What happened to UVa??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“If you look at the recent history of your high school, you can tell which high school UVA favors, and which UVA does not. ie: how many potential slots for your particular school's applicants”

My kids HS says where kids got in but not how many got in.

The top HS student in your school generally know their peers and competition ie: who is in their AP classes, who is on their sports teams, etc. Unless the kid greatly fabricates their essay to be admitted, which is another story.

SCORES MATTER now. Nobody wants to admit that. But at our school the kids that had the high scores, in addition to a solid transcript/GPA did better.

...and a lot of kids lie to their friends about their actual scores, as do their parents.

[Anonymous]

On the VA tours we went on last spring, two of the top schools joked about the sheer number of valedictorians from any given public HS in NoVa. They know the grade inflation. It's why they are looking much harder at other things--rigor of HS, scores, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the VA tours we went on last spring, two of the top schools joked about the sheer number of valedictorians from any given public HS in NoVa. They know the grade inflation. It's why they are looking much harder at other things--rigor of HS, scores, etc.

Which high schools in NoVa even have valedictorians anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the VA tours we went on last spring, two of the top schools joked about the sheer number of valedictorians from any given public HS in NoVa. They know the grade inflation. It's why they are looking much harder at other things--rigor of HS, scores, etc.

Which high schools in NoVa even have valedictorians anymore?

There were 200 at our Arlington HS.

Many schools just designate anyone a valedictorian that achieves a certain gpa---4.0 weighted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the VA tours we went on last spring, two of the top schools joked about the sheer number of valedictorians from any given public HS in NoVa. They know the grade inflation. It's why they are looking much harder at other things--rigor of HS, scores, etc.

Which high schools in NoVa even have valedictorians anymore?

There were 200 at our Arlington HS.

Many schools just designate anyone a valedictorian that achieves a certain gpa---4.0 weighted?

And the schools know this. Our HS has one valedictorian and one salutatorian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

I would definitely want my kid to go to Harvard or Yale. No disrespect to Georgia Tech, which is a fine school.

BTW, this is not going to be a decision we will have to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

I would definitely want my kid to go to Harvard or Yale. No disrespect to Georgia Tech, which is a fine school.

BTW, this is not going to be a decision we will have to make.

I am the PP who asked that question because we guided DC not to apply to Harvard & Yale as they wanted to major in Computer Science. I would say that had a pretty good chance at Yale if not Harvard. Sometimes, I do regret our decision though DC moved on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really have to apply ED to get in? EA isn’t good enough?

Of course not. UVA lets in many students from our HS, almost all from the top30%, ED is only "needed" for the bottom of that group. The top 15% get into UVA EA as long as they took enough hard courses and have the scores.

Is this TJ because that’s not how it is most anywhere else. At my kids school only the top 5% got in.

No, not TJ! They do slightly better. Just a test-in high school that is not top 3 in the state but is a top 10 in the state.

Biggest issue people have with UVA is so much grade inflation exists and class rank and more importantly relative course rigor are very hard to determine by parents. Median weighted gpa can be 4.1–4.2 at many schools in VA especially nova. 8 APs can be average. To truly be top 30% at the more competitive schools(usually the test-in privates or public magnets) one has to do a lot more than a 3.9uw/4.2 W with 8 APs.

Yep, it's a crapshoot. I posted in another thread about my two DS's, 2021 and 2024, at Mclean/Langley. 2021 had 3.9 UW/4.2 W with 8 APs, 1490 SAT, rejected by UVA. 2024 had 3.9 UW/4.3 W with 10 APs, 1500 SAT, accepted by UVA in EA. Same average ECs. Very slight difference between the two DSs, but one in and one out. Why? I have no idea.

If the 2nd one was admitted and first one rejected- I get it.

My kid had uw4.0/w4.4, 35ACT. The first one had scores and gpa borderline for UVA and coming out of Langley/McLean probably many kids with much higher scores, gpa.

If you look at the recent history of your high school, you can tell which high school UVA favors, and which UVA does not. ie: how many potential slots for your particular school's applicants. Also, most of UVA's students apply ED/EA, which to many people, reads "yield protection". There are top kids in our high schools (plural) who were not admitted in recent years, because they did not apply ED/EA. They had higher stats than those who were admitted (but no sob story, which may be a factor, given UVA's need to try to right its past wrongs).

To answer OP's question: money.

Why wouldn't anyone not apply EA if they are in-state? It's not binding and you can still apply to any private/Ivy university that you want. That's why is it is the most popular round.

If you need your first semester senior year grades to give you a boost or to confirm an upward trajectory, you might wait for RD. Otherwise, I can't think of any reason not to do EA at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

We have engineers in the family, and frankly, I would only pay for traditionally strong engineering schools (state or private). Those schools without a robust history of CS and engineering do not have programs that are developed enough. Since you asked. It shocks me that people choose engineering programs for the school name and not the program history, but I do think some parents are ignorant, in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

I would definitely want my kid to go to Harvard or Yale. No disrespect to Georgia Tech, which is a fine school.

