Is uva a prestigious college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the west coast but spent most of my adult life in the Midwest before moving here. My husband grew up here.

He was shocked by how little we in the rest of the country think of UVA (he’s not an alum but like a lot of people in this thread has an inflated opinion of them).

Everywhere in the country recognizes Berkeley as elite. Probably UT and Michigan too. UVA is just plain regional.

UT is not considered elite anywhere outside of Texas. And Michigan is nationally known by the common man/woman more for football than academics. Plus, as you say, you spent most of your adult life in the midwest. Why wouldn't you know more about Michigan?

That UVA gets tens of thousands of applicants every year from the very top students in every state in the country speaks volumes. It's nationally known and respected among the group that matters.

What a weird rebuttal.

I worked in Chicago and PacNW doing hiring and both UT and Mich were more respected by hiring managers than UVA.

I’ve never been to Texas, but I’m sure they’re even more impressed with UT than the rest of us.

All of these schools gets loads of out of state applicants.

I worked for years doing hiring in DC and UT isn't even on the radar.

UT and Michigan are both huge, twice the size of UVA. Michigan is a couple hours' drive from Chicago and a major destination for UM grads. UVA grads typically look at DC, NYC and CA for employment -- not Washington state or Chicago. It's not surprising that your silly hiring managers are more familiar with UT and UM.

UT is a formidable school in a lot of areas. The business school is excellent and the undergraduate honors students are extremely select. The engineering school dwarfs UVA in breadth and depth. UVA is pretty strong in biomedical engineering, but outside of that doesn't stack up too well to UT (or Berkeley or Michigan or GT or Illinois). UT computer science is top notch (when the buildings are named Gates and Dell it is a pretty good indicator). They have a highly-regarded honors program. Michigan is formidable across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Business -- Michigan 7, UVA 13 UMD 48
Education -- Michigan 14, UVA 16 UMD 33
Engineering -- Michigan 4, UVA 40 UMD 22
Law -- Michigan 8, UVA 9 UMD 49
Medicine -- Michigan 15, UVA 26 UMD31
Nursing -- Michigan 8, UVA 20 UMD 13
Biology -- Michigan 23, UVA 46 UMD 62
Chemistry -- Michigan 15, UVA 48 UMD 41
Computer Science -- Michigan 11, UVA 30 UMD 16
Math -- Michigan 12, UVA 47 UMD 22
Physics -- Michigan 13, UVA 44 UMD 14
Economics -- Michigan 12, UVA 29 UMD 21
English -- Michigan 8, UVA 6 UMD 30
History -- Michigan 6, UVA 18 UMD 27
Political Science -- Michigan 4, UVA 37 UMD 29
Psychology -- Michigan 3, UVA 17 UMD 39
Sociology -- Michigan 1, UVA 32 UMD 24

Just sayin

and yet, despite all this, UVA is still the higher ranked national university for undergraduate education.
Both are very good schools, but I suspect people around here lean toward UVA and people in the Midwest lean toward Michigan or Notre Dame.

+1. Those that are unaware are probably older. The college/university world has changed a lot in just the last five year.

Those of us who are older remember that there did not used to be a USNews ranking (which may have been the good old days given the issues that thing causes), then a USNews ranking with Berkeley rated highest among publics. Then UVA actually first among publics for a number of years, and then recently has settled in behind Berkeley and UCLA. We might also remember that it was tough to apply to lots of schools because there was no common application.

We remember the University of Chicago having near 50% acceptance rates and Penn having an acceptance rate in the 30% range and an SAT only slightly above W&M. We remember that average SAT scores actually fell so much from the late 1960s that they had to recenter them to get the grades up (making the scores at college look a 100 points or so higher). We remember when most schools had class ranks and they did not have multiple Valedictorians and Salutatorians.

It is possible that we might have some perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Most people in the country don't know that Berkeley, University of California, and Cal are the same thing, or that they are different than any Cal state campus.

Most people in this country don’t realize that there’s an enormous difference between say, UC-Berkeley and University of Kentucky or Duke and Florida State. They just know them all as “big D1 schools good at sports” and that’s that. That’s why I always take these “my SO grew up in XYZ and no one knows UVA!!” (or insert any number of schools) reports with a grain of salt. The average American knows very little about colleges and using the opinion of random people to evaluate the prestige, selectivity, desirability etc. of a school is just silly.

Except for here on DCUM, where everyone is sooooo educated about everything that they know it all.

This is generally correct. I'd say many people, if they had to name academically elite schools, would just name Harvard, etc. Beyond that, they may have some regional bias that influences them. Not a lot of academic names travel broadly.

However, in academic circles and some hiring circles, the people in the know, a lot more schools are known, and overall, for better or worse, they probably track pretty close to USNews in perception.

At the end-to-end graduate and research level, people in the know are aware that UVA is well below Michigan, Berkeley, etc. as the previous posts showed. People keep arguing against this but it can be objectively supported. They have to understand that universities are composed of a number of components. Very few indeed are strong across all or most.

