Honest opinion about Out of State

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>I've been doing some research on how competitive it really is to get into U. Va being an Out of State candidate... right now I am torn between applying to Virginia or Cornell, and I want to apply to the place that I have the best chances of getting into. I've spent like $400 on apps already and I really don't want to submit 2 more apps. Lol. My Stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 2050 (730 verbal/580 math/740 writing) .. obviously I have no math strengths..
GPA: 3.9
Class Rank: 76/661
ECS: Varsity swim captain, yearbook editor, Theatre (lead role), NHS secretary, StuCo Parliamentarian, published writer for Dallas Morning News
Essays: Very good, I made them very personable
Recs: I read one of them and it was excellent, I am sure the other one is good too</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure that both UVa and Cornell look really heavily on class rank/gpa/sat scores... do I look sort of competitive?</p>

2

<p>Honestly, your SATs are pretty low. As you pointed out your math SAT is very low and your class rank is very high. I would say that UVA is a reach for you. I don't know a whole lot about Cornell but I suspect your chances might be even lower there.</p>

3

<p>hmmm... well, I've never even seen a high school with a class of over 300 let alone 661. You're in the top 15%, but still...you're ranked 76. I don't know what that looks like really. I can tell you I had a ridiculous time getting into UVa, I believe I explained that in a prior thread. I got into georgetown regular without much effort, but I also went to a catholic school - so I'm not sure how much that helped.</p>

<p>I would guess you're chances are about the same but there are a few things you should look out for. How many people from your high school applied to UVa/Cornell? If people have already gotten in, it's pretty rare for either school to take a bunch of people from one high school - atleast OOS UVa. Also, how do you look compared to the other people who applied? If like 3 or 4 kids are applying to UVa or Cornell and you have the best stats, you'll fair better.</p>

<p>Also, historically, does your school send a few kids to each school every year? No one from my high school had gotten into UVa since like 1975 (and only 10 had applied in like the prior 25 years), I think that contributed to my hard time getting in. If your high school sends 2 or 3 kids to each school a year, you could be in one of those spots, provided that not a bunch of people are applying there. </p>

<p>The problem I see is that since there are 75 kids ahead of you in class rank, that theres likely to be a bunch of them applying to atleast Cornell, maybe UVa. This lets the schools compare you to them, which is never a good thing when they're ranked ahead of you. Asking around is what I'd recommend before deciding.</p>

4

<p>I know that at least 2 people are applying to UVa from my school, one girl who is probably #10 in the class and another who is ranked lower and has a lower GPA than me, but who has absolutely stellar ECs. I think there's only one more person applying to Cornell who is a guy friend of mine, a recruited athlete. From what you guys are saying maybe Cornell is better...</p>

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<p>Also I do go to an enormous high school.. we have about 3000 students there. Crazy, eh?</p>

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<p>haha yeah 3000...thats ridiculous...my highschool had around 650</p>

<p>but anywho, believe me, if I could only apply to one of them, I'd apply to UVa - no offense to Cornell, but it just doesn't compare to UVa on any level other than academics. If only one or two other people are applying to UVa, then i'd take a shot at it. I'd venture to say UVa OOS and Cornell are probably the same selectivity wise - so you're not getting an advantage either way. And since you're from texas, you'd probably fit in better at virginia. </p>

<p>what other schools are you applying to anyway?</p>

7

<p>Other schools? I applied Princeton ED, William & Mary, Brown, Northwestern, USC, University of Texas, and Texas A&M. I think my biggest reaches are definitely Princeton and Brown.. I have a decent shot at Northwestern (journalism school) because of my journalism background, and Texas state schools I should be okay at. I dunno I just dont want to spend $120 more dollars... $60 would be better lol.</p>

8

<p>A little off topic: my school has about 2600 and they claim we're not yet at capacity. Our senior class has 570. Having only ever gone to crowded schools, it strikes me that some high schools have the population equivalent to our freshman class. </p>

<p>Back on topic: If you'd really only apply to one school, I'd suggest UVA. You probably have a better chance there even as an out of stater. I'd say they're pretty close reaches but just purely on UVA's distribution of stats you'd be a better candidate there. There may be some faultiness in that logic but I really think UVA would be a better shot.</p>

