I've been hearing and reading about this since I moved here about 15 years ago. Not just UVa, but also William and Mary. These high-ranking schools are very sought after by Virginia residents, partly because in-state tuition is relatively low.

They have a high number of applications, but only so many spaces to fill, so they need to be very selective. When you are talking about highly selective schools, at some point there is a "lottery" aspect to admissions, in that there are so many more qualified, even highly qualified, applicants than there are spaces available that there is an element of luck to whether any particular applicant ends up being accepted. So, many qualified students end up not being accepted, because there isn't enough space for everyone.

Also, by state law, roughly 30% of UVa acceptees are from out of state because they pay higher tuition than in-state students. Essentially, out-of-state students help to subsidize the cost of education for in-state students.

Anonymous wrote:I cannot imagine why you would want your kid to go to a college where half his high school was admitted.

the only school that gets half the class in is TJ.
All the other NOVA public high schools, even the very best ones, only get in about 10% or less.

Anonymous wrote:Got in but ds went to Umd for computer science.

Maryland resident here so I love UMD but your son made a mistake.

^ UMD booster is here . Some funny posts I gotta admit.

Sure. The incentive is "we're not UVA."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn't new. This has been poolsdie chat for the past 10 years.

That's why I mentioned it seems different. For example one of the McLean high schools has half its usual number going to UVA this year.

So half the usual number are going,but how many were admitted? Are the OOS schools offering incentives?

Got in but ds went to Umd for computer science.

the poster said half the usual numbers, not half the HS. So, if there are typically 20 kids admitted, this year, there would be 10. The class is probably over 400

I cannot imagine why you would want your kid to go to a college where half his high school was admitted.

Anonymous wrote:This isn't new. This has been poolsdie chat for the past 10 years.

That's why I mentioned it seems different. For example one of the McLean high schools has half its usual number going to UVA this year.

http://www.examiner.com/article/uva-admits-8-528-for-the-class-of-2017

Minutes after the admissions folks at the University of Virginia pushed the button releasing decisions last night, the “regulars” on College Confidential began lighting up the discussion board.

“Accepted! So elated! Really nice news after a waitlist and two rejections!” crowed one happy admit from New Jersey.

“Soo happy that I’ll have an opportunity to study in the university Thomas Jefferson built,” exclaimed another.

But the news wasn’t universally good.

“I live in Northern Virginia and we have always said that we don't know WHO gets into UVA. Someone here or there, but honestly it's a long shot for most people,” mused yet another.

My daughter got in. But she chose to go to another school.

This isn't new. This has been poolsdie chat for the past 10 years.

Our DD got into UVA; we live in FFX but she attended independent school in MD.

Pool chat among the moms is that UVA seems to be accepting less (otherwise well qualified) kids from FCPS than previous years. This seems to be something more/different from simply "UVA is highly selective." Many of the rejected kids are going OOS and usually to higher ranked schools.