Virginia parents do not have many good in-state options

[Anonymous]

We need to stop telling kids that some state schools are "bad schools."

There is one VA state school I have seen zero commitments to in my daughter's class. It was a school we liked very much when we visited. I thought I'd see at least a few kids decide to go there.

I think we have a range of schools for just about every kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm revisiting this because, this year again, I see many highly qualified Northern Virginia kids going out of state or "settling" for their 2nd/3rd/4th choice mainly or partially because they were rejected or waitlisted at their top Virginia choices (anecdotal evidence, but still...).

Do people still think Virginia parents are lucky to have such good options? I think some OOS kids at UVA/VT engineering should feel lucky instead.

Yes, Virginia parents are extremely lucky have such great options. We are OOS and our DC attends VT - feeling very, very fortunate.

[Anonymous]

The title of this thread is hilarious - no sour grapes there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And just an aside, OP... I DO get it. I wish there was a traditional college big-state U that pretty much admitted everyone with a 3.0 and above. That's the missing piece in VA. We have VT and UVA -- but they have become so selective that even a 4.0 student cannot expect to be admitted to VT. And forget about UVA.

Isn't that basically JMU? It's got an 80% acceptance rate, and fits the archetype of the school for kids who are a step down academically from the state flagship.

Not really. More like GMU or VCU. JMU is down to 69 percent acceptance. Like VT more than half get in but MSU, Iowa and Indiana are good Big Ten schools with higher acceptance rates than JMU and are flagships. JMU is more like Miami of Ohio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that VA has so many options and I’ve told my DD to consider a school’s fit rather than its reputation. While I think she has the stats for UVA/VT/W&M, as a female student from FCPS there are no guarantees of admission to any of those - so she shouldn’t get her heart set on one.

She’s seriously looking at other state schools - UMW, VCU, JMU, Longwood - and would be happy at any of those. There are successful graduates from all of those schools. Life is what you make it.

Honestly outside of engineering and tech. JMU and VT are pretty much the same students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia's "bench" of public universities is deeper and stronger than Maryland's bench.

I would definitely take UVA, WM or VT over UMCP, JMU/VCU/GMU over UMBC. CNU over SMC, ODU over Salisbury, Radford over Frostburg State, etc. The HBCUs are stronger, too.

I would also take Virginia's bench over the Directional Universities that are in other states.

Access to UVA/WM/VT has become more limited for NOVA applicants and the bench is not as prestigious as the top tier, hence the complaints around here. Maybe if ODU and CNU reverted to their original names as branch campuses of W&M that would change? LOL.

In any event, I would also agree that expanding the enrollment at UVA, WM and VT would benefit the state. I'm surprised that Youngkin hasn't waded into tertiary education as much as he has for primary and secondary education.

There are only two Public’s that accept less than half their applicants and VT is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richmond is private, not public.

But there are lots more....VCU, CNU, ODU, Radford, VMI, UMW. Not sure what more OP needs.

Some are very selective, some not selective at all and some in between.

+1. VA has some of the better state schools around. What the OP wants, I suspect is more schools at the UVA/W&M/VaTech "ranking". They could not imagine sending their kid to GMU, JMU, VCU, ODU, Radford, Mary Washington, etc.

MD has UMD and then it drops to UMBC (266) and then Towson (459)

UVA is 55 and VaTEch is 106 (These are college simply rankings, so you merge all LA, SLAC, regional universities into one ranking). JMU is 258, GMU is 244, VCU 455.

It's a no brainer---VA has much better options for in state than MD.

JMU is ranked 124.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richmond is private, not public.

But there are lots more....VCU, CNU, ODU, Radford, VMI, UMW. Not sure what more OP needs.

Some are very selective, some not selective at all and some in between.

+1. VA has some of the better state schools around. What the OP wants, I suspect is more schools at the UVA/W&M/VaTech "ranking". They could not imagine sending their kid to GMU, JMU, VCU, ODU, Radford, Mary Washington, etc.

MD has UMD and then it drops to UMBC (266) and then Towson (459)

UVA is 55 and VaTEch is 106 (These are college simply rankings, so you merge all LA, SLAC, regional universities into one ranking). JMU is 258, GMU is 244, VCU 455.

It's a no brainer---VA has much better options for in state than MD.

If you cannot get in, that’s not an option. UVa, W&M and VT are not options for many many Virginia kids.

