Chances at Echols?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Virginia
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<p>I'm putting this up for my son: he normally don't post on "chances" threads....just looks at the guides and tries to figure it out. With Echols, however, we haven't been able to find anything specific.</p>

<p>Son is a legacy so will be part of the instate pool, but I believe that does not make a differfence for Echols. He has a SAT of 1510/2260 (cr 800, w 750, m 710). Has an unweighted gpa of 96.5 (school doesn't weight). Rigorous schedule....as many AP's as the school offers (which is just around 6) plus the rest "advanced" classes. (So far 5 in US History, 4 in Bio, 4 in Eng. Lit.) Taking AP Calculus, Physics, and Lang this year. Very solid ec's in theater, flute, creative writing (but nothing 'spectacular'), and summer programs at Brown and U of Chicago. Went to an intensive bio research program at Chicago where he earned 6.6 credits and an "A". Chicago prof will be providing a reference. (He hopes he'll go to Chicago, though!) </p>

<p>He's at a very small and new private high school with innovative programs that had its very first graduating class last year (40 seniors total in the class) The "top" students ended up at schools like Princeton, Wash U, Rice, Cornell, Northwestern, Emory, Vassar, and UT - Plan II/Dean's Scholars. School does not officially rank but will provide profile info that shows son is one of the top students in the class (can't tell if he's one or two). He's had very positive feedback on his essays.</p>

<p>One negative that I can think of.... He is in a tough, tough physics II AP (calculus based) class. (School skipped him and one other student ahead without first taking Physics 1 and they are both scrambling for their lives.) Right now he has a "B" (first one he's had) and that has come with much hard work. </p>

<p>It seems that Echols, like the Ivies, is a throw of the dice, but is there a chance? At first, he wasn't thinking of Echols because of SAT scores, but those went up considerably in October. What can he do on his application, if anything, to improve that chance?</p>

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<p>I think your son has a great chance of getting Echols. Even if he doesn't get in the first time, I think - but I am not sure - he can apply after his first year.</p>

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<p>I'm not sure anyone really knows the answer to the selection of Echols...They say that essay quality plays a large part in selection , but who knows. Many of D's 9 suitemates (all Echols) are either Jefferson scholar nominees and/or legacies also...
D is in one of the the 3 Echol's dorms as a first year, but is not Echols. She wanted to room with an Echols gal, and they were not allowed to be housed elsewhere. Initially, she was concerned....felt that perhaps everyone would be so much smarter...form cliques, etc. Now she laughs at the situation. She says there seems to be NO consistency among her dorm peers with regards to SATS, grades, number or scores on AP's. She thinks some are geniuses (suitemate is a "well chosen" Jefferson scholar/genius) and others are a pure mystery... All the kids are so different in abilities, interests, backgrounds that it is really impossible to see common demoninators.
For perspective, D was out of state, National AP scholar-11AP's, 1480, Salutatorian, cheerleader, softball infielder. Although initially she wondered what it would take to get nominated..!!, now she couldn't care less--and she lives with all of them. She thinks that Echols is really a non-factor except that it gets you out of the foreign language requirement! Most out of staters have so many AP's anyway that other requirements are very minor.<br>
Her advice..don't waste time worrying about it. There is SO much other good stuff about the school that it is just a nice little benefit--nothing more. And no one there even seems to know how they got selected.
She is loving every minute of her first year.</p>

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<p>Thanks for that info, caseyatthebat. The school as a whole is indeed very vibrant! Echols is only one piece of the puzzle, but son would like to do those things that give him the best shot.</p>

<p>When we visited the alumni office for the legacy interview, they made just one suggestion for Echols: to do a "serious" essay. Other than that, the woman said she really couldn't say why Echols accepts a particular student or overlooks others. And she sees piles of legacy applications every year. </p>

<p>One last question....does anyone know the number of freshmen accepted into Echols? The other state school son is applying to is UT Austin where he is "in" under the 10 percent rule. However, Plan II -- the main honors program -- only accepts a few hundred students out of the thousands and thousands who apply. Is the ratio at Echols similar to that?</p>

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<p>There are between 200 and 300 Echols students in each class of approximately 3500 students. Here is an interesting article:
<a href="http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/echols/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/echols/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hope that helps.</p>

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<p>The common trend among Echols Scholars is that they all had top scores, grades/ranks/ and essays. They all got into several top schools. In my suite alone, the lowest SAT score I know of is 1490 and there are several valedictorians. Nearly every school in the USNews top 25 was represented in acceptances. If you're a very competitive applicant for schools like HYPS, you'll be very competitive for the Echols program.</p>

<p>About selection - from what I've gathered from the Echols website and what I've been told by admissions people, to have one's application sent to the Echols selection committee, one must be a one-read admit. Selection at the committee level is very heavily based on essays and recs, and about 33% of these applicants are designated Echols Scholars.</p>

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<p>cavalier302,</p>

<p>Thanks for the explanation. Son's recs should be very strong and he'll pay close attention to those essays. Son has recently been told by alumni recruiters from two of the HYPS that he should definitely consider applications there. So we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.</p>