BTW, this is not going to be a decision we will have to make.

I am the PP who asked that question because we guided DC not to apply to Harvard & Yale as they wanted to major in Computer Science. I would say that had a pretty good chance at Yale if not Harvard. Sometimes, I do regret our decision though DC moved on.

Why not just apply to Harvard if you think she has a chance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really have to apply ED to get in? EA isn’t good enough?

Of course not. UVA lets in many students from our HS, almost all from the top30%, ED is only "needed" for the bottom of that group. The top 15% get into UVA EA as long as they took enough hard courses and have the scores.

Is this TJ because that’s not how it is most anywhere else. At my kids school only the top 5% got in.

No, not TJ! They do slightly better. Just a test-in high school that is not top 3 in the state but is a top 10 in the state.

Biggest issue people have with UVA is so much grade inflation exists and class rank and more importantly relative course rigor are very hard to determine by parents. Median weighted gpa can be 4.1–4.2 at many schools in VA especially nova. 8 APs can be average. To truly be top 30% at the more competitive schools(usually the test-in privates or public magnets) one has to do a lot more than a 3.9uw/4.2 W with 8 APs.

Yep, it's a crapshoot. I posted in another thread about my two DS's, 2021 and 2024, at Mclean/Langley. 2021 had 3.9 UW/4.2 W with 8 APs, 1490 SAT, rejected by UVA. 2024 had 3.9 UW/4.3 W with 10 APs, 1500 SAT, accepted by UVA in EA. Same average ECs. Very slight difference between the two DSs, but one in and one out. Why? I have no idea.

If the 2nd one was admitted and first one rejected- I get it.

My kid had uw4.0/w4.4, 35ACT. The first one had scores and gpa borderline for UVA and coming out of Langley/McLean probably many kids with much higher scores, gpa.

If you look at the recent history of your high school, you can tell which high school UVA favors, and which UVA does not. ie: how many potential slots for your particular school's applicants. Also, most of UVA's students apply ED/EA, which to many people, reads "yield protection". There are top kids in our high schools (plural) who were not admitted in recent years, because they did not apply ED/EA. They had higher stats than those who were admitted (but no sob story, which may be a factor, given UVA's need to try to right its past wrongs).

To answer OP's question: money.

Why wouldn't anyone not apply EA if they are in-state? It's not binding and you can still apply to any private/Ivy university that you want. That's why is it is the most popular round.

If you need your first semester senior year grades to give you a boost or to confirm an upward trajectory, you might wait for RD. Otherwise, I can't think of any reason not to do EA at least.

Some people do not want to choose UVA as their ED/EA, and UVA might be an afterthought to some. To others, that might be difficult to understand, especially if UVA has been their goal since birth. Which is fine, but not everyone feels the same about their top choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

I would definitely want my kid to go to Harvard or Yale. No disrespect to Georgia Tech, which is a fine school.

BTW, this is not going to be a decision we will have to make.

I am the PP who asked that question because we guided DC not to apply to Harvard & Yale as they wanted to major in Computer Science. I would say that had a pretty good chance at Yale if not Harvard. Sometimes, I do regret our decision though DC moved on.

Why not just apply to Harvard if you think she has a chance?

Those are not the only schools to pick over UVA, but each family is different and has different goals. There are many strong options for CS and Engineering, so applicants are certainly not limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“If you look at the recent history of your high school, you can tell which high school UVA favors, and which UVA does not. ie: how many potential slots for your particular school's applicants”

My kids HS says where kids got in but not how many got in.

The top HS student in your school generally know their peers and competition ie: who is in their AP classes, who is on their sports teams, etc. Unless the kid greatly fabricates their essay to be admitted, which is another story.

SCORES MATTER now. Nobody wants to admit that. But at our school the kids that had the high scores, in addition to a solid transcript/GPA did better.

...and a lot of kids lie to their friends about their actual scores, as do their parents.

Since this is anon, I wonder most about the parents who are asking others their info, but not forthcoming with their info. You know something is not right, there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

This. We told our DC it’s only Harvard, Yale, Stanford that we would be willing to go all in for. Otherwise, in state is it.

Is Harvard & Yale worth the tuition for Computer Science over top state schools like Georgia Tech ?

We have engineers in the family, and frankly, I would only pay for traditionally strong engineering schools (state or private). Those schools without a robust history of CS and engineering do not have programs that are developed enough. Since you asked. It shocks me that people choose engineering programs for the school name and not the program history, but I do think some parents are ignorant, in that regard.

Or perhaps they know that 80% of entering students change their major at least once. Hence, it was smart for my DC to turn down Purdue and Ga Tech for aerospace engineering and went with UVA. She switched majors to PPL (politics philosophy & law) at the end of her first year. Turns out she and calc 3 didn't agree with one another. She's now in a grad program at arguably the best university in the world and headed for law school.