<p>“The SAT has proven to be an important predictor of success in college. Its validity as a predictor of success in college has been demonstrated through hundreds of validity studies. These validity studies consistently find that high school grades and SAT scores together are substantial and significant predictors of achievement in college.” - The College Board</p>
<p>VADAD,</p>
<p>There are many factors that lead to acceptance. My friend was accepted last year with a 4.0W and 1310 SAT (CR,M,W). I know, I didn’t believe her at first either, but she did a lot of ECs and was active in school. I just got my acceptance package today with a 26 ACT and a roughly 3.6 UW with TONS of ECs. They look for different things in different students. You and your daughter shouldn’t feel bad. She was waitlisted and still has a chance. My friend this year was waitlisted and she hasn’t texted me back after my acceptance. I am definetly going to tell her what I just told you if she isn’t mad at me. Stay focused and hope for the best.</p>
<p>VADAD1,</p>
<p>I would talk to your high school’s guidance counselor. Does your daughter know the GC well? It is the GC’s duty in that recommendation to highlight the applicant’s personality that goes along with the great scores and grades. The GC recommendation I suspect is especially important at UVA for NOVA residents because UVA gets so many good applicants from all of the local high schools. How does UVA distinguish kids with fairly similar profiles from these high schools – the GC recommendation (plus essays). Competitive students who the GC go to bat for generally get in (especially again at UVA where I bet the admissions office knows most of the long-time GC’s from NOVA). Given your daughter’s grades and scores, I doubt the GC did this for your daughter.</p>
<p>VADAD- I agree with you. I can see for example how ECs for might be valuable in some cases. They of course can show leadership potential. They can also show good time management skills and might show that someone can excel academically with little extra time for studying, whereas a student with the same grades but no ECs might have been able to get to that point only by studying a ton. </p>
<p>I don’t think kids should be penalized for being smart but shy (just as one example). What if you had the next Stephen Hawking apply but because he didn’t have ECs he got turned down? Holistic reviews are fine, but in an attempt to have a diversified campus there should be room for smart kids who are shy, or who don’t have any people skills and therefore get poor teacher recommendations etc. </p>
<p>Like other people have said, you can make something positive out of this. Even assuming a worst case scenario where she isn’t accepted anywhere, you need to think how great it is that you get to spend more time with her, and maybe the money you saved can then go toward an advanced degree that wouldn’t have been possible without that savings. I’m a firm believer in the fact that lots of situations that appear very bleak can turn out to be blessings if you approach it correctly. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>"The GC recommendation I suspect is especially important at UVA for NOVA residents ".</p>
<p>If I am not mistaken, the OP is from rural central VA just south of Petersburg. I am guessing that her HS’s profile hurt her, eg % going to college etc.</p>
<p>We are in Prince George. I think my daughters high school definitely hurt her.</p>
<p>Since your daughter is on the wait list, check with GC and at a minimum get GC to write a new letter for your daughter to supplement her application. I suspect there is something going on with her application beyond the HS that she attends. Does your HS use naviance so you can see how many students got accepted at UVA from that HS. Sounds like your daughter is #1 or close thereto in her class.</p>
<p>One of your earlier posts cited a 1400 avg SAT. I bet a lot of people thought you meant for the standard 2 sections, while you meant for 3. I can see how that would affect their view of her GPA, but the SAT should have proven that it was no fluke. </p>
<p>We ran into the HS dilemma recently with D2. She wanted to go to a school with a specialized curriculum that does very poorly compared to her home school in terms of stats and I wondered if that might hurt her with future admission decisions. According to the GC it doesn’t, because they still have a small segment of very bright kids in this academy, but I would guess that without that ‘school in a school’ that it would be similar to your situation with the top performers. I’m hoping in 3 years that I am not in the same situation you are.</p>
<p>I live in a rural part of Virginia. I go to a half-day magnet school for mathematics and science, and the public school I also attend has a poor profile. The median SAT score is 1500-1600, hardly anyone takes any AP tests, and the average GPA is in the 2’s. Although we do have a decent AP program, the school is far from great. I got a likely letter and was just accepted to UVA as a mathematics major yesterday. My ECs were no good at all, as I am incredibly shy, and I have really nothing good going for me outside of academics. I know I was solely accepted to UVA because of academics. A teacher of mine wrote a recommendation discussing solely my intelligence and ability in class. To say VADAD’s daughter was denied on the basis of ECs is just wrong. It is something else, perhaps coupled with weak ECs. If a lot of students have a better course load, better recommendations, and a higher GPA, the 2300+ on the SAT isn’t going to save you. I know we like to blame the schools, but UVA does not need a fix in it’s admission policies. I have deep respect for the school and the admissions department just as it is now.</p>
<p>My daughter took every single AP class offered at the school, and she was in the IB program before that. I don’t know what she could have done to make her course load heavier.</p>
