<p>Trust me mom4college, at UVA it doesn’t matter who you know. D had a friend in top 10% of class, fully qualified, etc. have a VERY important politician write their recommendation and the person got waitlisted! I have heard over and over that it’s almost like UVA has the attitude that they aren’t gonna be persuaded or pushed into making their decisions. MANY students that would have gotten in in past years were denied this year and these are kids that are double legacies, in-state, and had massive donors write recommendations!! We have all been stunned. I agree with you, go to a school that WANTS you!!!</p>
<p>I have observed this happen to others and wonder if there is a character issue in these cases. Perhaps the letters of recommendation are the fatal flaw.</p>
<p>Totally agree. I have read many books written by former admission offerers and the worst thing is to ask a letter from people who is important politician and does not know very well. </p>
<p><code>Trust me mom4college, at UVA it doesn’t matter who you know. D had a friend in top 10% of class, fully qualified, etc. have a VERY important politician write their recommendation and the person got waitlisted! I have heard over and over that it’s almost like UVA has the attitude that they aren’t gonna be persuaded or pushed into making their decisions. MANY students that would have gotten in in past years were denied this year and these are kids that are double legacies, in-state, and had massive donors write recommendations!! We have all been stunned. I agree with you, go to a school that WANTS you!!!</code></p>
<p>OOS students make this mistake with UVA or UNC-Chapel Hill all the time. Neither of these schools is ever a safety for anyone.</p>
<p>Of course, OP is in Williams right now and could care less about UVA, and never had any intention of attending UVA, either. I suppose you will wait on the IVY’s and choose Harvard, where you wil surely matriculate…though, maybe if you liked UVA, you should seriously consider Princeton.</p>
<p>Good luck to you…your lack of acceptances is a lot like why the prettiest girl sometimes does not end up going to prom…everyone figures she’s already got a great date. :D</p>
<p>
Aha thank you!</p>
<p>
I applied to 12 (and that was only after adding 4 out of insecurity after I got deferred from yale). if I got into all my ivies, I would take either harvard or yale (hope I dont have to make that choice!). If i didnt get into HYP, I would take upenn or columbia (again, dont want to have to make that choice)</p>
<p>
god I hope not. if I dont get into any ivies, I’ll ask my teacher (the one whose rec I didnt get to read) to read it</p>
<p>@stupify…Do you have any idea of how hard it is to get into Williams??? Your application is fine. I’m sure of it.</p>
<p>
that is the cutest thing I’ve heard in a while. thanks for making me smile :)</p>
<p>I personally know of 4 students who were admitted off the 2009 waiting list due to ties they had to influential people. TWO of the 4 students had below a 3.0 GPA. I say, get someone to write a letter on your behalf.</p>
<p>mom4college-</p>
<p>this isn’t the first time you’ve made this suggestion, and you are full of baloney. even if you did know four students on the 2009 waiting list with “ties to influential people,” you can’t know everything about a student’s applications other than your own child’s and you certainly can’t know that any letter made any difference. besides, a student with below a 3.0 isn’t going to be waitlisted in the first place – he or she will be denied.</p>
<p>your post doesn’t pass the smell test. or, then again, maybe it does. it smells of just another parent who’s a conspiracy theorist when it comes to college admissions.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention the weirdest case of all. This is a child who was denied admission to JMU and accepted to UVA. The family donates generously to UVA. </p>
<p>I am not saying it is wrong to favor those with legacy ties or financial ties or influential ties, but I do think that it is important to be aware that even a public university has bias in its admissions. Particularly when an applicant with excellent grades and test scores is denied admission or wait-listed, it is important to put things in perspective.</p>
<p>A form letter from a politician is not going help any student.</p>
<p>Once again, you are making judgments based on objective factors in one student’s file. The fact is that most students who apply to UVa know that they need a top program and grades. The subjective factors are very important when most students have the academic goods.</p>
<p>UVA is obviously pulling yield control on you. Why accept someone who most likely won’t matriculate and affect UVA’s ranking?</p>
<p>Nope. We don’t play the yield protection game.</p>
<p>I’m not posting in this thread again. This is getting silly.</p>
<p>^ Dean J, I wish you can tell us what her subjective flaws she has in her application. I know I am dreaming. Let us guess:
- Dean J had accepted the max number of economics/business students, it takes time to cross someone and replace with Stupefy especially when he think almost everyone applied is qualified.
- Stupefy’s parents did not commit a crime and was not in jail so Stupefy did not raise her younger brother/sister so she did not overcome any obstacle.
- Being an asian does not help either.</p>
<p>The ignorance and rudeness is astonishing. This is no way to treat one of a handful of admissions counselors who bother to answer your questions.</p>
<p>I concur completely with TheUniversity’s reaction. As a parent I am very appreciative of Dean J’s willingness to respond on this forum and consider it a very positive reflection on UVa Admissions. That said, I do believe that the OP was fully justified in considering UVa a safety, and objectively has the finest resume I have ever seen, including that of our son, who has been offered admission as an Echols Scholar. However, narrative does matter and being Asian doesn’t help (although the more interesting question is whether it hurts). The OP will matriculate next fall at one of the finest schools in the country and can look forward to a life of continued amazing accomplishment, something that is doubtful about anyone with an attitude like that expressed by GR3.</p>
<p>Judging from his/her few posts, GRC has become increasingly angry and despondent as his/her oldest son’s admissions decisions have been rolling in. The disappointment is understandable, but lashing out at Dean J is not. I do worry, though, that GRC isn’t hiding the disappointment from his/her son right now, and that GRC’s son must feel like a total loser in his parent’s eyes.</p>
<p>Take a deep breath, GRC, for everyone’s sake.</p>
<p>“I do believe that the OP was fully justified in considering UVa a safety”</p>
<p>Really, why? I had a friend who got into Columbia but got rejected from UVA and many (including two of my cousins) who got into Cornell and not into UVA…unless you can call Cornell a safety, I would advise against using UVA a safety. People used to make the same argument about the University of Chicago a few years ago when it had a pretty high acceptance rate…safeties are the Ohio States and the Virginia Techs.</p>
<p>TheUniversity, I did not expect Dean J to answer my question. Now you take out my right to guess.
For the first guess, I actually get from the admission officers from Stanford two year ago when the economy is good. The officer said there are so many good students apply for economics/business, they can accept a whole class using economical students. So it is reasonable to guess that once they have enough econ major students, there is no more space available for econ applicants anymore.
For the second guess, even though it is cyncial, I actually heard a sucessful student who get into H and his father is in jail. We never know if it is because of it or not. He overcame obstacle in life and that is for sure.</p>
<p>For the third guess, everyone knows that Asian is ORM. My kid’s Princeton interviewer bluntly told that 40% of legacy admitted and some spaces are reserved due to AA, your chance is much lower than the percent which Princeton claims.
BTW, thanks for calling me ignorance and rudeness.
OkieDAD, congratulations for your son in UVa.</p>
<p>wahoomb - I, too, would, now, advise against using UVa as your only safety. As a parent that pushed, I, too, failed to articulate that Einstein’s underlying assumption that “God does not play dice with the universe.” doesn’t always hold in the real world.</p>