Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead.

The issue isn't necessarily attending those LACs over W&M / UVA … it's that if their student — for whatever reason — doesn't get in to those flagship schools, those LACs might be good alternates over other in-state options, and might actually be within budget. OP suggested that private schools wouldn't be an option, but didn't indicate that they knew that merit aid could be available to them that could bring the price down.

This. Plus my first kid got into WM and Oberlin. Approx the same cost, but had a strong negative reaction to WM (“it's hot and everyone is the same”. We visited in the summer and the it’s hot was silly, but this kid actively liked living in the snowy Lake effect area, so whatever). Oberlin was the perfect school for them. Second kid also got into WM and Oberlin and hated Oberlin (“it’s full of pretenses drama kids”— for this kid this was not a plus), and is living their best life at WM. It can be very kid specific. And for smaller school especially fit counts.

+1 One of my kids applied to W&M but wouldn't ED because it really wasn't her first choice. She liked much smaller LACs more. She ended up going to an OOS, mid-range LAC that costs us less than W&M. Certainly not as highly ranked/recognizable as W&M but it has a great program for her major and she feels at home and well-supported there (has ADHD). She ended up waitlisted at W&M in RD and wasn't interested in the Spring start option. I was a little disappointed because I love W&M (it's where I'd wanted to go but my parents decided it was too expensive OOS) but it was important that she pick where she felt she could be most successful.

Anonymous wrote:Good luck, OP. I hope you have a kid with stellar stats - highest rigor, nothing less than an A, discovered a cure for cancer, and founded their own nonprofit.

None of this is necessary.

Anonymous wrote:We can't afford OOS or private tuition so need to go with one of these two. I know UVA says applying ED has no benefit but is that really true? And at W&M, could you just show a lot of interest and get a similar effect as applying ED? TIA

JMU and GMU and VT are all cheaper. Cast a wider net.

Anonymous wrote:How is UVA that much different than W&M? They both have kids from similar places and similar SAT scores and grades. Some of the majors are different, but I don't see these schools as all that different.

For starters it’s three times the size with undergrads alone.

How is UVA that much different than W&M? They both have kids from similar places and similar SAT scores and grades. Some of the majors are different, but I don't see these schools as all that different.

If you're in VA, both of those are great options.

We're in DC, so even after DC TAG, I pay around $65k per year for UVA. Some other decent state schools offered merit aid (UMD, UF, etc.) , but UVA has been good so far and I'm happy with his choice.

Seriously, DC TAG needs to expand. We have no in-state option, and $10K doesn't make much a difference when some state schools are around $85k (for engineering school).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead.

The issue isn't necessarily attending those LACs over W&M / UVA … it's that if their student — for whatever reason — doesn't get in to those flagship schools, those LACs might be good alternates over other in-state options, and might actually be within budget. OP suggested that private schools wouldn't be an option, but didn't indicate that they knew that merit aid could be available to them that could bring the price down.

By this logic, there are OOS publics that would do the same. It’s worth keeping in mind for OP, but there needs to be interest in the school not just a search based on costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IED1 to UVA and ED2 to WM because UVA doesn't have ED2.

This is the answer. ED to UVA certainly does give your student an advantage. The applicant pool is much smaller, the schools knows you really want to attend and they have more seats available. Meanwhile, make sure you show W&M lots of love by way of DI. Apply ED2. Best of luck!

ED is an advantage at ALL schools.

I think it’s especially helpful if your kid isn’t a clear admit on numbers but has other positives going on. Fewer applications, so AOs don’t have to move as fast and can take more time to understand interesting class choices on transcripts, read essays, see upward trend, etc. If your kid can make case that they are a stronger student than their GPA might say, ED helps, because AOs have time to see that. My kid took 4 years of highest orchestra and 7 years of foreign language. All but one AP language was unweighted, but they were really into their music and into languages. But it was a drag on their GPA relative to their classmates. ED helped them showcase that their weighted GPA didn’t tell the whole story and the languages and music were into essays and were noted in the tell us anything extra section.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead.

