I have been waitlisted at UVA and Virginia Tech, probably due to a lack of good extracurriculars and/or personality. Some information about me relevant to my application (and therefore match with the schools in question) are listed below.
-1480 SAT (710 EBRW, 770 Math)
-4.0 unweighted GPA (including a year of calculus-based physics, freshman English, and Calculus III/Differential Equations all taken at a community college through joint enrollment)
-independent research (including a published paper involving the relationship between aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence (in particular the holographic principle) and theoretical computer science)
-extracurriculars (that I’d like to continue in college): chess, long-distance running (e.g. half marathons), robotics (for fun), programming
I would prefer UVA over GMU but the next courses I will be taking (advanced math and maybe science courses) are not listed for transfer credit on the UVA website (from UVA Wise). If I can’t make the transfer credits work then GMU Honors College is probably better.
My main concern will be finding academic challenge in college, either through the classes themselves (not so likely at GMU at least for the first year) or through working with faculty on more advanced topics in research. Besides that I will need to find other students who share some of my interests (I may not be able to find any such undergrad students, but at the very least there will be grad students and faculty I can talk to about them).
I intend to major in either math or physics, although I have a very wide range of interests. Any feedback on factors that I’ve missed, especially those pertaining to the UVA Wise to UVA transfer process, will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your advice in advance,
syntacticalbeing
If you live in a more urban part of Virginia, though, Wise may be a bit of a culture shock. For my first job out of grad school I traveled a lot in that part of Virginia. If you’re from southwest Virginia, it wouldn’t be much of an adjustment.
You’d only be at Wise for less than a year before you can move on to Charlottesville. If you prefer UVA to GMU, the transfer may be worth considering. Take classes at Wise you know will transfer and wait on any others until you get to Charlottesville. Good luck with the decision.
@mstomper I’m not from NOVA and live in a suburban environment (near Fredericksburg but south). I’m sure the area I live in is much more populated than Wise, but not to the extent of a large city (like DC). I’m homeschooled and have been very isolated socially, not interacting with anyone outside of my college classes and occasionally through church (nothing more than a “hello” or “good day” though). Needless to say, I’m used to being alone and have used my academic activities outside of school to cope with extreme social inactivity throughout my life so far (especially ever since I was homeschooled around ten years ago and even before then). I credit it with keeping me somewhat sane all these years, so I think I won’t have too much trouble adjusting to a college environment where I’m more involved.
@sevmom my real concern is that I won’t be able to find 30 new credits to transfer within that year since I have already completed many of the standard courses taught during the first two years of college. It will be hard to find that many transferrable courses, especially if I also want them to count towards a major in mathematics. If I attended UVA Wise first and could not take the next math courses (for credit), I will effectively waste a year and not make any progress towards the degree from UVA.
I should note that I plan on pursuing a terminal degree and a career in research (either through academia or industry; I’m currently open to various opportunities). The main reason why I’m considering UVA is due to far greater course rigor (compared to GMU) and prestige (which only matters here because it makes a huge difference in this particular case, as a difference between distinct tiers). If I attended GMU my best bet is to just focus on research and not worry too much about the courses. In that case I will have my first challenging courses in grad school.
UVA Wise may be a good transition for you since you have not had a very active social life. It is a small campus and SWVA is more socially conservative.than the other school locations. If you want a degree from UVA, the Wise option is pretty much a guarantee provided you fulfill the requirements.
UVA Wise doesn’t offer any advanced Math class though. (I’m assuming you’ve already taken Linear Algebra and MVC). You’d need to email the Math Dept, describe your background, and ask if you can take an independent study in Math.
However, based on their offerings and limits, I’m afraid UVA WIse is not the right college - join GMU Honors, take Honors college classes for gen eds and take upper-level or graduate Math classes.
Then, if you don’t find your classes satisfactory, transfer to UVA.
@MYOS1634 there are some upper level undergraduate math courses at UVA Wise (such as MATH 3350 or abstract algebra I), so really the question is simply a matter of credit for UVA purposes. I’ll try contacting the math department specifically and describe my background; thank you for the suggestion. If things don’t work out then GMU Honors is the obvious choice, in which case I’ll ask the GMU faculty about planning the math major (e.g. they require an intro to proofs course before taking any advanced undergrad courses whereas at UVA it is optional). Who knows?- maybe they allow for exceptions through permission from instructors for students like me to take more advanced classes. Right now my priority is to find a college where I can (finally!) do some challenging work; currently I am self studying basic measure theory (via Rudin’s standard text) and would like to become more familiar with algebraic topology in the near future (most likely a few years from now in a formal setting given the usual pace of college curricula at that level of rigor). I did pay GMU a visit and one of the faculty members in the math department told me I was well prepared to begin undergraduate research my freshman year once I explained my background, so that’s another way of learning new material.
@VaDad2023 that may be the case. However, the ability to transfer credits in my subject area(s) trumps all.
@MYOS1634 thanks for pointing that out; I haven’t even thought of checking for that.
@Muad_dib I don’t know why either; I supposed that it was a matter of extracurriculars. Sometimes lightning strikes people. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes unusual, completely unexpected events do happen.
I have contacted UVA Wise and am waiting for input from UVA (Charlottesville) given the UVA Wise faculty’s familiarity with the guaranteed admission process and also the rarity of my coursework for someone in such a situation. So far I have surprisingly been told that my last two math courses (Calculus III and Differential Equations) do NOT transfer to UVA Wise, even though they do transfer to the UVA Arts & Sciences department.
I hope to be able to make this process work, or else I would be in the absurd situation of not being able to transfer to UVA for being TOO advanced, which would be a shame. Regardless, it’s time to find GMU faculty who share some of my interests and can work with me in undergraduate research, as it now seems less likely that I have alternatives.
If you want to major in math or physics at UVA, you would be in the college of arts and sciences. There are area requirements there that you may be able to take at Wise. You may only need 24-30 credits to transfer from Wise. Check with UVA . There will be a contact person in the math department and physics department that may be able to help you.
That’s because UVA Wise doesn’t offer these courses regularly. MVC is considered a junior level course offered something like “Fall, even years”. (Meaning “once every other year”).
GMU on the other hand has a full curriculum in math and a graduate program.
@sevmom that is exactly what I did just recently. I am waiting for a response, which may take a few days.
@MYOS1634 that’s one thing I don’t understand about some college curricula. Why would MVC ever be considered upper-level, unless it was some proof-based course, in which case its name would be a bit of a misnomer given the usual designation. Is it because they tailor the courses specifically to their average student and therefore the best prepared ones suffer? If so then I won’t escape my grade school academic environment, even in college.
Can you look over your app for VTech and see if something wasn’t submitted correctly? It seems strange you were waitlisted. You can appeal if there is new/corrected info.
That’s because the curriculum matches the students. UVA wise students tend to finish high school with algebra 2 (or need remedial math.) So, they start college Math with precalculus.
On the other hand a Penn the default freshman class is calculus 2 and the many students who’ve take MVC in HS start one level above that class (which is faster aced and more in depth than the garden variety calc 2-3 sequence).
Some subjects, like math and foreign language, are sequential, so looking at the a college’s offerings in relation to one’s situation on the sequence spectrum is very important.
That’s why GMU offerings through grad school are more important than what they offer freshman year. You’d take a placement test (study beforehand all the way back to algebra2) and start wherever you place, then keep going.