If you have a kid at W&M or UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the better criteria to look at at this point is not GPA but whether or not your child is in the top 10% of their high school class. That figure is repeated (hovers between 90 and 94%) at convocation. UVA is looking (IMHO) for well-rounded leaders of tomorrow. But they also like to see top 10%. They also like to see a lot of APs too, but not all students are in schools that provide these and UVA knows that. My DC had 3 APs (not many) but took a college-level science course during junior year between junior and senior year. He had a 4.16 but that was about as high as his school went (he was no. 1). And ACTs of 34, then 36 on retake. However one of D.C.'s close friends came in with 64 college credits (I'm not making that up) because the community college was close to that DC's high school. Both got in. DC's friend could graduate early if he chose too because all of the AP and college courses taken. Frankly, your best bet is to be applying in-state from one of the counties to the south and west of the state where UVA doesn't receive many applicants. Or URM. Or international (73 countries represented this year). Or from a financially-disadvantaged background or a first generation student. Good luck!

Fcps high schools don't rank.
And how do you even compare that? My dd has friends with 4.0s who have never taken an advanced class, and she has a 3.5 with only honors and AP. Should she have taken the easy route for a higher GPA?

Yes.

~parent of FCPS high school junior (and learned this too late)

Can you elaborate? What have you seen?

During several VA in-state college visits, we were told a higher GPA is more important than a challenging series of courses. (We did not visit W&M or UVA.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ it is correct. There were 60 valedictorians in my DC's Langley High school class, our -- err -- 450? There is a thread on this right now on DCUM. I'll go see if I can find it. In their FCPS 125 were valedictorians last year. Yes, it doesn't seem right but that's what the publics are doing for anyone over a 4.0

Yes, this is correct. I was at a presentation where the UVA head of admissions spoke. He said that he had received some negative press bc UVA had not accepted a valedictorian from a NOVA public school. He went on to say that there were over 100 "Valedictorians" from this one high school bc everyone who earned straight As was considered a valedictorian. He also said that the UVA admissions committee is completely aware of grade inflation and high school rigor of the schools in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ it is correct. There were 60 valedictorians in my DC's Langley High school class, our -- err -- 450? There is a thread on this right now on DCUM. I'll go see if I can find it. In their FCPS 125 were valedictorians last year. Yes, it doesn't seem right but that's what the publics are doing for anyone over a 4.0

Yes, this is correct. I was at a presentation where the UVA head of admissions spoke. He said that he had received some negative press bc UVA had not accepted a valedictorian from a NOVA public school. He went on to say that there were over 100 "Valedictorians" from this one high school bc everyone who earned straight As was considered a valedictorian. He also said that the UVA admissions committee is completely aware of grade inflation and high school rigor of the schools in this area.

I wonder if this means they're just aware of the difference between say private vs public rigor or whether they distinguish even between different schools within the same county. For example, do they distinguish one FCPS school as being more rigorous than another FCPS school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ it is correct. There were 60 valedictorians in my DC's Langley High school class, our -- err -- 450? There is a thread on this right now on DCUM. I'll go see if I can find it. In their FCPS 125 were valedictorians last year. Yes, it doesn't seem right but that's what the publics are doing for anyone over a 4.0

Why call them valedictorians? Why not just say they graduated with highest honors.?

[Anonymous]

I guess this is what allows colleges to say, "we turn down xx hundred valedictorians every year..." They're certainly not lying.

[Anonymous]

According to the Scattergrams from a relatively low ranked FFX IB school:

Average admits to Va Tech 4.0x GPA and SATs above 1270-1300. No doubt the engineering admits have higher average SATs

U.VA 1380 SATs and 4.2 and up GPA

William & Mary all bets are off. It was an interesting range. Average waS 1400 SATS AND 4.3 AND UP GPA, but lower scores and GPAs were accepted and higher ones rejected. This would support rumors of a more wholistic admissions evaluation.

This is a HS with many first gen college students and homes where English is not the only language, so GPAs may count for more than test scores, which would not hold true with higher SES schools. Also, few students /year to either UVA or William and Mary and not that many more to Tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the Scattergrams from a relatively low ranked FFX IB school:

Average admits to Va Tech 4.0x GPA and SATs above 1270-1300. No doubt the engineering admits have higher average SATs

U.VA 1380 SATs and 4.2 and up GPA

William & Mary all bets are off. It was an interesting range. Average waS 1400 SATS AND 4.3 AND UP GPA, but lower scores and GPAs were accepted and higher ones rejected. This would support rumors of a more wholistic admissions evaluation.

This is a HS with many first gen college students and homes where English is not the only language, so GPAs may count for more than test scores, which would not hold true with higher SES schools. Also, few students /year to either UVA or William and Mary and not that many more to Tech.

For a middle-of-the-pack FCPS AP HS:

Average admits to UVA 4.29 GPA and average SAT 1431. Range of 4.01 - 4.55
2017: total applicants 147, 60 accepted, 35 enrolled
2016: total applicants 110, 47 accepted, 35 enrolled
2015: total applicants 107, 38 accepted, 29 enrolled

Average admits to Va Tech 4.13 GPA and average SAT 1360. Range of 3.84 - 4.50
2017: total applicants 192, 122 accepted, 56 enrolled
2016: total applicants 160, 107 accepted, 50 enrolled
2015: total applicants 157, 94 accepted, 50 enrolled

Average admits to W&M 4.25 GPA and average SAT 1434. Range of 3.80 - 4.57
2017: total applicants 75, 29 accepted, 11 enrolled
2016: total applicants 58, 29 accepted, 10 enrolled
2015: total applicants 61, 28 accepted, 10 enrolled

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ it is correct. There were 60 valedictorians in my DC's Langley High school class, our -- err -- 450? There is a thread on this right now on DCUM. I'll go see if I can find it. In their FCPS 125 were valedictorians last year. Yes, it doesn't seem right but that's what the publics are doing for anyone over a 4.0

Yes, this is correct. I was at a presentation where the UVA head of admissions spoke. He said that he had received some negative press bc UVA had not accepted a valedictorian from a NOVA public school. He went on to say that there were over 100 "Valedictorians" from this one high school bc everyone who earned straight As was considered a valedictorian. He also said that the UVA admissions committee is completely aware of grade inflation and high school rigor of the schools in this area.

The current Dean of Admissions at UVA is a woman. Your story might date back to 2009 when there was a male dean.

[Anonymous]

Current Dean of Admissions is male, Greg Roberts. He has been dean since 2009. Dean J,who answers social media posts and does the NOVA college visit circuit is female and is an associate dean.