Anonymous wrote:I think it varies a lot by high school. You need to be at the top in your high school. Top grades, top SAT, top EC, rigor. At my child’s FCPS school, UVA is considered a definite reach even with everything near perfect. The same top kids are looking at top schools and top programs everywhere; waiting to see how it all shakes out with financial stuff or Ivies. Elsewhere in the state, the bar is slightly lower—because the pool of peers applying is smaller. Which is not to say those kids are less capable even if their schools could not offer the same rigor or top classes; they bring good things to the table, too. Not every HS in Virginia offers 12 AP classes and multivar.

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Anonymous wrote:Weighted GPAs tell us nothing if you don’t know which school system etc. And everyone says better to get the A in the harder class. For those of you with kids who got into UVA for a public NOVA, how many, if any, B or B+ were on the transcript through Junior year and in what classes?

0 Bs. Waitlisted

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Anonymous wrote:Last year my daughter and her classmates were rejected with 4.3-4.5 GPAs. The girls with the 4.5 had very hard courseloads as well. UVA is incredibly hard-- best to you!

It really isn’t fair. They work so hard and then their dream fades if a school was their target.

PP never claimed UVA was their kids’ “dreams”. Many top VA students use UVA as a safety to Ivy or top SLAC schools. Mine did.

UVA isn’t a safety school for anyone, and it’s dumb to assert that it is.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year my daughter and her classmates were rejected with 4.3-4.5 GPAs. The girls with the 4.5 had very hard courseloads as well. UVA is incredibly hard-- best to you!

It really isn’t fair. They work so hard and then their dream fades if a school was their target.

PP never claimed UVA was their kids’ “dreams”. Many top VA students use UVA as a safety to Ivy or top SLAC schools. Mine did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year my daughter and her classmates were rejected with 4.3-4.5 GPAs. The girls with the 4.5 had very hard courseloads as well. UVA is incredibly hard-- best to you!

It really isn’t fair. They work so hard and then their dream fades if a school was their target.

Anonymous wrote:Last year my daughter and her classmates were rejected with 4.3-4.5 GPAs. The girls with the 4.5 had very hard courseloads as well. UVA is incredibly hard-- best to you!

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Anonymous wrote:I am going to ask our counselor if one has to take AP Bio, Chem or physics for most rigorous. My DD will wind up with 11 or 12 APs. AP Eng Lang and Lit, Spanish Lang and Lit, AP Calc BC, APUSH, AP Euro, AP Seminar, AP Research and I can’t remember the others. But she will have taken honors in the three science and likely AP ES next year. She doesn’t want to give us two class periods to the others and doesn’t like science. If that means no max rigor, so be it. But I want to know. This is all so ridiculous. I’m guessing they won’t tell me.

The College Board says that beyond 5 APs, further APs have no impact on college admissions. Of course those 5 APs better be 5s.

That said, if your daughter does not have a single science AP, that does make her AP portfolio somewhat lopsided. Ivies like to see achievement across all disciplines, even if the kid wants to be a humanities major. Don’t know if that’s true of UVA.

The college board is full of it. At our APS school you better have over a 4.2 to get into UVA. And the only way to get that GPA is to take more than 5 APs.

This. SCHEV is clear: the 75th percentile at UVA last fall had a 4.5; the median had a 4.4 and bottom 25th percentile has a 4.2. You can ontain a 4.5 or 4.4 only by having multiple AP courses. Look at the stats of the Nova kids who got in: 10-12 AP courses offered= maximum rigor. That’s what UVA is looking for.

SCHEV and our UVA tour were consistent. Admission to UVA (unhooked) comes down to:

Three maximums, plus ECs.

- maximum rigor (meaning most challenging APs offered at your HS)

- maximum GPA (meaning top grades in the toughest APs; no “B”s), and

- maximum SAT or ACT score (+1450 or above), plus:

ECs or extra curriculars: Leadership, service, long-term dedication in multiple areas.

Check these boxes and admission is likely.

There are still pathways around these, however:

- be a first-generation to go to college, applicant, and/or FARMs status. Or be a recruited star athlete. These last two hooks can only make up for so much, however. Truly poor grades or a low SAT score mean your child will have to seek a degree elsewhere.