How is UVA overrated?

[Anonymous]

“Could have chose an Ivy”, yet in reality “no” it’s very unlikely they’d get into an Ivy when only 0-5 total students from each HS get into an Ivy from the DMV. UVA has 17k students and a 28-30% in-state acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those that say UVA is overrated, please list the reasons you believe this. Looking for substantive reasons. My kid is about to decide between UVA and another school.

You're going to use THIS forum to help guide your decision? Good luck with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of classes taught by grad students.

DD is a 1st Yr and hasn't had a single class taught by a TA. They lead discussion sections for large classes, offer study sessions, proctor and grade exams. But, professors teach the classes and have been easy to communicate with via office hours or email. Flame UVA all you want, but at least post the truth for people genuinely doing their research.

Same is true for my first year student.

My kid at UVA has also experienced large classes with TA taught sections. But let’s be a real, the TAs are doing the grading and teaching the discussion sections. The profs are just lecturing. My DD had a prof who said any questions about the class or material should go to the TA. He will
Meet with kids in office hours to discuss only the general topic (not related to the class coverage) and careers in that subject area. The TAs have a significant impact on the teaching (and one of my kid’s TAs got a D+ in the class when the TA took it—ridiculous!). That said, I think that is the experience at any large university. My other kid is a grad student and TA at another university and it sounds very similar.

I do have issues with class sizes. Last semester my kid had a 400 and a 500 person lecture class and a 700 person online class!! The o line one is being changed next year, though, to smaller in person sections, so the school realizes that was a disaster.

I would also say cheating is rampant, but I also think that is not unique to UVA. My TA kid has also seen a bit of that at their university. I think some of these kids cheat in high school because the expectations are insane and they never stop.

Overall, UVA has been really good for my kid (who has found it challenging and does not have a perfect record there). I would not say it is overrated. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, what we expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

Not at all my experience. I'm from Chicago, husband from Arizona and we both grew up thinking UVA was a top school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

That's not true. I think most people regard UVA as a very good school. Nationally, people's perception of public universities would be -

Berkeley
Michigan
Texas
UCLA
UVA
UNC

I think UNC's prestige has declined somewhat over the past 20 years. Probably because they take 90 percent of their students instate. Which might be similar to Texas and the UCs but Texas and California have 70 million people between them. There is more than enough talent in those two states to fill Berkeley and Texas-Austin ten times over with great students. Whereas OOS students to UNC are often much stronger than the instate students because NC has a relatively small base of really strong students. Michigan solves the problem by being 50 percent OOS. And UVA manages a good mix of OOS and a larger pool of strong instate students to choose from. In any event, UVA is well above "pretty average."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

That's not true. I think most people regard UVA as a very good school. Nationally, people's perception of public universities would be -

Berkeley
Michigan
Texas
UCLA
UVA
UNC

I think UNC's prestige has declined somewhat over the past 20 years. Probably because they take 90 percent of their students instate. Which might be similar to Texas and the UCs but Texas and California have 70 million people between them. There is more than enough talent in those two states to fill Berkeley and Texas-Austin ten times over with great students. Whereas OOS students to UNC are often much stronger than the instate students because NC has a relatively small base of really strong students. Michigan solves the problem by being 50 percent OOS. And UVA manages a good mix of OOS and a larger pool of strong instate students to choose from. In any event, UVA is well above "pretty average."

Delusional. UNC has a much better reputation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of classes taught by grad students.

DD is a 1st Yr and hasn't had a single class taught by a TA. They lead discussion sections for large classes, offer study sessions, proctor and grade exams. But, professors teach the classes and have been easy to communicate with via office hours or email. Flame UVA all you want, but at least post the truth for people genuinely doing their research.

Same is true for my first year student.

My kid at UVA has also experienced large classes with TA taught sections. But let’s be a real, the TAs are doing the grading and teaching the discussion sections. The profs are just lecturing. My DD had a prof who said any questions about the class or material should go to the TA. He will
Meet with kids in office hours to discuss only the general topic (not related to the class coverage) and careers in that subject area. The TAs have a significant impact on the teaching (and one of my kid’s TAs got a D+ in the class when the TA took it—ridiculous!). That said, I think that is the experience at any large university. My other kid is a grad student and TA at another university and it sounds very similar.

