VA in-state options for 3.4 u/w (3.8 w) GPA

[Anonymous]

If your kid doesn't go to a NoVa public HS, get the h*ll off this forum. Your knowledge or stats are irrelevant. You don't know anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I suggest you look at the current 4 year grad rates. Not good. Most kids don't turn into better students at college ... they're exposed, they get to drink, they can skip class. A 3.4 gpa is a classic 5-6 year bachelor kid.

Ridiculous. My GPA was lower than that and I not only graduated on time, but got a Masters degree after. Many of my friends were the same way...they hit their stride in college and became even better students.

''

You're not aware of national stats. WaPO did a piece on this phenomenon about two years ago. More than 60% of our nation's children are taking 5 to 6 years to graduate. Many drop out for reasons we didn't have to - to earn money to pay for tuition. So they drop out, earn money, and return. Other kids are lured into the foreign campus away programs to return and find out they can't finish their senior thesis or get the final set of classes they need for their major (my college is deliberately encouraging this so they can run 5 years of students through the system at any one time, instead of the expected four). Others start at a community college, take a break and return.

[Anonymous]

As I said: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/02/why-so-many-students-are-spending-six-years-getting-a-college-degree/?utm_term=.30d1aaebc11c

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At W-L, 90 kids were accepted at Virginia Tech last year our out of 125 applicants (72%). UVA- 48 accepted with 140 applied (34%), William & Mary - 35/88 (40%). Certainly, there is self-selection as to who applies but it's more than a "few" that get in.

My kids' FCPS high school typically has around 100 kids with at least a 4.0, so many of the rejected kids from these schools are at that level or above.

In 2016, 43/120 got into W&M, 56/163 into UVA and 100/157 in VT (good year, some years it's <50%). A 3.8 will simply not get you into UVA or W&M and it's a bit iffy for VT, although they accept a wider range of GPAs. SATs: Average accepted for Tech is 1380, 1460 for UVA, 1450 for W&M

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At W-L, 90 kids were accepted at Virginia Tech last year our out of 125 applicants (72%). UVA- 48 accepted with 140 applied (34%), William & Mary - 35/88 (40%). Certainly, there is self-selection as to who applies but it's more than a "few" that get in.

My kids' FCPS high school typically has around 100 kids with at least a 4.0, so many of the rejected kids from these schools are at that level or above.

In 2016, 43/120 got into W&M, 56/163 into UVA and 100/157 in VT (good year, some years it's <50%). A 3.8 will simply not get you into UVA or W&M and it's a bit iffy for VT, although they accept a wider range of GPAs. SATs: Average accepted for Tech is 1380, 1460 for UVA, 1450 for W&M

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.

Woodson?

[Anonymous]

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.


Woodson?

The stats above were from McLean's Class of '16. Not sure if all the favoritism for the best and brightest goes on there, but it probably does.

My DC actually completely bypassed VA schools, counselor recommendations, and the Common App and only applied to OOS publics. The whole process just seemed really weird - parents have to write multi-page essay about their child for the counselor, child needs to give teachers a professionally done resume to get a recommendation, etc. If you just have a nice, regular kid who is a solid student but more of a late bloomer, forget about it. She just looked for schools that base their decision on the essay, transcript and test scores and did fine in the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.


Woodson?

The stats above were from McLean's Class of '16. Not sure if all the favoritism for the best and brightest goes on there, but it probably does.

My DC actually completely bypassed VA schools, counselor recommendations, and the Common App and only applied to OOS publics. The whole process just seemed really weird - parents have to write multi-page essay about their child for the counselor, child needs to give teachers a professionally done resume to get a recommendation, etc. If you just have a nice, regular kid who is a solid student but more of a late bloomer, forget about it. She just looked for schools that base their decision on the essay, transcript and test scores and did fine in the process.

This is discouraging but helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.


Woodson?

The stats above were from McLean's Class of '16. Not sure if all the favoritism for the best and brightest goes on there, but it probably does.

My DC actually completely bypassed VA schools, counselor recommendations, and the Common App and only applied to OOS publics. The whole process just seemed really weird - parents have to write multi-page essay about their child for the counselor, child needs to give teachers a professionally done resume to get a recommendation, etc. If you just have a nice, regular kid who is a solid student but more of a late bloomer, forget about it. She just looked for schools that base their decision on the essay, transcript and test scores and did fine in the process.

Wish we could afford OOS publics.

We can afford in-state rates but DD has a B+ GPA so I guess we are shut out (except for CCs).

[Anonymous]

Wish we could afford OOS publics.

We can afford in-state rates but DD has a B+ GPA so I guess we are shut out (except for CCs).

Look at South Carolina, which will often give in-state tuition to students they want. In general, however, privates will give more aid than publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I suggest you look at the current 4 year grad rates. Not good. Most kids don't turn into better students at college ... they're exposed, they get to drink, they can skip class. A 3.4 gpa is a classic 5-6 year bachelor kid.


Ridiculous. My GPA was lower than that and I not only graduated on time, but got a Masters degree after. Many of my friends were the same way...they hit their stride in college and became even better students.''

You're not aware of national stats. WaPO did a piece on this phenomenon about two years ago. More than 60% of our nation's children are taking 5 to 6 years to graduate. Many drop out for reasons we didn't have to - to earn money to pay for tuition. So they drop out, earn money, and return. Other kids are lured into the foreign campus away programs to return and find out they can't finish their senior thesis or get the final set of classes they need for their major (my college is deliberately encouraging this so they can run 5 years of students through the system at any one time, instead of the expected four). Others start at a community college, take a break and return.

