Anonymous
09/24/2025 16:12
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:My DC (2024) grad received the Jefferson, but decided to attend another university.
w/r/t admission, I will reiterate what others have said. On the February call with all finalists, the UVA Dean of Admissions joined the call and said that everyone who had applied RD was admitted (the finalists on the call who had applied ED/EA already had a decision at that point).
w/r/t whether it was worth it, I'd say absolutely! The interviews, in particular, were a great learning experience. Most high school students don't have the chance to interview with a group of adults who are asking tough questions.
For someone whose kid was a Jefferson scholar offeree you sure are dense. Yes, all of the finalists were admitted, but that is because the Jefferson scholarship committee checked with the admissions department and made sure they were admitted before they were named finalists. Why do you find that so difficult to understand?
Anonymous
09/24/2025 15:41
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our principal has indicated to DD that he wants her to be a nominee for this. (He knows UVA is her top choice and she is planning on ED-ing.)
Some questions:
-Can she put this on her honors/awards list (the fact that she was nominated by her school)?
-Given what a long shot the actual scholarship is, how much extra work is it for the applicant? It seems like a lot. Trying to decide if it's worth pursuing for us knowing she likely won't get it or if we should allow some other student to give it a go? Does each HS only get on nominee?
It is a lot of work. My DD was nominated and made it to the second round. She still to this day puts “Jefferson Scholar Nominee” on her resume and I do think people notice. It is a big deal to be nominated even though highly unlikely.
That’s pretty pathetic. My kid was waitlisted at an Ivy and doesn’t put it on her resume. It’s basically the same thing
Anonymous
09/24/2025 12:47
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Just ask Dean J on instagram tomorrow and this will be settled.
Anonymous
09/24/2025 12:47
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Mine did not put it in awards and honors, they didn’t go past first round of interviews. They were accepted OOS from NC, perfect stats and the whole package. Junior at an Ivy.
Anonymous
09/24/2025 12:39
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
My daughter was a nominee for the school last year and was interviewed for regional round but didn’t make the cut for final round. She didn’t put it in her awards/honor section. She did EA and is currently at UVA and is very happy. She is a typical FCPS high stats kid, normal ECs. It was a good experience for my kid to prep for the interview and nice for parents to dream about possible full scholarship (we are full pay).
Anonymous
09/24/2025 12:28
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
My DC (2024) grad received the Jefferson, but decided to attend another university.
w/r/t admission, I will reiterate what others have said. On the February call with all finalists, the UVA Dean of Admissions joined the call and said that everyone who had applied RD was admitted (the finalists on the call who had applied ED/EA already had a decision at that point).
w/r/t whether it was worth it, I'd say absolutely! The interviews, in particular, were a great learning experience. Most high school students don't have the chance to interview with a group of adults who are asking tough questions.
w/r/t admission, I will reiterate what others have said. On the February call with all finalists, the UVA Dean of Admissions joined the call and said that everyone who had applied RD was admitted (the finalists on the call who had applied ED/EA already had a decision at that point).
w/r/t whether it was worth it, I'd say absolutely! The interviews, in particular, were a great learning experience. Most high school students don't have the chance to interview with a group of adults who are asking tough questions.
Anonymous
09/24/2025 06:50
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our principal has indicated to DD that he wants her to be a nominee for this. (He knows UVA is her top choice and she is planning on ED-ing.)
Some questions:
-Can she put this on her honors/awards list (the fact that she was nominated by her school)?
-Given what a long shot the actual scholarship is, how much extra work is it for the applicant? It seems like a lot. Trying to decide if it's worth pursuing for us knowing she likely won't get it or if we should allow some other student to give it a go? Does each HS only get on nominee?
It is a lot of work. My DD was nominated and made it to the second round. She still to this day puts “Jefferson Scholar Nominee” on her resume and I do think people notice. It is a big deal to be nominated even though highly unlikely.
That’s pretty pathetic. My kid was waitlisted at an Ivy and doesn’t put it on her resume. It’s basically the same thing
Well think what you want but she did land some pretty awesome internships all throughout her time at UVA, which led to a fantastic first job right out of school. May have had nothing to do with it but it sure didn’t hurt.
Anonymous
09/24/2025 06:38
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our principal has indicated to DD that he wants her to be a nominee for this. (He knows UVA is her top choice and she is planning on ED-ing.)
Some questions:
-Can she put this on her honors/awards list (the fact that she was nominated by her school)?
-Given what a long shot the actual scholarship is, how much extra work is it for the applicant? It seems like a lot. Trying to decide if it's worth pursuing for us knowing she likely won't get it or if we should allow some other student to give it a go? Does each HS only get on nominee?
It is a lot of work. My DD was nominated and made it to the second round. She still to this day puts “Jefferson Scholar Nominee” on her resume and I do think people notice. It is a big deal to be nominated even though highly unlikely.
