How is UVA overrated?

[Anonymous]

Not from VA and don’t have a dog in this fight, but just from spending time here you pick up on some of the arrogance that exists. It’s a great school just like the other top publics, but it’s going to get some heat when some act like it’s a tier above those other strong publics. It’s not.

[Anonymous]

UVA is certainly not significantly better than the other top 25 public universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re doing a pre professional program. UVA wins hands down . Law , medicine business there graduate schools are second to none. When it comes to stem other public ivys gain better traction

Their graduate programs are behind a lot of other schools, but are still decent for a public university.

What are you talking about? UVA law is currently ranked #4, ahead of Harvard, Penn, Columbia. UVA business is consistently top 10.

[Anonymous]

DCUM is the only place where I see this kind of talk. Most people in the region are well aware that UVA is a great school. UVA people are a lot like Tech grads in their school pride.

Some people misinterpret school pride with arrogance, but that's more a sign of ones own insecurity.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:it is overrated for 2 reasons:

1) STEM staff and curriculum is like any other T50-100 school

2) Outcomes - lack of fortune 500 companies in and around DMV makes hiring very hard.

No idea what you are talking about on 2. UVA is on every list of banking and consulting placement, plus placement at top law schools, med schools, etc.

I hear Capitol One is a main recruiter there. How impressive.

CapOne has 12,500 employees in Tysons and 12,500 in Richmond. Of course it is going to recruit heavily from the nearby Flagship. I don’t see why that’s a ding.

I believe it is the #1 employer for UVA, W&M, VT, JMU . . .

Certainly top 3 for VT (usually rotates between CapOne, Boeing, and Lockheed due to engineering college). WM is harder to find top employers because it just lists “employers who hired 4 or more graduates,” but CapOne is one of those.

CapOne not top 10 for JMU: https://www.jmu.edu/career/careeroutcomes/_files/2023/class_of_2023_report_final.pdf

You can get employer data from LinkedIn by looking at the college or university. It can list top employers.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it is overrated for 2 reasons:

1) STEM staff and curriculum is like any other T50-100 school

2) Outcomes - lack of fortune 500 companies in and around DMV makes hiring very hard.

No idea what you are talking about on 2. UVA is on every list of banking and consulting placement, plus placement at top law schools, med schools, etc.

I hear Capitol One is a main recruiter there. How impressive.

CapOne has 12,500 employees in Tysons and 12,500 in Richmond. Of course it is going to recruit heavily from the nearby Flagship. I don’t see why that’s a ding.

I believe it is the #1 employer for UVA, W&M, VT, JMU . . .

Certainly top 3 for VT (usually rotates between CapOne, Boeing, and Lockheed due to engineering college). WM is harder to find top employers because it just lists “employers who hired 4 or more graduates,” but CapOne is one of those.

CapOne not top 10 for JMU: https://www.jmu.edu/career/careeroutcomes/_files/2023/class_of_2023_report_final.pdf

You can get employer data from LinkedIn by looking at the college or university. It can list top employers.

On LinkedIn, Capital One is the #1 external employer (where they work) of alumni for UVA, VT, and JMU. It is #2 for W&M just behind Deloitte.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is the only place where I see this kind of talk. Most people in the region are well aware that UVA is a great school. UVA people are a lot like Tech grads in their school pride.

Some people misinterpret school pride with arrogance, but that's more a sign of ones own insecurity.

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just gonna say this. My kid is graduating next month and interviewing for jobs currently. she is in a field that does not hire cohorts of entry level people, so the timing has to be right where they have a need and she can start reasonably soon. This has meant it’s been a rush in recent weeks as she’s finally to a point where she can start next month. She has had 11 interviews and 4 second rounds. I will say per the posted PDs she does not have the experience. They are usually looking for 2 years of exp and she has two great summer internships but definitely not two years. I believe that she has gotten these interviews in large part because she is at UVA. She had a second interview today and they said she was the only candidate they are meeting who is still in college. The UVA name does open doors that other VA colleges do not. Sorry, it’s just a fact.

I do not understand the UVA hate.

The school definitely opens doors. We know many UVA graduates who have excellent careers. And through the years.

And very happy for our kid who is graduating from another college will be starting their career at UVA.

It is a vicious cycle. Some feel UVA supporters are always putting down other schools - trying to distance themselves with sharp elbows. But the flip side is some UVA supporters feel this is justified as a response to attacks on it. It just keeps going round and round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say the opposite uva is actually underrated. My dc and his friends got multiple offers from top Wall Street and hedge funds. They actually did better than thei counterparts at some me of the ivys. I have to give them credit it was purely networking. Its alumni fostered these interviews and the clubs helped in preparing them for the interviews and negotiations. I have another child and he was debating between uva and an ivy now seeing. His siblings offers he accepted uva.

