Chance me for UVA

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Stats
4.11 W GPA In state (Fairfax,VA) IB Diploma Candidate Hispanic
Transcript
8th Grade
Algebra 2 HN B+
Spanish 1 A</p>

<p>9th (American School in Israel no honors courses available)
History A
Photography A
English A-
Spanish 2 A
Biology A-
Geometry A-
PE A</p>

<p>10th (Back to Fairfax VA High School)
Algebra 2 HN B+
IB Chem B+
AP Comparative Gov A
HN English A
Spanish 3 A-
PE A
Personal Fitness A</p>

<p>11th Grade
IB Math SL 1 C (just was bad at it)
IB English HL 1 A
IB History of the Americas A-
IB Biology SL A
IB Spanish 1 A
Personal Fitness 2 A
IB Theory of Knowledge (prerequisite for diploma) A</p>

<p>12th Grade (At Semester Mark)
IB Topics HL B+
IB Spanish HL 2 A
IB English HL 2 A-
IB Environmental Systems SL A-
IB Math Studies B
IB Business A
Basic Drawing A</p>

<p>Recommendations: Good
Essays: Pretty good
Hooks: URM (hispanic), international experience (Israel, born in Peru)? </p>

<p>Extracurriculars: Manager at a home improvement company, NHS, SHS, varsity basketball for a year</p>

<p>IB Diploma</p>

<p>SAT: 2090/ 1420 2 part (750 reading/ 670M/670W) may get better as I took December and am awaiting results
SAT II: US History (720) Spanish (660)
AP Tests: I took 2 without taking class US History (5) English Lit and Comp (3), one with taking class AP Comp. Gov. (5)
My gpa is a bit on lower end due to a C in 11th SL math and fact that school in Israel did not offer honor courses.
I think my chances are decent as my SAT is above average and may get better. Also I feel being hispanic counts for a lot at UVA.</p>

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<p>You’re competitive, but so too are MANY other UVa applicants (and, unfortunately, UVa’s policy that makes admission from Northern Virginia more difficult, than from most of the Commonwealth, is a real impediment).</p>

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<p>ok thanks i appreciate your input</p>

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<p>im also applying to unc. vt/jmu are the safties</p>

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<p>Your UW GPA and ECs looks pretty good and your weighted is decent. 1 C isn’t going to affect your chances too much. I would work on improving the SAT score to a 2150+ and take one more SAT II with a 700+ score. I’d say its a match for you if you improve SATs.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your response, I took the SAT again I don’t know how much better I did I hope at least 30-40 points better on math. In terms of the SAT 2 is already too late right?</p>

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<p>You have a great chance, I would try to get your ECs up a little- Do you have any positions of leadership, for example? Your SAT can make up for your GPA, the higher the better. Chance back for UNC?</p>

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<p>yeah where is your chance thing and I would consider being a manager in a workplace as a position of leadership I also worked 30 plus hours per week there.</p>

9

<p>If you lived in my part of Virginia, you’d be an absolute shoo-in.</p>

<p>However, living in Northern VA makes it more difficult. I’d say you’re probably safe though. Your stats are MUCH better than some people I know that have gotten in. Best of luck! If I were you, I’d apply to W&M, because I’m basically certain you’d get in.</p>

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<p>You’ll probably get in without a problem. I know some kids at my old high school in Va, got in with a lower GPA than yours, it was around a 4.2 GPA, and with high SAT scores. I used to go to HayField Secondary and that’s where most of the smart students applied to and also CNU. But your stats are good for both schools. So, you shouldn’t have a problem. However, just take either the SAT/ACT or both just to give you more of a push. </p>

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<p>People here say that being from NoVa makes admission more difficult, but that’s hard to demonstrate, basically not possible without data that we don’t have access to. And of course admissions deans specifically deny that there is any difference in evaluating the applications from different areas in state.</p>

<p>The admission rate for NoVa is very close to the state overall, maybe 1%-2% lower. But they receive and admit a hugely disproportionate number of applications from NoVa, something like 150% of what you’d expect given the populations of the area and of the state. They do break down admissions data by counties and cities, but they do not give you the GPA, class standing, or test scores of admitted students from each county, so it is not possible for us to tell whether there is any difference in standards between NoVa and the rest of the state.</p>

<p>They want your weighted GPA to be at or near the top of your class, no matter where you are in the state. That’s probably the single most important thing in your application.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/does-uva-have-a-quota-for-northern-virginia-admissions/2013/11/25/559685ba-557b-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/does-uva-have-a-quota-for-northern-virginia-admissions/2013/11/25/559685ba-557b-11e3-835d-e7173847c7cc_story.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Well, @FCCDAD, according to the foregoing “Washington Post” article, the difference between the NoVa UVa admission and the remainder of the Commonwealth may approach (or possibly exceed) 10 percent, not 1 or 2 percent as you indicate (the data is provided in the Post’s article). The article also suggests that, we’re UVa admissions strictly based on demonstrated merit, a lesser percentage of non-NoVa students would be accepted (the article cites a mid-30 to low-40 percent NoVa admissions rate, but a 50 percent rate in Lynchburg). Accordingly, I’m not convinced your statements re data unavailability and only a slight admissions rate differential are supported by the facts.</p>

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<p>I’ll quote myself from this thread <a href=“Chances for University of Virginia - #16 by FCCDAD - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums”>Chances for University of Virginia - #16 by FCCDAD - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums;

