Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My niece got accepted a couple weeks ago. She had ok stats but nothing special. She goes to a run of the mill public high school in Fairfax county.

I think maybe the reason she got accepted is that she has had a job since she was in 9th grade? That's the only thing I can think that would differentiate her....

Not being a boy helps at UVA.

Anonymous wrote:My niece got accepted a couple weeks ago. She had ok stats but nothing special. She goes to a run of the mill public high school in Fairfax county.

I think maybe the reason she got accepted is that she has had a job since she was in 9th grade? That's the only thing I can think that would differentiate her....

Anonymous wrote:I had two kids go to UVA almost a decade apart from each. When each applied the ratio for in state versus out of state enrollment (basically two to one) was exactly the same as it is today. So the claim that it’s OOS enrollment that’s causing the problem is bullshit.

Also, my second kid got in almost a decade after my first from one of the alleged top NOVA publics with lower SATs than my older one but higher grades. In fact, the SATs were lower than the 25 percentile range for UVA students and she hold no hooks. None. UVA has always cared more about grades and courses taken than test scores.

Which leads to my third point: the poster suggesting that all you have to do is move to Southwest Virginia and get a 1400 on the SAT has absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. The fact is, some of those places don’t even send a single student to UVA. The only students getting into UVA from any school in the state of Virginia are students at the very top of their class, and to suggest that they will take just about anyone from coal country is complete, total, disrespectful and unadulterated bullshit.

What is really going on nowadays is that students are applying to many more colleges than they have in the past because the process is easier. But the same students are getting into UVA that always have: the ones at the top of the class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And ironically UVa CS and Engineering programs are quite mediocre, at best

It’s 37th for undergrad engineering on Usnwr. Hardly mediocre. Rice, the DCUM darling, is 25. Harvard is 30. RPI 34. Brown and Yale and Case Western and Colorado School of Mines, are all also 37. Stop using flimsy excuses to bash UVA. And no my kid is not even applying to UVA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools got to expensive.

Kids that would have gone to Georgetown or Williams or an Ivy don’t want to spend $85-99k/year so more and more are going in-state instead. Very few NoVA residents will qualify for financial aid anywhere since HHI are some of the highest in the nation and COL isn’t a factor in aid.

UVA is now #24 and WM provides the size and education of those $85k Slacs.

Got it?

Agree with this. I went to Cornell waaay back in the day and my parents were able to pay the tuition. But it’s stupid-expensive now and I don’t even see it as an option for my kids. I’m hoping they’ll get into one of the VA schools, but we’ll see how that plays out when the time comes.

Nowadays, only Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Yale are worth the ridiculous fees they charge.

List is now down to the 2 bolded above. Quite frankly your kid will get a better education at W&M. Only UVA’s heavy investment in DEI is keeping them in the top 30 of what is becoming a useless ranking (USNWR) scheme.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College admissions has changed across the board since we applied. In many many ways. Pay attention. It isn't just UVA.

Seriously. I think people who are indignant over UVA being more selective since 20 years ago are being deliberately obtuse.

I just dug around and here's how UVA has grown the incoming group
Fall 2009: 3246
Fall 2014: 3709
Fall 2019: 3920
Fall 2023: 3966

It looks like UVA's growth has topped out around 3900 incoming. Safe to say they don't have the space for more without building. If you have a child there right now, you know how the library construction impacted the experience.

Compare those numbers to the total number of applications:
Fall 2009: 21,839
Fall 2014: 31,042
Fall 2019: 47,827
Fall 2023: 56,439

It's tough to get in. You need to adjust expectations.

Anonymous wrote:Just go to community college and get good grades(which is easy)

You get right in. It’s a breeze.

Anonymous wrote:My niece got accepted a couple weeks ago. She had ok stats but nothing special. She goes to a run of the mill public high school in Fairfax county.

I think maybe the reason she got accepted is that she has had a job since she was in 9th grade? That's the only thing I can think that would differentiate her....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people moved to Virginia, the state legislature doesn’t fund public colleges like they used to, so OOS admits/enrollment have to go up to make up for that. Also, legacy admissions are verboten now. I’m sorry, but lots of us are in the same boat with you.

Yes.

1/2 of a UVA Double legacy here.

Our second kid, solid stats but not top-tier, just got rejected from UVA. EC's were light and given that legacy no longer factors in, not necessarily a surprise. B

Our oldest, a college senior this year, also got denied back in 2020. 4.0 GPA, advanced coursework, tons of EC's and student leadership, high achieving varsity/club athlete since 8th grade. Even did three years of the UVA Summer Enrichment Program. That one was a surprise.

Did you apply ED/EA? In order to be considered, most entrants are picked during those rounds. It is UVA's way of yield protecting , though UVA does not call it that. Also, PP who mentioned DEI is accurate, because UVA has some history to try to correct (or at least appear to be correcting).

Anonymous wrote:Just go to community college and get good grades(which is easy)

You get right in. It’s a breeze.