DC deferred to UVA despite good stats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA has possible the most transparent admissions of any college. It’s almost entirely class rank.

DeanJ just posted over at CC that "rank isn’t the most important factor, as only about 34% of applicants have that stat."

Is she saying that only 34% of their applicants go to a high school which releases ranking data? My kid's FCPS school didn't rank, but I'm pretty sure they provided GPA ranges and the percentile of the class in that range in the school profile they send to colleges. It's not hard to figure it out from there.

It's these sorts of answers that annoy me when it comes to Dean J. She knows they have more detailed information than specifically "class rank".

APS doesn't rank kids who have a weighted 4.0 or higher, which at W-L is over 200 kids. So rank doesn't really exist.

But if you're an AO lining up 50 kids from W-L (or Yorktown, or Wakefield) who have applied you can see the range of GPAs. Yes - rank doesn't matter as far as what is on the bottom of the transcript, but it still exists.

THIS. Even without rank, UVA and other schools that get a lot of apps from each high school can easily deduce rank. they also track stats and admit/defer/deny decision year to year from high schools (ie the college version of scoir). counselor letters often will say this person has the highest GPA or in the top handful or in the top 10%...when that is in some letters and not others it isn't hard. even ivies with fewer apps from the high school can easily discern approx rank. more importantly, relative rigor . UVA cares about both, as all top 25 schools do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not true. All of the kids accepted we know….have one thing in common. They are top of the class. Have performed very well when compared to peers. No hooks for any of them. No legacies. Mix of conservative and liberal.

+1. My experience. My kid went there. No connections. No legacy. No strings. But he was valedictorian in his class, Eagle Scout and stats well above that year's 75th percentile. The only other student to get in from his private was the salutatorian and also and Eagle Scout and top performer. liberal and conservative.

[Anonymous]

The dc of OP probably has other dream schools in mind, otherwise would have applied ED. GL to him/her in RD!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dc got similar stats, oos, flat out rejected. Asian. So much for meritocracy. Dc is feeling that they will get shut out from colleges, and end up at UPitt, while similarly stat friends have secured admission at T20.

I went to MIT and a bunch of my Asian friends didn't list themselves as Asian on the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA wants students that want to be there.

How much of UVA culture, activities, etc were mentioned in the essays? What case did the applicant make to what their contribution to the academical village would be?

They are not just about test scores and grades. They are creating community.

And, as PP says - they have more than enough applicants (I think well over 40k) to fill the 4+k spots. They simply cannot take everyone.

This isn't true. UVA is too large to follow interest. It has a relativeky small admussikns office since it is oublic. It does not have the resources to follow the demonstrated interests of 60,000 applicants like the Ivies and other large publics do not. William & Mary is much smaller and does track demonstrated interest. Sure, mention how you think you could contribute to UVA's community in the essays, but what they are really looking for (and Dean J says it over and over): most rigorous, GPA over 4.5 (75th percentile), 35 ACT, 1520
SAT or higher. Top national
ECs. Top 6% of high school class. Then URM. first-gen, legacy but only if essay warrants it, Native American, poor Appalachian, good candidate from counties which send only one applicant a year (in the west and south of the Commonwealth). etc. And, recruited athletes, the rare instrument needed for the orchestra, etc., Pell Grant and scholarships for families who qualify for special treatment under Jim Ryan's scholarship programs for families making less than $100k a year. Then you have to account for the fact that 1/3 of the seats go to high-scoring OOS and international students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA wants students that want to be there.

How much of UVA culture, activities, etc were mentioned in the essays? What case did the applicant make to what their contribution to the academical village would be?

They are not just about test scores and grades. They are creating community.

And, as PP says - they have more than enough applicants (I think well over 40k) to fill the 4+k spots. They simply cannot take everyone.

This isn't true. UVA is too large to follow interest. It has a relativeky small admussikns office since it is oublic. It does not have the resources to follow the demonstrated interests of 60,000 applicants like the Ivies and other large publics do not. William & Mary is much smaller and does track demonstrated interest. Sure, mention how you think you could contribute to UVA's community in the essays, but what they are really looking for (and Dean J says it over and over): most rigorous, GPA over 4.5 (75th percentile), 35 ACT, 1520
SAT or higher. Top national
ECs. Top 6% of high school class. Then URM. first-gen, legacy but only if essay warrants it, Native American, poor Appalachian, good candidate from counties which send only one applicant a year (in the west and south of the Commonwealth). etc. And, recruited athletes, the rare instrument needed for the orchestra, etc., Pell Grant and scholarships for families who qualify for special treatment under Jim Ryan's scholarship programs for families making less than $100k a year. Then you have to account for the fact that 1/3 of the seats go to high-scoring OOS and international students.

I never said demonstrated interest in terms of clicks or visits! Duh.

My point was scores and such are a dime a dozen - they can fill their classes multiple times over w grades, scores, rigor.

What sets candidates apart is what they bring to the academical village. What talents, interests, perspectives can they add. How they show thru the app that they get UVA and how they can contribute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dc got similar stats, oos, flat out rejected. Asian. So much for meritocracy. Dc is feeling that they will get shut out from colleges, and end up at UPitt, while similarly stat friends have secured admission at T20.

Pittsburgh is more fun than Charlottesville and there are plenty of very smart Asian kids at Pitt (many but not all in-state).

+1. And if this student decides to go to Pitt, PLEASE learn it is NOT UPitt. Please, people. It’s Pitt or the University of Pittsburgh.

[Anonymous]

We have a friend whose daughter goes there. She is a freshman. She had top stats. We are OOS. Last year she had just finished her essay when the family hired a college counselor. The short story is the counselor didn't feel the essay was good enough. She had to scrap it and start over. My point in saying this is sometimes you may think you have a great application, but you really don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a friend whose daughter goes there. She is a freshman. She had top stats. We are OOS. Last year she had just finished her essay when the family hired a college counselor. The short story is the counselor didn't feel the essay was good enough. She had to scrap it and start over. My point in saying this is sometimes you may think you have a great application, but you really don't.

And sometimes you already know you do b/c of the other schools that were acceptances.

[Anonymous]

You have to know each school you apply to and what they value. You may show well for one but not another. It's obviously not only about stats...do some research on what is important to each school and craft supplementals so that you capture that schools essence. You can't just copy paste and change one word per school. My two cents....

[Anonymous]

Join the club?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to know each school you apply to and what they value. You may show well for one but not another. It's obviously not only about stats...do some research on what is important to each school and craft supplementals so that you capture that schools essence. You can't just copy paste and change one word per school. My two cents....

Honestly, what kid is actually doing that? Most who apply to UVA probably know better. There is something admissions is looking for or they flip a coin. Or, you happen to come from a HS who already had a lot of admits from ED and there just isn't room. Stop looking for reasons to blame these kids.

[Anonymous]

100% kids are doing that for the schools that matter most to them. Just like all the schools have different supplemental requirements - schools want to know that you want to go to their school and effort you'll put in to it. If you just throw your shot and see what happens, then you probably don't care as much about that particular school.

[Anonymous]

That's the problem with grade inflation - obviously it's only the other kids

[Anonymous]

If you are in a Fairfax County high school, I recommend ED for UVA. We had two kids admitted to UVA through ED (in 2021 and this cycle, 2025). Yes they both had great SAT (1540), GPA (4.5-4.6) and extracurriculars like Eagle Scout, varsity sport captains, etc. but their friends with comparable stats who did EA or regular did not get into UVA (but are now thriving at Tech, W&M, etc.).