<p>"I did a little research…</p>

<p>Defining NoVa as (Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Arlington County, Fairfax City, Falls Church City, Manassass City, Manassass Park City, Alexandria City)</p>

<p>For 2012 (most recent year I found data)
Population of Virginia: 8,186,628
Population of NoVa: 2,347,256 (28.7% of state)
(source: <a href=“http://www.us-places.com/Virginia/Virginia.htm”>http://www.us-places.com/Virginia/Virginia.htm&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

<p>For 2013-2014 first year students at UVA:
IS total 3800 admitted / 8912 applied, 42.6%, 2331 entered (61.3% yield)
NoVa 1751 / 4312, 40.6%, 1057 entered (60.4% yield)
OOS 4971 / 20,157, 24.7%, 1244 entered (25.0% yield)
(source: <a href=“Higher Ed Info for Virginia”>Higher Ed Info for Virginia)</p>

<p>NoVa placed 1057 / 2331 entering students, so 45.3% of the entering IS students were from NoVa.
4312 / 8912 applications, 48.4% of IS applications were from NoVa!</p>

<p>I think 40.6% admission rate, compared to statewide 42.6%, and 45.3% of entering students, compared to 48.4% of IS applications, is not significant. To me, it simply suggests that some more students farther down in their class rankings are submitting applications.</p>

<p>I think 45.3% of entering IS students, 48.4% of IS applications, coming from an area having 28.7% of the state population, is VERY significantly disproportional. We’re talking 50% higher than expected.</p>

<h2>For some reason, NoVa students are simply far more likely to <em>apply</em> to UVA than students from anywhere else in Virginia are."</h2>

<p>So the admission rate for NoVa (40.6%) is only 2% lower than Virginia overall (42.6%). The WaPo article doesn’t bother to actually add up the total numbers for the region, and instead just mentions how much the rates vary for each county over the years. Lynchburg city does not have enough applicants for one year’s data to be statistically reliable.</p>

<p>This is just plain bad reporting: “With so many high-performing students in Northern Virginia, many families feel their children have to meet a higher standard to gain admission to the best state schools because the number of seats is limited by some kind of regional quota.” Many families? How many? They “feel” that there is “some kind of” regional quota? </p>

<p>One father is quoted as saying his daughter should have gotten in because of her 4.28 GPA. But a few lines later we learn that the most important admissions factors are: ““Curriculum, grades, rank in class, GPA, standardized test scores, a demonstrated love of learning, academic improvement, academic industry, rigor of program, trends in grades, recommendations, extracurricular involvement, honors and awards, leadership ability, writing ability, artistic talent, service.” So what was his daughter’s curriculum, rank in class, unweighted GPA, standardized test scores, and how do they compare to the averages for admitted IS students? They don’t tell us; either they couldn’t be bothered to research this article, even to get the data on the only applicant mentioned, or what they learned didn’t support the impression they were trying to convey. Either way, bad journalism.</p>

<p>It should be easy to show a bias against NoVa, if it existed. Just show that admitted NoVa applicants on average have higher GPA, class standing, and test scores to get an admission offer than students in the rest of the state need. </p>

<p>But packing the application process with 50% more of your students proportionally than any other region, and then complaining that your admission rate is only 40% instead of 42%, is rather disingenuous. </p>

<p>Please feel free to check my math and my sources, I provided them above.</p>

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<p>Great research – and much appreciated – although I really don’t agree with your thesis that suggests it’s “packing” for many more NoVa kids to apply to UVa, than other young Virginians. Isn’t that principally the students/parents doing, not the secondary schools, and isn’t it expected, given NoVa’s aggregate socio-economic-educational composition?</p>

<p>However, @FCCDAD‌, I sincerely commend you. I read the Post article, which certainly suggested you were wrong; nevertheless, your research and analyses clearly make the case that the Post is in error. It’s not very often that a “layman” can devastate a major newspaper’s position, with solid facts and mathematics. I believe you’ve done so. </p>

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<p>Wait so what do you think about my chances</p>

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<p>You have an interesting background. I can only bet you are admitted. Your safeties are true safeties. Again I think you have a good chance. Good luck and let us know. I think notification for EA is a month away.</p>

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<p>Well thank you and didnt apply early as standard is typically raised and i got 2090 on the october sat</p>

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<p>To use very approximate numbers:</p>

<p>If most HSs around the state have the top 24% or so of their students apply, and UVA accepts those who are in the top 10% of their class, that’s a 42% admission rate.</p>

<p>If NoVa HSs have the top 40% of their students apply (to get the disproportionate number of applications that they have), and the top 40% of those are admitted, that would mean UVA accepts NoVa applicants who are in the top 16% of their class. </p>

<p>A 2% lower admission rate because there are so many more applicants, but being in the top 16% instead of top 10% of your class would mean there’s actually a much <em>lower</em> bar for admission from NoVa. (Basically, it would mean that if you place in the top 11%-16% range, you’d get in from NoVa but not from the rest of the state.)</p>

<p>Obviously there are all kinds of assumptions here that we cannot demonstrate - for example, that there is a cutoff point where everyone above in the class applies to UVA and everyone below doesn’t bother. RL is more complicated than that. But the point is that there does not appear to be any bias against NoVa when you look at the hard numbers.</p>

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<p>^What do u think of my chances?</p>

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<p>@TopTier‌ I agree, it’s actually that NoVa students have it harder getting in in general. Partly because applications are reviewed by distracts and NoVa as a whole is so competitive that the ‘super student’ is sort of typical. </p>