Anyone considering UVA Year in Wise VA transfer program?

[Anonymous]

YIW seems like a great option for those who really want UVA. DD considered it, but opted for Virginia Tech instead and is very happy there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name the southern school? It might help with advice. No one knows your DC here, so safe to disclose. If it is a school like Ole Miss or Auburn, I say go and have her try and get into whatever is a top sorority at UVA. Then apply to transfer for 2nd year. She will likely get into UVA. Everyone we know that tried this strategy was successful (6 kids in the last 3 years). Then your DD can automatically be a member of a top UVA sorority when she transfers and will have an easy transition socially. Worse case scenario is she loves the southern school, stays and you save a lot of money over 4 years!

I almost felt like this was crazy, but it's not really. My concern if my kid were taking the Wise route is how they would fit in sophomore year. Can they integrate seamlessly or is there a steep social hill to climb? If they wanted to join greek life, that would be much harder after freshman year. so, going somewhere else with free tuition and an opportunity to do well academically and join a house before transferring isn't a bad idea. Plus, the kid may end up loving the other school and UVA will be a thing of the past to them.

FWIW, my daughter at UVA just went through the rush process this Jan and said there were plenty of transfers going through the process, very normal. It sounded like their experiences were very similar to the First years (some were enjoying it and some found out it wasn't their thing).

[Anonymous]

If big oos southern school has honors program, no reason to think that won’t be plenty rigorous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wouldn't be so bad if they just want to concentrate on academics at Wise.

If they just want to focus on academics, the oos school would be better. 4 years of research experience beats 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, you shouldn’t be asking current twelfth graders this question.

You should be trying to visit or talk to kids who are at Wise AND kids who are at UVA who transferred from Wise.

And your kid needs to visit Wise.

That’s how you figure this out.

And also kids at the oos school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Only from Wise and only if waitlisted at UVA. Also you have to be given this offer by UVA before attending Wise. Maybe every waitlisted students get this offer but I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Our kid with a 4.0 at VA Tech was waitlisted as a transfer at UVA and ultimately rejected.

There is a community college pathways program from community colleges that guarantees admission to UVA for I think less than a 4.0 but the students need to make sure they are on track with all the required classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Our kid with a 4.0 at VA Tech was waitlisted as a transfer at UVA and ultimately rejected.

There is a community college pathways program from community colleges that guarantees admission to UVA for I think less than a 4.0 but the students need to make sure they are on track with all the required classes.

There is something terribly wrong happening - a 4.0 from VA Tech is enough for IVY+. All State schools everywhere bake into admissions future transfers - VA Tech included. Private schools do not need to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Only from Wise and only if waitlisted at UVA. Also you have to be given this offer by UVA before attending Wise. Maybe every waitlisted students get this offer but I don't know.

This option is only available for students waitlisted in Arts & Sciences and who are Virginia residents. Other waitlisted applicants do not have this guaranteed option.

You can try transferring to UVA from another state school, but it’s not guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

My son was offered YiW last year and my strongest possible advice is you need to take the 3 days it takes to go there and look around. There’s a beautiful restored hotel (The Inn at Wise) and 2 or 3 restaurants downtown. The college is maybe 2 miles from downtown.

I am a) pro rural Virginia and b) pro Appalachia (extended family there) but it’s going to be a major cultural adjustment for any student from NoVa.

There are only 600 students on campus which means that YiW is about 16-17% of the on-campus population. Athletes are the other significant population on campus. There are perhaps another several hundred who live in nearby apartments, but the balance of students are commuting from home and/or going home every weekend. For lack of a better term, the college seemed underpopulated both on the weekend we were there and on the Monday tour.

