ve definitely heard/read of unhooked students going to UVA without AP foreign language.

Y’all are too much.

Of course she “knew.” And she’s telling you what she can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is taking AP French this year just because UVA wants four years of language in high school. She hates French and had other classes she wanted to take but didn’t want to give up the post of UVA. Very frustrating.

We gave it up too. Kid didn't like Spanish, got a B+ in it, and stopped taking it. He's taking AP Chem instead junior year. AP Chem is much more aligned with his interests, and it's 2 periods due to the lab, so it was either that or another year of Spanish. He chose AP Chem and we support that choice If that along with a slew of other "most rigorous" AP classes isn't good enough for UVA, then that's not the school for him. IDK why they have this weird fixation on language.

Signed,
A UVA alum

What’s weird is that you think it’s weird. It’s quite normal to have this requirement.

It’s great that your kid is so into chemistry or whatever. But that’s not the sort of student UVA wants. And that is OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't it be nice if counselors asked your child where they want to go in 9th grade and helped them get there? So frustrating that they get to senior year and they are like oh sorry, you didn't take a foreign language senior year so it's not an option for you.

Many schools tell the students and parents in 9th grade and again in 10th to pay attention to what schools want, and specifically recommend taking all 5 core areas every year especially if they want UVA and better. On top of that they encourage the best students to take the hardest level of each, and encourage students who are bright but not top to “right size” the rigor. We have experience going through a test-in public magnet and a private school. The top kids were steered correctly at both. There were some middle of the pack kids not pushed whose parents were surprised Uva was off the table end of junior year. They were not paying attention to the trajectory their kid was on, and did not understand the level of rigor that was “above average”(5-6 APs with DE too, not maxed in all core subjects) versus top (10-12 no DE other than vector calc). The key is to know the kod you have and understand where they are in the context of the school.

Name two.

Langley High, McLean High, Potomac, all the privates with solid, experienced counselors. The parents need to start reading college admissions sites, books, and the actual websites of the schools they think their child might be interested in. If you can afford it, this is where a private counselor makes sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On state tuition discounts need to end.

It's awful to have these taxpayer funded university educations given out on a lottery or biased basis.

Huh? How about applying to Radford or Towson?

+1. There are 30+ public institutions offered in the state of Va. We used three of them for our children and are very grateful to the Commonwealth for what it offers students at every level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We clarified that this means they expect AP or DE in every subject including world language and they said yes.

But I basically when I asked the definition of “rigorous” since most schools have more AP options than a student could humanly take, they said it’s whatever box the counselor checks. And your counselor says you took “most rigorous” that’s the most important thing ?

They would not give any direct answers and it was pretty unhelpful. Just keep repeating “holistic blah blah blah.”

It is totally helpful. Take the classes that are the right ones and everything will settle out. If a kid can claim a sport at UVA then good for them. But not everyone will get in, and it is no reflection of the kid. There are just not enough seats to meet demand.

[Anonymous]

UVa is clearly telling potential applicants that they want well rounded kids who do well across the arts and sciences but also have something extra to offer to the university community.

This is the same as just about every other "top 50" school.

What they are telling you they don;t want, is the kid who spent all their time doing math and computer stuff at the expense of learning to write, learning about another culture and taking time to explore activities outside of the classroom to make a person whole.

This, too, is the same as just about every other "top 50" school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Without 4 years of Spanish, how can you function in a world where every service provider only speaks Spanish?

That's not the point of the language requirement. It's to train citizens of the world who will be working in an increasingly multi-lingual world where Chinese is becimg paramount. That's why UVA offers 60+ languages. It to shift away from the dated "Americans can speak only English" attitude. I am truly envious of anyone who can speak any foreign language and uses it for travel, business and to enrich their lives and those of their family, friends and business partners

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They want four years in HS, not just four years. I posted above about my daughter (a senior) taking AP French. This is her fifth year of language and she is only taking it because UVA wouldn’t count her first year which was taken in 8th grade.

To the PP who says colleges get to set their criteria, yes, that’s true. But this rigid foreign language criteria for a public flagship versus a private school is frustrating.