That’s pretty pathetic. My kid was waitlisted at an Ivy and doesn’t put it on her resume. It’s basically the same thing
Anonymous
09/24/2025 06:36
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:One nominee per school. I would not list the nomination. If it is too much work for her to get a shot at a full ride, then give the chance to someone else.
+1
And Jefferson Scholars program is independent of UVA. So there have been a few cases, at least historically, where someone won the Jefferson scholarship, but was not accepted by UVA. This might have been fixed, not sure.
It has been fixed. If you win Jefferson you are also accepted by UVA. Additionally, Jefferson Scholars are now automatically Echols Scholars…this was not always the case.
This is absolutely not true. There is no "automatic" admission if you win the scholarship. The processes are completely separate. This is made very clear on the scholarship's website.
I'm the poster whose kid was a finalist for the Jeff last year. At one point during a finalist zoom they told them that they all had been accepted to UVA, so finalists are indeed all accepted. (And students who are finalists but don't get the Jeff get a $1,000 per year scholarship.)
Are you just making stuff up?
You won't know for sure until your kid makes it to the final round!
Finalist interviews are in February and RD decisions aren’t until April. They would have no way of knowing who is going to be admitted.
The scholarship people work with admissions to extend admission to all finalists. Don't believe me if you don't want to, but that's what happened last yar (yes, in February.)
Again, you’re getting things backwards. They don’t “work with admissions to extend admission” — they confirm with admissions that the kid is getting in, and if the kid isn’t then she’s not named a finalist.
It’s like talking to a brick wall. What part of “the admissions committee makes the decision on admission and not the Jefferson scholarship committee“ do folks not understand?
Anonymous
09/24/2025 06:32
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Being nominated by your school does not mean that the student is considered the most impressive uva applicant from that school. It’s indicative of an impressive student who is very likely to actually attend uva if offered. Most schools won’t nominate the top students who are likely to be offered admission to ivys and other top schools and likely to attend those instead of uva.
This. Your local high school isn’t the UVA admissions committee. They have all kinds of reasons for choosing to nominate a kid for whatever award. It’s nice, sure, but it doesn’t mean all that much — and it definitely doesn’t come close to meaning that admission to UVA is a shoo-in.
Anonymous
09/24/2025 06:24
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Our principal has indicated to DD that he wants her to be a nominee for this. (He knows UVA is her top choice and she is planning on ED-ing.)
Some questions:
-Can she put this on her honors/awards list (the fact that she was nominated by her school)?
-Given what a long shot the actual scholarship is, how much extra work is it for the applicant? It seems like a lot. Trying to decide if it's worth pursuing for us knowing she likely won't get it or if we should allow some other student to give it a go? Does each HS only get on nominee?
It is a lot of work. My DD was nominated and made it to the second round. She still to this day puts “Jefferson Scholar Nominee” on her resume and I do think people notice. It is a big deal to be nominated even though highly unlikely.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 23:26
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Being nominated by your school does not mean that the student is considered the most impressive uva applicant from that school. It’s indicative of an impressive student who is very likely to actually attend uva if offered. Most schools won’t nominate the top students who are likely to be offered admission to ivys and other top schools and likely to attend those instead of uva.
Our private does give it only to the top few students and spreads it out, Morehead/Jefferson nominee always different people. About five years ago, a kid won the Morehead and turned down Harvard to accept it.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 23:22
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
My child is his school’s nominee for the Morehead. He is not listing it as a honor, already has half a dozen “better” awards and only space for five on common app.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 23:20
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Being nominated by your school does not mean that the student is considered the most impressive uva applicant from that school. It’s indicative of an impressive student who is very likely to actually attend uva if offered. Most schools won’t nominate the top students who are likely to be offered admission to ivys and other top schools and likely to attend those instead of uva.
That’s true at our school.
Anonymous
09/23/2025 22:37
Subject: Questions for those whose kids have applied for the UVA Jefferson scholarship
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:One nominee per school. I would not list the nomination. If it is too much work for her to get a shot at a full ride, then give the chance to someone else.
+1
And Jefferson Scholars program is independent of UVA. So there have been a few cases, at least historically, where someone won the Jefferson scholarship, but was not accepted by UVA. This might have been fixed, not sure.
It has been fixed. If you win Jefferson you are also accepted by UVA. Additionally, Jefferson Scholars are now automatically Echols Scholars…this was not always the case.
This is absolutely not true. There is no "automatic" admission if you win the scholarship. The processes are completely separate. This is made very clear on the scholarship's website.
I'm the poster whose kid was a finalist for the Jeff last year. At one point during a finalist zoom they told them that they all had been accepted to UVA, so finalists are indeed all accepted. (And students who are finalists but don't get the Jeff get a $1,000 per year scholarship.)
Are you just making stuff up?
You won't know for sure until your kid makes it to the final round!
Finalist interviews are in February and RD decisions aren’t until April. They would have no way of knowing who is going to be admitted.
A lot of kids EA/ED.
Sure, but you are not required to.