Will applying to UVA Engineering hurt overall chance of admittance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD would like to attend UVA and is not sure about her major but is leaning towards the BS in science in the department of engineering.
More than anything she just wants to get into UVA. Would it be safer for her to just apply to the college of Arts & Sciences or is there no extra risk in applying to engineering because if rejected they could still offer general admittance to the university?

I've been told that UVA's A&S is the more selective school. Their Eng. programs are not ranked as high. Your DD would have better odds of getting in the Eng. school vs. A&S. I'm sure she could apply to switch out of Eng. to A&S after she gets in.

Not at all true. You need higher scores to get into Engineering. The average SAT score was 1464 for engineering in 2021 and 1447 for the college

That was when UVA went test optional. The year before that, the difference was 60 points, which is substantial. Fewer are probably getting accepted test optional to engineering.

For 2020, before test optional, the average SAT score was 1394 for A&S and 1454 for engineering, a difference of 60 points.

In 2021, when UVA went test optional, the number of enrolled students submitting scores for engineering declined only slightly, but declined 33% for A&S, where only students with higher scores submitted. This contributed to close the gap to 27 points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD would like to attend UVA and is not sure about her major but is leaning towards the BS in science in the department of engineering.
More than anything she just wants to get into UVA. Would it be safer for her to just apply to the college of Arts & Sciences or is there no extra risk in applying to engineering because if rejected they could still offer general admittance to the university?

I've been told that UVA's A&S is the more selective school. Their Eng. programs are not ranked as high. Your DD would have better odds of getting in the Eng. school vs. A&S. I'm sure she could apply to switch out of Eng. to A&S after she gets in.

Not at all true. You need higher scores to get into Engineering. The average SAT score was 1464 for engineering in 2021 and 1447 for the college

Plus you need MUCH more rigorous math and science courses in HS with good AP scores.

[Anonymous]

On our college tour someone asked about this and the tour guide said they get this question a lot. They said not to do it. It is easier to get into the Engineering school by applying directly than starting from A&S and attempting to switch. The school makes it harder because the first year for engineering is very hard and is a bit of a weed out period. So not only is there a chance your child won't make it through that first year in engineering, but they will be start behind their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your daughter wants to go to UVA even more than their engineering school, she doesn’t want to an engineer. Engineering is too difficult to have such an ambivalent attitude.

She specifically wants to major in CS. UVA offers a degree through the school of engineering and school of arts and sciences.
She would rather do it in the engineering school, but would be ok doing it through arts and sciences as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD would like to attend UVA and is not sure about her major but is leaning towards the BS in science in the department of engineering.
More than anything she just wants to get into UVA. Would it be safer for her to just apply to the college of Arts & Sciences or is there no extra risk in applying to engineering because if rejected they could still offer general admittance to the university?

I've been told that UVA's A&S is the more selective school. Their Eng. programs are not ranked as high. Your DD would have better odds of getting in the Eng. school vs. A&S. I'm sure she could apply to switch out of Eng. to A&S after she gets in.

Not at all true. You need higher scores to get into Engineering. The average SAT score was 1464 for engineering in 2021 and 1447 for the college

I'd suggest that that's a function of the applicant pool vs. school selectivity. i.e. The overall cohort of engineering applicants are smarter than the non-eng applicant cohort. However, the A&S school is more selective than the Eng. school as the other PP pointed out.

[Anonymous]

DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

Did she apply ED?

[Anonymous]

no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

Did she get good grades in those AP classes and perform well in the AP exams? Even though she may be a strong STEM kid, her SAT math seems to be a bit on the lower end. Last year UVA engineering school’s 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for SAT math are 730, 770, and 790. Hope she is doing well in another engineering program if that’s her passion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test scores for Engineering students are higher for math but not for verbal. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. But here’s the thing: on average, girls have much lower scores on math than verbal, and fewer girls are applying to engineering schools. So if you’re a girl applying to engineering, you have a better chance of getting in with a lower than average math score for the school than if you are a boy.

In 2020, before test optional, the Engineering school had verbal scores 16 points higher than the A&S school (and math scores 44 points higher). Engineering is a more rigorous admit overall. The exception might be for females, as a PP indicated, because engineering is heavily skewed to males. A&S is heavily skewed to females.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

Did she get good grades in those AP classes and perform well in the AP exams? Even though she may be a strong STEM kid, her SAT math seems to be a bit on the lower end. Last year UVA engineering school’s 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for SAT math are 730, 770, and 790. Hope she is doing well in another engineering program if that’s her passion.

What planet do we currently live on? A couple decades ago, I got accepted to both VT and UMD engineering with a 640 math and a much lower unweighted gpa.

[Anonymous]

A couple decades? That's not today's planet for sure.

If your DD or some girls whom you know were recently admitted to UVA engineering, could you share some info such as:

their stats (w/uw GPA, SAT math/verbal, AP scores);
their extracurricular activities, especially STEM related;
whether or not they applied ED;
their intended major
(I know they are not admitted to a major but to the engineering school and will declare the major in the spring of their freshman year, but they will still be asked to indicate the major they intend to pursue on their application. Do the school care about their intended major at all? For example, if many applicants wanted to major in CS, will someone who wants to major in systems engineering has a slightly better chance to get in?)

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

Did she get good grades in those AP classes and perform well in the AP exams? Even though she may be a strong STEM kid, her SAT math seems to be a bit on the lower end. Last year UVA engineering school’s 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for SAT math are 730, 770, and 790. Hope she is doing well in another engineering program if that’s her passion.

What planet do we currently live on? A couple decades ago, I got accepted to both VT and UMD engineering with a 640 math and a much lower unweighted gpa.

You live on a planet with rampant grade inflation in both high school and college and where the SAT has been recentered upwards about 150 points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

What on earth is "Homecoming Court" doing on that list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD from FCPS was waitlisted for UVA engineering: 720 Math SAT, AP Physics C, AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry. overall 3.8 unweighted gpa. President Science Honor Society, Homecoming Court, 2 Varsity Sports.

Makes me think they aren't really sincere about wanting more female engineers. Discouraging anyway.

Did she get good grades in those AP classes and perform well in the AP exams? Even though she may be a strong STEM kid, her SAT math seems to be a bit on the lower end. Last year UVA engineering school’s 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles for SAT math are 730, 770, and 790. Hope she is doing well in another engineering program if that’s her passion.

What planet do we currently live on? A couple decades ago, I got accepted to both VT and UMD engineering with a 640 math and a much lower unweighted gpa.

You live on a planet with rampant grade inflation in both high school and college and where the SAT has been recentered upwards about 150 points.

+1. The reality is that a 3.8 UW GPA is low for UVA, especially if you are coming from a public school in NOVA. OP didn't list the overall SAT, but I'm guessing it wasn't that impressive either. This is the reality for our kids right now. Make sure your kids (and you) have reasonable expectations and safety schools that they like.