UVA Admission and "other electives"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that "more" is always better. However, I also can clearly see that based on the last 10 years of Naviance history at my kids public VA high school, a certain GPA with a decent SAT gets kids admitted, even if kids take different combinations of classes to get to that GPA.

My kid took two languages in high school which hurt his GPA since that meant he was not taking as many AP classes as some of his classmates, but he was still admitted. I know other neighborhood kids who didn't take a language junior/senior years or who took AB calc or AP stats, and were still admitted.

This is what I have been trying to say as well, my kids did not take a specific slate of classes to get into UVA. They took what they wanted, which was diverse set of APs, music, language and a free period... and still got in because they had the GPA needed and scores that were acceptable. There's not much more science to it with UVA. Its about GPA/class rank and having everything else in good measure as well.

Why is this so hard for people to understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated that a UVA rep told my son he had to/should strongly consider taking AP Lit senior year even for Engineering. He is taking AP Lang now and has taken an extra English elective in the past. Plenty of humanities electives as well. Even a college DE course seemed like it wouldn’t be looked upon as favorably as AP Lit. He’s not going to take AP Lit and will roll the dice to see if they find his other 12 APs, national awards and other credentials worthy.

You're frustrated that they told you what is competitive in their progress?

Are you really just frustrated that their pool has gotten this competitive? Because I see how frank they are as a good thing in the long run. So many reps tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.

Frustrated that an engineering program would insist on both AP Lang and AP Lit. But of course the engineering professors don’t require Lit. Just the admissions folks want to use the “most rigorous” no matter the relevancy box. Not worried as it’s not in the top choices for my son and I think many schools will be interested in what he’s done without asking for AP Lit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated that a UVA rep told my son he had to/should strongly consider taking AP Lit senior year even for Engineering. He is taking AP Lang now and has taken an extra English elective in the past. Plenty of humanities electives as well. Even a college DE course seemed like it wouldn’t be looked upon as favorably as AP Lit. He’s not going to take AP Lit and will roll the dice to see if they find his other 12 APs, national awards and other credentials worthy.

You're frustrated that they told you what is competitive in their progress?

Are you really just frustrated that their pool has gotten this competitive? Because I see how frank they are as a good thing in the long run. So many reps tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.

Frustrated that an engineering program would insist on both AP Lang and AP Lit. But of course the engineering professors don’t require Lit. Just the admissions folks want to use the “most rigorous” no matter the relevancy box. Not worried as it’s not in the top choices for my son and I think many schools will be interested in what he’s done without asking for AP Lit.

Have you seen the numbers? Their pool is so big that they get to take those kids who are all-around great and not just math/science types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grade son is interested in attending UVA to major in computer science. He is on track to take 9 AP courses with Honors for his social studies classes (and Multivariable Calc). He will not pursue language other than his required 3 years. He currently makes all As. Any thoughts on whether he needs to take "hard" electives for his other classes, or if he can get away with an "easy" one or two. For instance, he is interested in taking Sports Psychology. Or maybe Oceanography. Or maybe Forensics, Debate, Film Studies, Sports Marketing, etc.

Just some sort of easy, interesting, random class (one in 11th and one in 12th) to balance out his other challenging courses.

What say you, DCUM?

He should take 4 years of a foreign language.

-+1. Also if he intends to apply to Ivies and top SLACs. Also, at UVA, unless in engineering, they will expect him to take another two years of a language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider adding Virginia Tech as a safety school, based on what you've described.

VT as a safety school. 45,000+ applications.

Ok

[Anonymous]

Maybe try another foreign language for a year or two? If he’s taken Spanish, for example, he might find first year or so of French to be much easier.

[Anonymous]

Sorry hit enter too soon. I say take something he’s interested in and/or something he can get a high grade in. If he likes writing, maybe Newspaper or Yearbook, or if he likes science maybe an elective science? I think anything to demonstrate interest or aptitude in a specific area would be a plus.

