What happened to UVa??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And ironically UVa CS and Engineering programs are quite mediocre, at best

It’s 37th for undergrad engineering on Usnwr. Hardly mediocre. Rice, the DCUM darling, is 25. Harvard is 30. RPI 34. Brown and Yale and Case Western and Colorado School of Mines, are all also 37. Stop using flimsy excuses to bash UVA. And no my kid is not even applying to UVA.

[Anonymous]

Lots of people moved to Virginia, the state legislature doesn’t fund public colleges like they used to, so OOS admits/enrollment have to go up to make up for that. Also, legacy admissions are verboten now. I’m sorry, but lots of us are in the same boat with you.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and thanks to that failed social experiment from a few years ago and record high private college costs, in state applications and applications overall have never been higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people moved to Virginia, the state legislature doesn’t fund public colleges like they used to, so OOS admits/enrollment have to go up to make up for that. Also, legacy admissions are verboten now. I’m sorry, but lots of us are in the same boat with you.

If you want to/have to go in state, you need to adjust your expectations accordingly.

UVA and W&M didn't/couldn't grow. VT did grow but botched the enrollment a few years ago, so has to work through that overenrollment. It also is focusing on FGLI so that not a sure thing at all.

JMU is now the main destination for many NOVA applicants because they did grow and are looking to move up in the world. But even that's not as accessible as in the past as a result of the increased number of applicants.

WVU, Clemson and South Carolina used to be popular because of the academic exchange, but they are long gone and Tennessee (which was popular recently) will leave soon too. Those options are drying up because the Commonwealth universities have expanded their majors.

Nevertheless, the Commonwealth did fund expansion and improvement at GMU/JMU/VCU, so those are good options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated in 1992 but now, the chances for DC getting in are zero!! He has decent grades but UVa just seems like a dream at this point.

quite depeessing

This is across all top colleges. Nothing specific for UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated in 1992 but now, the chances for DC getting in are zero!! He has decent grades but UVa just seems like a dream at this point.

quite depeessing

This is across all top colleges. Nothing specific for UVA.

This.

2002 grad who wouldn’t have a chance in hell these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

List is now down to the 2 bolded above. Quite frankly your kid will get a better education at W&M. Only UVA’s heavy investment in DEI is keeping them in the top 30 of what is becoming a useless ranking (USNWR) scheme.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people moved to Virginia, the state legislature doesn’t fund public colleges like they used to, so OOS admits/enrollment have to go up to make up for that. Also, legacy admissions are verboten now. I’m sorry, but lots of us are in the same boat with you.

Yes.

1/2 of a UVA Double legacy here.

Our second kid, solid stats but not top-tier, just got rejected from UVA. EC's were light and given that legacy no longer factors in, not necessarily a surprise. B

Our oldest, a college senior this year, also got denied back in 2020. 4.0 GPA, advanced coursework, tons of EC's and student leadership, high achieving varsity/club athlete since 8th grade. Even did three years of the UVA Summer Enrichment Program. That one was a surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College admissions has changed across the board since we applied. In many many ways. Pay attention. It isn't just UVA.

Seriously. I think people who are indignant over UVA being more selective since 20 years ago are being deliberately obtuse.

I just dug around and here's how UVA has grown the incoming group
Fall 2009: 3246
Fall 2014: 3709
Fall 2019: 3920
Fall 2023: 3966

It looks like UVA's growth has topped out around 3900 incoming. Safe to say they don't have the space for more without building. If you have a child there right now, you know how the library construction impacted the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And ironically UVa CS and Engineering programs are quite mediocre, at best

A bad take. While they aren't top tier (like CMU, MIT, or even UMD), hardly mediocre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College admissions has changed across the board since we applied. In many many ways. Pay attention. It isn't just UVA.

Seriously. I think people who are indignant over UVA being more selective since 20 years ago are being deliberately obtuse.

I just dug around and here's how UVA has grown the incoming group
Fall 2009: 3246
Fall 2014: 3709
Fall 2019: 3920
Fall 2023: 3966

It looks like UVA's growth has topped out around 3900 incoming. Safe to say they don't have the space for more without building. If you have a child there right now, you know how the library construction impacted the experience.

Compare those numbers to the total number of applications:
Fall 2009: 21,839
Fall 2014: 31,042
Fall 2019: 47,827
Fall 2023: 56,439

It's tough to get in. You need to adjust expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated in 1992 but now, the chances for DC getting in are zero!! He has decent grades but UVa just seems like a dream at this point.

Virginia 1988, 6 million
Virginia 2024, 8.6 million

UVA freshman class 1988:
16,900 applied
2,535 enrolled

UVA freshman class 2022-23:
50,926 applied
4,030 enrolled

The number of slots has more than increased in line with the increase in state population, but vastly more kids are applying.

What's kind of funny is that the year you applied to UVA there was a "newsworthy" record number of applicants.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/02/11/applications-at-4-va-colleges-set-a-record/7443b4c5-b929-4ffb-be8e-9549463e6d68/

[Anonymous]

Just go to community college and get good grades(which is easy)

You get right in. It’s a breeze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people moved to Virginia, the state legislature doesn’t fund public colleges like they used to, so OOS admits/enrollment have to go up to make up for that. Also, legacy admissions are verboten now. I’m sorry, but lots of us are in the same boat with you.

Yes.

1/2 of a UVA Double legacy here.

Our second kid, solid stats but not top-tier, just got rejected from UVA. EC's were light and given that legacy no longer factors in, not necessarily a surprise. B

Our oldest, a college senior this year, also got denied back in 2020. 4.0 GPA, advanced coursework, tons of EC's and student leadership, high achieving varsity/club athlete since 8th grade. Even did three years of the UVA Summer Enrichment Program. That one was a surprise.

Did you apply ED/EA? In order to be considered, most entrants are picked during those rounds. It is UVA's way of yield protecting , though UVA does not call it that. Also, PP who mentioned DEI is accurate, because UVA has some history to try to correct (or at least appear to be correcting).