<p>Hey i'm new here and I made an account to ask people who go here or are interested how tight the admission is at this school.</p>
<p>I'm in state
Around a 3.3 GPA(my goal is to get it to a 3.5 by first semester senior year)
Almost eagle scout(Life Scout at the moment)
Community service from being in boy scouts
Participating in boy state over the summer
Doing a fall and spring sport after I finish boy scouts
Taken/taking in total 5 AP classes(all related or somewhat related to what I want to do)
Will be joining a club or two based on what I want to major in
Received an academic award in history
Band
Minority</p>
<p>My interests are in history/political science</p>
<p>I'm studying for my SATs right now and taking it on the 7th. I'm taking my ACT in September. I'll get back to you on that when I receive my scores. What do you think would be good enough?</p>
<p>Yeah, I figured, i'm trying to raise my GPA up some next year which is doable. Some of my teachers have told me that its possible to get in because i'm a minority(one of them is a graduate)</p>
<p>yeah buddy, if your Asian, your GPA will not help you. at all. And even if one teacher is a graduate of UVa, college dynamics have changed so much in the past 5 years alone that they cannot accurately predict how well (or how badly) your GPa will serve you. So unless they have been actively keeping up with UVa admissions statistics and whatnot, they cannot accurately predict how much your GPA will hurt you. UVa is a reach for you and you need to work really hard over the next few months. It's not completely unattainable but it's a far reach.</p>
<p>My advice: start working on them essays and work on them until they are absolutely perfect. and then read it again. If an admissions officer is going to take a chance on you, then they can point to your amazing essays to help convince others that you do have a spark that can be nurtured by UVa. When Dean J visited my school, she said that it's easier to show an amazing essay to convince a colleague than to say "Look at his SAT scores!" (But you should still aim for a great SAT score. UVa just places a greater emphasis on essays.)</p>
<p>"My advice: start working on them essays and work on them until they are absolutely perfect. and then read it again. If an admissions officer is going to take a chance on you, then they can point to your amazing essays to help convince others that you do have a spark that can be nurtured by UVa. When Dean J visited my school, she said that it's easier to show an amazing essay to convince a colleague than to say "Look at his SAT scores!" (But you should still aim for a great SAT score. UVa just places a greater emphasis on essays.)"</p>
<p>Yeah, thats what I plan to do. How much emphasis will they place on letters of recommendations?</p>
<p>one of my friends is a URM and his sister got a 900 on the sat and a C average GPA and still got in(this was was like 5 years ago) and graduated.</p>
<p>I imagine the average SAT score would be 1200(CR & M). If im average at math how much would that be held against me?( The only thing about college that im stressed out about is math)</p>
<p>Perhaps your friend and his sister had extenuating circumstances. Unless you live in the sewers and were raised by rats, your scores don't look very competitive.. I believe the middle range of SATs are 1280-1420.</p>
<p>Maybe they were dealing with a health or family related problem that you didn't know about. The thing is, don't continuously compare yourself to other people thinking, 'well if she got in with a C gpa.. then I'll be fine'. Concentrate on making your app the best it can be.</p>
<p>Many, many people have strong opinions about URMs and the role they play in college admissions. people say things like "If I was black or Hispanic, I would have gotten into [insert college here]" or "If I was a parapalegic female Native American, then I would have gotten into Harvard." Although race sometimes does play a role in college admissions, it is not the sole deciding factor in someone's admissions decision.
You can play the race card all you want but if you don't have the stats, you won't get in. It's just that simple. There are many people who are URMs who work extremely hard to get to where they are and they deserve it. When these people say that "Oh, I go to UVa" others just assume that they got their because of their race. They did not. They worked their butts off just like the rest of us. </p>
<p>Now, regarding Polihist: I think everyone believes you have a slim to no chance of getting into UVa in comparison with what they have accomplished in high school or what friends who go to UVa accomplished in high school. I am not belittling anything you may have participated in, but in relation to some of the students on these message boards, your stats pale in comparison. If you don't believe me, check the admissions decisions thread of this year. </p>
<p>To be quite honest, I don't think you will get in. Your ECs are run of the mill, and your GPA is low. You haven't taken many AP classes so I'm going to assume that your coursework was not as difficult as many other applicants. An single academic award in history is no big deal unless it was a state or national level award and if you got because your essay (or whatever else you did) was in a competition. If you got it from your school saying "Good Job! Great work and particpation!", don't waste time or space putting it on your application. And to top it all off, you are out of state, not in state. The people who apply out of state have great stats because competition is much more fierce. Yours seem average. I told you that you have a slim chance because of one simple fact you need to keep in mind:</p>
<p>I, and everyone else on here except Dean J, do not work in UVa Undergraduate Admissions.</p>
<p>Dean J does not respond to chances threads and so you really won't get an opinion out of her. If they see a spark in your essays that shows promise, they may take a chance on you despite your stats. They may take a chance for a number of reasons; their thinking and reasoning is their own. They have been entrusted with admissions decisions because they have years of experience and know what they are talking about and doing. They may see something that we don't. Apply and see what happens. If you get in, you get in. If you don't, you don't. No matter what, good luck.</p>