Hey guys! I recently applied EA to UVA and was wondering what my chances are of getting in. I’m out of state (from MD) and a legacy (my dad, grandparents, and aunt attended UVA). I’m applying to the colleges of arts and sciences.
GPA- 3.61 UW, 4.2 W (My school doesn’t rank)
SAT- 1260 (not high, I know)
Sophomore: AP NSL
Junior: AP Psych, AP US History, AP Lang
Senior: AP Lit, AP Comp Sci, AP Environmental Science (all my other classes this year are honors/ advanced)
I also go to one of the top high schools in Maryland, so it is extremely competitive and is a magnet high school. Also, I wasn’t allowed to take AP classes my freshmen year. My grades show an extreme upward trend as the years progress.
EC’s/Awards:
Varsity Field Hockey
Member of National Honor Society
Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper (2 years)
President of service club
Internship at district courthouse
Senior class secretary
Won two national writing competitions
Nominated for national writing convention
Essays:
Common App: I wrote about my internship as mentioned above. It’s very unique and most people don’t do anything like it. I think it turned out extremely well and it’s pretty intriguing to read. Shows my leadership skills and how I want to give back to my community. 9.5/10
A&S Essay: This essay does a good job at portraying the field I’m interested in and why. 8.5/10
Quirk Essay: Hopefully admissions will like it, but it could go either way. It’s funny and describes me well. 8/10
Rec Predictions:
US History teacher 9/10
English teacher: 10/10
Counselor: 8/10
Not sure if they will read it, but a UVA professor who taught there for 30 years also wrote me a recommendation.
UVA is my top choice and has been since I started high school. I was accepted into University of Pittsburgh. I also applied EA to University of Maryland and Fordham University at Rose Hill (my 2nd choice) and I will apply RD to NYU, Bucknell University & American University. Please let me know what you guys think are my chances at these schools!!!
Hello, considering the average SAT score at UVA currently is around 1400, your SAT seems to be your biggest weakness. However, schools always admit students under their score ranges for a variety of reasons, and I believe that you could very well be one of those exceptions. The upward trend in grades, plus your good ec’s and awards, and optimism for your essays and letters of recommendation, on top of your strong legacy connections to the school give you a decent chance of being accepted, despite the SAT score that is a little below the target range. UVA mentions that legacy is acknowledged on their website, so if everything is true on this page, I think you should be pretty optimistic about your chances.
Yeah, my SAT scores concern me but I took it 3 times and can’t up my math scores in the least (breakdown is 580 math, 680 reading). Hopefully things work out OK- thanks so much for your input!
Just realize that many top notch instate legacies have trouble getting an admit, for various reasons. And that, of enrolled students, only 3.6% had a gpa between 3.5 and 3.74. Plus, it will matter which courses got less than A grades.
It is so hard to chance anyone, as we all just make our best guesses from ancedotal evidence. I think that while you are an amazing student, UVA may be hard to get into regardless of legacy. I think legacy helps, but I do think that one has to be within ranges of their admitted students. Like @lookingforward noted above, I agree. I think that UVA does a holistic review, but I think of major importance are the classes and rigor of what you took and what is available to you at your school. How well did you perform in the AP Lang and Lit? What level math did you take and did you take it all 4 years? Foreign language? From my personal opinion, I don’t think legacy status makes up a huge gap in test scores and GPA and lack of rigor. I believe UVA likes 4 year of English, Math, Social Science, Sciences and foreign language. It does not appear that you have that from the little information above. Good Luck. (FYI I am an alumna of UVA and have 2 kids with legacy status so I have some knowledge of the legacy effect).
Thanks for your response! I got A’s in AP Lang and a 4 on the exam. Getting an A in AP Lit currently. I took 5 years of high school math and am currently taking Calculus. I also took 4 credits of science, 7 of social studies, 4 of english, 4 of foreign language.