<p>I'm a junior and now that all my AP's are officially over, I'm starting on the college hunt for places to apply to in the fall.</p>
<p>I live on the west coast, and our local university is my only safety so far....but they got really competitive this year with a record low acceptance rate of 60%.</p>
<p>I have a 4.0, 1520/2220 on the SATs, and decent extracurriculars, planning to go into premed....and I REALLY want to go out of state for college, preferrably all the way over on the east coast=)</p>
<p>I saw that the University of Virginia is ranked pretty high up on the US News thing, like 23rd....</p>
<p>So could you maybe tell me a little more about the school overall? Also, is it too competitive to be considered a safety?</p>
<p>I would not consider UVa out of state to be a safety for anyone. Out of state admissions are very very competitive. Your stats would be competitive, but would not stand out from the pack. </p>
<p>My daughter visited both UVa and William & Mary. She was ultimately accepted early decision to Swarthmore, so she was a pretty strong applicant. I always felt that out-of-state at either W&M or UVa would probably be the least surprising rejection letters on her list.</p>
<p>Out of state at somebody else's public university is usually a poor to very poor "admissions value". People get themselves fooled by looking at the overall acceptance rates and SAT scores for a place like UVa, rather than just looking at the out-of-state numbers, which are much, much higher.</p>
<p>Nursing school is pretty easy, but yeah OOS is harder than In state. In state you could consider it a safety, even a lockdown if you were from Southern Virginia (I know 3.5's and 2000s avg from Southern VA).</p>
<p>CCers probably wouldn't be willing to call U.Va. OOS a safety for anyone, but you are well above the 75th%ile overall. My D got in OOS this year with 3.95 and 1470/2270, and even got an early "likely" letter telling her she'd be accepted come April. But how is U.Va. thought of? Perhaps like a larger, quasi-public version of Dartmouth? Yeah, despite being a public school, it's a very hot ticket.</p>
<p>You'll definitely get into UVa, but usually inexpensive schools with rolling admissions are better choices for safety schools. Inexpensive so if you end up going there it'll still be a good thing and rolling admissions so you find out ASAP that you're in.</p>
<p>First of all, UVA can not be a considered a safety. Many students who go to UVA, both in and out of state have very strong statistics and ECs across the board. Since you are from the West Coast, I think the best comparison here (about UVA) would be with Berkeley. Out of the group of people who I know are enrolling in UVA next year, Id say that almost all of them have 2200 and 2300 range scores and high grades(I am in-state). Personally, I have a 1500/2300 and straight As in all IB and AP classes and am going to the University this fall. </p>
<p>You really should look more into UVA if you are interested in it, it is a great school and truly THE American Public Ivy. UVA (only slight bias here) is a wonderful school in a beautiful location and what makes it even better is that it has a better academic reputation than its current rank of 23 says. Keep in mind that the US News rankings that place UVA at 23 take into account a number of factors such as the compensation of professors that together underrank the truly great public schools (Michigan, Virginia, Berkeley) and overrank the public schools. </p>
<p>While UVA isn't a safety, it seems like a good match (even with OOS) and you should definitely look into UVA if it meets your criteria and interests. Another good thing about UVA is that OOS students are not a small population in comparison to Virginian students. From what I hear, the breakup of the school is (roughly) 33% out of state, 33% DC (Northern Virginia), and 33% other.</p>
<p>A lot of it really does depend on your interests, though. Personally, I have held Charlottesville in very high regard for a long, long time and consequently did not apply to very many schools because I knew I wanted to attend UVA.</p>
<p>Virginia doesn't have an early round anymore, and you need to hear from your safety college sooner rather than later. It's a great college, and not as insuperably hard to get into as other equally great colleges, but you should find a college that will give you an admission answer early to serve as your safety college.</p>
<p>Being from this great state, I know that is very hard to get into UVA for out of state kids. It seems like most student in VA do not go out of state, so they apply to UVA, JMU, blah blah blah. So, you need really good stats to get in because VA kids already have the upperhand. Though you do have a good chance, you go for it anyways.</p>
<p>Would anyone happen to know what kind of stats would be necessary for an out of state acceptance at UVA--as interesteddad said, the total numbers can be misleading because the majority of those are instate.</p>
<p>I do not know what kind of stats you need as an OOS, but I can tell you that UVA, like all VA public colleges, must have an acceptance rate of 67 percent for in-state students. That is why it is so difficult to gain admission as an OOS. UVA is never a safety school, even for the in-state kids.</p>
<p>momreads is right about the 67% statistic, but that is actually in reference to the percentage of UVA students that are from in-state. 67% of UVA students are from in-state, but the acceptance rate is not near 67%.</p>
<p>I would not have UVA as a safety. Numbers are low for accept. But more importantly, I don't think you can get an early answer from them. Many kids I know have a selective schools like Michigan as a safety, but they heard from the school in October which means they could then continue with their apps with bird in hand. Without that kind of assurance Michigan would not be a safety school at all. You don't want to be sitting at the end of the process on the edge of your seat waiting for your safety school's decision. The whole purpose of a safety is so that you are sure of a place to go.</p>
<p>Hmmmm. I got in with 2090 SAT, international student, but with 2390 SAT2 and not with financial aid... So I think it shouldn't be THAT hard for you to get in.</p>
<p>Anyway. I agree that UVA is a very very good school. It was initially my "safety" school, and I got in to Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon which used to be my "reach". But in the end I decided to enroll to UVA, yay. Haha. :D</p>
<p>Hmmm Barq45, is it true that Americans see UVA as "Berkeley of the East"? 'Cos many people here in this country haven't heard of UVA at all, and they were all like ":O Whyyy didn't you choose Berkeley/Carnegie Mellon instead??" Haha I know I've chosen UVA already but I'd still like to know so that at least I can tell them how good UVA's reputation really is. Anyone, any comment on this?</p>
<p>^Do you have numbers to back that up? I don't mean that in a snarky kind of a way, I'm just curious because I plan on applying next year out of state.</p>
<p>liseux, UVA and Berkeley are comparable in terms of overall reputation in the US but once you go past the surface UVA and Berkeley are really different schools. Berkeley is much more of a science strong type of school whereas UVA is more known for things like social sciences, business, law (if you consider the overall university). Because Berkeley is better known for science, research, and engineering it seems to be better known overseas (mainly in Asia) and that is reflected in the global university rankings (which may influence what some people see overseas). </p>
<p>However, UVA is probably more comparable to an Ivy-league type school because of its historical reputation (Ivy league schools are to the north what UVA is to the south) and because of its size (UVA is roughly the same as Cornell, whereas Berkeley is a huge state university). Here in Virginia, UVA is highly, highly regarded as one of the best schools in the country and as an elite institution. A lot of kids who aim to go to a top business, law, or medical school come to UVA because those top schools (including UVA's own) recognize UVA as a top school. Based on peer assessments that I saw that UVA is among the top 15 or 16 universities in the US.</p>
<p>Personally, I wouldn't have looked at Berkeley. It's just no UVA to me.</p>
<p>A student would have to be very strong from a school with a strong history of acceptances in order for it to be a safety even in state. The same with UNC. My friend's D was not accepted at UNC with excellent grades and a midrange (for UNC) SAT1, and she was instate.</p>