You are misinterpreting the Common Data Set. Legacy is a ‘Non-Academic Factor’, SAT’s are an ‘Academic’ factor. They are not compared or rated against one another. According to the CDS GPA is rated more important than SAT’s (both Academic factors), and Work Experience is rated less important than Legacy (both Non-Academic factors). [Common</a> Data Set: Institutional Assessment and Studies, University of Virginia](<a href=“http://www.web.virginia.edu/iaas/datacatalog/cds/admission.shtm]Common”>http://www.web.virginia.edu/iaas/datacatalog/cds/admission.shtm)</p>
<p>Blue- I do not believe I am misinterpreting the CDS. If non-academic factors were less important then they would be rated lower (as many are). There is a reason that work experience etc are ranked low.</p>
<p>novaparent, I don’t necessarily agree with your statement that legacy only helps if you are out of state, mostly because I believe that would just be stupid, but I do believe I was wrong in saying that the student would probably get in as a legacy. I am guessing that most all of the people outside of the top 10% in class rank are scholarship athletes or Thomas Jefferson High School students.</p>
<p>VADAD1 and TV4caster, you might find this 2009 quotation from Dean Roberts of interest:</p>
<p>Question: What are your thoughts on legacy admission? What is the current practice and will it continue?
“We are fortunate to have the most dedicated, loyal and passionate alumni in the country. The spirit of this place speaks for itself. It’s a defining characteristic of this great institution. Each year we see outstanding children of alumni apply for admission. While legacy admission has come under more intense scrutiny at colleges and universities around the country in recent years, we plan to maintain our current model, in which out-of-state legacy applicants are treated as if they are Virginians. The offer rate for Virginians to the University was 44 percent this year, the non-Virginian offer rate was 24 percent. There is a significant advantage to being a Virginian in our review. This fall 14 percent of the enrolling students are children of alumni. Academically, more than 90 percent of the legacy students are graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.”</p>
<p>Fourteen percent does not seem like an overwhelming majority. And notice, he did say that 90% were in the top 10% of their class. This was 2009.</p>
<p>Thanks for that OldUVAgrad. I wasn’t doubting the part about OOS getting IS treatment, and while that quote doesn’t specifically address IS student legacies, my guess is that if there was an advantage for them, that he would have addressed that as well.</p>
<p>And I have an apartment in Virginia, but I go to school in Kansas. That’s why I’m considered in state. But I go to the number one school in Kansas</p>
<p>VADAD – I would add students at country’s MOST elite private schools to your list, such as Phillips Exeter and Phillips Andover, to name a couple. Like at TJ – those students are all top notch, and would be in the top 10%, probably the top 5%, in most other high schools.</p>
<p>soupsong – with almost a quarter of this school year to go, you have some time to try and raise your class rank before applying to colleges. So put your effort into that. That said, I just read the story of an Alexandria public high school student with a senior year weighted GPA of 4.87. Those are the kind of grades you will be competing against.</p>
<p>Just saw your last post – I would contact the UVa office that deals with IS determinations, to verify that you will be considered instate. Have to say I kind of wondered about the Kansas City orchestra listing in your OP. So, when you say you expect to be a NMSF you are basing that on the KS cut score of 214, not VA’s 220? Not that 214 isn’t very impressive, mind you.</p>
<p>Based upon your description it appears you are basing your in-state determination on your parents domicile?</p>
<p>Basic Requirements
An individual must demonstrate residence in Virginia and an intent to remain in Virginia indefinitely to establish domicile in Virginia. After meeting the requirements to establish domicile, a person must continue to be domiciled in Virginia for at least 12 months preceding the first day of classes. </p>
<p>Domiciliary Intent
Several factors are used to determine if a person demonstrates intent to remain in Virginia indefinitely. A college or university may ask for information from you or your parents about the following factors:
Continuous residence in Virginia
Social and economic ties
Ownership of real property
Sources of financial support
Current employment in Virginia
Employment in Virginia postgraduation
Military records
State to which income taxes are paid
Voter registration and actual voting
Driver’s license
Motor vehicle registration </p>
<p>A dependent student is a student who receives substantial financial support from his or her parents or legal guardian. A college or university in Virginia looks at the supporting parents’ domicile to determine if a dependent student is eligible for in-state tuition or state financial aid programs.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether you are in-state or out-of-state, I still say you’ve got a 50-50 chance. There are more qualified applicants than available slots so UVA has to waitlist a good number of great students. In fact, some of the waitlisted students may be considered by guidance counselors or teachers to be “better” than ones that got accepted. It’s a very subjective process. I wouldn’t counsel anyone to assume acceptance. By all means apply to UVA - - just make sure to apply to other good universities in Virginia as well.</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood, AVA55 was stating that you may want to contact UVa or checking with Schev to see if you are eligible for instate standing. Having an apartment in VA does not constitute instate residencey. </p>
<p>And AVA55 was actually commending you on the 214.</p>
<p>Soupsong, be mindful of the responses you receive. Some of the posts are helpful, while others are bias and simply aren’t. For example, VADAD1 has a hindered view of UVA admissions because his high-scoring, in-state daughter was waitlisted. ChrisTKD always advocates for VT. Not that their advice isn’t helpful, but you should keep these things in mind. Also, some posters seems to be digressing into another argument that belongs elsewhere.</p>
<p>Mostly my advice was not to obsess with your chances because there is no way to know for sure. Do your best, put your best foot forward on your application, and hope for the best, but don’t waste too much time speculating on your chances because it’s quite unpredictable.</p>
<p>And make sure you apply to some true safety schools.</p>
<p>And for the record, I find Fermat25’s comments regarding my view being hindered as…putting it mildly lol.</p>
<p>Fermat25 writes “ChrisTKD always advocates for VT.”</p>
<p>Hey, I resemble that remark! OP asked for some options if he/she didn’t get into UVA. I think too many UVA applicants never consider VT because they mistakenly believe that it’s not any good (if it’s not as competitive it can’t be as good). But it’s silly to pay tens of thousands of dollars more to go to an out-of-state university when a higher ranked (engineering) school is available locally. But that happens all the time especially among status concious Northern Virginians.</p>
<p>While UVA-philes recognize that VT’s engineering program is highly ranked there are some that assume it’s not as rounded as UVA’s because it’s a polytechnic university. But that assumption is dated. Many universities, including VT, follow the NSF recommendations for engineering curriculum, i.e., everyone has to take some liberal arts courses. If you look at the curriculum in detail you can see that the liberal arts requirements are often very similar between UVA and VT engineering majors. Granted, engineering schools are going to be very focused on the applied sciences/math etc. </p>
<p>There are many paths that the OP can take to where he/she wants to go. UVA is a nice option but not the only nice one.</p>
<p>Good of oldUVAgrad to clear things up on the legacy front. There clearly is a big advantage to being in the in state pool, which is why the check mark on the Common Data Set for legacy is “very important.” Legacy just doesn’t help everyone, that’s all.</p>
<p>When thinking about this, keep in mind that U-Va is a state school, not a private school. This restricts what the school can do with legacies. It’s one thing to treat an out of state legacy on par with in state – no harm (or at least harm that’s hard to prove) to the in state applicants – but to give an advantage to one in state applicant over another simply because a parent went there? That’s not gonna work in a public school.</p>