[Anonymous]

Junior Year for DC - likely History or Anthropology major:

AP English
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Latin (skipping Latin 5)
Intensified Physics
2 theater electives

Varsity athlete in 2 sports, outside travel team, obv also very involved in theater; very part-time job

3.75 uw GPA right now.
Guesstimating 1350-1400 SAT score at this point.

Don't think he's UVA material. Anyone disagree? I don't care if he goes there or not, just looking to manage expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was frustrated that a UVA rep told my son he had to/should strongly consider taking AP Lit senior year even for Engineering. He is taking AP Lang now and has taken an extra English elective in the past. Plenty of humanities electives as well. Even a college DE course seemed like it wouldn’t be looked upon as favorably as AP Lit. He’s not going to take AP Lit and will roll the dice to see if they find his other 12 APs, national awards and other credentials worthy.

You're frustrated that they told you what is competitive in their progress?

Are you really just frustrated that their pool has gotten this competitive? Because I see how frank they are as a good thing in the long run. So many reps tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.

Frustrated that an engineering program would insist on both AP Lang and AP Lit. But of course the engineering professors don’t require Lit. Just the admissions folks want to use the “most rigorous” no matter the relevancy box. Not worried as it’s not in the top choices for my son and I think many schools will be interested in what he’s done without asking for AP Lit.

My kid did not take AP lit and was just accepted at UVA for engineering. She did take AP Lang last year. She’s taking 5 AP/post-AP classes this year, including multivariate/linear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Junior Year for DC - likely History or Anthropology major:

AP English
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Latin (skipping Latin 5)
Intensified Physics
2 theater electives

Varsity athlete in 2 sports, outside travel team, obv also very involved in theater; very part-time job

3.75 uw GPA right now.
Guesstimating 1350-1400 SAT score at this point.

Don't think he's UVA material. Anyone disagree? I don't care if he goes there or not, just looking to manage expectations.

Assuming in state, no. Probably a JMU situation, or maybe VA Tech. Sorry to be the bearing of the bad news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Junior Year for DC - likely History or Anthropology major:

AP English
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Latin (skipping Latin 5)
Intensified Physics
2 theater electives

Varsity athlete in 2 sports, outside travel team, obv also very involved in theater; very part-time job

3.75 uw GPA right now.
Guesstimating 1350-1400 SAT score at this point.

Don't think he's UVA material. Anyone disagree? I don't care if he goes there or not, just looking to manage expectations.

Assuming in state, no. Probably a JMU situation, or maybe VA Tech. Sorry to be the bearing of the bad news.

Not bad news, just realistic. I have no issue with JMU or VA Tech for my kid. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's 16. I hope he can take what he enjoys.

+1

[Anonymous]

As long as he's top 10% of class it's fine, so just depends on what the peers are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Junior Year for DC - likely History or Anthropology major:

AP English
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Latin (skipping Latin 5)
Intensified Physics
2 theater electives

Varsity athlete in 2 sports, outside travel team, obv also very involved in theater; very part-time job

3.75 uw GPA right now.
Guesstimating 1350-1400 SAT score at this point.

Don't think he's UVA material. Anyone disagree? I don't care if he goes there or not, just looking to manage expectations.

What's his class rank? UVA cares more about that than test scores. Regardless, should go test optional with that SAT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Junior Year for DC - likely History or Anthropology major:

AP English
APUSH
AP Calc AB
AP Latin (skipping Latin 5)
Intensified Physics
2 theater electives

Varsity athlete in 2 sports, outside travel team, obv also very involved in theater; very part-time job

3.75 uw GPA right now.
Guesstimating 1350-1400 SAT score at this point.

Don't think he's UVA material. Anyone disagree? I don't care if he goes there or not, just looking to manage expectations.

What's his class rank? UVA cares more about that than test scores. Regardless, should go test optional with that SAT

My DS doesn’t have class rank at their school.