Why is UVA rated as high as it is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because cheap parents in NoVa insist on instate, only.

You mean parents who are smart enough not to pay for overpriced privates degrees that cost 100k more to get. Keep telling yourself that piece of paper was worth it!

This is us, we bought VA prepaid for our kids. For us, college is an investment and we wanted the best ROI for our money. As an engineer, I do think VT is probably a better STEM option, but UVA is comparable in term of job prospects...my two CS kids recently have multiple offers for 100k+ before graduations. Another major factor for us is location, it's 2 hours from NoVA vs 4+ hours for VT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because cheap parents in NoVa insist on instate, only.

You mean parents who are smart enough not to pay for overpriced privates degrees that cost 100k more to get. Keep telling yourself that piece of paper was worth it!

This is us, we bought VA prepaid for our kids. For us, college is an investment and we wanted the best ROI for our money. As an engineer, I do think VT is probably a better STEM option, but UVA is comparable in term of job prospects...my two CS kids recently have multiple offers for 100k+ before graduations. Another major factor for us is location, it's 2 hours from NoVA vs 4+ hours for VT.

+1. This was us too, though my CS kid is still 2 years from graduating. Glad to hear job prospects are good! The proximity of UVA to NoVA was a huge factor in deciding between UVA and VT.

[Anonymous]

The short answer is most of the rankings are driven by graduate school programs.

My kid is leaning to UVA over W&M because she thinks it's more prestigious. I've told her W&M is probably better for undergraduate teaching, but that doesn't seem to register. At the end of the day, she'll be fine either way so I"m not worked up about it. It's her decision. She has other valid reasons for choosing UVA over W&M.

But ALL of the national university rankings are driven by their graduate schools, not by the quality of undergraduate teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PP you replied to. Sure, I can agree with you that there are some quality differences among state schools. But vast differences? No. Equating any state school to prestigious world-renowned universities? Not by any stretch of the imagination. UVA is not the Holy Grail. It's pointless to bicker about a state school, is my point. They're not important enough.

What an idiotic post. While not related to UVA, when it comes to some fields, particularly STEM-related, many of the "prestigious world-renown universities" are state schools.

Because they are research institutions. Not because their undergraduate programs are top notch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is most of the rankings are driven by graduate school programs.

My kid is leaning to UVA over W&M because she thinks it's more prestigious. I've told her W&M is probably better for undergraduate teaching, but that doesn't seem to register. At the end of the day, she'll be fine either way so I"m not worked up about it. It's her decision. She has other valid reasons for choosing UVA over W&M.

But ALL of the national university rankings are driven by their graduate schools, not by the quality of undergraduate teaching.

Most high school students especially in NoVa see UVA as more prestigious than W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Let's set the record straight. UVA is a perfectly fine state school, but at the end of the day, it's a state school like any other. Nobody outside of the mid-Atlantic thinks of UVA as being particularly interesting or prestigious. Locals always think their own backyard is well-known to outsiders, it's a common bias.

And yes, there is more to life than STEM. I'm a research scientist, and even I know this

This isn't true. I'm not from Virginia and went to the "best" New York state school. Literally no one has heard of this college I worked my butt off for, but I had heard of UVA before I moved here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The short answer is most of the rankings are driven by graduate school programs.

My kid is leaning to UVA over W&M because she thinks it's more prestigious. I've told her W&M is probably better for undergraduate teaching, but that doesn't seem to register. At the end of the day, she'll be fine either way so I"m not worked up about it. It's her decision. She has other valid reasons for choosing UVA over W&M.

But ALL of the national university rankings are driven by their graduate schools, not by the quality of undergraduate teaching.

Most high school students especially in NoVa see UVA as more prestigious than W&M.

I've always thought of them as similar in prestige, but with UVA being more broadly appealing and W&M being more of a niche school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear there are more uva haters on this forum then boosters. uva is the most prestigious public on the east coast along with unc.

+1. UVA is ranked no. 4 for public universities in America. https://news.virginia.edu/content/us-news-ranks-uva-no-4-best-public-university-country#:~:text=In%20this%20category%2C%20UVA%20is,going%20from%2072%20to%2079.

The top 3 have very little, if any, weakness in their academic offerings. They are all rated among the top 30 universities in worldwide rankings. UVA, UNC, and the rest are not quite at this top tier level.

I'd argue they may have weaknesses in their undergraduate offerings, which is what is in question here. Look at websites like Niche that have survey data on things like value for money, ability to get desired classes, faculty interactions, etc., and you will see these schools, particularly Berkeley and UCLA, are not differentiated in any way from other large publics and are far behind many selective privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Let's set the record straight. UVA is a perfectly fine state school, but at the end of the day, it's a state school like any other. Nobody outside of the mid-Atlantic thinks of UVA as being particularly interesting or prestigious. Locals always think their own backyard is well-known to outsiders, it's a common bias.

And yes, there is more to life than STEM. I'm a research scientist, and even I know this

This isn't true. I'm not from Virginia and went to the "best" New York state school. Literally no one has heard of this college I worked my butt off for, but I had heard of UVA before I moved here.

^ this. Grew up out of state and years ago a similarly out of state relative was choosing between Brown and UVA. Ultimately chose UVA.

[Anonymous]

Everyone in my NYC suburban private high school knew UVA was a top school and getting in would be tough. My good friend got in and went. She was the salutatorian.

I'd guess that people who don't know UVA has a top school aren't really familiar with colleges overall. Nothing wrong with that. They probably know their regional colleges and some really big names they see on TV a lot.

[Anonymous]

Because and Mr. Jefferson founded it and it was on my American history tests in school.

UCLA and UNC might be fine schools, but they weren't in my history books.

[Anonymous]

Some of it is alumni - have you ever met someone who went to UVA who didn’t love it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of it is alumni - have you ever met someone who went to UVA who didn’t love it?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear there are more uva haters on this forum then boosters. uva is the most prestigious public on the east coast along with unc.

+1. UVA is ranked no. 4 for public universities in America. https://news.virginia.edu/content/us-news-ranks-uva-no-4-best-public-university-country#:~:text=In%20this%20category%2C%20UVA%20is,going%20from%2072%20to%2079.

I am not a UVA hater — to the contrary. However, look at the metrics used for these rankings. UVA has 17,000 undergrads. Michigan has 31,000 and UT-Austin has 40,000. If you took the top 17,000 undergrads at those schools, how do you think their rankings would look? Combine UVA with the next 23,000 students from the other Virginia state universities, and what do you think that college’s ranking would be? UVA has chosen to be smaller and more selective. Does it offer a better education as a result? Maybe, but that isn’t really what USNWR is measuring.

In the case of Texas, the state has a much large population than Virginia so that isn't a fair comparison. Even at 40K undergraduates, if the state did not impose the automatic admission for students in the top 6% for UT Austin, standardized test scores would likely be much higher and overall stats would be among the highest for state universities.

Texas’ unique admissions system does make comparisons difficult, but what about Michigan? The population of Michigan is only slightly higher than Virginia. Or Georgia, with 30,000 or Washington, with 32,000, undergrads? The point is that Virginia has made a conscious decision to go for exclusivity. Most flagships at other states with a similar population have around 30,000 students. If UVA added another 13,000 students, the average test scores, etc would go down, along with their ranking. I suspect yield and other measures would be negatively affected, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because and Mr. Jefferson founded it and it was on my American history tests in school.

UCLA and UNC might be fine schools, but they weren't in my history books.

Was that State of Virginia history? UNC is actually an older school than Virginia, as is, believe it or not, the University of Michigan.

UCLA took only 100 years of existence to become the top rated public university by US News.