UVA - "holistic" vs GPA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

Not true. Just look at TJ college destination statistics. Half of the class gets admitted to UVA and WM. Any college no matter how selective, the admission rates from TJ are multiples of other FCPS schools. Your own kid got into Berkeley most likely because of the unique combination of the exceptional STEM school and passion for performing art

Neither Uva or Wm want too many from TJ, even if they easily meet the gpa and SAT preferences for the school. That's calle "holistic" admissions. Indeed Uva could be completely filled with NOVA kids only if gpa and SAT were the only qualifiers.

[Anonymous]

OP, your issue is with TJ, not UVA

[Anonymous]

UVA seemed to be all about GPA back in the early 1990s. About a 3.75 and old school 1240 with varsity sports, leadership positions, and a job would pretty much get ya in.

Dude or whatever: Chill!! Your kid goes to Cal (I think?)!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

Not true. Just look at TJ college destination statistics. Half of the class gets admitted to UVA and WM. Any college no matter how selective, the admission rates from TJ are multiples of other FCPS schools. Your own kid got into Berkeley most likely because of the unique combination of the exceptional STEM school and passion for performing art

Only a moron would compare college admissions from a highly selective admissions STEM school with a base school. It is idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA seemed to be all about GPA back in the early 1990s. About a 3.75 and old school 1240 with varsity sports, leadership positions, and a job would pretty much get ya in.

Dude or whatever: Chill!! Your kid goes to Cal (I think?)!!!

I don’t it was even that hard in the early 1990s. That’d get you at least “lower” Ivy back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

Not true. Just look at TJ college destination statistics. Half of the class gets admitted to UVA and WM. Any college no matter how selective, the admission rates from TJ are multiples of other FCPS schools. Your own kid got into Berkeley most likely because of the unique combination of the exceptional STEM school and passion for performing art

Only a moron would compare college admissions from a highly selective admissions STEM school with a base school. It is idiotic.

Not idiotic at all. It's called "holistic" admissions. And perfectly legal.

[Anonymous]

UVA has always been GPA focused. Even the law school admissions are GPA focused and always have been more GPA focused than other top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Word is UVA is all about GPA. If you don't have that, end of story. The holistic stuff comes after you make that cut. That is their reputation.

It's all about being top 10% of your hs class.
And OP doesn't understand what "holistic" means.

After last year, i would say more like top 6%. And because first-generation is now becoming the newist protected category, that means fewer white, TJ, Asian-American and legacies will get in. There are only so many spaces. Since we have to cultural engineer everything to death nowdays, it has become much more difficult to get into some of these schools for the nonprotected white students in NoVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year I remember reading Dean J's blog, where she said that UVA looks at their applicants in a holistic manner.

I beg to differ - our snowflake earned/carried a non-academic national title; got an 800 on her math SAT first time (1520 total - a little low for the HS); spent 20 hours/week through most of the school year in performing arts, and still managed to get A's and some B's at a Governor STEM school. (A 50/100 could easily be the median on a math or science test prior to a retake at this school.) Snowflake was rejected EA despite submitting an Arts portfolio with an extra essay - all showing a desire to attend our state's flagship university as a legacy.

I am not trying to bash UVA - I went there because I could get a great education at a lower cost (despite being out of state) and save money for medical school. I made some great life-long friends - all of whom were very bright - and was able to study abroad as well. I also was fortunate enough to benefit from the Echols program.

However, the bottom line now for NoVA applicants is the GPA. Anything else is icing on top - or perhaps just the cherry.

It is much worse if you attend the Gov School, where honors classes can be a lot harder than AP's at base schools. Many/most kids from this school could easily survive/thrive at UVA, but they are rejected. Meanwhile, others who are accepted may struggle once there...

(BTW, soon after the UVA rejection, our snowflake was accepted to the 2021 Forbes #1 Top College - a public institution for the first time - and is having a great time there. We are obviously paying a heck of a lot more out of state, but DC is getting a world-class education.)

