Reply to VA In-State Admissions Rumors Re High School Quotas

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Had several parents recently explain to me that it's better to send their bright kids to a less competitive public HS like West Potomac, TC Williams, or Edison, in Virginia as opposed to moving to McLean for Langley or McLean. Their rationale is that in-state VA schools make it a "policy" to take kids from the top 10% of each high school in the Commonwealth.  So the odds of their child being in the top 10% at West Potomac or TC Williams (especially with a sport like crew behind them) will make them more competitive for UVA or VA Tech than being in the top 25% or so at McLean/Langley.  Any truth to this?[/quote]

Not true!  http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2016/10/uva-admission-quotas-for-northern.html?m=1[/quote]  
[b]
There are holes in this blog entry that you could drive a truck through.  In practice, UVA accepts applicants from rural areas with no co-curriculars and B+/A- averages and upper 1/4 SATs.  From NoVa, you need above an A-, and upper 15% or so SATs, and you must have a sport, co-curricular, or diversity or pref factor.  However, as a NoVa resident, you enjoy the personal satisfaction of paying for the place.  
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Co-curriculars?

What does "upper 1/4 SATs" mean?
[/quote][/b]

So much here is wrong. Where do I begin to help? OK, that piece cited is Dean J. (the dog poster) who is not the Dean but Assistant Dean of Admissions and it dates back to 2016. A lot has changed in UVA in just the last two years.  EA admissions have jumped a whopping 31% in just two years. PP is incorrect when s/he states UVA "accepts" applicants from rural areas with no-curriculars and B+/A- averages and upper 1/4 SATs".  Doubt it ever has in the last decade.  Maybe before the one million international students started applying to our nation's finest.  If you go to the 2016 piece cited (but dated) and check the by county map you will see that even in 2014, 2015, (where the data come from), many counties to the south and to the west sent zero students or one.  In contrast, Fairfax County has 626 in that report.  Loudon, 220,  and 59 from Arlington etc.  But many zeros or ones from other counties to the south and west.  Several counties in VA are unrepresented this year because no one with the credentials applied.  This is why if you ever heard someone making a "redneck" joke about being with southerners at UVA they are demonstrating ignorance.

You will not get into UVA from "NoVA with an A-, and upper 15% or so SATs".  Maybe a few years ago but not now.  You now must be in the top 10% to be considered.  94% of the class of 2020 was in the top 10%.  I was on the Lawn when Teresa Sullivan announced that for the class of 2020 (93.8% was the cited figure; her speech was later removed from the internet because parents were shocked at the figures also groups pointed out that the remaining 6% were TJ students who weren't in the top 10% - a good joke but probably true).  Average GPA for class of 2021 was 4.34. It was 4.24 for class of 2020.  ACT average is now an astonishing 31-35.  If you are in the running for Jefferson Scholar (not run by the school but by an alumni group), you must provide your class rank and they are looking for no. 1 or 2 who might otherwise go to an Ivy.  Don't look at any statistics more than two years old - the world is changing that fast.  Use your high school's naviance chart and talk with your school's college counselor.  If the Naviance chart doesn't support your child's candidacy and the guidance counselor suggests other Virginia Schools that's a good indication the public high school will not support your candidacy to UVA, meaning letters of recommendation will be lukewarm and the 50 or 60 other kids who have the 4.0++ will get preferential treatment.  Also read College Confidential.  Remember that UVA wants to lower its yield no. for purposes of the rating services.  So you can never trust with precision what the admissions officer is saying.  The role of the admissions officer (in today's world of crazy ratings) is to get your child to apply.  So they can reject them.  So the school's selectivity and yield numbers drop.  That's the role of every admissions officer today - get those applications in - which is also why there was a 31% surge in  EA applications to UVA over the last two years.  The admissions officers are doing a good job of trying to tell everyone to apply!

Contrary to what some think, you now need higher and better stats as an in-state student than OOS.  There were some excellent charts recently posted in this forum on this subject.

Contrary to what you might think, the international community is making up a large part of that OOS number.  UVA was rated as no. 3 public by Princeton Review two years back.  Since then the international students are applying in large numbers because UVA is a highly ranked public.  $45K ifor a research unversity is still better than the $72K of an Ivy, especially if it is a research university of rank.  Again, go to College Confidential and read the "chance mes" and bios of those international and OOS rejected by UVA.  They are beyond impressive.

"Their rationale is that in-state VA schools make it a "policy" to take kids from the top 10% of each high school in the Commonwealth.".  No it doesn't.  Texas must, by state regulation do this, which is why no OOS students can get in.  UVA does not make it a policy to "take kids from the top 10% of [b]each[/b] high school in the Commonwealth".  It can't possibly do that - there would be too many students.  From NOVA, yes, you must be top ten percent at Langley and McLean [b]in order to be considered[/b].  But UVA is not taking the top ten percent of students from a high school in Westchester County (in fact, it took only one).

"However, as a NoVa resident, you enjoy the personal satisfaction of paying for the place."  Wrong. Per capita, it is much more difficult to get into UVA from NoVA. Look at any map of population density.  Virginia's population is predominately in NoVa   If you take a middling 3.8 student, first generation (attractive to admissions) student, or URM student from Nellysford County and move them to Langley High School, that student will not get it into UVA.  That student stands a better chance of getting in as no. 1 back in his high school in Nellysford, VA.

The only way to really trick the system is to stay for three years in an xlnt public high, rack up the necessary AP courses and grades and then move to one of the counties which rarely send anyone to UVA.  That might work, but you would have to be in place for the full year and even then someone in admissions might say "this doesn't pass the sniff test" unless you can prove the parents had to move for work, etc.

To summarize, wherever you are a student, in order to get into UVA you should be in your top 10%, preferably higher as indicated by honor societies, have a 4.43 GPA or above, and have a superior ACT and SAT scores.  Also you should submit SAT II subject matter tests if you scored over 750. Universities will tell you it's not "required" but they really want to see those.  They say "not required" because layering on another level of expensive testing drives away some of the poor students or first generation students.  They also want to see proof of leadership and maturity.  Eagle Scout or something comparable demonstrates dedication and a willingness to stick to a job even when unpleasant.  National prizes of course.  Football and band also is a plus.

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