chances please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>instate (northern va), rising senior, asian female</p>

<p>GPA: 4.04
SAT: 2040; M:740, CR:630, W:670 (E-9/12)
(havent decided whether I want to retake them or not, this is my third test :/)
SAT II's:
Chinese:710
US History: 680
(Taking Math II's in the Fall)</p>

<p>freshman:
english h
algebra II
world history h
earth science h
french II
beggining guitar
p/e</p>

<p>sophomore:
english h
pre-calc
AP world history (exam- 3 :( )
biology h
french III
intermediate guitar
p/e</p>

<p>(i don't remember my specific grades from 9th & 11th right now, I would say average almost all A's though)</p>

<p>junior:
english h - A/A+
AP Calculus AB - A/A (3+?)
chemistry - A/A
french IV -A/A
adv. guitar - A+/A
computer science - A+/A+
AP US History - A/A+ (3+?)</p>

<p>senior:
AP lit
adv. guitar (my school doesn't offer a higher level than that)
AP Calculus BC
AP Computer Science A
physics
AP gov.
AP psych
(Is dropping AP French from my schedule really going hurt my chances?)</p>

<p>ECs:
Thespian Society (10th) & Honor Thespian Society (11th): 8 plays; Running Crew Head (twice)
Youth Advisory Council: (10th- 11th); Vice-Chair Website Workgroup
VP Math, Science, and Engineering Club (11th)
Youth & Gov. (11th),
After-School Guitar Ensemble (9th-11th);
Key Club (9th-11th)
Operation Smile (11th)
Private Drum Lessons (1 year)
Private Piano Lessons (8 years)
Guitar through school (5 years)
NHS (10th-11th)</p>

<p>I also went to Chinese School on Sundays, K-12, and was on the Student Gov. Council, and Class Rep. </p>

<p>Awards:
MSE Excellence Award, 2007
Featured Artwork in Art & Lit Magazine, 2007
2nd Place, Chinese Cultural Contest, 2007
6th Consecutive Year Superior Rating, National Federation Junior Piano Festivals, 2006
Sundance Music: NVMTA Bach-Baroque Piano Festival – Excellent, 2006
All-County Guitar Festival, 2004 – 2007
Association of Chinese Schools Honor Society, 2004 – present
President's Volunteer Award - 100+ Hours 2007</p>

<p>also worked freshman - sophomore year at restuarant (10 hours a week)
and now work at starbucks (summer, 25 hours a week), also an intern at for summer in the arts at a local school. </p>

<p>thanks</p>

2

<p>IMO, you stand an excellent chance, especially since you're in state and in a No VA hs. (BTW, consider some privates and out of VA colleges as well. You might get a scholarship.)</p>

3

<p>You are in the crosshairs of acceptance, and I say this based upon actual acceptance data 06 and 07 from 3 FCPS High Schools. The GPA will push you over the edge enough to not make taking the SAT again worthwhile so don't bother.</p>

<p>I am guessing your not in Fairfax as they would never give an A+ in anything. Is this Loudon?</p>

4

<p>A girl who had over a 4.0 at my FCPS school did not get into UVA. There must have been some other reason though...</p>

5

<p>Thanks all who replied, I really appreciate it.
I wanted OOS but don't have the financial budget, so yeah, if I could really get those scholarships, I'll definitely consider.</p>

<p>And yes, Loudoun.</p>

6

<p>OMG Loudoun which school?</p>

7

<p>Where in Loudoun? Lemme guess Freedom?</p>

8

<p>I'd be very surprised if you didn't get in. You're a great candidate for admission.</p>

9

<p>no, not freedom haha, PFHS</p>

10

<p>Vistany, what did the GPA's/SATs look like for the 3 Fairfax high schools?</p>

11

<p>Your rank and the classes you've taken matter a hell of a lot more than a weighted GPA. What's your approximate rank? How does your GPA compare to past UVA applicants from your school?</p>

12

<p>I have just glanced at your credentials. Even if you are an not a URM, you have a lot of A's and A+'s so you have something going for you. So the others have given you the obvious so good luck, I guess.</p>

13

<p>Average GPA 3.95 Average SAT 2087. A couple of low flyers in the 3.7 range, probably athletes pull that down. Visually it is clear from the scattergrams that the average admit is above 4.0. I will say that it is interesting that you are never in the clear. In the middle of the portion of the graph where nearly everything appear green (which means admit) there are a couple of blue diamonds (which mean deferred/ denied). Obviously I can not determine why but these anonomolies are probably the source of the horror stories about UVa admissions.</p>

