UVA Early Action

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC had an 800 math SAT (total 1520), non-academic EC activities included a national title and min 20 hrs/week, attended a Gov STEM School and summer GOV school in performing arts, And is a legacy - rejected from UVA (GPA < 4.3 prior to Sr yr, Asian and from NoVa). Dean J's blogs that tell students that there is no minimum GPA, that it is about the whole student, and that there are no quotas are a little hard to believe...What's sad amongst other things is that DC would not have spent time getting wasted at fraternity/sorority parties and has exactly the integrity UVA's honor system would desire.

Wow, that's very upsetting. I am a UVA alum and I've posted previously. I am appalled that students like your DC were not accepted yet students with lesser stats, publicly posted here, were. Good luck to your DC. Your DC is UVA's great loss. I'm sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC had an 800 math SAT (total 1520), non-academic EC activities included a national title and min 20 hrs/week, attended a Gov STEM School and summer GOV school in performing arts, And is a legacy - rejected from UVA (GPA < 4.3 prior to Sr yr, Asian and from NoVa). Dean J's blogs that tell students that there is no minimum GPA, that it is about the whole student, and that there are no quotas are a little hard to believe...What's sad amongst other things is that DC would not have spent time getting wasted at fraternity/sorority parties and has exactly the integrity UVA's honor system would desire.

Wow, that's very upsetting. I am a UVA alum and I've posted previously. I am appalled that students like your DC were not accepted yet students with lesser stats, publicly posted here, were. Good luck to your DC. Your DC is UVA's great loss. I'm sorry.

Did your DC take all APs junior and senior year? The only thing not mentioned is the rigor of the transcript. Getting A’s in the most rigorous course load available at your school is their first cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:So I had a kid enter UVA in 2009. He had a 1970 SAT on the old scale, which I just calculated would be a 1360 on the new scale. He was below the mean on the SAT both then and now by about the same amount.

Why is everybody saying that admissions are so much more competitive now, then? Yes, there are more applications, but the stats for those admitted and enrolling haven't changed all that much.

Yes, the statistics have changed dramatically. The entire world of college admissions has changed in just the last few years, not to mention the eleven years ago. My DD recently graduated. She would not get into UVA today, I am confident. Her GPA and test scores are too low for a white student from NOVA.

If you are applying from NoVA for UVA you need to be in the top ten percent of your class although some college counselors now say top five percent. The 75th percentile GPA of ENROLLED students last fall was a 4.48; median was 4.34 and 25th percentile was a 4.20. ACTs were 34 at the 75th percentile. SAT was 1480 at the 75th percentile. A 1360 would place around the 35th percentile of enrolled students. BUT, the lower percentiles are predominantly used for URMs, low-income, first-generation, unusually talents, athletes, legacies, and other special interest groups. https://research.schev.edu//enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

Yes, this is a good thing, there is not a dearth of great public schools in Virginia. Quite the opposite, other than California we have an amazing group of colleges here in Virginia. Getting into our state flagship should be for our best in the state and followed by great out of state students. Welcome to the real world, NOVA is not the center of the universe, there are many deserving kids in other parts of Virginia that are honestly more than worthy of admittance than NOVA kids, Virginia is more than the DCUM world.

DP. I see your point; however, as a STATE school, UVA needs to admit more in-state than OOS. I realize they already do, but perhaps they need to lower the OOS admits more. Taxpayers should be benefiting over OOS.

Go away. There are many other very high-quality in-state options, and UVA is staying in its top-tier public status by maintaining its standards.

[Anonymous]

What about essays and recommendations? We all think our kid's application was the best, but we just don't know how it looks to people who read hundreds of essays and recommendations per day/week/etc.

[Anonymous]

There is no way to sugar coat these rejections for nova families who sought what is perhaps the most significant brass ring of nova existence—UVA admission.

