Is anyone familiar with UVA College at Wise?

Parents Forum
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<p>This one is something of a mystery to me. The College at Wise is associated with the University of Virginia and is billed as "Virginia's Liberal Arts College." With the UVA pedigree and the many outstanding public universities in the state I expected to read about a place filled with exceptional students who wanted to opt for a great small college experience with the quality of UVA at a public school price. Now maybe the caliber of teaching is superb, but the average student is not as accomplished as I would have imagined. Average GPA is about 3.3 and the average SAT scores are below the national average for CR and Math. The graduation rate is extremely low compared to St. Mary's of Maryland or The College of New Jersey, which I imagined the College at Wise to be comparable to.</p>

<p>So what is the story with the College at Wise? Is it currently underperforming in terms of where UVA wants it to go? Or is it fulfilling a mission that I have overlooked?</p>

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<p>I don’t claim to know anything. What I think is the story with Wise is that they were trying to bring higher education to an area that needed it. That part of the state is traditionally low performing in the area of education and literacy. I may be wrong but I make more sense than that gibberish that was posted and hopefully will be deleted before this.</p>

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<p>Gibberish indeed. Glad to see the mods on top of things.</p>

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<p>It was, until a few years ago, called Clinch Valley College and was established because there was no public higher education in the Southwest arm of the state.</p>

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<p>Years ago S had a GF here in Northern Virginia who started at Wise. I am not sure if she lasted the whole year or only a semester before she transferred to GMU.</p>

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<p>We know a girl that my older son used to date who goes to Wise (she would be a junior this year). She was a cheerleader in high school and is a cheerleader there. She has a brother the same age as our other son so I have seen her mother at back to school nights and reportedly the daugher loves it at Wise and is doing very well. She was not strong academically in high school, but an extremely sweet, upbeat girl. (I guess the upbeat part is pretty common with cheerleaders.) Anyway, I think of Wise as a potentially good safety for some kids.</p>

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<p>It is a member of COPLAC- some very fine schools are also members.</p>