But UVA has to set bright lines. It is a state school with a small (compared to privates) admissions office. As explained above, UVA wants to see those kids who can tough it out even in a course they don't like and still get an A because that demonstrates a love of learning or grit. Those are the students who will succeed at UVA. Also UVA sees itself as training citizens of the world (like Jefferson) who will increasingly need to communicate in many languages in order to succeed in a future business and social world dominated less by English (hint!! Take Chinese! now! Get fluent!)

+1. To the point about UVA needing to set firm guidelines because it us a public school with relatively fewer dollars spent on atteacting and selecting students, note that UVA received almost 60,000 applicatioms last year for only 4,400 seats. It takes money to process that many applications so priorities must be set. All of the top flagship publics have rules, guidelines, cut-offs, etc to help them balance out in-state from OOS, URM (yes they are still doing that to get around the scotus decision), full freight vs scholarship, whatever Asian-American goals/limits it wants to reach, and so in, so that the University can arrive at 4,400 students fitting all of its goals. Not an easy task.

But this isn’t a firm line. UVA takes tons of kids OOS and from urban and rural Virginia without four years of language in high school/AP language. It’s only a few high schools in NOVA where kids have to meet this standard.

Are those urban and rural kids in the same majors as the high achievers, or is all this fuss a proxy for elite academic majors vs trade majors?

You all so full of yourselves. And really provincial thinkers. Your NoVa kids are in for a rude awakening if they go off to UVA thinking they’re the high achievers by default.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh, and you have to get all A’s in these classes.

And a 34+/1500+

And awesome EC’s.

Good luck. No pressure.

This is just not true. Stop the BS.

They are not lying. Go look at the SCHEV report. Last year's inciming class reported a 34 at the 75th percentile: 33 at the median. SAT scores were 1510 at the 75th percentile; 1470 at the median. GPA is 4.51 at the 75th percentile.

If unhooked, your student should be aiming for 75th percentile or higher, especially if from NOVA, where where is the most competition is from.

also top 6% of class

also national awards.

also many top ECs.


Go to Reddit or College Confidential and look at the stats of applicants who were waitlisted or denied

Again, this is all school/region specific.

It is definitely harder to get in from NOVA than from the Tidewater or Bristol areas, no doubt about it.

Your DC's competition for UVA (and most schools) is not those folks, but the other DCs in their HS.

But you do not need all As, and 1600 SAT to get in.

My DC is a first year at CAS. They had 4.3 wGPA (with 3 Bs) at their FCPS high school, 1500 SAT, 5 years of foreign language (3 in one including middle school + 2 of another, no AP), "only" APES for science, "only" Calc AB and Stats for math, AP Lang, and 8 APs in social sciences, and average ECs, no awards.

And we are Asian (with an Asian name, so no hiding it).

I post this to give hope to those with DCs who have "blemished" credentials. Your DC can make it. But it is definitely not guaranteed at all. DC got in last year. Would DC get in this year? Who knows? That's the mystery/frustration of this process.

Glad we're done with this.

Good luck to y'all.

That's UVA but not UVA Engineering.

How do you take 8 APs in Social Science?

USH, Gov, World, Euro, double count Mico/Macro, then what?
Stats? Seminar/Capstone?

PP here. I don't think DC's profile would have worked for UVA or VT engineering (especially as an Asian). But DC is not a STEM person.

I miscounted the social science APs (I have to return my Asian membership card!): World, US, Govt, Psych, Econ (2), African American.

And yes, by the standards of the "4.0 uwGPA/1600 SAT/NMF is absolutely necessary to get into UVA/T34 elite*" crowd that hangs out here, DC was blemished. Being Asian is also a blemish.

Somehow DC got in and we are all happy. I hope it works out for your DCs!

*https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-03547-8/tables/1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVa is clearly telling potential applicants that they want well rounded kids who do well across the arts and sciences but also have something extra to offer to the university community.

This is the same as just about every other "top 50" school.

What they are telling you they don;t want, is the kid who spent all their time doing math and computer stuff at the expense of learning to write, learning about another culture and taking time to explore activities outside of the classroom to make a person whole.

This, too, is the same as just about every other "top 50" school.

This seems to be what has all of these people worked up.