Top 10 sour grapes

[Anonymous]

I'm a public school AP teacher in a STEM subject and I just heard about ED acceptances to a HYPS, UVA and W&M from three of my students. My strongest student by a long stretch is the W&M student, followed by the UVA student, followed by the HYPS student. The HYPS student is extremely disciplined and ambitious, but their grade in my class was boosted by a number of retakes and their AP Exam score wasn't the highest.

Most of our stellar students attend top public schools because they don't qualify for FA at the privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most of our stellar students attend top public schools because they don't qualify for FA at the privates.

Or they just like the bang for the buck at a public flagship.

[Anonymous]

I'm sour grapes about UVA for sure. State flagships should be more welcoming for in state students. I hope UVA falls out of favor in the next few years. They deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hardest to accept is whatever one you got. Beyond that I think state flagships are tough as it’s fair to think a strong applicant should be able to get into their public option.

Yea, I think Harvard, MIT, CalTech are harder to get into than UVA and UChicago.

+1
How is this even a comparison? UChicago, possibly. But UVA?

You and OP are missing several points:

1) it has gotten very difficult to get into UVA.This fall's accepted class reports having a 4.5 GPA, 35 ACT and 1520 at the 75th percentile. Most are in the too 6% of their class and have taken many AP courses and their ECs are extraordinary (read the stats of weightlisted applicants in College Confidential
and Reddit to get a feel for the rigor UVA is seekong). My UVA kid (who tried for Ivies) would not get in today. My daughter wasn't even a contender. This irritates some in-state Virginians who don't want to consider the 30+ other in-state institutions which VA offers or even the guanteed transfer program

2) UVA is a small flagship when compared to UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Cal, UNC and Texas. This means fewer seats available to Virginians who are seeking in-state tuition.

3) UVA allows 30% OOS and international students which is many more than California Texas, NC, etc which more severely restrict state resources for residents.

4) the financial gain of getting into UVA (or W&m or VT) is enormous for middle class and UMC parents who have been struggling since covid. ALL top publics are now highly sought after but DMV students are effectively shut out of Cal, Texas, and NC.

5) the financials are this: UVA is $40k a year. SLACs and Ivies are $86+. USC and my own SLAC are $95k a year all in. So if your child gets in to UVA, that is a financial win of $55k a year = $220 ahead over four years, $300k is paying out of taxable income.

6) If you sock that difference away and let it compound, you can pay for grad school, law school (a whopping $116k a year at the top schools), other kids' educations or a down payment on a home. This is a very big deal to Virginians.

7) It sounds like your information about UVA is obsolete. It ranks no 4 best public institution in the US. It ranks T24 of all institutions in the US. It is the no 1 public producer of Rhodes Scholars after West Point with 57 Rhodes. Same with Marshalls, and the other international scholarships. It's professional schools are also doing very well. UVA Law is T4.

It's very good value for the dollar. That's why parents want to get they kids in and why they are bitter when their kids don't get one if the 4,700 instate slots a year. and why they bash here.

Many parents are just unrealistic as to how difficult it has become to get into any top
public school.

Realistic parents look at all of the universities and colleges that UVA offers. The really smart ones do the community college transfer program.

Thank you for this!! Our son just got in ED to UVA in-state. What you’ve written sums up the many reasons he feels proud and excited. And we are too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a public school AP teacher in a STEM subject and I just heard about ED acceptances to a HYPS, UVA and W&M from three of my students. My strongest student by a long stretch is the W&M student, followed by the UVA student, followed by the HYPS student. The HYPS student is extremely disciplined and ambitious, but their grade in my class was boosted by a number of retakes and their AP Exam score wasn't the highest.

Most of our stellar students attend top public schools because they don't qualify for FA at the privates.

Being ambitious and disciplined really helps to make it all the way through HYPS. People say the hardest part is getting into these schools but that is not true. It's a pressure cooker and bring really bright and studious is not always enough to be able to thrive in that environment.

[Anonymous]

Is this a thread about UVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a thread about UVA?

Seems like it turned into that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people accept being rejected by Harvard, MIT, CalTech, etc. But which school rejections are the hardest to accept? UVA? UCHICAGO? And why? Do people on DCUM really believe these are any easier to get in? I've been following for about three years now and this time of year gets super salty

Well, UVA has an acceptance around 25-30% compared to Harvard, MIT and Cal Tech less than 10%. So yes, UVA should be easier admit.

OMG, I would be so embarrassed if my in-state kids hadn’t gotten into UVA. Newsflash: it is a public university and designed specifically to admit students from Virginia. Of course they got in and of course they both turned it down. It is a total safety school. Luckily our investments have done very very well, so our kids ended up going to Brown and Princeton.

[Anonymous]

Top 10 sour grapes.

Are there even 10 varieties of grapes ?

[Anonymous]

Chicago is up there for me. Like, what the hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is up there for me. Like, what the hell.

UChicago because of their sneaky practices with ED, ED2 and forced waitlists. If they were more open about it, then it would be OK with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people accept being rejected by Harvard, MIT, CalTech, etc. But which school rejections are the hardest to accept? UVA? UCHICAGO? And why? Do people on DCUM really believe these are any easier to get in? I've been following for about three years now and this time of year gets super salty

Well, UVA has an acceptance around 25-30% compared to Harvard, MIT and Cal Tech less than 10%. So yes, UVA should be easier admit.

OMG, I would be so embarrassed if my in-state kids hadn’t gotten into UVA. Newsflash: it is a public university and designed specifically to admit students from Virginia. Of course they got in and of course they both turned it down. It is a total safety school. Luckily our investments have done very very well, so our kids ended up going to Brown and Princeton.

Embarrassed? UVA is a top 25 school! Which happens to save in-state families $250k compared to schools like Wake Forest, which is ranked way lower. So no, not embarrassed. And there are plenty of kids at our son’s large NoVa public that were not admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hardest to accept is whatever one you got. Beyond that I think state flagships are tough as it’s fair to think a strong applicant should be able to get into their public option.

Yea, I think Harvard, MIT, CalTech are harder to get into than UVA and UChicago.

+1
How is this even a comparison? UChicago, possibly. But UVA?

You and OP are missing several points:

1) it has gotten very difficult to get into UVA.This fall's accepted class reports having a 4.5 GPA, 35 ACT and 1520 at the 75th percentile. Most are in the too 6% of their class and have taken many AP courses and their ECs are extraordinary (read the stats of weightlisted applicants in College Confidential
and Reddit to get a feel for the rigor UVA is seekong). My UVA kid (who tried for Ivies) would not get in today. My daughter wasn't even a contender. This irritates some in-state Virginians who don't want to consider the 30+ other in-state institutions which VA offers or even the guanteed transfer program

2) UVA is a small flagship when compared to UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Cal, UNC and Texas. This means fewer seats available to Virginians who are seeking in-state tuition.

3) UVA allows 30% OOS and international students which is many more than California Texas, NC, etc which more severely restrict state resources for residents.

4) the financial gain of getting into UVA (or W&m or VT) is enormous for middle class and UMC parents who have been struggling since covid. ALL top publics are now highly sought after but DMV students are effectively shut out of Cal, Texas, and NC.

5) the financials are this: UVA is $40k a year. SLACs and Ivies are $86+. USC and my own SLAC are $95k a year all in. So if your child gets in to UVA, that is a financial win of $55k a year = $220 ahead over four years, $300k is paying out of taxable income.

6) If you sock that difference away and let it compound, you can pay for grad school, law school (a whopping $116k a year at the top schools), other kids' educations or a down payment on a home. This is a very big deal to Virginians.

7) It sounds like your information about UVA is obsolete. It ranks no 4 best public institution in the US. It ranks T24 of all institutions in the US. It is the no 1 public producer of Rhodes Scholars after West Point with 57 Rhodes. Same with Marshalls, and the other international scholarships. It's professional schools are also doing very well. UVA Law is T4.

It's very good value for the dollar. That's why parents want to get they kids in and why they are bitter when their kids don't get one if the 4,700 instate slots a year. and why they bash here.

Many parents are just unrealistic as to how difficult it has become to get into any top
public school.

Realistic parents look at all of the universities and colleges that UVA offers. The really smart ones do the community college transfer program.

Do you realize how many of the accepted students didn’t submit test scores? Makes that 35/1520 score you quote a little less impressive. Also, it is a waitlist not weightlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people accept being rejected by Harvard, MIT, CalTech, etc. But which school rejections are the hardest to accept? UVA? UCHICAGO? And why? Do people on DCUM really believe these are any easier to get in? I've been following for about three years now and this time of year gets super salty

No one should be getting rejected by UVA these days. There are so many other schools that are better. With the exception of the cost - why bother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people accept being rejected by Harvard, MIT, CalTech, etc. But which school rejections are the hardest to accept? UVA? UCHICAGO? And why? Do people on DCUM really believe these are any easier to get in? I've been following for about three years now and this time of year gets super salty

Well, UVA has an acceptance around 25-30% compared to Harvard, MIT and Cal Tech less than 10%. So yes, UVA should be easier admit.

OMG, I would be so embarrassed if my in-state kids hadn’t gotten into UVA. Newsflash: it is a public university and designed specifically to admit students from Virginia. Of course they got in and of course they both turned it down. It is a total safety school. Luckily our investments have done very very well, so our kids ended up going to Brown and Princeton.

Embarrassed? UVA is a top 25 school! Which happens to save in-state families $250k compared to schools like Wake Forest, which is ranked way lower. So no, not embarrassed. And there are plenty of kids at our son’s large NoVa public that were not admitted.

Don’t feed obvious trolls.