Uva honors (rodman/echols) or ivy etc?

[Anonymous]

My kid got into honors at uva, for "top 5% of applicants." Exciting, but also applied to Harvard etc. Would it be better to be part of the "top 5%" at uva, or average at Harvard, assuming my child gets in? UVA honors implies opportunity to standout from the start, with the opportunities that may accompany that, I guess, but is that reason enough to pass up the harvard credential/connections? OOS, so it's not vastly less expensive to go to UVA. Kid is interested in CS, engineering and stem more broadly, but not sure re career or grad school, etc.

[Anonymous]

Did they get an offer from Harvard?
Until that happens it really isn't something you need to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Applied to Harvard or was accepted to Harvard? It's Ivy Day, so perhaps you are anticipating an acceptance today, but they've only admitted about 5% of their applicants in recent years. Probably best to prepare not to get into Harvard and be pleasantly surprised if they are in the 5%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid got into honors at uva, for "top 5% of applicants." Exciting, but also applied to Harvard etc. Would it be better to be part of the "top 5%" at uva, or average at Harvard, assuming my child gets in? UVA honors implies opportunity to standout from the start, with the opportunities that may accompany that, I guess, but is that reason enough to pass up the harvard credential/connections? OOS, so it's not vastly less expensive to go to UVA. Kid is interested in CS, engineering and stem more broadly, but not sure re career or grad school, etc.

And anyone have experience with uva honors and perspective to offer?

[Anonymous]

Go with the Ivy unless we’re talking about Brown or Cornell. Brown isn’t a good fit for a lot of smart kids and Cornell is a state school like U. Va so not worth the added expense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go with the Ivy unless we’re talking about Brown or Cornell. Brown isn’t a good fit for a lot of smart kids and Cornell is a state school like U. Va so not worth the added expense.

You packed a lot of stupid into two sentences. Good'on'ya!

[Anonymous]

Did your DC apply early to any Ivy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got into honors at uva, for "top 5% of applicants." Exciting, but also applied to Harvard etc. Would it be better to be part of the "top 5%" at uva, or average at Harvard, assuming my child gets in? UVA honors implies opportunity to standout from the start, with the opportunities that may accompany that, I guess, but is that reason enough to pass up the harvard credential/connections? OOS, so it's not vastly less expensive to go to UVA. Kid is interested in CS, engineering and stem more broadly, but not sure re career or grad school, etc.

And anyone have experience with uva honors and perspective to offer?

Obviously go with with the better school. The Echols program was invented to help UVa improve its stats and for good PR (“our students are doing XYz amazing intellectually weighty things! We are a real university!”) to cover for the good ole boy drinking and criminal frat behavior that is a large part of UVA culture. The white supfemacists picked the rotunda for a reason.

That said if Echols is your best offer it is nice to not have to take any gen eds and it does grease the skids around grounds for further intellectual opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Jefferson scholar vs Harvard would be a difficult call. Echols/ Rodman is not much different than the regular UVA experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson scholar vs Harvard would be a difficult call. Echols/ Rodman is not much different than the regular UVA experience

The Ivies have similar programs to Echols/Rodman, maybe your kid can get into one of them. For example, Cornell has Rawlings Scholars.
https://scl.cornell.edu/get-involved/cornell-commitment/rawlings-cornell-presidential-research-scholars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go with the Ivy unless we’re talking about Brown or Cornell. Brown isn’t a good fit for a lot of smart kids and Cornell is a state school like U. Va so not worth the added expense.

You packed a lot of stupid into two sentences. Good'on'ya!

Aww, try not to show your butthurt.

[Anonymous]

Congrats, OP! Big accomplishments!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did they get an offer from Harvard?
Until that happens it really isn't something you need to worry about.

+1

Report back later and then we'll chime in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jefferson scholar vs Harvard would be a difficult call. Echols/ Rodman is not much different than the regular UVA experience

As a UVA alumna, I agree, assuming your kid wants Harvard. I know people who turned down Ivies for the Jefferson Scholars program; it’s tough to beat free! But my Echols friends’ experience was not meaningfully different from mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go with the Ivy unless we’re talking about Brown or Cornell. Brown isn’t a good fit for a lot of smart kids and Cornell is a state school like U. Va so not worth the added expense.

While Cornell is not as highly ranked as other Ivies, and I'm generally not a fan, it is NOT a state school.