1530 SAT at McLean High not enough for UVA now?

[Anonymous]

One more thought - he should also show some leadership and community service, if possible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dunno. Our private advises kids hit for the upper range of the SAT score. So, a 75th percentile SAT might not be high enough.

What’s the harm in letting your son retake it?

A 1375 was a low score even a couple decades ago. From my public high school the top students in the AP track all had scores above 1500. 1375 would have been in the B grade range.

The harm is only if prepping for it adds stress and/or takes away from grades in AP classes.

[Anonymous]

deferred here…. I am not going to tell him to work harder … he already is.. will apply to other schools now.

[Anonymous]

UVA doesn’t care about scores that much, 34% of the class is test optional. Just have your kid go test optional and focus on getting all As and one big leadership role. UVA cares about the GPA almost exclusively. There is literally a cut off line on DC’s SCOIR!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA doesn’t care about scores that much, 34% of the class is test optional. Just have your kid go test optional and focus on getting all As and one big leadership role. UVA cares about the GPA almost exclusively. There is literally a cut off line on DC’s SCOIR!

Most schools have a cutoff in the 4.4 range for UVA even though posters on here get really defensive when we say it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's your zip code.

This. From McLean and Langley, you need a 4.5 on top of that SAT score. Highest rigor, highest grades. No room for an emotional breakup, friend troubles, personal issues to work through, or family struggle. Be perfect since age 14 or no UVA for you.

Which means there are lots of parents helicoptering and snow plowing to make this happen and they have all the money they need to support that.

If you have more money you don’t obsess about your kids going to an in-state school like UVA. You let your kids enjoy life a bit more and go to another in-state school, a SLAC or an OOS flagship, comfortable that their basic smarts and social skills will serve them well later.

You must be posting from the south. That’s how southern wealthy parents act, not DC/Northern Virginia parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's your zip code.

This. From McLean and Langley, you need a 4.5 on top of that SAT score. Highest rigor, highest grades. No room for an emotional breakup, friend troubles, personal issues to work through, or family struggle. Be perfect since age 14 or no UVA for you.

Which means there are lots of parents helicoptering and snow plowing to make this happen and they have all the money they need to support that.

If you have more money you don’t obsess about your kids going to an in-state school like UVA. You let your kids enjoy life a bit more and go to another in-state school, a SLAC or an OOS flagship, comfortable that their basic smarts and social skills will serve them well later.

You’re spewing garbage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's your zip code.

^this! Competing with the best makes it so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to McLean High. He got a 1530 SAT as a junior and came home saying it is not good enough because most kids are getting higher scores, so he wants to retake it a third time. Is this really where we are now, that you need a perfect SAT score?

He is already in all DE and AP classes and he is in Calc 2 as a junior. Now he is saying he needs to take summer classes at NOVA so he can take Calc 3 and then differential equations senior year. It feels insane, although he has already taken about five NOVA dual enrollment classes, so I guess we are saving some money.

I graduated in the 90s, got a 1350, felt great about it, did not take calculus until college, and I turned out fine. Is the bar just totally different now?

For those familiar with UVA admissions, is a 1530 SAT at McLean High with a 4.2 weighted GPA and all AP and DE since sophomore year actually not enough, or is this just the pressure cooker effect?

Honestly it's not the SAT score, it's the GPA.

It's not a hard and fast rule but at TJ, you want a 4.4 to get into UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
A 1375 was a low score even a couple decades ago. From my public high school the top students in the AP track all had scores above 1500. 1375 would have been in the B grade range.

SAT scoring changed in the mid-90s. I got a 1260 in 1993, and that was average at the time for Notre Dame, where I went.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A 1375 was a low score even a couple decades ago. From my public high school the top students in the AP track all had scores above 1500. 1375 would have been in the B grade range.

SAT scoring changed in the mid-90s. I got a 1260 in 1993, and that was average at the time for Notre Dame, where I went.

True, but a re-centered 1260 today wouldn't get you into Notre Dame. The admission rate then was close to 40 percent. Today it's under 10 percent. Which I'm sure you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A 1375 was a low score even a couple decades ago. From my public high school the top students in the AP track all had scores above 1500. 1375 would have been in the B grade range.

SAT scoring changed in the mid-90s. I got a 1260 in 1993, and that was average at the time for Notre Dame, where I went.

The AP track students from my high school—the top 25 or so—went to Ivies and super-SLACs.

With a 3.98 unweighted, 1580 SATs, 6 AP 5s, and decent ECs, I was admitted to several Ivies, including Harvard and Princeton.

Those were easier times. My chances of being admitted now to those same schools now would be a complete crapshoot. I interview for the Ivy I attended, and kids way more impressive and together than I was at 17 are routinely rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't shoot the messenger but the 4.2 will be too low. It's rough out there.

The sat isn’t the problem. It’s the gpa. Just look at naviance to find the cutoff.

[Anonymous]

As other data points:

Last cycle DS got into Stanford with a 1520; top 10% of class (private school) in terms of grade) and ok but not amazing ECs

This cycle my other DS got into Columbia with a 1490, not top 10% (missed it by 1 person), but excellent ECs with leadership.

My take: it’s not one thing per se, but looking holistically as the schools always say.

And it’s all in context so your DC’s 4.2 would be impossible at my kids’ schools (where 4.0 is a max) but apparently at yours perfect grades are a 5.0? If so, that may be viewed as a negative in context with others but perhaps a higher SAT score helps to offset.

But SAT scores is not the end all be all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't shoot the messenger but the 4.2 will be too low. It's rough out there.

The sat isn’t the problem. It’s the gpa. Just look at naviance to find the cutoff.

Why do people keep saying this? A 4.2 after sophomore year is well within range for UVA. At that pace with all AP/DEs junior year it should be 4.35+at time of application and 4.5+ by graduation, which is what Naviance shows.