[Anonymous]

What we forget is every college considers applicants race, gender, major among other things. Rejections and deferrals may be because of those things and not a high enough gpa or ECs etc. I mean universities will try to maintain their socio economic diversity..no? Even UVA? So maybe they picked the better Asian male students and since they can only have so many asian males the rest are rejected? Just thinking out loud..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC had an 800 math SAT (total 1520), non-academic EC activities included a national title and min 20 hrs/week, attended a Gov STEM School and summer GOV school in performing arts, And is a legacy - rejected from UVA (GPA < 4.3 prior to Sr yr, Asian and from NoVa). Dean J's blogs that tell students that there is no minimum GPA, that it is about the whole student, and that there are no quotas are a little hard to believe...What's sad amongst other things is that DC would not have spent time getting wasted at fraternity/sorority parties and has exactly the integrity UVA's honor system would desire.

Wow, that's very upsetting. I am a UVA alum and I've posted previously. I am appalled that students like your DC were not accepted yet students with lesser stats, publicly posted here, were. Good luck to your DC. Your DC is UVA's great loss. I'm sorry.

Hold on here... as sad as I am for this posters kid, you are taking a bit too far. You do not know these kids so to say that you are "appalled" that "lesser stat" kids were accepted is a bit much. Yes this student sounds great and its a real shame that they were rejected... but did you read their essays and recommendations or those of the kids accepted? I am just as stunned and sad for this posters kid, but no need to denigrate those who did get in by saying they are not as qualified when you truly do not know that.

[Anonymous]

GPAs are approaching 5.0 now in this area. No way to know what 4.3 means.

[Anonymous]

A lot of applicants go wrong when they think college admissions, especially at selective schools, is a stats-only arms race. Think about this, if you were to ask someone to join your family, club, or other small community, who would it be? How would you determine that? Where would you source your applications? How would it be impacted both by your own desires and timing and those of the applicants? Think hard about that because, in some ways, that is the college admissions game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of applicants go wrong when they think college admissions, especially at selective schools, is a stats-only arms race. Think about this, if you were to ask someone to join your family, club, or other small community, who would it be? How would you determine that? Where would you source your applications? How would it be impacted both by your own desires and timing and those of the applicants? Think hard about that because, in some ways, that is the college admissions game.

at Privates and SLACs, sure. At publics, especially those that have to answer to politicians, it's formulaic. You may not like or understand everything that goes into the formula- the kid from podunk high has a better shot than your kid because the school is supposed to serve the whole state- but that doesn't mean there aren't formulas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of applicants go wrong when they think college admissions, especially at selective schools, is a stats-only arms race. Think about this, if you were to ask someone to join your family, club, or other small community, who would it be? How would you determine that? Where would you source your applications? How would it be impacted both by your own desires and timing and those of the applicants? Think hard about that because, in some ways, that is the college admissions game.

at Privates and SLACs, sure. At publics, especially those that have to answer to politicians, it's formulaic. You may not like or understand everything that goes into the formula- the kid from podunk high has a better shot than your kid because the school is supposed to serve the whole state- but that doesn't mean there aren't formulas

At very large and non-selective publics, you’re probably right: they’re mostly filling seats. But for a “large” state school, UVA’s class size of 3750 is fairly small. Plus, one-third of those admits are OOS. Despite what admissions says, I’m sure there is an initial screen to get rid of the unqualified applicants and then a deeper read of the remaining ones.

[Anonymous]

How lower than 4.3 is the GPA? For some schools in Nova, this might put the student in the top 10%.
Grade inflation is unbelievable these last years.

[Anonymous]

might NOT

[Anonymous]

4.3 is the unofficial GPA cut off at our northern VA school for UVA. They place much more value on your years of grades than scores on a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How lower than 4.3 is the GPA? For some schools in Nova, this might put the student in the top 10%.
Grade inflation is unbelievable these last years.

That's why kids pack in so many APs. An A in a regular class actually hurts your GPA if you are trying to be near the top of your class