9

<p>Your chances are marginally better at UVa. I assume, for Cornell, you are talking about the College of Arts and Sciences? You might consider other schools at Cornell, such as ILR. But, really, Cornell's acceptance rate is signficantly lower than UVa's. I know several people who got into UVa, but not Cornell.</p>

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<p>Actually, Cornell's % admitted and UVa's OOS admitted % are approximately the same (29% for Cornell vs. 30% UVa). Cornell's sat ranges are 1280 - 1470. UVa's, including instaters is 1230 - 1430 - I couldn't find SAT statistics for OOS only, but I'm assuming that most OOSers are part of the higher range. So I think it would be safe to say that UVa OOS and Cornell are exactly the same admissions wise.</p>

11

<p>Cornell's SAT ranges are relatively low compared to the other ivies. I'm very surprised.</p>

12

<p>lol, cornell sucks. that's why i turned it down.</p>

13

<p>lol, cornell sucks. that's why i turned it down.</p>

<p>j/k</p>

<p>but i did turn it down.</p>

14

<p>Cornell's SAT range is low because Cornell has 7 schools, 3 of which are public and thus take lower scores from instate. I'd bet that the SAT range for Cornell Engineering and Arts and Sciences are much higher than UVa's. That said, even as a legacy at Cornell, I'd pick UVa any day.</p>

15

<p>BigE, </p>

<p>that is very true, however, its still the same for UVa, instate kids do drag down the scores on average...I'm sure if you looked at the Architecture school you'd have very high SAT scores, and if you looked at OOS engineering and OOS CLAS SATs they'd be comparable. Unfortunately, its very hard to find that break down of scores.</p>

<p>I'm not bashing Cornell, I'm just simply saying that the two are very comparable for admission purposes when you're applying to UVa OOS.</p>

16

<p>Anyone mind giving me some feedback on my chances?</p>

<p>I was planning to apply to UVA early, but after getting my SAT scores back I decided to go ED at Princeton (while I understand that SAT scores are only part of the unfathomable equation, my jump was 260 points) since it's always been my dream school.... but I'm still definitely applying to UVA should I be deferred (which will most likely happen). Intended major is definitely either History or Government.</p>

<p>SAT- 2210 (800 Verbal, 610 Math, 800 Writing)</p>

<p>SAT IIs- 800 US History, 720 Bio M, 760 Lit, 780-800 World History (I'll find out the 19th)</p>

<p>APs- 5s on Bio and US History (all my school offered), am taking World, Euro, US Gov't, Micro and Macro, and Lit and Lang this year (World and US Gov't will be self-studied).</p>

<p>GPA/Class Rank- 3.9 unweighted, 8/105</p>

<p>ECs- Student body president, founder and President of Junior State of America club, Sports Editor for school newspaper, four years of golf, distinguished in academic trivia</p>

<p>Recs- Pretty solid. I saw the one from my professor whom I had at Georgetown over the summer (he works at U of Minnesota-Duluth), and he basically said I'd be qualified to go to grad school right now.</p>

<p>Essays- Might not make an admission officer's "greatest hits" file, but they're quite good.</p>

<p>White and no alumni connections- at least I might fit the geographic diversity file, as I come from a rather depressed area of NYS.</p>

17

<p>you never really know with out of state admissions but your stats look pretty good to me. If I was on the ADCOM I'd let you in :)</p>

18

<p>good luck at p'ton and uva</p>

<p>for everyone else - here's a very interesting article that looks at admissions at UVa. It was originally run in the washington post, but i could only find the copy of it on another webpage. It was written in 2002, so I'm sure its pretty much still accurate. I found it extremely interesting that they almost rejected an OOS girl who was in the top 1% of her class, was student council president, and had great recomendations - all because she didn't take AP Calc her senior year. What was her saving grace? she was one of only a couple people to ever apply to UVa from her town.</p>

<p><a href="http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2004/10/early_decision_.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2004/10/early_decision_.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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I found it extremely interesting that they almost rejected an OOS girl who was in the top 1% of her class, was student council president, and had great recomendations - all because she didn't take AP Calc her senior year.

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<p>Interesting that they never mentioned her SAT scores....</p>

20

<p>That's because SAT scores are relatively unimportant to UVa</p>