Do Interships and Academic Awards offset extra curriculr/leadership?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>Hey guys, </p>

<p>I am currently a Junior in high school and need help in admissions in college.</p>

<p>Currently my only "extra curriculars" are: VASTS Program (Virginia Aerospace and Technology Scholar), A award for 3rd place in Science Fair (Districts), a summer internship at NASA Langley and mostly a internship for engineering at a local college for the summer. In addition, I have the typical academic awards (AP Scholar w/ Honors, NHS, honor role, and other small school academic awards) and I also have the usual volunteering at local hospital (100+ hours so far). </p>

<p>Other than those mentioned above I don't have the "blow you away extra curricular"...so I was wondering if those activities mentioned above with a 4.1 weighted GPA (3.4-3.5 unweighted), and a 6 AP and all honors course load up till now, and a SAT score of 2000+ or a ACT score of 31+ will put me in good shape next year for admissions at UVA? </p>

<p>plus: forgot to add, I am from Virginia, to be specific NOVA (FairFax County)..</p>

2

<p>I think my response in this thread is in line with this question:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/828800-importance-essays.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/828800-importance-essays.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thank you dean.
I also have another question…does UVA use your weighted or unweighted GPA? Because my high school transcript only reports the weighted</p>

4

<p>I’d say you’re on the right track! Try joining a sport or becoming a leader for something. Keep up the good work. Also, good question. My transcript only reports weighted as well. Maybe we go to the same HS haha. I’m FCPS too. What school are you from? Langley?</p>

5

<p>We use whatever GPA the school reports and the profile explains the methodology used in the calculation. </p>

<p>GPAs are not used to compare students from one district to the next, as the weighting and scales are different.</p>

6

<p>uvaismydream: I am from Chantilly
Dean J:
If GPA’s are not used as a comparison from one district to other, how is the achievement in a rigorous course load compared from one district to another? I guess more simply put, how does UVA know the rigor of a high school student if they dont compare it to others (because I am currently taking 4 AP’s and took 2 as a sophomore and I feel this shows to colleges that I have greatly challenged myself by taking these AP’s and fared well in them)</p>

<p>Edit: I am also curious to how GPA and course load are used to compare students within the same district?? is there any difference?</p>

7

<p>We don’t really put students side-by-side. It’s not how we read. </p>

<p>We compare what you’ve done to what is offered at your school, not what other kids happened to have done, either at your school or at another.</p>

<p>Think about the logistics. We have 21,000+ applications to read. How would we compare all of those students?</p>

8

<p>thank you soo much Dean J
I always had a vision of college process as a constant comparison of students…but ur post really helped me clear up some misconceptions</p>