PP, Just because there are national stats does not mean that (a) this is always the case or (b) that colleges are going to freeze out students with these GPAs. Please temper your doom and gloom on this thread--it's stressful enough to go through this process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At W-L, 90 kids were accepted at Virginia Tech last year our out of 125 applicants (72%). UVA- 48 accepted with 140 applied (34%), William & Mary - 35/88 (40%). Certainly, there is self-selection as to who applies but it's more than a "few" that get in.

My kids' FCPS high school typically has around 100 kids with at least a 4.0, so many of the rejected kids from these schools are at that level or above.

In 2016, 43/120 got into W&M, 56/163 into UVA and 100/157 in VT (good year, some years it's <50%). A 3.8 will simply not get you into UVA or W&M and it's a bit iffy for VT, although they accept a wider range of GPAs. SATs: Average accepted for Tech is 1380, 1460 for UVA, 1450 for W&M

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.

I'm confused - can't students apply wherever they want without having to seek "counselor approval"? I thought the counselor just fills out his/her portion of the application and the rest is up to the student. My child goes to a large FCPS high school where the counselors probably don't even know who most of the kids are. How can they possibly have any say in which schools students apply to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.


Woodson?

The stats above were from McLean's Class of '16. Not sure if all the favoritism for the best and brightest goes on there, but it probably does.

My DC actually completely bypassed VA schools, counselor recommendations, and the Common App and only applied to OOS publics. The whole process just seemed really weird - parents have to write multi-page essay about their child for the counselor, child needs to give teachers a professionally done resume to get a recommendation, etc. If you just have a nice, regular kid who is a solid student but more of a late bloomer, forget about it. She just looked for schools that base their decision on the essay, transcript and test scores and did fine in the process.

Wish we could afford OOS publics.

We can afford in-state rates but DD has a B+ GPA so I guess we are shut out (except for CCs).

Surely you're joking. A B+ GPA will get you into most VA publics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At W-L, 90 kids were accepted at Virginia Tech last year our out of 125 applicants (72%). UVA- 48 accepted with 140 applied (34%), William & Mary - 35/88 (40%). Certainly, there is self-selection as to who applies but it's more than a "few" that get in.

My kids' FCPS high school typically has around 100 kids with at least a 4.0, so many of the rejected kids from these schools are at that level or above.

In 2016, 43/120 got into W&M, 56/163 into UVA and 100/157 in VT (good year, some years it's <50%). A 3.8 will simply not get you into UVA or W&M and it's a bit iffy for VT, although they accept a wider range of GPAs. SATs: Average accepted for Tech is 1380, 1460 for UVA, 1450 for W&M

If it is the same FCPS high school we went through, what you are not seeing in those stats is the overall size of the class and the degree of self-selection that goes on in the application process if you are in NOVA. The college counselor and those faculty writing letters are not going to help your B students apply to UVA. They just aren't. If I had suggested that for DC they would have laughed me out of the room. Only the very best of the 525 students in a class will be supported by the system to apply to those two schools. Those students are the same ones applying to HYPS. Our numbers for getting into W&M and UVA were much smaller than those above. It seemed like the same ten students got in everywhere but not for the rest of the class. You are much better off applying to a VA university from any other area than NOVA and especially FCPS.

I'm confused - can't students apply wherever they want without having to seek "counselor approval"? I thought the counselor just fills out his/her portion of the application and the rest is up to the student. My child goes to a large FCPS high school where the counselors probably don't even know who most of the kids are. How can they possibly have any say in which schools students apply to?

Same at our large FCPS high school. No multi-page essay, no professionally formatted resumes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:




Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I suggest you look at the current 4 year grad rates. Not good. Most kids don't turn into better students at college ... they're exposed, they get to drink, they can skip class. A 3.4 gpa is a classic 5-6 year bachelor kid.


Ridiculous. My GPA was lower than that and I not only graduated on time, but got a Masters degree after. Many of my friends were the same way...they hit their stride in college and became even better students.''

You're not aware of national stats. WaPO did a piece on this phenomenon about two years ago. More than 60% of our nation's children are taking 5 to 6 years to graduate. Many drop out for reasons we didn't have to - to earn money to pay for tuition. So they drop out, earn money, and return. Other kids are lured into the foreign campus away programs to return and find out they can't finish their senior thesis or get the final set of classes they need for their major (my college is deliberately encouraging this so they can run 5 years of students through the system at any one time, instead of the expected four). Others start at a community college, take a break and return.

PP, Just because there are national stats does not mean that (a) this is always the case or (b) that colleges are going to freeze out students with these GPAs. Please temper your doom and gloom on this thread--it's stressful enough to go through this process.

Please go read the WaPo story at 00:39. I'm talking about the person who said it was "ridiculous" that students were taking 5 and 6 years to finish college. More than half of our nation's students are doing precisely that. Go read the article.

[Anonymous]

Please go read the WaPo story at 00:39. I'm talking about the person who said it was "ridiculous" that students were taking 5 and 6 years to finish college. More than half of our nation's students are doing precisely that. Go read the article.

That was me, and what I was saying is that it's "ridiculous" to assume that a student with a B+ average (3.4) is going to take 5-6 years to finish. A 3.4 unweighted GPA is a decent GPA by most people's standards.

I am sure many other kids are taking longer to get through, but to suggest that only straight-A students will finish on time is an excessively negative prediction.