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

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[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]

McLean and Langley already have about 5% of their top ten skimmed to go to TJ.  So, it should be easier to be top ten there.  Plus, it looks like 10% of the class gets into UVA and W&M and more into VT- but all of the top ten do not apply-. If you are in the 10%-15%, you still have a decent chance if your ECs are up to snuff to get into UVA/W&M and if you are top 25% you have a decent chance for VT.  Datapoint: My DC was at the 80th percentile at McLean and got into VT engineering (he went and is currently elsewhere).  I know this because he missed a 4.0 by .003 and about 20% of his class received the 4.0 award.

[b]They are competitive compared to most other state’s flagships schools, but it is not as hard as people think.  [/quote][/b]

I think the VA university world has changed significantly since you went through the process.  My DC was no. 1 in her class, 4.06 weighted, 34 ACT and 36 on retry and  got into UVA three years ago.  I don't think she would make it in today.  The number of EA applications has jumped 31% in just the last two years and at least 26% overall since just when DC applied.   4.34 average GPA is the figure most of the independent publications use ("most selective").  The ACT median is 31-35 (that alone has changed since DC applied - when she applied a 34 was a very big deal).  Even Va Tech now boasts an average HS GPA of 4.04.

Virginia Parents are looking at the difference between $26,000 a year and $72,000 a year (most Ivies and SLACs) very carefully now.  The rankings and admissions ratings for all the Virginia Universities are on a surge.  I have the University by University statistics as reported to the Virginia Assembly.  I'll try to locate it and post a link.  It's very clear to me now that you must be in the top 10% of your high school class to get accepted.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics