Anyone know a smart student who transferred out of UVA? Why and to where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Retention rates are bullshit. Maybe Harvard’s and Stanford’s are accurate, that’s about all I’d believe.

Look how quick UVA boosters posted the retention rate to shut an otherwise innocuous thread down. That tells you how powerful it is and why it’s ripe for fraud, just as any other socially valuable data set in education.

[Anonymous]

When Columbia and UChicago have top in the US 99% retention rates, you know it's fishy . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC didn't apply to UVA due to size. I can definitely see how it would be too big for some. Of course, some students probably start at schools that are too small for them and end up transferring somewhere larger like UVA. Sometimes it takes a year for students to figure out the best fit.

But UVA isn’t really that big.

DP here. If you think UVA isn't that big, you don't know much about universities, or you/your kid only looked at big state schools. UVA is, like many other state flagship schools, huge.

[Anonymous]

I don't think UVA is that big. It has about 16K undergraduates - smaller than a lot of private schools, like NYU, BU, USC, etc.

For a state flagship, it's comparatively very small.

[Anonymous]

DC's friend transerred from VT to UVA and then back to VT. Then went to UVA for grad school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you transfer, you have to withdraw from your university. They absolutely have records.

Retention is about freshman to sophomore year progress. In high schools, it’s called student mobility (FCPS has it for every school in the system). It’s not about the overall number in the fresh,an class compared to the overall number in the sophomore class.

Scepticiam is great when it comes to data, but straight up making stuff up is stupid. Google things. Read.

Sorry sweetie, I never technically withdrew from anything. This is I bet how they pump the number. If the family never formally withdraws they don’t count them.

If you not register for classes and don’t pay your tuition bill, you are withdrawing yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor’s kid spent freshman year at UVA and transferred to College Park. He did not like
UVA for several reasons. First, it was during the election year and there was a lot of trump support on campus which made him uncomfortable. Second, he is a tennis player and was not allowed to play even on the rec team. He was told that there was not any space left for him. At college park, he had not trouble getting a spot. Third, he did not like his roommate. He is a very strong student and transferred with not problems. He is a better “fit” culturally at Maryland and his parents now pay in state tuition. Win, win.

The Trump statement is weird. I was there during the election year. There were like 5 people in the Hoos for Trump group. No joke. The College Republicans were really conflicted. The College Dems are a much larger group at UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor’s kid spent freshman year at UVA and transferred to College Park. He did not like
UVA for several reasons. First, it was during the election year and there was a lot of trump support on campus which made him uncomfortable. Second, he is a tennis player and was not allowed to play even on the rec team. He was told that there was not any space left for him. At college park, he had not trouble getting a spot. Third, he did not like his roommate. He is a very strong student and transferred with not problems. He is a better “fit” culturally at Maryland and his parents now pay in state tuition. Win, win.

The Trump statement is weird. I was there during the election year. There were like 5 people in the Hoos for Trump group. No joke. The College Republicans were really conflicted. The College Dems are a much larger group at UVA.

Well if they’re like most other repubs (particularly those in office) that conflict will have have vaporized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you transfer, you have to withdraw from your university. They absolutely have records.

Retention is about freshman to sophomore year progress. In high schools, it’s called student mobility (FCPS has it for every school in the system). It’s not about the overall number in the fresh,an class compared to the overall number in the sophomore class.

Scepticiam is great when it comes to data, but straight up making stuff up is stupid. Google things. Read.

Sorry sweetie, I never technically withdrew from anything. This is I bet how they pump the number. If the family never formally withdraws they don’t count them.

I heard for a long time some Ivy League schools (Harvard specifically) would not count students as having left or not complete unless the student completed a degree elsewhere or the university determined they are not eligible to reapply. Otherwise, they viewed them as technically eligible to come back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you transfer, you have to withdraw from your university. They absolutely have records.

Retention is about freshman to sophomore year progress. In high schools, it’s called student mobility (FCPS has it for every school in the system). It’s not about the overall number in the fresh,an class compared to the overall number in the sophomore class.

Scepticiam is great when it comes to data, but straight up making stuff up is stupid. Google things. Read.

Sorry sweetie, I never technically withdrew from anything. This is I bet how they pump the number. If the family never formally withdraws they don’t count them.

