<p>I plan on attending UVA next year but did not get into the Echols Program. How difficult is it to get into Echols your sophomore year and how advantageous is the program when applying to graduate schools? Do all of the honors students take the top spots for graduate schools or do the regular students still have a similar chance?</p>
<p>Graduate school admissions rely less on what Honors programs you are in (unless it is tied to doing undergraduate research - which Echols really doesn’t) and more on how well you perform in your major and what opportunities for enrichment you are pursuing within your program. For graduate school, you’ll want to look into any kind of Departmental Honors programs or the DMP (Distinguished majors) program.</p>
<p>The Echols kids have their own dorm in the first year; otherwise and afterward, they are pretty indistinguishable from the rest of the student body. They don’t have to fulfill distribution requirements–but neither do kids who’ve taken a fair amount of AP (my non-Echols S only had to take the non-Western requirement and the second writing requirement.) Echols don’t have to declare majors, but the vast majority do anyhow. They have priority registration over other kids in their year, but that advantage isn’t huge, especially as your coursework gets more specialized and classes get smaller/more targeted. My S briefly considered applying in his second semester, but decided not to bother because he really couldn’t see that the designation would make anything different for him. He doesn’t need priority registration because he’s had no trouble getting the courses he wants at his regularly assigned registration time. YMMV.</p>
<p>Most Echols kids are fine students who do well, but plenty of other kids excel as well. Remember that Admissions just has your application to go on; how you do at UVA once you get here is up to you. Admission to the honors or “Distinguished Major” program is going to be based on your grades in college and on UVA faculty assessment of your potential, not on your high school performance, or on whether you were an Echols scholar coming in.</p>
<p>" Echols don’t have to declare majors, but the vast majority do anyhow. "</p>
<p>Pardon? As a current Echols scholar, I am 99% sure this isn’t so (unless I’ve been severely misinformed, which I don’t think is likely).</p>
<p>Perhaps you mean that Echols scholars get the choice of declaring the Echols Interdisciplinary Major instead of one of the traditional majors found in the college? If so, it’s important to note that the EIM requires one to take just as many credits as regular majors do and also require legitimate & coherent overall theme and justification for the courses and the major overall to be acceptable. I’d even say that the Echols Interdisciplinary Major takes more work to put together and complete than any of the standard majors.</p>
<p>Che, I didn’t mean to offend you! Actually, what you are saying just backs up the point I was making, that there is not a huge difference between Echols and nonEchols kids at UVA. Back in the day there used to be more of a difference: for instance, Echols kids got priority registration over everybody else in the College, whereas nowadays Echols kids only get priority over people in their own class. Echols scholars are given the option of designing their own majors if they have a reasonable plan. Actually, it’s possible for non-Echols kids to petition for “variant” or interdisciplinary majors as well if they have a decent GPA, a good rationale, and a solid program in mind. </p>
<p>Most people, Echols or not, find that one or two of the regular majors work well for them. It’s obviously in every student’s interest to be getting a solid background in at least one area of study, however that area gets defined. In the majority of cases, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.</p>
<p>^^^^ “The Echols kids have their own dorm in the first year”</p>
<p>Is there any mixing of Echol’s with non-Echol’s in the Echol’s dorm? For example, say an Echol’s wants a non-Echol’s roomate. Can a non-Echol’s request to be put in the Echol’s dorm?</p>
<p>What is the Echol’s dorm named? </p>
<p>Is there anything special about it other than the Echol’s kids live there?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes under special circumstances an Echols can request a non Echols roommate and live in the Echols dorm. My son called housing and was able to do this.</p>
<p>From what I’ve been told, if the Echols and non-Echols students request each other as roommates, the non-Echols student gets pulled into the Echols/Rodman housing. Not really a special circumstance. </p>
<p>In the past, the Scholars have lived in two buildings, but other students have lived in those buildings as well (this could have changed recently, of course). So, saying you lived in x Hall didn’t automatically mean you were a Scholar.</p>
<p>Thanks! Now does any one no which dorms the Echols live in?</p>
<p>One of the brand new ones.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^</p>
<p>Not correct…for this year at least. Echols/Rodman students are in Webb, Lile and Maupin.
DEFINITELY NOT any better than non-Echols students. Next year might be different since some of these dorms are being torn down this summer (i.e. Webb for certain).</p>
<p>The Scholars have always been in “new” dorms, but I don’t think they’re going to be in one of the newly opened ones. :)</p>
<p>Kellogg is definitely “in play” in the lottery.</p>
<p>Pictures, floor plans, etc.:
<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/housing/fy.php[/url]”>http://www.virginia.edu/housing/fy.php</a></p>
<p>Dean J, </p>
<p>Do you have any idea when the housing site is going to be updated with the “new” housing. Are those new dorms they’re building for first years?</p>
<p>No one gets rejected from Echols. You simply don’t get invited. There’s a huge difference~</p>
<p>Word on the street (the latest info from Rodman Council) is that scholars will be in the newly constructed dorm closest to O’Hill, since Webb/Maupin are getting torn down this summer. So jealous…</p>
<p>^The head of the Echols program has also said something like this.</p>
<p>
That’s a good question for the housing blog.</p>
<p>[U.Va</a>. Housing News](<a href=“http://uvahousing.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]U.Va”>http://uvahousing.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>
<p>How do I apply for housing?</p>
<p>Incoming First Years should complete the online First Year Housing Application after May 1st (you will need to pay your Admissions deposit and activate your University computing ID before attempting to access the application). Please be sure to read the application carefully before submitting it.</p>
<p>My DD is a first year Echols Scholar. She lives in Webb which will be torn down at the end of this school year. Webb has no air conditioning and the view out her window was the construction site for the new dorm (with all the ensuing dust and early morning noise from the machinery). That said, she did NOT complain about the less than perfect conditions once! She loves her roommate (she will be living with her next year with two other girls), loves the people in her dorm, loves the location, and has made friends with a wide variety of people in different dorms, Echols and non-Echols scholars alike. </p>
<p>So don’t worry about dorm placement. You may get lucky and be placed in a brand new dorm, or you may not, but it is very minor in the grand scheme of things. UVA has turned out to be the perfect place for my DD (she is OOS by the way).</p>