<p>hey thanks for the link. very interesting.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The university could raise its average standardized test scores for in-coming students appreciably if it was willing to take a disproportionately large number of students from wealthy Fairfax County, "But that's not what we ought to do," he says.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Very sad, not only for the university but for the many outstanding students from NoVA who are denied because of where their parents live, something that these students have no control over.</p>
<p>I disagree super.nova. Students from Fairfax County undoubtedly have more educational opportunities than students elsewhere in Virginia, which of course is why test scores are so much higher, etc.</p>
<p>But what about the students in the rest of Virginia? Should they be denied because they're not able to access the same educational benefits because of where their parents live?</p>
<p>Wealthier students from Fairfax County who generally perform much better have a much larger choice of schools than students from southern Virginia. They can both afford the tuition for the top schools in the country and have the grades/test scores to back it up. For other smart students in Virginia, UVa may be the best school they can afford to go to.</p>
<p>Obviously this doesn't stand true for all FFX County students, and therefore many of them should be accepted into UVa. But to allow a highly disproportionate number to come from Fairfax would just be unfair.</p>
<p>I'm current a senior at a FCPS high school by the way. :)</p>
<p>why? harvard/princeton/uva all take legacies...affirmative action pulled in the african americans...should we just cut out all of those too? you cant though....UVA keeps its admissions 2/3 instate, thats enough help...there are a TON of FCPS kids who deserve to go to UVA, and their looked over because of where they live
besides, i think you know how difficult it is to be top of your class/high GPA</p>
<p>yeah. you have to compete against your "rich" classmates too!</p>
<p>Well I guess college admissions will never be a meritocracy, so whatever. But, from what I hear, the frustration is running very high in Northern Virginia. Believe it or not, not everyone living in Fairfax County can afford $50,000 per year for a private school. At least the University is being a little more honest about its admissions policies.</p>
<p>Of course everyone cannot afford $50,000/year. But that still puts those students of Fairfax County ahead of students from other counties, because they're more likely to win scholarships, both need and merit-based.</p>
<p>The majority of my classmates will have their tuitions paid for by their parents, especially those attending in-state (and no, I don't go to Langley ;)). For the other top students at my school with families that won't or can't support them, they will likely receive scholarships or some type of financial aid to help them a little bit.</p>
<p>I understand that debt that can amass with student loans, but I'm also under the belief (and perhaps the disillusion), that students from better-off families will be more likely to pay off those debts quickly themselves, as statistics generally show children who are raised in well-off families will grow up to be well-off themselves.</p>
<p>I believe an equal proportion of students should be taken from each area of Virginia, based on that region's percentage of Virginia's overall population. I'd be very surprised if it's anywhere close to that now; NoVA undoubtedly has a much higher proportion of students at top schools than its population would suggest, even with complaints of unfair AA to students from southern Virginia.</p>
<p>George Mason is very much overlooked by NoVA residents, even though it is a fantastic academic institution. It certainly doesn't compare to UVa, but NoVA students are still more prone to attend VT, MW, Radford, or many of the other tier 2/3 VA schools before even considering GMU.</p>
<p>I live in Fairfax County. Honestly many people dont want to go to GMU because its close and because they think its just a safety. Its true about more students getting in from here. A bunch just got in ED at my school.</p>
<p>EXCUSE ME but why the heck should we be penalized?? do you have ANY idea of what its like to be a FCPS student? if you're not #1, you're so badly overlooked its not even funny...and kids going to UVA graduate with 4 or more APs, atleast, and honors (i took 8 APs, 9 honors), while some kid from southern VA gets in with a mere 3.5 because they have to take him to fill a quota?? i'm sorry, but this is 21st century AA and its crap...i live in NoVa because my parents have jobs and a life there, and i work my butt off (keep in mind FCPS grading is much harder than most)...i dont mind if a kid with the same caliber is getting in, or is a really good match...but if he gets in with lower stats than me just because he got lucky to live somewhere other than NoVa, thats crap...