I do have issues with class sizes. Last semester my kid had a 400 and a 500 person lecture class and a 700 person online class!! The o line one is being changed next year, though, to smaller in person sections, so the school realizes that was a disaster.

I would also say cheating is rampant, but I also think that is not unique to UVA. My TA kid has also seen a bit of that at their university. I think some of these kids cheat in high school because the expectations are insane and they never stop.

Overall, UVA has been really good for my kid (who has found it challenging and does not have a perfect record there). I would not say it is overrated. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, what we expected.

This is what I have experienced/heard first hand too. It is a public university and if you have never experienced a private HS/private university you will never see or notice the big difference. Admin and registration and getting courses, etc. are all going to be much different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

Not at all my experience. I'm from Chicago, husband from Arizona and we both grew up thinking UVA was a top school.

I also grew up in the Chicago area. We considered University of Illinois peers to UVA. They are both good but not great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

This is just not true for anyone that’s actually familiar with academia (i.e., not this forum).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of classes taught by grad students.

DD is a 1st Yr and hasn't had a single class taught by a TA. They lead discussion sections for large classes, offer study sessions, proctor and grade exams. But, professors teach the classes and have been easy to communicate with via office hours or email. Flame UVA all you want, but at least post the truth for people genuinely doing their research.

Same is true for my first year student.

My kid at UVA has also experienced large classes with TA taught sections. But let’s be a real, the TAs are doing the grading and teaching the discussion sections. The profs are just lecturing. My DD had a prof who said any questions about the class or material should go to the TA. He will
Meet with kids in office hours to discuss only the general topic (not related to the class coverage) and careers in that subject area. The TAs have a significant impact on the teaching (and one of my kid’s TAs got a D+ in the class when the TA took it—ridiculous!). That said, I think that is the experience at any large university. My other kid is a grad student and TA at another university and it sounds very similar.

I do have issues with class sizes. Last semester my kid had a 400 and a 500 person lecture class and a 700 person online class!! The o line one is being changed next year, though, to smaller in person sections, so the school realizes that was a disaster.

I would also say cheating is rampant, but I also think that is not unique to UVA. My TA kid has also seen a bit of that at their university. I think some of these kids cheat in high school because the expectations are insane and they never stop.

Overall, UVA has been really good for my kid (who has found it challenging and does not have a perfect record there). I would not say it is overrated. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, what we expected.

This is what I have experienced/heard first hand too. It is a public university and if you have never experienced a private HS/private university you will never see or notice the big difference. Admin and registration and getting courses, etc. are all going to be much different.

I’m the quoted poster and to be fair, my other kid went to a SLAC and also had a hard time getting classes. In both schools i have seen that if the kid is communicative with the professor and dogged about follow up with wait list, etc., they often get the class they want. At UVA, my kid needed a class that was at capacity for a prerequisite to apply to a major and reached out to the dean of admissions at the school and they made it happen. I hate the applying to majors in your second year thing, but I was impressed that they took care of my student and got them into the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

This is just not true for anyone that’s actually familiar with academia (i.e., not this forum).

Nope, this is accurate. Keep up with the changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of classes taught by grad students.

DD is a 1st Yr and hasn't had a single class taught by a TA. They lead discussion sections for large classes, offer study sessions, proctor and grade exams. But, professors teach the classes and have been easy to communicate with via office hours or email. Flame UVA all you want, but at least post the truth for people genuinely doing their research.

Same is true for my first year student.

My kid at UVA has also experienced large classes with TA taught sections. But let’s be a real, the TAs are doing the grading and teaching the discussion sections. The profs are just lecturing. My DD had a prof who said any questions about the class or material should go to the TA. He will
Meet with kids in office hours to discuss only the general topic (not related to the class coverage) and careers in that subject area. The TAs have a significant impact on the teaching (and one of my kid’s TAs got a D+ in the class when the TA took it—ridiculous!). That said, I think that is the experience at any large university. My other kid is a grad student and TA at another university and it sounds very similar.