If it was due to networking and not to UVA-specific programming, that does not support your argument that UVA is under-rated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m just gonna say this. My kid is graduating next month and interviewing for jobs currently. she is in a field that does not hire cohorts of entry level people, so the timing has to be right where they have a need and she can start reasonably soon. This has meant it’s been a rush in recent weeks as she’s finally to a point where she can start next month. She has had 11 interviews and 4 second rounds. I will say per the posted PDs she does not have the experience. They are usually looking for 2 years of exp and she has two great summer internships but definitely not two years. I believe that she has gotten these interviews in large part because she is at UVA. She had a second interview today and they said she was the only candidate they are meeting who is still in college. The UVA name does open doors that other VA colleges do not. Sorry, it’s just a fact.

And an Ivy opens even more. My kid is only a Freshmen and had a ridiculous amount of success with internships. It stands out when everyone else is a state school kid.

True although depending on the job it could close doors because people tend to think Ivy grads will think they’re too good for the entry level or they won’t stay. I hired a kid from Yale for an entry level non profit Job and she lasted a month. I don’t think we will make that mistake again.

Because she was unreliable because she was an Ivy grad....and no individual from an ordinary public school would ever leave after one month....
Maybe a better offer finally came through? And maybe a graduate from any other university would have been applying to multiple positions at multiple employers and took what came along first in order to have a paying job and gain experience .... and moved on when opportunity knocked?
OK. Sure. punish all future graduates from that school or all Ivy league schools because this one girl left early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not from VA and don’t have a dog in this fight, but just from spending time here you pick up on some of the arrogance that exists. It’s a great school just like the other top publics, but it’s going to get some heat when some act like it’s a tier above those other strong publics. It’s not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re doing a pre professional program. UVA wins hands down . Law , medicine business there graduate schools are second to none. When it comes to stem other public ivys gain better traction

Their graduate programs are behind a lot of other schools, but are still decent for a public university.

What are you talking about? UVA law is currently ranked #4, ahead of Harvard, Penn, Columbia. UVA business is consistently top 10.

The USNWR law school rankings are bogus, but if you go by USNWR their business school is not top 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that say UVA is overrated, please list the reasons you believe this. Looking for substantive reasons. My kid is about to decide between UVA and another school.

Frankly, nobody outside of DC and Nova really cares about it. It's just another "good state school." And you all know if your kid could get in and you could afford it, you'd send them to Vandy, Duke or GU in a heartbeat and then find ways to flex your higher rung status on UVA parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those that say UVA is overrated, please list the reasons you believe this. Looking for substantive reasons. My kid is about to decide between UVA and another school.

Frankly, nobody outside of DC and Nova really cares about it. It's just another "good state school." And you all know if your kid could get in and you could afford it, you'd send them to Vandy, Duke or GU in a heartbeat and then find ways to flex your higher rung status on UVA parents.

Not GU. GU pretty takes anyone from our DC private who applies with a 3.5+. It's not prestigious at all plus my kids had no interest at all in staying in DC. I get you on Duke and Vanderbilt.
But what do they have to do with UVA? My kid would probably also go to Yale and Harvard over UVA. So what? How do these negate UVA from having any prestige?
You are making no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those that say UVA is overrated, please list the reasons you believe this. Looking for substantive reasons. My kid is about to decide between UVA and another school.

Frankly, nobody outside of DC and Nova really cares about it. It's just another "good state school." And you all know if your kid could get in and you could afford it, you'd send them to Vandy, Duke or GU in a heartbeat and then find ways to flex your higher rung status on UVA parents.

Not GU. GU pretty takes anyone from our DC private who applies with a 3.5+. It's not prestigious at all plus my kids had no interest at all in staying in DC. I get you on Duke and Vanderbilt.
But what do they have to do with UVA? My kid would probably also go to Yale and Harvard over UVA. So what? How do these negate UVA from having any prestige?
You are making no sense.

UVA is a safety for GU rejects. Vandy, Duke, and GU all have that same pretentious elitist faux southern vibe. Ditto UVA. UVA is a great school but it’s obviously a status flex if your kid can get into and you can afford those far more selective and expensive privates.

Yale and Harvard are so hyper selective they’re not schools anyone can really realistically aim for.