Being better than MD doesn’t mean much.

Give it a rest. VT accepts about 6 out of 10 applicants. Used to be 7 out of 10. And that includes all the engineering students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Tennessee. What I wouldn't do for the options we had in Virginia!

Unless your kid is exceptionally smart, you might be better off in Tennessee.

I would take UTenn in-state over JMU/GMU in-state.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP can you provide an example of a "good" in-state option in another state - what it is you think that Virginia should have but doesn't?

FSU, which is a good and huge public school and limits the OOS admission.

FSU has a 37% acceptance rate, but OP is unhappy with the much higher acceptance rate at VT / JMU.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that VA has so many options and I’ve told my DD to consider a school’s fit rather than its reputation. While I think she has the stats for UVA/VT/W&M, as a female student from FCPS there are no guarantees of admission to any of those - so she shouldn’t get her heart set on one.

She’s seriously looking at other state schools - UMW, VCU, JMU, Longwood - and would be happy at any of those. There are successful graduates from all of those schools. Life is what you make it.

Honestly outside of engineering and tech. JMU and VT are pretty much the same students.

This is true for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're from Fairfax and my kid chose UMD over VA Tech. He's having the time of his life there. More options for things to do and very easy access to DC and Baltimore.

But he lives in College Park lol

Um, been to Blacksburg?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland parents often complain about the lack of instate public options other than UMCP.

Guess what, Virginia is not that much better in my opinion.

[/b]Yes, Virginia has UVa, W&M and VT. [b]

But Virginia is more populous than Maryland and W&M undergraduate enrollment is tiny. In addition, more Maryland parents are willing to send their kids to private colleges like many other parents in Northern states.

VT limits the number of in-state admission to get more OOS kids. So what if your kids don’t get in UVa, VT or W&M? That’s the big issue for many parents.

JMU is considered as the next best option. And I do think it’s a fine school and its business program is a solid choice. But what if your kids want to major in engineering or hard scinece? JMU doesn’t even have a proper engineering school (college of integrated science and engineering is not a real engineering school in my opinion).

GMU offers decent engineering and CS programs but not everyone in Northern Virginia wants to go to a school in Fairfax.

Too many good and ambitious Virginia kids don’t get in UVa, W&M, and VT. I think this is why there have been increased interest in some of OOS public school (pitt, IU, UDel, UConn, Tenn, Alabama, etc. ) among Virginia parents.

If your kid can't get into UVA, VT, or W&M,
I'd be a crabby parent too. Is your kid a slacker?

Reading that thread about how an FCPS kid with a 4.3/1500 has no chance at UVA, VT, or W&M, it really does not seem like Virginia kids have good options. Be a genius, go out of state, or go to Mason? Those are rough options for a hardworking smart kid looking for a traditional 4-year college experience. In most of the country, a 4.3/1500 kid can walk into their state flagship.

Mason has a 91 percent acceptance rate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the science programs really that bad at JMU?

I hesitate to say “bad”, but JMU definitely is very weak in real science degrees like Physics or Chem. The same science degree from ODU or GMU or VCU would be much much stronger, and obviously both UVa and VT have very credible science degrees. Going. to JMU for that degree will adversely impact one’s options at college graduation. Harder to get into a good grad science program from JMU and also harder to get a job. JMU would be OK if one’s career goal were o spend one’s life being a high school science teacher.

Nice made up post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the science programs really that bad at JMU?

I hesitate to say “bad”, but JMU definitely is very weak in real science degrees like Physics or Chem. The same science degree from ODU or GMU or VCU would be much much stronger, and obviously both UVa and VT have very credible science degrees. Going. to JMU for that degree will adversely impact one’s options at college graduation. Harder to get into a good grad science program from JMU and also harder to get a job. JMU would be OK if one’s career goal were o spend one’s life being a high school science teacher.

DP. Please list your source for the above claims. Nothing I have experienced - both with my own kids who are JMU grads (one in a science major) and many others we know - come even a little bit close to the fiction you're spinning. Thanks.

I'm the PP who asked the question, not the person who answered it, but I did find this:

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/chemistry-rankings

USNWR top 212 schools for chemistry:

42. UVA
67. VT
119. VCU
173. GMU
173. ODU
Not making the list: JMU

Neither does WilliM and Mary.

And GMU tied with ODU makes sense.