I do have issues with class sizes. Last semester my kid had a 400 and a 500 person lecture class and a 700 person online class!! The o line one is being changed next year, though, to smaller in person sections, so the school realizes that was a disaster.

I would also say cheating is rampant, but I also think that is not unique to UVA. My TA kid has also seen a bit of that at their university. I think some of these kids cheat in high school because the expectations are insane and they never stop.

Overall, UVA has been really good for my kid (who has found it challenging and does not have a perfect record there). I would not say it is overrated. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, what we expected.

This is what I have experienced/heard first hand too. It is a public university and if you have never experienced a private HS/private university you will never see or notice the big difference. Admin and registration and getting courses, etc. are all going to be much different.

Most of the things listed are not accurate for most majors. Sounds primarily like a CS problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

This is just not true for anyone that’s actually familiar with academia (i.e., not this forum).

Nope, this is accurate. Keep up with the changes.

I have because I work in academia. This forum is like an alternate reality. I actually think people who don’t know any better end up less well informed from where they started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheating

We know honest kids who go there, but we also know of a good number of kids who cheated their way through high school that are also going there. But, that's probably b/c we are in Nova.

I think this is the key to UVA's "overrating." Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia likes to think UVA is a bargain Yale or Harvard or Princeton or Brown. UVA is an excellent school, but it's very competitive particularly for northern Virginia students. So it evokes the impression of being more elite and prestigious in this geographical area than it warrants. I'm sure if you ask people in California to name the top public universities in the country, UVA would not come to mind.

I’m actually fairly sure they would, because UVA has been a top public for decades. I’m always amazed when people don’t realize this (and that’s coming from someone who didn’t go there, doesn’t have kids there, and only moved to Virginia in the last five years).

Some Californians known UVA is a top school but many don't. More interest in Michigan and Texas Austin than UVA because STEM.

Outside the DMV, most people consider UVA on par with U of Florida. It doesn’t register along with Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, or even UT Austin. It is just pretty average.

This is just not true for anyone that’s actually familiar with academia (i.e., not this forum).

Nope, this is accurate. Keep up with the changes.

I have because I work in academia. This forum is like an alternate reality. I actually think people who don’t know any better end up less well informed from where they started.

I am a college professor. 20 years ago I would not put U of Florida in the same sentence as UVA. However, now they are solid peers academically. For a lot of departments, U of Florida is ahead in terms of faculty quality and research output.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of classes taught by grad students.

DD is a 1st Yr and hasn't had a single class taught by a TA. They lead discussion sections for large classes, offer study sessions, proctor and grade exams. But, professors teach the classes and have been easy to communicate with via office hours or email. Flame UVA all you want, but at least post the truth for people genuinely doing their research.

Same is true for my first year student.

My kid at UVA has also experienced large classes with TA taught sections. But let’s be a real, the TAs are doing the grading and teaching the discussion sections. The profs are just lecturing. My DD had a prof who said any questions about the class or material should go to the TA. He will
Meet with kids in office hours to discuss only the general topic (not related to the class coverage) and careers in that subject area. The TAs have a significant impact on the teaching (and one of my kid’s TAs got a D+ in the class when the TA took it—ridiculous!). That said, I think that is the experience at any large university. My other kid is a grad student and TA at another university and it sounds very similar.

I do have issues with class sizes. Last semester my kid had a 400 and a 500 person lecture class and a 700 person online class!! The o line one is being changed next year, though, to smaller in person sections, so the school realizes that was a disaster.

I would also say cheating is rampant, but I also think that is not unique to UVA. My TA kid has also seen a bit of that at their university. I think some of these kids cheat in high school because the expectations are insane and they never stop.

Overall, UVA has been really good for my kid (who has found it challenging and does not have a perfect record there). I would not say it is overrated. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, what we expected.

This is what I have experienced/heard first hand too. It is a public university and if you have never experienced a private HS/private university you will never see or notice the big difference. Admin and registration and getting courses, etc. are all going to be much different.

Most of the things listed are not accurate for most majors. Sounds primarily like a CS problem.

I’m 20:14 and my kid is not a CS major but did take weeder/prerequisite classes to apply for Batten and/or McIntire so that gives you an idea of the types of classes my kid was taking.