Disappointment

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:W&M is the top choice of her choices. Great school.


W&M is a a very good school and a great option for Virginians. However, OP’s daughter with her stats and APs will be in the top 1% of W&M students, which is not ideal. You want to have peers who are similar or slightly better than you academically to be reasonably challenged and motivated. It was stupid and frankly outrageous for UVA to waitlist her. State university funded by tax payers should have transparent admissions criteria and should be held accountable for cases like OP.


There are many more kids with those stats at W&M than 1%! Why would that be different at UVA (given stats are the same)?
And my kid chose UVA over W&M. This was just dumb.
.

Your kid had 4.0 and took 14 APs and got 5s on all of them? There are more kids like that at UVA than W&M. Regardless, OPs daughter should have been accepted to UVA.
Anonymous
When I read about students with 3s in APs and SATs in the 1300s who used TO to get in to Duke and Stanford, it would make me sad too. They probably won't do well and the AOs know it.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Anyone else facing a lot of disappointment during this cycle? DD got into a couple target schools + most of her safeties... Rejected or WL from the rest. She was (imo and told to us by many others) a great applicant - High stats, great ECs + essays, LORs... Her interviews all went very well, especially JHU. She applied to JHU EA and the rest RD, and we're from NOVA. Intended major is BME (biomed engineering).

Stats:
4.0 UW/4.7 W GPA
1570 SAT (800 M, 770 R&W)
14 APs, all 5s

ECs:
- A few regional awards (STEM)
- 200+ volunteer hours @ local hospital
- Founder of non-profit
- Research w/ prof at T30
- Competitive summer program for BME
- Lots of community service

Results:
JHU EA - Deferred -> Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Brown - Rejected
Dartmouth - Rejected
Columbia - Rejected
Duke - Rejected
UVA - WL
Cornell - WL
CMU - WL
UNC CH - WL
VT - Accepted
W&M - Accepted
Lehigh - Accepted
UPitt - Accepted

DD is incredibly upset and so are we... JHU was her dream school but she relied on UVA + CMU as well. Anyone here confused and facing a similar situation?We all were convinced that DD had it in the bag - Worst of all is that many of her classmates w/ lower stats and worse ECs have gotten into a few of these schools.


If Op’s dd has this kind of stats and got rejected from places like from UVA and Duke- it’s truly sad.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:W&M is the top choice of her choices. Great school.


W&M is a a very good school and a great option for Virginians. However, OP’s daughter with her stats and APs will be in the top 1% of W&M students, which is not ideal. You want to have peers who are similar or slightly better than you academically to be reasonably challenged and motivated. It was stupid and frankly outrageous for UVA to waitlist her. State university funded by tax payers should have transparent admissions criteria and should be held accountable for cases like OP.


There are many more kids with those stats at W&M than 1%! Why would that be different at UVA (given stats are the same)?
And my kid chose UVA over W&M. This was just dumb.
.

Your kid had 4.0 and took 14 APs and got 5s on all of them? There are more kids like that at UVA than W&M. Regardless, OPs daughter should have been accepted to UVA.


Look at the CDS. Sigh.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:W&M is the top choice of her choices. Great school.


W&M is a a very good school and a great option for Virginians. However, OP’s daughter with her stats and APs will be in the top 1% of W&M students, which is not ideal. You want to have peers who are similar or slightly better than you academically to be reasonably challenged and motivated. It was stupid and frankly outrageous for UVA to waitlist her. State university funded by tax payers should have transparent admissions criteria and should be held accountable for cases like OP.


There are many more kids with those stats at W&M than 1%! Why would that be different at UVA (given stats are the same)?
And my kid chose UVA over W&M. This was just dumb.
.

Your kid had 4.0 and took 14 APs and got 5s on all of them? There are more kids like that at UVA than W&M. Regardless, OPs daughter should have been accepted to UVA.


Look at the CDS. Sigh.