<p>I disagree with you about the admissions department. The state gives that school over 130 million dollars a year. There needs to be quantifiable admission standards for the good tax payers of this state that support that school.</p>
<p>I think there’s also something to be said for the Governor’s Schools in Virginia and how they add to a student’s application. I’m not saying it’s a make or break situation, but I believe that UVa tends to admit a lot of students who have attended their area’s Governor’s School.</p>
<p>I just have a had time buying your case. I haven’t seen the full statistics of your daughter, but something is up here. Getting waitlisted in-state with a 2300+ is literally unheard of unless there is some major detraction from your application. Plus, being at a rural, southern school makes admission easier than living in a northern region. Also, 130 million dollars is not a lot of money here. In fact, it’s pretty meager, and a lot of professors at UVA go on rants about how UVA should just go private. I disagree with any sort of guaranteed admission profile, especially at a top university like UVA. Someone can be a great student academically, but a recommendation could attest to their lack of character or an absence of any morals or integrity. Admissions is more than numbers.</p>
<p>10iswarrior is absolutely right about governor’s schools, and there is a governor’s school serving every region of Virginia, and every high achieving student has the fair chance to attend.</p>
<p>Well Fermat25, I’d welcome Dean J to come straight into this thread and tell us why my daughter was wait listed. We will waive our right to privacy.</p>
<p>As far as your statement about being in a rural school making it easier…</p>
<p>Last year Prince George got zero students into UVA out of a class more than 425.</p>
<p>This year…I don’t know of anyone who has been accepted either.</p>
<p>So it’s likely zero for 850+. I’m not buying that it is easy to get in from Prince George.</p>
<p>0 for 850 from your HS is ridiculous. This may be one of the few times where the squeaky wheel may get the grease and I would suggest you let UVA know how much your daughter wants to go there and kick the GC’s butt and get a good rec letter that highlights your daughter’s personality (even if you have to write it yourself). </p>
<p>Also, did your daughter do well on her AP and IB tests? If so, pay the money and send the scores as a supplement, if you have not already done that. I think the AP 5 in Calculus B/C (plus a bunch of other 5’s too) my son got junior year made up for the 2130 SAT. </p>
<p>Don’t threaten them with state legislators or lawsuits (they probably have immunity for admissions decisions any ways). That might just make them dig in. </p>
<p>If you do those things, I bet she will get in (as well she should, in state with those grades and SAT scores).</p>
<p>Hi - I met FERMAT on a different thread, and need to add that I agree strongly with a sentiment he shared with me about many admission results being crap-shoots this year. I would like to share my own experience:</p>
<p>SATs CR 750 Math 710 Writing 790
SAT IIs Literature 770 Math I 730
GPA 4.0/4.0 Class Rank 3/447</p>
<p>I’ve been accpeted at William and Mary, Washington & Lee, and Wesleyan. Yesterday I found out that I was waitlisted at UNC Chapel Hill. </p>
<p>I am from neither Va nor NC nor CT. </p>
<p>Go figure … UNC was a “safety school.” My #1 choice is Johns Hopkins , and now I have NO IDEA of what to expect. </p>
<p>I want to major in English.</p>
<p>" To say VADAD’s daughter was denied on the basis of ECs is just wrong."</p>
<p>I never said that. What I said was that a system that allows someone to not be accepted because of something like ECs or LORs has room for improvement (and I too have deep respect for the Ad dept.). </p>
<p>You also said " Getting waitlisted in-state with a 2300+ is literally unheard of".</p>
<p>That is not true either. On the scatterplot at Parchment dot com there are quite a few SATs over 1500 who were denied (they don’t do a scatterplot with all 3 sections but 1500+ is the equivalent of 2250). I count 20 out of what looks like a couple of hundred people that they have stats for. That isn’t unheard of- that’s a statistically significant percentage</p>
<p>TV4caster, do not quote me if you are going to cut it off. I said that if you get waitlisted with over a 2300+, there is something else seriously wrong with your application. I’ve seen four years now of people from my high school going to UVA. Overall strong students with scores in the 1900s repeatedly get accepted. The fact that 0 out of 850 students at the school got accepted to UVA means there is something seriously wrong there or that simply isn’t true. I’d like to see the facts on this, but seriously, if you are a strong AP/IB student and you score a 2300, you aren’t only looking at admission, but Echols or Rodman too.</p>
<p>I cut that part off because it is irrelevant to the discussion. SAT scores are fact. Subjectivity is, well, subjective. </p>
<p>I don’t know if you have Naviance or some similar type program, but if you do you will see a lot of people with those SATs who were WLd or denied. I see a 1570/1600 and a 1590/1600 that were rejected (plus 18 others above 1500), and that is just out of 200 or 300 hundred applicants that I can see on my program. </p>
<p>Does that preclude there being “something seriously wrong” with their app as you put it? It depends… define “seriously wrong”. A missing transcript etc is seriously wrong but then they wouldn’t have reached the decision phase. The only thing that could even possibly be wrong at that point is ECs or LORs and those aren’t “serious”.</p>
<p>Edit- and BTW, I too see the 1900s from my kids school getting in all the time, and if you look at a plot you will see that- along with lots of 1500+ (ie 2300+) kids getting denied.</p>