I don’t disagree, except I didn’t think we were talking about the graduate schools. I thought we were talking about undergraduate education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to get into? Yes, but I wouldn’t call it prestigious. It’s just a well regarded big state school like Michigan or UCLA.

I think Michigan is more highly regarded. Never even heard of UVA until I moved to DC eight years ago.

+100

Michigan's grad dept rankings--an excellent proxy for the quality of the various undergrad majors--are almost all higher than UVA's. Plus Michigan sports blows UVA sports out of the water.

Forever Go Blue!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to get into? Yes, but I wouldn’t call it prestigious. It’s just a well regarded big state school like Michigan or UCLA.

I think Michigan is more highly regarded. Never even heard of UVA until I moved to DC eight years ago.

+100

Michigan's grad dept rankings--an excellent proxy for the quality of the various undergrad majors--are almost all higher than UVA's. Plus Michigan sports blows UVA sports out of the water.

Forever Go Blue!

Hail to the Victors!

[Anonymous]

The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to get into? Yes, but I wouldn’t call it prestigious. It’s just a well regarded big state school like Michigan or UCLA.

I think Michigan is more highly regarded. Never even heard of UVA until I moved to DC eight years ago.

+100

Michigan's grad dept rankings--an excellent proxy for the quality of the various undergrad majors--are almost all higher than UVA's. Plus Michigan sports blows UVA sports out of the water.

Forever Go Blue!

Hail to the Victors!

Victors of what, in recent memory? Congrats on being the flagship of an irrelevant midwestern state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

Yes. Some dismiss any slights as jealousy of the superiority of UVA, but then UVA supporters assail other schools and they think that is OK. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

Yes. Some dismiss any slights as jealousy of the superiority of UVA, but then UVA supporters assail other schools and they think that is OK. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

STEM has been UVA's achilles heel at least historically. I had a friend in grad school who graduated from MIT. His sister was attending UVA and when I said that's a good school, he said "well, it is a 'soft' school". I took that to mean he didn't have a strong view of engineering, math, and science. Perhaps he meant UVA didn't push people, though. I didn't clarify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

Yes. Some dismiss any slights as jealousy of the superiority of UVA, but then UVA supporters assail other schools and they think that is OK. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

STEM has been UVA's achilles heel at least historically. I had a friend in grad school who graduated from MIT. His sister was attending UVA and when I said that's a good school, he said "well, it is a 'soft' school". I took that to mean he didn't have a strong view of engineering, math, and science. Perhaps he meant UVA didn't push people, though. I didn't clarify.

Not true today. Try getting in as an aerospace engineer or any other engineering program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

Yes. Some dismiss any slights as jealousy of the superiority of UVA, but then UVA supporters assail other schools and they think that is OK. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

STEM has been UVA's achilles heel at least historically. I had a friend in grad school who graduated from MIT. His sister was attending UVA and when I said that's a good school, he said "well, it is a 'soft' school". I took that to mean he didn't have a strong view of engineering, math, and science. Perhaps he meant UVA didn't push people, though. I didn't clarify.

Not true today. Try getting in as an aerospace engineer or any other engineering program.

I think he meant it from a quality and rigor perspective, not from a selectivity standpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
STEM has been UVA's achilles heel at least historically. I had a friend in grad school who graduated from MIT. His sister was attending UVA and when I said that's a good school, he said "well, it is a 'soft' school". I took that to mean he didn't have a strong view of engineering, math, and science. Perhaps he meant UVA didn't push people, though. I didn't clarify.

Omg, talk about low social IQ ... something he may have learned at a soft school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question was "Is UVA a prestigious college?" The definition of prestige through Google is:

Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality.
"he experienced a tremendous increase in prestige following his victory"

Using this definition, the word "widespread" is perhaps the biggest question mark.

It is a fine definition. Using it, I think "perception of achievements or quality" is the biggest question. Quality is entirely relative and often subjective. If we mean quality in line with other R1 AAU universities, then no doubt I agree. But, the UVA boosters seem to insist on trying to hold themselves above others in that category.

It is funny, because I have sided with them when they are arguing with the "only Ivies will do" crowd. Then they turn around with he same elitist drivel directed at other excellent state universities.

Yes. Some dismiss any slights as jealousy of the superiority of UVA, but then UVA supporters assail other schools and they think that is OK. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

STEM has been UVA's achilles heel at least historically. I had a friend in grad school who graduated from MIT. His sister was attending UVA and when I said that's a good school, he said "well, it is a 'soft' school". I took that to mean he didn't have a strong view of engineering, math, and science. Perhaps he meant UVA didn't push people, though. I didn't clarify.

Not true today. Try getting in as an aerospace engineer or any other engineering program.

I think he meant it from a quality and rigor perspective, not from a selectivity standpoint.

I know UVA has put focus on this and is making progress, but you also have to look at the extensiveness of the STEM programs at some of these state schools to understand. There are something like 22 undergraduate public engineering programs ranked as high or higher than UVA in USNews. When you get up to Berkeley, Michigan, Illinois, GT, Purdue, Texas, they really are quite colossal enterprises.

[Anonymous]

No - too racist and anti-GBLT