CDS doesn’t have this information but I see why you are confused. CDS reports that 90% of UVA admitted students had GPA of 4.0. It is a weighted GPA though. An AP class counts as 5 towards the weighted GPA in FCPS. It is nearly impossible to take 14 APs and have a perfect unweighted 4.0
Anonymous
OP, if you are still reading, my DC from a magnet had higher stats than your kid and was rejected almost everywhere they applied to - CMU, UIUC, GATech. Waitlisted at Mich. Granted, they are a CS major.

In the end, DC ended up at the state flagship, and you know what... they are happy there. They got a great internship with good pay where DC is at now for pretty much all of the summer, and they are having a blast.

DC just finished their second year and is a senior, thanks to those generous and numerous AP credits. They are doing great academically - 4.0 GPA so far, and there are definitely some very smart peers there. They will graduate in 3 years with two degrees. They also got merit aid, so we will be able to give them $20K, and a car when they graduate. All together, they will have $40K cash by 21. DC is also going to do a +1 masters. So, 4 years, 2 degrees for < $140K from a T50. Not too shabby.

So, tell your DC that there are pros to going in state - they will probably not struggle too much academically and be surrounded by other high achievers; there are lots of smart kids who end up at the state flagships due to cost, or being shut out of the T10 like your and my kid. The money you save can go towards their roth IRA or buy them a car, or gift them cash (check gift tax rule).

DC was not excited about going off to college until the week of when we started to go dorm shopping. They love living on their own, and being independent. They said they are very glad to have ended up at the state flagship. Things really worked out for DC.

It will be ok.
Anonymous
oops ^ 4 years, 3 degrees
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Anyone else facing a lot of disappointment during this cycle? DD got into a couple target schools + most of her safeties... Rejected or WL from the rest. She was (imo and told to us by many others) a great applicant - High stats, great ECs + essays, LORs... Her interviews all went very well, especially JHU. She applied to JHU EA and the rest RD, and we're from NOVA. Intended major is BME (biomed engineering).

Stats:
4.0 UW/4.7 W GPA
1570 SAT (800 M, 770 R&W)
14 APs, all 5s

ECs:
- A few regional awards (STEM)
- 200+ volunteer hours @ local hospital
- Founder of non-profit
- Research w/ prof at T30
- Competitive summer program for BME
- Lots of community service

Results:
JHU EA - Deferred -> Rejected
Princeton - Rejected
Brown - Rejected
Dartmouth - Rejected
Columbia - Rejected
Duke - Rejected
UVA - WL
Cornell - WL
CMU - WL
UNC CH - WL
VT - Accepted
W&M - Accepted
Lehigh - Accepted
UPitt - Accepted

DD is incredibly upset and so are we... JHU was her dream school but she relied on UVA + CMU as well. Anyone here confused and facing a similar situation?We all were convinced that DD had it in the bag - Worst of all is that many of her classmates w/ lower stats and worse ECs have gotten into a few of these schools.[/quote


If you are from Virginia you can appeal the UVA decision although a long shot. I would also meet with your school to see if you can get an extra letter of recommendation. I agree with those stats something went wrong. The other thing I would suggest is going to one of these colleges for a year and transfer. It is so much easier to transfer. Your kid deserves to be happy. Don’t get me wrong as I think if looking to medicine then WM and Pitt would be great options but again your kid should be happy with all their work.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are still reading, my DC from a magnet had higher stats than your kid and was rejected almost everywhere they applied to - CMU, UIUC, GATech. Waitlisted at Mich. Granted, they are a CS major.

In the end, DC ended up at the state flagship, and you know what... they are happy there. They got a great internship with good pay where DC is at now for pretty much all of the summer, and they are having a blast.

DC just finished their second year and is a senior, thanks to those generous and numerous AP credits. They are doing great academically - 4.0 GPA so far, and there are definitely some very smart peers there. They will graduate in 3 years with two degrees. They also got merit aid, so we will be able to give them $20K, and a car when they graduate. All together, they will have $40K cash by 21. DC is also going to do a +1 masters. So, 4 years, 2 degrees for < $140K from a T50. Not too shabby.

