Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand it either. It’s a fine, reputable (I didn’t say prestigious! Ugh!!) school with some great programs. It’s a great deal for in-state families and it’s located in a cute, quaint, town.

Do most people feel as strongly about other public universities in VA?

Penn State does and then some

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand it either. It’s a fine, reputable (I didn’t say prestigious! Ugh!!) school with some great programs. It’s a great deal for in-state families and it’s located in a cute, quaint, town.

Do most people feel as strongly about other public universities in VA?

You must not know any Tech alumni.

In my experience, UVA, VT, W&M, VMI, and JMU alumni are very loyal but it takes different forms. The most loyal I would say is actually VMI if you adjust for size. I don't sense the same level of alumni loyalty for the other schools, but someone could correct me if I am wrong.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand it either. It’s a fine, reputable (I didn’t say prestigious! Ugh!!) school with some great programs. It’s a great deal for in-state families and it’s located in a cute, quaint, town.

Do most people feel as strongly about other public universities in VA?

You must not know any Tech alumni.

Anonymous wrote:

WAHOOWA! WAHOOWA!
UNI-V VIR-GIN-I-A
HOO-RAH RAY! HOO-RAH RAY!
RAY! RAY!
U-V-A !!!
???????

I don’t understand it either. It’s a fine, reputable (I didn’t say prestigious! Ugh!!) school with some great programs. It’s a great deal for in-state families and it’s located in a cute, quaint, town.

Do most people feel as strongly about other public universities in VA?

Not everyone likes UVA

The fact that UVA fans don't understand that, makes them more obnoxious.

I think I can answer that. First some people may be jealous and their comments are biased by their jealousy. Second, some people think UVA supporters overstate its "prestige" (a relative term that is going to elicit meaningless debate) or use selective data points in making their case or to claim superiority to other schools. Some UVA supporters seem to think any criticism or contradiction is due to "jealousy".

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread "Why deny UVA?" just seems like another thread set up to entice confrontation between UVA zealots (people who will do anything to put down other schools or twist facts), and Anti-UVA zealots (people who will do anything to put down UVA and twist facts in the process).

I am the OP, and I agree. But my purpose in starting the thread was not to elicit this kind of reaction, but truly to get a better understanding of why there is so much venom towards the school. I suspect it’s because admissions are so selective. It just annoys folks who don’t think they can get their kids in.

This whole thread "Why deny UVA?" just seems like another thread set up to entice confrontation between UVA zealots (people who will do anything to put down other schools or twist facts), and Anti-UVA zealots (people who will do anything to put down UVA and twist facts in the process).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rich white kid with no hooks but excellent grades got in with SATs below the 25th percentile. Another got in right at the 50th. You don’t need the 75th percentile from NOVA even if you’re an unhooked rich white kid regardless of what you’re hearing.

But was he at TJ? Lots of TJ students fill that 25th percentile because their GPAs are lower than they would have been had they stayed in their home schools.

No she wasn't at TJ. And how many TJ students do you think score below UVA's 25th percentile on the SAT? Get a clue, man.

She attended one of the NOVA neighborhood high schools typically ranked in the middle of the top 10.

Anonymous wrote: The fact that 1200whatever was 94th shows you how dumb kids used to be. Honestly. Or maybe there weren’t enough kids taking the SAT, so the average kid’s score was upped to a higher percentile.

This is backwards. More students taking the SAT actually makes past percentiles *more* impressive. It used to be that only the top students in each class used to take the SAT, because fewer students went to college in general. So to be in the top 10% of SAT takers then was more impressive than today where more students take the test.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rich white kid with no hooks but excellent grades got in with SATs below the 25th percentile. Another got in right at the 50th. You don’t need the 75th percentile from NOVA even if you’re an unhooked rich white kid regardless of what you’re hearing.

But was he at TJ? Lots of TJ students fill that 25th percentile because their GPAs are lower than they would have been had they stayed in their home schools.

He said he had excellent grades but lower SATs. That wouldn't fit your perception of TJ.

Anonymous wrote:My rich white kid with no hooks but excellent grades got in with SATs below the 25th percentile. Another got in right at the 50th. You don’t need the 75th percentile from NOVA even if you’re an unhooked rich white kid regardless of what you’re hearing.

But was he at TJ? Lots of TJ students fill that 25th percentile because their GPAs are lower than they would have been had they stayed in their home schools.

Anonymous wrote:My rich white kid with no hooks but excellent grades got in with SATs below the 25th percentile. Another got in right at the 50th. You don’t need the 75th percentile from NOVA even if you’re an unhooked rich white kid regardless of what you’re hearing.

A lot of people think you need to score at 75th percentile to have any shot if you have no hooks, and it is probably good to target. But a lot of those students at UVA and W&M at 75th are probably going to be either OOS, or in-state kids that didn't quite score high enough to get an attractive enough admit or enough aid to tempt them to go somewhere else.