I heard for a long time some Ivy League schools (Harvard specifically) would not count students as having left or not complete unless the student completed a degree elsewhere or the university determined they are not eligible to reapply. Otherwise, they viewed them as technically eligible to come back.

But retention is from freshman to sophomoree year, so you know that’ can’t be true.

[Anonymous]

There are two different things here.

1. Transfers - students who leave at any time the enroll at another school.

2. Rentention Rate - percent of freshman who return for sophomore year.

Some of the people who transfer do it after sophomore year.
Some of the freshman who don’t return for sophomore year might leave for reasons other than transfer.

[Anonymous]

The date they tabulate the retention rate would be very interesting. What if they do it in April based on freshmen enrolling for fall courses? That wouldn’t include kids who bail over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are two different things here.

1. Transfers - students who leave at any time the enroll at another school.

2. Rentention Rate - percent of freshman who return for sophomore year.

Some of the people who transfer do it after sophomore year.
Some of the freshman who don’t return for sophomore year might leave for reasons other than transfer.

This is why a 99% rention rate or a 97% retention rate makes me skeptical. Even if you are looking at the best school on the planet, and they are doing absolutely everything right, kids get sick, serious mental illness can manifest at age 18-20 (I knew two girls socially that this happened to when I was in college. One bipolar who took a semester off and came back, one with schizophrenia who left entirely), family emergencies happen, an inability to pay for college happens, kids realize that they want something different out of a college than they thoughtt — different size, different academic program, etc., girls get pregnant or married (see the other thread), kids come unprepared and struggle academically. In many of these case, they might need a smaller school, more supports, to live at home, etc. That’s not a mark against UVA. That’s life.

If they really have 97% of their freshman class show up on campus as sophomores, I would wonder if they were retaining too many kids— giving an academic pass to kids who are underprepared or have poor work habits (and yes, even at UVA, some kids, especially boys, are not prepared to manage themselves in large classes where they are accountable to no one), or making it hard for kids to transfer if they need to. 92% seems like job well,done. 97% seems too high IRL.

I think the 4 & 6 year graduation rate are better benchmarks. But again, I don’t think colleges should be giving degrees to kids who don’t measure up. I also don’t think a lower freshman retention rate is bad. Not all schools are for all kids. It’s better for a kid to move to where they will thrive than double down on a mistake.

This is the problem with USNWR. It makes colleges focus in things that massage their numbers, rather than taking an independent look at what is best for the student body. If UVA relaxes standards to get their 4 year graduation rate up (and I am not saying they do), this May help them stay tied for 25. But it would do a disservice to the actual education. U Chicago style antics to get kids who clearly have no numbers aren’t anything. to apply to drive down acceptance rate does not help the quality of education, and hurts kids who get sold on Chicago and are told they have a chance when they don’t.

And BTW, I went to Wake Forest, which is sitting 1 spot below UVA (#27, with UVA tied for 25). And fully recognize they went test optional early to massage their numbers. Their are good reasons to be test optional. But they were in the process becoming a national university instead of a regional one, and were clearly focused on rankings when they made that decision. I my kids are in high school. So no dog in the UVA fight. But give me a break with the rention rate. No way it is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I knew a Maryland resident student who was waitlisted at UVA. She ended up at Tufts. Transferred to UVA her sophomore year. She spent one year there and went back to Tufts for her junior and senior year. She did not like the social scene at UVA.

Well that’s just strange.

I know a kid who got into both, went to Tufts, transferred to UVA after a year -- and loved it. She did not like the social scene at Tufts.

To each her own.

I know someone whose kid transferred from Oberlin to Columbia and back.

Not everyone knows who they are at 20. Not a bad thing.

And it cannot be the case that UVA has both a strong enough social environment to be raved about and be the perfect fit for every kid. We should be glad that schools are different and that people have choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think UVA is that big. It has about 16K undergraduates - smaller than a lot of private schools, like NYU, BU, USC, etc.

For a state flagship, it's comparatively very small.

By comparison:

VT has almost 29,000 undergraduates.
UMD College Park has 28,000 undergrads.
UC Berkley has 29,000.
UMich has 28,000.