Make sure you've identified/visited/applied to at least one state school other than UVA/W&M or VT that your kid truly likes and would be happy with. |
Most of those studies aren’t particularly large, and many of them suffer from range restriction. The university of California system did an analysis with millions of students spanning decades and found that test scores were the single biggest predictor of college success. Kuncel and Sacckett out of the University of Minnesota got grades and test scores as well as majors/classes for millions of students and found the same thing. Test scores combined with grades is the best predictor. |
Yes it does and the counselor needs to check off the most rigorous box |
Or are URM or first generation. Or went to school tgst doesn’t have APs like my kid who has only a 4.04 (top the school gave) but was valedictorian |
+1 Same here. |
It’s not enough to have a Plan B. Have a Plan c, D, & E. |
Or why my kid from a school referred to on here as a “Big 3” who did take AP Calc BC, AP PhysicsC, etc. even though he asked plied as a humanities major did not get in, despite having literal straight As, when other kids who avoided those classes and took the less rigorous ones but earned higher As did get in? GPA seems to be the most determinative factor, but my DC also has 35 ACT and the counselor told DC they were going to use DC’s activities on the Common App as a model for the next class. I know what Dean J says, and I know it’s not 100% true. |
My tip would be to consider other state schools in addition to UVA. |
I'm curious. Where did your DD read her application notes? Were these notes that her high school counselor wrote? Her English teacher? At my DS' school, the English teacher reviews the essays and provides feedback before they submit their application. I'm sure I'm not the only one - it would be super helpful if you knew exactly why a particular student was rejected, admitted or waitlisted. Was it the essays? The grades? The rigor? |
If your kid attends one of the DC Big 3, I presume you are not a Virginia resident and it should be no surprise your kid didn’t get in. OOS is extremely competitive. |
My kid was accepted and attends UVA. Because they are a public university, they have to allow you to review the notes that the application team wrote regarding your application. My DD reviewed it last year. Her essays were noted as "thoughtful", recommendations were noted as "strong", scores "solid", but her rigor was noted to have "declined in senior year" which it did because it was 2020-2021 and the school was online so she took two free periods/early release, and did her EC/sport. She felt pretty lucky she got in after reading those notes. (Instate, ED) |
ED must be at least a little bump because Dean J says that EA is the strongest pool yet they accept more students percentage wise from ED. |
That’s an odd assumption. Plenty of kids from Arlington attend “Big 3s” for HS, including a bunch of my kids’ friends. |
So sad that people pick their courses based on this. If you are going to need physics in college, it really benefits you long term to take AP Physics C in HS if you can get at least a B. Same with AP Calc. |
yet for some reason, UCalifornia system has permanently dropped SAT/ACT. They are test blind and will not even consider test scores. |