14

<p>Thanks. Those are high stats. The average SAT is 2087; is there a level where the admits start outnumbering the denies, say 1900?</p>

15

<p>It is hard to count the green boxes (admits) on the scattergram to determine where the admits outnumber the denies, so I will answer the question a different way but hopefully get you the answer you want. I am using one school for this. Every applicant above the intersection of 4.0 and 2110 was admitted. In order to be as precise as possible I took a clear ruler and put it on my computer screen. After this intersection the acceptance rate was 100%. Now here is a warning. Last week I was explaining that I was using 2006 admission numbers. Now I am using 2007 data. The system was updated. That's the good news. The bad news is it is more difficult to get into UVA right now that it was just one year ago. The average (only one schools data) GPA went up from a 3.94 to a 3.96. Remember, these averages include anomoly candidates. </p>

<p>For example, on the chart there is a kid with a 3.5 and a 1850 who was admitted. Those stats are part of the average, pulling it down. Also, when I'm looking at this chart I see a green box right on top of a red x (denied) so folks with the same numbers (albeit both good) don't necessarily get the same result. Could be rigor, could be hook, could be anything. I don't have insight, just data.</p>

<p>Now 2008 candidates will be even more numerous than 2007. Top of the baby boomlet is next years class. I expect those numbers to go up, making it even more difficult to gain admissions. Scarey, and this is instate!</p>

<p>I hope I'm not making your eyes glaze over with all of this.</p>

16

<p>You've given very helpful info. It's hard to predict admissions; you just never know. From my D's experience, although we're in state, she sent in her ACT score (32), her SATII's which were in the 600's, her gpa (weighted) was well above 4.0, had 8 AP's courses on her jr yr transcript (took another 4 sr yr), and ranked #1 at the end of jr yr, and was in the VA Commonwealth Govenor's School for 4 yrs. Her rec's was fine, I'm sure, but she was weak in ec's due to the workload... She was accepted as an Echols Scholar.</p>

<p>Schools take the "holistic" approach (so they say), but as someone else commented, the strength of the hs coursework/rank seems to be a priority. A well crafted, unique essay can pull you in, too. I remember hearing this from an admission rep who gave the example of a borderline candidate who wrote an engaging essay and was admitted.</p>

<p>Hope this helps....Good luck!</p>

17

<p>All this discussion brought to mind an old (2002) article I'm sure most everyone here remembers. It was first published in the W Post and talks about Early Decision at UVa - specifically the borderline apps that ended up in committee.</p>

<p>Of course, ED is now a thing of the past - and admission at UVa is even more difficult than it was then - but still, the article does provide some insight into the process.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59516-2002Dec15?language=printer%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59516-2002Dec15?language=printer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

18

<p>Early decision. How could I possibly have forgotten that "small" detail? Reading your post had me scurrying back to the scattergrams. With the release of the 2007 admissions data early this week, I thought we had a glimpse through the key hole of college admissions at UVa. Your post rendered it, (and rightfully so) dated information. On some level I think I could explain who might get cut in the next round based on just numbers but I'm not convinced that would tell the entire story.</p>

<p>The formula will be changing and the question is.......how? Traditionally the formula was add 100 points to an ED candidate to obtain the formula for a regular decision candiate. With the new UVa mission of admitting lower income students in mind how will this affect the general applicant pool? </p>

<p>Personally, I need to think about this for a while. Cganyard, do you have access to the September 2006 article where Blackburn made the formal announcement of the elimination of Ed? I'd be grateful if you would kindly post the link. It would help remind me of the new approach. In response I will try to find the NY Times article that blasts Harvard, Princeton, and UVa as silly for elimating ED and not offering non binding AE as Stanford and Yale have done.
I would appreciate thoughts on this new paradigm.
Thanks!</p>

19

<p>Vistany,
Here's the link you asked for.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=626%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=626&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I do disagree with one point in your post. You say that ED is equivalent to adding 100 SAT points - and at many schools I believe that's true. But UVa has been adamant for years that Early Decision was no easier or harder than Regular Decision.</p>

<p>Or am I just defensive because my son got in ED this past fall? :)</p>