Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

This. You don't have to move to a rural area. Just go to one of the crappy high schools. But recognize your kid may not be as well prepared for the rigor of college.

Not sure I follow. Is the kid from a “crappy high school” that gets 5s on ten AP exams less prepared than the kid from a non-crappy high school, with similar grades, better prepared for college?

+1 My UVA-bound kid is graduating from a crappy, non-NOVA high school that would horrify the typical DCUM poster. There are around 8-10 from his class going to UVA. They’ll all be fine there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

This. You don't have to move to a rural area. Just go to one of the crappy high schools. But recognize your kid may not be as well prepared for the rigor of college.

Not sure I follow. Is the kid from a “crappy high school” that gets 5s on ten AP exams less prepared than the kid from a non-crappy high school, with similar grades, better prepared for college?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No college should be "or bust". I have a cousin who got into an Ivy league school but was denied at Michigan (in state too). No one could figure out why.

Yeah, mine was accepted into Carnegie Mellon (and Michigan) but rejected at UVA, while lower stat kids with less activities were accepted at UVA.

This happens often.

Maybe they wrote “less” where they should have written “fewer” in their essay.

You beat me to it!

The word of choice should have been lesser, not fewer or less

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try the NoVa path.

The odds of getting accepted to UVA are not good.

But if a degree from IVA is the only option for your family, the odds are better if your kid does 2 years of community college then transfers into UVA.

It is exceptionally difficult to get into UVA from any NOVA public HS.

NoVa is Northern Virginia Community College.

They have guranteed admission to zuVA and Virginia tech if you maintain a certain GPA as a full time student.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

This. You don't have to move to a rural area. Just go to one of the crappy high schools. But recognize your kid may not be as well prepared for the rigor of college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

Better yet, move away from NOVA altogether.

All of my son’s friends in another town outside of NOVA got into UVA just by being regular smart kids with typical ECs.

For the kids at our FCPS HS or other FCPS HS, it was a mixed bag. Kids with great stats getting rejected.

This. NoVA is so extremely competitive for UVA. A lot of great students get rejected just because UVA can’t take all the qualified kids from TJ or West Springfield, for example. Better to apply from a less competitive school like Lewis or Mount Vernon or a non-NoVA part of Virginia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

Name the school

I can name a few that fall into this category:

Herndon, Justice, Falls Church, Lewis, West Potomac even South Lakes.

Just look up the lowest rated schools. Look at their instagram decision pages. They may not have 30+ kids going to UVA, but they do have a good number. Also, who wants to go away to college and end up running into a bunch of former HS classmates?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No college should be "or bust". I have a cousin who got into an Ivy league school but was denied at Michigan (in state too). No one could figure out why.

Yeah, mine was accepted into Carnegie Mellon (and Michigan) but rejected at UVA, while lower stat kids with less activities were accepted at UVA.

This happens often.

Maybe they wrote “less” where they should have written “fewer” in their essay.

You beat me to it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try the NoVa path.

The odds of getting accepted to UVA are not good.

But if a degree from IVA is the only option for your family, the odds are better if your kid does 2 years of community college then transfers into UVA.

It is exceptionally difficult to get into UVA from any NOVA public HS.

It is exceptionally difficult for some kids, a breeze for others. A lot depends on the kids grades, how closely they followed Dean J, and, yes, test scores can really move the needle. Make sure your kid is involved in their community. Push them into leadership roles. Make sure the essay is not cookie cutter or just a brag sheet of their accomplishments. It should describe a kid you would want to be roommates or classmates with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

Name the school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try the NoVa path.

The odds of getting accepted to UVA are not good.

But if a degree from IVA is the only option for your family, the odds are better if your kid does 2 years of community college then transfers into UVA.

It is exceptionally difficult to get into UVA from any NOVA public HS.

She’s referring to the NOVA community college path to automatic admission.

Virginia Community colleges will path you for automatic admission to a four year college.

Anonymous wrote:Try the NoVa path.

The odds of getting accepted to UVA are not good.

But if a degree from IVA is the only option for your family, the odds are better if your kid does 2 years of community college then transfers into UVA.

It is exceptionally difficult to get into UVA from any NOVA public HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.

Better yet, move away from NOVA altogether.

All of my son’s friends in another town outside of NOVA got into UVA just by being regular smart kids with typical ECs.

For the kids at our FCPS HS or other FCPS HS, it was a mixed bag. Kids with great stats getting rejected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No college should be "or bust". I have a cousin who got into an Ivy league school but was denied at Michigan (in state too). No one could figure out why.

Yeah, mine was accepted into Carnegie Mellon (and Michigan) but rejected at UVA, while lower stat kids with less activities were accepted at UVA.

This happens often.

Less activities? Maybe it was quality over quantity.

Sorry.

Lesser activities. Not fewer. Lesser. Less competitive, less prestigious, less involved.

The point is, every year highly qualified kids are accepted to higher ranking, more exclusive schools than UVA, but rejected from UVA. Anyone who goes into the process with a UVA or bust attitude is likely to be disappointed, even if the kid has stats for higher ranked schools or if UVA appears to be a match based on stats and activities.

Anonymous wrote:Move to a rural VA county and be at the very top of the class with max rigor at the county HS.

Seriously. Applicants are compared with other students from their HS - for many many colleges. Big fish in smaller rural pond has the best odds for acceptance at many colleges.

Or, just move to a lower performing NOVA high school, take all the rigourous courses, get more leadership positions, play all the sports, get more house for your money, and keep your higher paid DMV job. It worked out for our kid. Third year at UVA.