My son wanted UVA and understood this was a viable path, but ultimately decided it was too isolated and chose elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name the southern school? It might help with advice. No one knows your DC here, so safe to disclose. If it is a school like Ole Miss or Auburn, I say go and have her try and get into whatever is a top sorority at UVA. Then apply to transfer for 2nd year. She will likely get into UVA. Everyone we know that tried this strategy was successful (6 kids in the last 3 years). Then your DD can automatically be a member of a top UVA sorority when she transfers and will have an easy transition socially. Worse case scenario is she loves the southern school, stays and you save a lot of money over 4 years!

I almost felt like this was crazy, but it's not really. My concern if my kid were taking the Wise route is how they would fit in sophomore year. Can they integrate seamlessly or is there a steep social hill to climb? If they wanted to join greek life, that would be much harder after freshman year. so, going somewhere else with free tuition and an opportunity to do well academically and join a house before transferring isn't a bad idea. Plus, the kid may end up loving the other school and UVA will be a thing of the past to them.

FWIW, my daughter at UVA just went through the rush process this Jan and said there were plenty of transfers going through the process, very normal. It sounded like their experiences were very similar to the First years (some were enjoying it and some found out it wasn't their thing).

True - I believe 800 to 900 transfers come into UVA for their third year through the Guaranteed community college program. So coming in a year earlier from Wise would be a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Our kid with a 4.0 at VA Tech was waitlisted as a transfer at UVA and ultimately rejected.

There is a community college pathways program from community colleges that guarantees admission to UVA for I think less than a 4.0 but the students need to make sure they are on track with all the required classes.

There is something terribly wrong happening - a 4.0 from VA Tech is enough for IVY+. All State schools everywhere bake into admissions future transfers - VA Tech included. Private schools do not need to do that.

Our kid applied to Arts and Sciences at UVA, while they had great grades in high school, our kid had only three years of a foreign language in high school. It all worked out. Landed at an, in my opinion, equally great school. And yes, had to take a full year of a foreign language there.

[Anonymous]

We went to visit Wise over spring break as my DC is considering this option. It's a very very very long drive. It will be a cultural shock for almost any nova kid given how remote/rural the location is. Poverty in this area is profound and is very evident all around. Could be a good growth/learning experience for a lot of very sheltered teens in this area.

Overall, was pleasantly surprised by the Wise campus and offering. It was more of a "real" campus than I was expecting. The classrooms are a bit less than impressive, but there was a lot of other stuff to like. Small classes, engaged faculty - overall a good way to ease your way into college life.

Met with the Program Director for the YIW program and really liked him as well. He's a history prof at the school and a big advocate for the Wise campus. He said one very interesting thing towards the end of our convo. Some kids in the YIW program come here and really embrace the benefits (small classes, readily available profs, tight cohort, seeing a new perspective, etc..) and others wind up treating it like they're in prison for one-year. Could easily see what he was talking about. If your kid falls into the first group, YIW is worth looking more closely at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely be careful about attempting to transfer to UVA from a non-guaranteed university/program. Friend’s DD had a 4.0 at Penn State first semester and did not get accepted to UVA as a transfer. Penn State ended up being a bit too remote and far away, though she did stick it out and graduate. My DD’s friend from a prestigious Governor’s high school just accepted her spot at UVA Wise. She really wants UVA and decided the sacrifice was worth it.

But can’t you transfer (guaranteed) to UVA from any VA state school? Or is that not the case?

No. Our kid with a 4.0 at VA Tech was waitlisted as a transfer at UVA and ultimately rejected.

There is a community college pathways program from community colleges that guarantees admission to UVA for I think less than a 4.0 but the students need to make sure they are on track with all the required classes.

This, the community college transfer program is generous (and it applies to all Virginia Public 4 year instituitons) BUT you must make sure that you take the prescribed courses. Many students at CCs run afoul of this because they don't read the fine print. You must take a rigorous program of introductory courses, you cannot take basketweaving. If you don't cross the Ts and dot the Is, you have to do a third year at community college and then try again for UVA. Bear in mind that college counseling at the CC level is not good - the student must learn what is required for the transfer and do it.