and no one wants to stay in NoVa for college, and dont compare it to VT...VT engineering is ridiculous and they have a quote for NoVa kids</p>
<p>ps- my parents bring in over 200K a year and im still taking out loans...so just because someone has a high income doesnt mean that they still wont have trouble paying for college or will assume debts out of college</p>
<p>I think FCPS difficulty is overrated. However, the actual schools are very good and they offer the best classes.</p>
<p>FCPS difficulty is only what kids make of it...sure, you can do all regular classes, pull a 2.0, and be legit...
or, to get into places like UVA/VT/ect, you gotta take a million APs, participate in bunches of ECs, and still pull a great GPA
the grading scale sucks, i jumped for joy when a 92 became an A in college, i cant tell you how many frickin B+s i got haha</p>
<p>Meh. I'll have taken 6 APs and 5 honors and school has never been HARD. Only struggles I had were in Precalculus honors and AP Physics at the start of the year. Plus doing extra stuff isnt too hard either. As long as you have the drive you can do well. Im sure there are much harder school systems than FCPS though. The only thing about being there is that there is a lot of competition but I believe a 3.9 is almost like an auto in to UVA as long as everything else matches up, right? Im glad a lot of people did ED at my school so I dont have to compete against them and a good number of students got in ED to William and Mary or are waiting for an Ivy decision.</p>
<p>Great article barrons, thanks.</p>
<p>to tb, shoebox, sigma et al,</p>
<p>Given the ferocity of your comments supporting an increase in the number of students from NoVa due to your perceptions of better quality students there than elsewhere in Virginia, I am curious to know your position on the current 65/35 IS/OOS split. I think we all agree that the OOS applicant pool (9000+ applicants) is stronger than the IS pool (6000+ applicants) and IMO, if UVA is intent on achieving Top 15 status, it will need to increase the academic quality of its student body (as well as several other areas of the ranking criteria). Based on your calls for meritocracy and letting the best students in, are you willing to endorse a substantial change in the IS/OOS split? In addition, do your support the University's plan to continue to increase enrollment to 14,000+ over the next decade?</p>
<p>Whats FCPS?</p>
<p>And my grading scale is 94-100 is an A and I go to a regular public school.</p>
<p>FCPS is Fairfax County Public Schools.</p>
<p>shoebox10 -- I've gone to FCPS schools my entire life, so you don't need to tell my how hard they are. Maybe the fact that I've been in the FCPS system so long makes it seem pretty average to me. I've taken 9 AP and all honors classes; they are difficult, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as you make it sound. In my class of 650+ students, there are probably 30-40 students who will have taken an equal level of advanced courses as me. I know about 10 people who were accepted ED to UVa this year and 3 who were deferred with schedules that are similar to mine (and several other people were accepted with easier schedules, but with GPA's ranging 3.8-4.0).</p>
<p>You speak of how hard the competition is in NoVA, but if you go to UVa, you'll just be surrounded by the same NoVA kids to continue competing with in classes.</p>
<p>One of my classmates was just accepted ED to SEAS with a 3.6, 4 APs, and slightly above average SAT scores (don't remember exactly). He's a white male, not a star athlete, but has taken many engineering classes (rather than loaded up on APs) and is involved in the robotics team.</p>
<p>I go to school in Virginia Beach and have never had anything to do with FCPS. Our grading scale is 94-100 for an A as well and just like the situation tb2588 mentioned, in our school we had 10+ get accepted and 3 deffered.</p>
<p>Actually, I'm sure there were many more ED applicants, I was speaking specifically about friends of mine that have similar stats.</p>
<p>dajada,</p>
<p>the difference is that the families in nova are paying taxes to support uva. The fact that nova is supporting uva the most, and not getting in their qualified students, seems slightly unfair. People are calling for the best in state students to get in, not the best X many students from designated regions of the state, but the best in the whole state.</p>