So, tell your DC that there are pros to going in state - they will probably not struggle too much academically and be surrounded by other high achievers; there are lots of smart kids who end up at the state flagships due to cost, or being shut out of the T10 like your and my kid. The money you save can go towards their roth IRA or buy them a car, or gift them cash (check gift tax rule).

DC was not excited about going off to college until the week of when we started to go dorm shopping. They love living on their own, and being independent. They said they are very glad to have ended up at the state flagship. Things really worked out for DC.

It will be ok.


+100. State flagships can also offer more social and extracurricular opportunities and a great in-state/regional network.
Anonymous
Ugh. This kid should be at a flagship unless they needed the merit aid.

But happens all the time. It’s almost always bc of the major. They aren’t as competitive for that major, but likely would have been for another.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Ugh. This kid should be at a flagship unless they needed the merit aid.

But happens all the time. It’s almost always bc of the major. They aren’t as competitive for that major, but likely would have been for another.


Then post admission rates by major so kids know what to expect. I doubt it is all about the major but a bit more transparency will be helpful
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ugh. This kid should be at a flagship unless they needed the merit aid.

But happens all the time. It’s almost always bc of the major. They aren’t as competitive for that major, but likely would have been for another.


Then post admission rates by major so kids know what to expect. I doubt it is all about the major but a bit more transparency will be helpful


Agree, but often you can ask when you go to info sessions? Here's a tip on how to examine the data online. You can do this for every school. Just research!

UVA Engineering's enrollment numbers are listed online: https://engineering.virginia.edu/undergraduat...lment-and-graduates#

From that link, it looks like applying to Materials Science—engineering, Engineering Science, or " Engineering—undeclared" is the way to go if you must apply to engineering.

To dig in further, go to the CDS. If you look at Section J of the school's CDS, you can see which colleges/majors are "oversubscribed" - have way too many people (it's the list of graduates who list their primary major) vs. those that are undersubscribed.
https://ira.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu...DS_2024-2025_508.pdf

UVA:
Engineering 10.1%
Business: 8.9%
CS: 7.7%
Biological sciences: 6%
Physical sciences: 3.9%
Math: 3.3%
History: 2.7&
English 2.3%
Foreign lang. 1.4%
Anonymous
Math if you must be STEM. Or engineering-undeclared.

Got it.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ugh. This kid should be at a flagship unless they needed the merit aid.

But happens all the time. It’s almost always bc of the major. They aren’t as competitive for that major, but likely would have been for another.


Then post admission rates by major so kids know what to expect. I doubt it is all about the major but a bit more transparency will be helpful


Biomedical engineering is a brutal admit just about everywhere. The programs are usually much smaller than mechanical engineering.


Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ugh. This kid should be at a flagship unless they needed the merit aid.

But happens all the time. It’s almost always bc of the major. They aren’t as competitive for that major, but likely would have been for another.


Then post admission rates by major so kids know what to expect. I doubt it is all about the major but a bit more transparency will be helpful


Agree, but often you can ask when you go to info sessions? Here's a tip on how to examine the data online. You can do this for every school. Just research!

UVA Engineering's enrollment numbers are listed online: https://engineering.virginia.edu/undergraduat...lment-and-graduates#

From that link, it looks like applying to Materials Science—engineering, Engineering Science, or " Engineering—undeclared" is the way to go if you must apply to engineering.

To dig in further, go to the CDS. If you look at Section J of the school's CDS, you can see which colleges/majors are "oversubscribed" - have way too many people (it's the list of graduates who list their primary major) vs. those that are undersubscribed.
https://ira.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu...DS_2024-2025_508.pdf

UVA:
Engineering 10.1%
Business: 8.9%
CS: 7.7%
Biological sciences: 6%
Physical sciences: 3.9%
Math: 3.3%
History: 2.7&
English 2.3%
Foreign lang. 1.4%


That is not particularly useful information without knowing how many applied to the major
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