I'm sorry OP, but it sounds like your counselor didn't provide enough guidance or you aren't up to date on the statistics it takes to get into UVA. First of all, a B just doesn't cut it for UVA anymore. The Governor school student I know who was accepted had 16 college level credits, a 6.25 (Loudon county), and perfect scores. She entered as a sophomore and graduated in three years. That's the kind of superstar they are looking for. You need to be the top student or near it in your particular high school, have great scores, and a fantastic GPA, and have climbed Mt. Everest or attained Eagle Scout or the equivalent. Last fall the entering class (the ones that actually showed up - not the acceptances, which have higher stats because many VA students use UVA as a safety for Ivies) had a 4.52 GPA at the 75th percentile level meaning that 25% of the kids walking around campus had a higher GPA. Median was 4.39 and bottom 25th of the incoming class had a 4.23. These statistics are provided by the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. Google SCHEV every single year for every 4 year institution in Virginia. Your expectations were too high. Also you are naive about the role of the admissions officer. Their role these days is to get your kid to apply no matter what, so they can be rejected, which lowers the school's selectivity ratings as reported to USN&WR. Study what Dean J says carefully. She's intentionally vague. They want your kid to apply, that is her sole role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA has always been GPA focused. Even the law school admissions are GPA focused and always have been more GPA focused than other top schools.

False. Harvard Law, top 75th/50th/25th GPA percentiles for class of 2024: 3.98/3.92/3.82. LSAT 176/174/170. UVA for the same class is 3.97/3.91/3.64. And LSATs for UVA entering class were 173/171/166.

[Anonymous]

1) I don't understand what you people don't get about being one data point. Your specific kid getting rejected because of her stats does not mean anything.

2) Dean J and other UVA counselors have said over and over and over again that they are looking for the kids to take the hardest classes available and get the best grades possible. This is different from GPA.

3). UVA counselors have also made it very clear that 90% (or whatever the exact statistic) of kids were in the top 10% of their class. This is not hidden anywhere.

4) Visit UVA's common data set to see exactly what they deem most important and least important in the application package.

[Anonymous]

UVA is overrated. UCB and Michigan are better schools and they want the TJ kids. Obviously it costs more for in-state students. But the experience is worth it.

If UVA is serious about improving its standing, it needs to improve its STEM and engineering programs. It needs recruit more from TJ not less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is overrated. UCB and Michigan are better schools and they want the TJ kids. Obviously it costs more for in-state students. But the experience is worth it.

If UVA is serious about improving its standing, it needs to improve its STEM and engineering programs. It needs recruit more from TJ not less.

It's standing is fine considering the in-state tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

(The bottom line with TJ is that when you press the button to attend TJ, you know your chances of college admissions decrease unless you are in the top 10% or so of your graduating class.)

Not true. Just look at TJ college destination statistics. Half of the class gets admitted to UVA and WM. Any college no matter how selective, the admission rates from TJ are multiples of other FCPS schools. Your own kid got into Berkeley most likely because of the unique combination of the exceptional STEM school and passion for performing art

Only a moron would compare college admissions from a highly selective admissions STEM school with a base school. It is idiotic.

But the initial PP said the "top 10%" when 50% of the class gets admitted to UVA/WM/VT Engineering--the top in-state schools. A factual correction.
And it's not unreasonable to compare the top 50% of TJ to the top 10% at the base schools--they are essentially the same caliber, with similar SATs etc. Not every top student wants to go to TJ and this is a high achieving area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is overrated. UCB and Michigan are better schools and they want the TJ kids. Obviously it costs more for in-state students. But the experience is worth it.

If UVA is serious about improving its standing, it needs to improve its STEM and engineering programs. It needs recruit more from TJ not less.

Don't you ever get tired of posting this stuff? You are wrong about science and stem. Even if you were, the Commonwealth has VTech. And it has W&M for a SLAC experiene. You really want great engineering and cybersecurity in particular? GMU. We are blessed with riches in Virginia but you have to pick the university that is right for what you want to do. UVA is a very small school compared to UCB and Michigan. There are only so many slots open to in-state Virginians. For what it's worth my kid did engineering at UVA is now doing electrical engineering grad work at Princeton.


Please read what James RYan has been doing in science and technology and engineering at UVA before you post again. I'm sorry your kid didn't get in but your uneducated posts aren't helping those on this site you need information. Google UVA engineering. https://news.virginia.edu/content/engineering-executive-dean-named-vice-provost-research-george-washington.