Does HS Play Into Your Chances of Being Accepted at In State Schools?

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if a student from NOVA has a better chance of getting in to VA's top state schools coming from a private school vs. FCPS. Or, if someone with a 4.2 from say Springfield has a better chance than someone with the same GPA coming out of Langley, McLean, Oakton, etc. Do you think it matters which school you graduated from, all else being equal? If colleges take a certain percentage of incoming freshmen from NOVA, I wonder if they also only take a certain percentage from each school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if a student from NOVA has a better chance of getting in to VA's top state schools coming from a private school vs. FCPS. Or, if someone with a 4.2 from say Springfield has a better chance than someone with the same GPA coming out of Langley, McLean, Oakton, etc. Do you think it matters which school you graduated from, all else being equal? If colleges take a certain percentage of incoming freshmen from NOVA, I wonder if they also only take a certain percentage from each school?

It is quite different for top-performing seniors from any NOVA HS to get into top in-state universities due to geographical quotas and a desire (for financial reasons) to accept more out-of-state students (who pay out-of-state tuition).

Simply put, two kids who are identical on paper. One goes to McLean, the other to Union High School in Big Stone Gap. The latter is far more likely to be accepted to UVA or William & Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if a student from NOVA has a better chance of getting in to VA's top state schools coming from a private school vs. FCPS. Or, if someone with a 4.2 from say Springfield has a better chance than someone with the same GPA coming out of Langley, McLean, Oakton, etc. Do you think it matters which school you graduated from, all else being equal? If colleges take a certain percentage of incoming freshmen from NOVA, I wonder if they also only take a certain percentage from each school?

The maximums they can accept are based on the County in which the student resides, not the particular HS. THis was changed many years ago.

[Anonymous]

But I thought in Va you either live in a city or a county but not both.

[Anonymous]

Everything else being equal, a VA kid outside Northern Virginia will be accepted over a local VA kid. Admissions directors say this straight up.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ Absolutely true.

[Anonymous]

I think OP may be asking, if UVA is the end game, does a kid have a better chance coming from a non-TJ northern VA public, or a private school in VA or DC. It's probably too late for OP to move to rural VA. In other words, are UVA's quotas (I us "quotas" loosely) based on home location or school. I have no idea what the answer is, although I would guess that the rigor of the public or private school would be important.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I am curious if colleges also look at whether the student is coming from a public hs in NOVA or a private hs in NOVA, or if that doesn't matter...it's still NOVA. In the same vein, does it matter which hs in NOVA the student is coming from? All just curiosity, as ours will go to our base hs.

[Anonymous]

I'd guess the school's reputation and your kid's course load, ECs, class rank (if available) and GPA would trump anything else. Here in MD the more selective colleges do tend to take more kids from some high schools than others. But it's not enough to buy or rent in the Whitman district: your kid will have to do really well there and stand out in some other way (leadership, talent, sports) to get into selective colleges including UVA. It's sort of a chicken-and-egg thing, or maybe a circle thing: selective colleges like taking kids from the most rigorous and competitive high schools, but to stand out your kid will need to out-compete the other kids.

So anyway, living in northern VA makes it tougher, but moving to another public or private HS probably won't solve this.

[Anonymous]

DD from NoVa went to a private HS in DC and was accepted to UVA, which was a reach for her. She is a good student with good test scores and took a challenging courseload, but was slightly below UVA's average for GPA. No other hooks - no legacy, not a recruited athlete, not under-represented minority. I think what private schools bring to the table is college counselors with MUCH smaller case loads who often have great personal relationships with the admissions officers at certain schools. In DDs case, I believe every college counselor at the school has worked in UVA's admissions office and they leverage those connections very effectively to advocate for students who they know will succeed at UVA. They don't sell a student who won't make it, but some students have intangibles that make them a good fit, even if they don't have a 4.5 GPA. (DD held a significant schoolwide leadership position in her school that capped 4years of involvement in an EC, and I think her counselor was able to reinforce its significance.) I think it comes down to how well the college counselors know the students and how well-connected they are, which may point to an edge for private school students. As an aside, there's an interesting article here about NoVa acceptances (from 2011): http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/northern-virginia-leads-uva-w-m-admissions/article_0d4c5fcd-505d-5261-bf95-59509fe1192b.html

[Anonymous]

Of course it matters OP. There was an article in the Washingtonian Magazine about 5 years ago where the Admissions Dean from UVA said they take TJ kids, of course. But, students from this area who didn't attend TJ and went to some other Northern VA public are at a disadvantage.

And, private schools in this area get a lot of kids into UVa, W+M and others. I know at my DD's private school, it was considered "second rate" or that someone was "poor" if their kid ended up at UVA or W+M instead of an Ivy or the likes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know at my DD's private school, it was considered "second rate" or that someone was "poor" if their kid ended up at UVA or W+M instead of an Ivy or the likes.

Wow. Just...wow.