I’m in the top 20% at an extremely competitive public high school in all Pre-AP and AP classes. My GPA is a weighted 6.1905 out of 6.5714 and will be a 6.21 by the second semester of senior year. Also, I got a 30 on my ACT (I hope to get a 31), and I have a ton of extracurriculars and community service: President of the Academy of Finance, President of the Water Revival Club (a club that I made to supply people in other countries with clean water, we had a fundraiser last year that raised over $4,000 for a community in Uganda, we plan to raise money to sponsor a well next year), Business Professionals of America (state alternate for presentation management team), weekly volunteer at a well-known hospital, mission trip to Atlanta to serve the homeless and boys and girls club, vacation bible school counselor (4 years), special needs camp counselor (6 years), won district UIL accounting team competition, won 2nd place individually, volleyball team captain freshman year, track and field (sophomore-senior), and NHS member junior and senior year
I have also written good essays so far, and this summer I interned at EY (Ernst & Young). Tell me what you think!
Home state?
Texas
Probably not, the OOS admit rate for UVA is 23% and your current stats aren’t that competitive.
Probably not. Not sure exactly how to interpret that weighted GPA, but top-20% – even at a very strong high school – and 30 ACT typically won’t cut it for an out-of-state applicant to UVA.
Have you taken the SAT? The middle 50% for ACT composite at UVA is 28-33. I would try to get it up to at least a 31 (like you said). Your ECs look really great. I’m not sure what your UW GPA is though. If you’re able to get the GPA to a 6.21 W, then I think you could have a shot. However, 92% of students are ranked in the top 10th of class. I think you’ll have some leeway if your class is huge, but definitely try moving up from the top 20%.
For the business programs, the Bloomberg Top Ten list will require much higher test scores.
Assuming you are a 30 - 31, I would look at Wake Forest, Richmond, Villanova, Lehigh, Bucknell, TCU, SMU and Boston University.
Also, I have some board connections there at the school of arts and sciences (I’m not sure if that would help much).
To the OP: UVa places lot of importance to EC and the Essays! In my opinion, you have a very fair chance of getting accepted. Having said that, you need to have good SAT score as well!
Thank you so much for your opinion! I’m going to visit the school next month, and I’m also trying to meet with the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. As for the SAT, I’ve taken it twice and learned that it’s not really for me. I only received an 1850, so I thankfully switched to the ACT. Do you think meeting with the dean would be beneficial?
Okay, so I am also taking the Physics and Math II subject tests next month, I had a summer internship with Ernst & Young, and my GPA will be a 6.22 by the end of this semester. Also, I am applying though Regular Decision instead. Do you think I’ll have a better shot now? I appreciate any opinions- good or bad.
@mps0156 out of curiosity, what is your unweighted GPA? (Asking to help better chance you)
Apparently on the UVa blog, the Dean said that they do not recalculate GPAs, and my high school only uses the weighted scale. My GPA will be 6.22/6. This would be a 4.15 on the weighted 4 pt scale. Sorry, I’m not sure about my unweighted GPA.
My W is about .6 higher than my UW with all honors classes - giving the benefit of the doubt, then your UW may be roughly 3.75. Combined with a 30 ACT OOS, your academics may put you at risk. However, I think you make up for it with absolutely fantastic EC involvement! I’m sure your essays will be fantastic, and your passion for intended major shows.
I like you as a low reach at UVA. Best of luck! 