William & Mary admission rates

[Anonymous]

They're ignoring that thousands of students that aren't anywhere close to being academically qualified for UVA apply every year and are essentially an auto reject. W&M doesn't really get that.

Just looking at Scattergrams from DCs large FCPS high school:

W&M rejects are overwhelmingly under 4.0 gpa and under 1350 SAT. Many other rejects with under 4.0 but over 1350 SAT. Looks to me like the “qualified” students (gpa over 4.2) are almost auto-admits. The rejects clearly shouldn’t have applied.

Meanwhile, UVA had a lot of rejects who look clearly unqualified (gpa under 4.0, SAT under 1400). However, UVA also rejected a large number of seemingly qualified kids (gpa over 4.2, and even 1500 SAT getting denied). There’s far more rejection in the top right than with W&M.

The impression is that a high stats kid is much more likely to get into W&M than UVA. There are lots of auto-rejects applying to UVA but there is no such thing as an auto-admit to UVA as there appears to be at W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They're ignoring that thousands of students that aren't anywhere close to being academically qualified for UVA apply every year and are essentially an auto reject. W&M doesn't really get that.

Just looking at Scattergrams from DCs large FCPS high school:

W&M rejects are overwhelmingly under 4.0 gpa and under 1350 SAT. Many other rejects with under 4.0 but over 1350 SAT. Looks to me like the “qualified” students (gpa over 4.2) are almost auto-admits. The rejects clearly shouldn’t have applied.

Meanwhile, UVA had a lot of rejects who look clearly unqualified (gpa under 4.0, SAT under 1400). However, UVA also rejected a large number of seemingly qualified kids (gpa over 4.2, and even 1500 SAT getting denied). There’s far more rejection in the top right than with W&M.

The impression is that a high stats kid is much more likely to get into W&M than UVA. There are lots of auto-rejects applying to UVA but there is no such thing as an auto-admit to UVA as there appears to be at W&M.

Is this yield protection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M is a very competitive admit because it’s a fairly small school and there are so many highly qualified students from Northern Va who apply. The school wants to have geographic diversity in its student body, so applicants are really competing with the other applicants from their high school. Think of how many students apply from Lake Braddock or West Springfield or Fairfax HS or …? W&M can’t take them all, even if they are very highly qualified. W&M is a public college that serves the entire state, so it wants students from Roanoke, Norfolk, and Danville as well.

+1. Even with the above, many more WM students come from Northern VA than any other area in the Commonwealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They're ignoring that thousands of students that aren't anywhere close to being academically qualified for UVA apply every year and are essentially an auto reject. W&M doesn't really get that.

Just looking at Scattergrams from DCs large FCPS high school:

W&M rejects are overwhelmingly under 4.0 gpa and under 1350 SAT. Many other rejects with under 4.0 but over 1350 SAT. Looks to me like the “qualified” students (gpa over 4.2) are almost auto-admits. The rejects clearly shouldn’t have applied.

Meanwhile, UVA had a lot of rejects who look clearly unqualified (gpa under 4.0, SAT under 1400). However, UVA also rejected a large number of seemingly qualified kids (gpa over 4.2, and even 1500 SAT getting denied). There’s far more rejection in the top right than with W&M.

The impression is that a high stats kid is much more likely to get into W&M than UVA. There are lots of auto-rejects applying to UVA but there is no such thing as an auto-admit to UVA as there appears to be at W&M.

Is this yield protection?

I think it’s just “too many kids from FCPS applying”. There are lots of “even higher stats” kids getting accepted (just eyeballing it, over 20 with >4.3 and >1550) hard to see why they wouldn’t have been yield protected if anyone was. Also possible that “qualified but rejected” applied RD rather than ED, which scattergram doesn’t say.

[Anonymous]

WM and UVa statistics bith suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics bith suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Both schools clearly deny that they apply different standards to early versus rd. They are different sets of applicants, they say. Who knows if it’s true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics bith suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Both schools clearly deny that they apply different standards to early versus rd. They are different sets of applicants, they say. Who knows if it’s true.

Doesn’t have to be different standards, it’s simply a matter of lots more kids applying for a lot fewer slots in RD.

UVA ED 3481 applied 1112 admitted
And then
UVA RD 47,445 competing for 8391 remaining slots

32% vs 17.7%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics bith suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Both schools clearly deny that they apply different standards to early versus rd. They are different sets of applicants, they say. Who knows if it’s true.

My kid was ED WM. I saw that “we don’t give preference” from UVA. WM counts demonstrated interest which UVA does not. And ED is clearly demonstrated interest (WM does not have EA and UVA have ED last I saw, so they are different bests anyway in term of early admissions strategy).

I will say my unhooked white female from a top 5-8 (depending on how you rank) or so NOVA HS was admitted with below 25% GPA, above 75% ACT in ED. Now, she had a lot of interesting and unusual things going on with her transcript that lowered GPA, despite having a challenging class schedule (she took 7 years of foreign language and applied IR/foreign language and 4 of orchestra, where she played at a high level— that’s just a lot of unweighted credit). And her counselor gave her “most rigorous”. But, she needed ED to get in— fewer applications and more time for AOs to grasp her decisions in taking classes, read the counselor Rec, which I’m sure laid out why she did what she did. And her HS transcript aligned with why she was a great match for WM. That plus demonstrated interest said— I’m a great match and really want to attend— and I am sure gave her a bump. I was dubious she’d get in, even in ED. Her HS counselor said she’d be admitted and was correct. I seriously doubt she would have gotten in in RD, looking at the caliber of her peers who were outright denied, forget the WL.