The issue isn't necessarily attending those LACs over W&M / UVA … it's that if their student — for whatever reason — doesn't get in to those flagship schools, those LACs might be good alternates over other in-state options, and might actually be within budget. OP suggested that private schools wouldn't be an option, but didn't indicate that they knew that merit aid could be available to them that could bring the price down.

This. Plus my first kid got into WM and Oberlin. Approx the same cost, but had a strong negative reaction to WM (“it's hot and everyone is the same”. We visited in the summer and the it’s hot was silly, but this kid actively liked living in the snowy Lake effect area, so whatever). Oberlin was the perfect school for them. Second kid also got into WM and Oberlin and hated Oberlin (“it’s full of pretenses drama kids”— for this kid this was not a plus), and is living their best life at WM. It can be very kid specific. And for smaller school especially fit counts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IED1 to UVA and ED2 to WM because UVA doesn't have ED2.

This is the answer. ED to UVA certainly does give your student an advantage. The applicant pool is much smaller, the schools knows you really want to attend and they have more seats available. Meanwhile, make sure you show W&M lots of love by way of DI. Apply ED2. Best of luck!

ED is an advantage at ALL schools.

Anonymous wrote:UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead.

The issue isn't necessarily attending those LACs over W&M / UVA … it's that if their student — for whatever reason — doesn't get in to those flagship schools, those LACs might be good alternates over other in-state options, and might actually be within budget. OP suggested that private schools wouldn't be an option, but didn't indicate that they knew that merit aid could be available to them that could bring the price down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might be surprised by how much merit and need-based aid some private schools will offer. UVA and W&M are excellent schools, but lots of LACs — especially the less-trafficked ones, like Grinnell, St. Olaf, Whitman — will offer merit aid that can bring the cost down to match (or even beat) the in-state options. If you have a really academics-oriented student, that might end up being a more appealing option than some of the other in-state publics. For need-based aid, create an account and fill out the Net Price Calculator for a few schools (it saves your financial info, so you don't have to re-enter your data) to see what you might have available to you. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/get-started/net-price-calculator

UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead. My understanding is those universities are about $50k (at least) with merit aid. I don’t even live in Virginia. I wish I did! You all are so lucky.

They are lucky and have a lower perception of their own schools than the rest of the country (because it’s more attainable for them).

Anonymous wrote:You might be surprised by how much merit and need-based aid some private schools will offer. UVA and W&M are excellent schools, but lots of LACs — especially the less-trafficked ones, like Grinnell, St. Olaf, Whitman — will offer merit aid that can bring the cost down to match (or even beat) the in-state options. If you have a really academics-oriented student, that might end up being a more appealing option than some of the other in-state publics. For need-based aid, create an account and fill out the Net Price Calculator for a few schools (it saves your financial info, so you don't have to re-enter your data) to see what you might have available to you. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/get-started/net-price-calculator

UVA and W&M are such great options, I don’t know why anyone would want to attend Grinnell, St Olaf etc, instead. My understanding is those universities are about $50k (at least) with merit aid. I don’t even live in Virginia. I wish I did! You all are so lucky.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck, OP. I hope you have a kid with stellar stats - highest rigor, nothing less than an A, discovered a cure for cancer, and founded their own nonprofit.

Our kid that got in both had the first two criteria you’ve laid out but certainly not the second. It’s competitive but come on.

Our kid also got into both schools this year and had a couple B+ and A- with upward trends and also went TO (no crazy ECs other than what school and sports offer). I think highlighting rigor continuing into senior year and growth as a person really helped. There was no trauma essay but utilizing the entire application to explain your growth is important to AOs (use the additional comments section to explain ANYTHING you think needs explaining in a genuine manner).

I know my kid has friends with higher and more perfect stats but I think some of these schools want to see the human on these applications not just the perfect student. Lastly, they didn't ED to any school, only EA and RD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IED1 to UVA and ED2 to WM because UVA doesn't have ED2.

This is the answer. ED to UVA certainly does give your student an advantage. The applicant pool is much smaller, the schools knows you really want to attend and they have more seats available. Meanwhile, make sure you show W&M lots of love by way of DI. Apply ED2. Best of luck!

This only works if UVA is the preferred school.

OP, as others have noted, the schools are quite different. ED1 to the school your kid actually most wants to go to.