UVA - "holistic" vs GPA

[Anonymous]

Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

Color me slow, but what is this magic GPA?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the school you come from. And there definitely ARE Quotas in this area, again despite what Dean J and UVA say.

Again, OP here - not bitter and it was very recent. This thread was just to open the eyes of anyone who thinks that harder classes at TJ, having a solid, "well-rounded" kid who spends hours at an EC activity year-round or being a legacy makes a difference. My student is having a great time where he/she is.

And my apologies if anyone thought that I was implying that most kids from other schools that go to UVA struggle - I was just repeating what someone else (non-TJ parent) has told me many times - about a few kids. I know many students that have done well.

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the school you come from. And there definitely ARE Quotas in this area, again despite what Dean J and UVA say.

Again, OP here - not bitter and it was very recent. This thread was just to open the eyes of anyone who thinks that harder classes at TJ, having a solid, "well-rounded" kid who spends hours at an EC activity year-round or being a legacy makes a difference. My student is having a great time where he/she is.

And my apologies if anyone thought that I was implying that most kids from other schools that go to UVA struggle - I was just repeating what someone else (non-TJ parent) has told me many times - about a few kids. I know many students that have done well.

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

OP you have serious issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

It's all about being top 10% of your hs class.
And OP doesn't understand what "holistic" means.

[Anonymous]

Wait a second. There was a thread not too long ago about how Naviance is based on self-reported decisions and how some students never report their results.

I could totally see high-GPA kids not reporting rejections or reporting them as acceptances so they could say they say no, not the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year I remember reading Dean J's blog, where she said that UVA looks at their applicants in a holistic manner.

I beg to differ - our snowflake earned/carried a non-academic national title; got an 800 on her math SAT first time (1520 total - a little low for the HS); spent 20 hours/week through most of the school year in performing arts, and still managed to get A's and some B's at a Governor STEM school. (A 50/100 could easily be the median on a math or science test prior to a retake at this school.) Snowflake was rejected EA despite submitting an Arts portfolio with an extra essay - all showing a desire to attend our state's flagship university as a legacy.

I am not trying to bash UVA - I went there because I could get a great education at a lower cost (despite being out of state) and save money for medical school. I made some great life-long friends - all of whom were very bright - and was able to study abroad as well. I also was fortunate enough to benefit from the Echols program.

However, the bottom line now for NoVA applicants is the GPA. Anything else is icing on top - or perhaps just the cherry.

It is much worse if you attend the Gov School, where honors classes can be a lot harder than AP's at base schools. Many/most kids from this school could easily survive/thrive at UVA, but they are rejected. Meanwhile, others who are accepted may struggle once there...

(BTW, soon after the UVA rejection, our snowflake was accepted to the 2021 Forbes #1 Top College - a public institution for the first time - and is having a great time there. We are obviously paying a heck of a lot more out of state, but DC is getting a world-class education.)

My kid got into UCLA too. Also UVA. 4.66 GPA, ranked 7th in class. Good extracurriculars. AP Scholar with distinction, etc. So I don't know what to tell you.

[Anonymous]

Holistic means they're building a cohort based on their criteria. Which is subjective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

Color me slow, but what is this magic GPA?

North of about 4.35 weighted. Maybe 4.4.

[Anonymous]

This is W&M and not UVA but how confident are you with the $12 an hour application first readers?

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=ad0fbbff01059b16&from=serp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

Color me slow, but what is this magic GPA?

North of about 4.35 weighted. Maybe 4.4.

+1
Multiple FCPS HS for instance have a naviance profile that shows a fairly straight green line of checks that starts somewhere between 4.3-4.4 GPA. To the PP who mentioned that Naviance is just self-report, that's not always quite true. At our FCPS HS the counselors track this down and input unless kids opt out. The amount of data points seems to align pretty well with the size of the graduating classes who have likely applied to the various schools. For ones where they know the kid applied (they have that info through the application process) but don't know the outcome, there's a ? mark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

Color me slow, but what is this magic GPA?

North of about 4.35 weighted. Maybe 4.4.

+1
Multiple FCPS HS for instance have a naviance profile that shows a fairly straight green line of checks that starts somewhere between 4.3-4.4 GPA. To the PP who mentioned that Naviance is just self-report, that's not always quite true. At our FCPS HS the counselors track this down and input unless kids opt out. The amount of data points seems to align pretty well with the size of the graduating classes who have likely applied to the various schools. For ones where they know the kid applied (they have that info through the application process) but don't know the outcome, there's a ? mark.

Agreed for LCPS on all points. Last year the GPA “cut off” was in the 4.4 range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is W&M and not UVA but how confident are you with the $12 an hour application first readers?

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=ad0fbbff01059b16&from=serp

These "readers" basically input the basic data into a common format and assign a category to the application (e.g. meets standards). Each application typically goes through at least two of these readers and if there isn't perfect agreement on data entry and category it gets flagged by the system. In the end, the admissions committee still reads every application--and has a copy of both the original and the common format sheet.

But basically colleges have to deal with an enormous number of applications in a short time period and can't run up costs. It's not rocket science to count up #of AP/IB, sort applications into regions, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is W&M and not UVA but how confident are you with the $12 an hour application first readers?

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=ad0fbbff01059b16&from=serp

These "readers" basically input the basic data into a common format and assign a category to the application (e.g. meets standards). Each application typically goes through at least two of these readers and if there isn't perfect agreement on data entry and category it gets flagged by the system. In the end, the admissions committee still reads every application--and has a copy of both the original and the common format sheet.

But basically colleges have to deal with an enormous number of applications in a short time period and can't run up costs. It's not rocket science to count up #of AP/IB, sort applications into regions, etc.

It’s not even a living wage.

https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/51830

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

Not true. Just look at TJ college destination statistics. Half of the class gets admitted to UVA and WM. Any college no matter how selective, the admission rates from TJ are multiples of other FCPS schools. Your own kid got into Berkeley most likely because of the unique combination of the exceptional STEM school and passion for performing art