So thankful she went ED and it worked out. She lobes the school and never looked back or second guessed after being admitted. And she is definately living her best college life— academically, socially and with extras like study abroad researching with a professor.

It really worked out. It also did for my other kid who went in a very different direction for college. And it seems to have worked out well for about 80% of her peers— a couple are meh on where they ended up, one transferred after dropping engineering— but the vast majority ended up in a good place and are thriving. I know it’s easy to say “trust the process” when it’s over for your kids, but— trust the process, focus on what is good for your kid and not the cocktail party brag, and it usually works out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics both suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Most years, it’s about 1/3 each NOVA, ROVA and OOS. And 500-550 NOVA students seems like a lot, but Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun— it really is t.

[Anonymous]

“ I saw that “we don’t give preference” from UVA. WM counts demonstrated interest which UVA does not. And ED is clearly demonstrated interest”

Ok but if ED counts then UVA also counts demonstrated interest because they also offer ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics both suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Most years, it’s about 1/3 each NOVA, ROVA and OOS. And 500-550 NOVA students seems like a lot, but Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun— it really is t.

The admissions rates for those counties are not out of line with the broader in-state admissions rates though. I guess you would counter that there are more smart kids in NOVA so it is harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics both suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Most years, it’s about 1/3 each NOVA, ROVA and OOS. And 500-550 NOVA students seems like a lot, but Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun— it really is t.

The admissions rates for those counties are not out of line with the broader in-state admissions rates though. I guess you would counter that there are more smart kids in NOVA so it is harder.

Nope. I’d say it a small school and an excellent in state one (read lcheaper than private at the size of an Ivy) and admission is tough all over. My kid is at WM, and her ROVA friends are a bright, articulate, accomplished Etc as the NOVA and OOS ones. Also, a lot of ROVA coming from tiny towns in tiny counties. SCHEV will show you of these counties send 1-2 kids. A lot is Richmond, Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Maggie Walker grads, etc— that is other high performing cohorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics bith suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Both schools clearly deny that they apply different standards to early versus rd. They are different sets of applicants, they say. Who knows if it’s true.

My kid was ED WM. I saw that “we don’t give preference” from UVA. WM counts demonstrated interest which UVA does not. And ED is clearly demonstrated interest (WM does not have EA and UVA have ED last I saw, so they are different bests anyway in term of early admissions strategy).

I will say my unhooked white female from a top 5-8 (depending on how you rank) or so NOVA HS was admitted with below 25% GPA, above 75% ACT in ED. Now, she had a lot of interesting and unusual things going on with her transcript that lowered GPA, despite having a challenging class schedule (she took 7 years of foreign language and applied IR/foreign language and 4 of orchestra, where she played at a high level— that’s just a lot of unweighted credit). And her counselor gave her “most rigorous”. But, she needed ED to get in— fewer applications and more time for AOs to grasp her decisions in taking classes, read the counselor Rec, which I’m sure laid out why she did what she did. And her HS transcript aligned with why she was a great match for WM. That plus demonstrated interest said— I’m a great match and really want to attend— and I am sure gave her a bump. I was dubious she’d get in, even in ED. Her HS counselor said she’d be admitted and was correct. I seriously doubt she would have gotten in in RD, looking at the caliber of her peers who were outright denied, forget the WL.


So thankful she went ED and it worked out. She lobes the school and never looked back or second guessed after being admitted. And she is definately living her best college life— academically, socially and with extras like study abroad researching with a professor.

It really worked out. It also did for my other kid who went in a very different direction for college. And it seems to have worked out well for about 80% of her peers— a couple are meh on where they ended up, one transferred after dropping engineering— but the vast majority ended up in a good place and are thriving. I know it’s easy to say “trust the process” when it’s over for your kids, but— trust the process, focus on what is good for your kid and not the cocktail party brag, and it usually works out.

Pp here. We just attended an info session at W&M and they specifically said there wasn’t a better chance in ED. They said the rate was higher because of who applied, specifically naming athletes. They said the standards were the same as RD and they didn’t need to apply early to get an admissions bump. I think you can show demonstrated interest there in ways other than ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WM and UVa statistics both suggest that for many students, the odds of admission are better in EA/ED than in RD.

Most years, it’s about 1/3 each NOVA, ROVA and OOS. And 500-550 NOVA students seems like a lot, but Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun— it really is t.

The admissions rates for those counties are not out of line with the broader in-state admissions rates though. I guess you would counter that there are more smart kids in NOVA so it is harder.

It's a simple matter of demographics. Nova/Fairfax is is heavily populated and blessed with good public and private schools The rest of VA is very different. Fairfax sends on average 600 kids a year to UVA.Some counties send only one qualified student or zero. This is all published in SCHEV for anyone to read

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They're ignoring that thousands of students that aren't anywhere close to being academically qualified for UVA apply every year and are essentially an auto reject. W&M doesn't really get that.

Just looking at Scattergrams from DCs large FCPS high school:

W&M rejects are overwhelmingly under 4.0 gpa and under 1350 SAT. Many other rejects with under 4.0 but over 1350 SAT. Looks to me like the “qualified” students (gpa over 4.2) are almost auto-admits. The rejects clearly shouldn’t have applied.

Meanwhile, UVA had a lot of rejects who look clearly unqualified (gpa under 4.0, SAT under 1400). However, UVA also rejected a large number of seemingly qualified kids (gpa over 4.2, and even 1500 SAT getting denied). There’s far more rejection in the top right than with W&M.

The impression is that a high stats kid is much more likely to get into W&M than UVA. There are lots of auto-rejects applying to UVA but there is no such thing as an auto-admit to UVA as there appears to be at W&M.

Is this yield protection?

Absolutely.