New VA Resident with questions about UVA Admissions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

Hi, I’m a new VA resident, and I have a daughter in the 10th grade attending one of the NOVA schools. My daughter is interested in attending UVA, so had a few questions about UVA admissions.

  1. Does UVA look at all quarter grades? Or semester grades only?
  2. Does UVA look at grades from from 9-12th.
  3. What is considered a solid GPA? I learned at my daughter’s school , honors courses are 4.5 points and APs are 5 points.
  4. What is considered a solid SAT score
  5. Do you recommend anything else she can work on over the next two years?
2

Take a look at the common data set and most recent freshman profile. Both should be available on the website. UVA is extremely competitive but there are plenty of other excellent choices in the Commonwealth.

3
  1. Does UVA look at all quarter grades? Or semester grades only? Most schools just get your transcript that has your final year grade, but check with your high school to see what they put. You may also have to send your mid-year senior grades, and most colleges want your final transcript.
  2. Does UVA look at grades from from 9-12th. 9th-11th for sure, up to mid-year for regular decision or deferred applicants, all have to ultimately send their final transcript.
  3. What is considered a solid GPA? I learned at my daughter's school , honors courses are 4.5 points and APs are 5 points. It varies by school because of the different calculations. From what Dean J says, it seems like they want you to challenge yourself and do reasonably well. Read her blog for more info. http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/
  4. What is considered a solid SAT score UVA considers SAT scores "important," not "very important." They take a holistic approach and plenty of kids with high SAT and GPAs got denied.

From the blog regarding class of 2023:
Middle 50% SAT score: 1340-1500 (VA) 1430-1540 (OOS)
Middle 50% ACT composite: 32-34 (VA) 33-35 (OOS)

Nursing, which is the hardest UVA school to get into with a 12% acceptance rate, also seems to accept lower SAT scores, due to an even more holistic approach. The middle 50% was 1230-1440 for the nursing class of 2022.
Go here for more info: https://ias.virginia.edu/university-stats-facts

  1. Do you recommend anything else she can work on over the next two years? Read Dead J's blog. It looks like they prefer you take all core classes every year, and maybe go to 4 years of a language, not just three. I think UVA looks for interesting well-rounded students who are going to make a difference in the world as evidenced by passions shown in high school. Just my opinion. :)
4

Do you have access to Naviance? If you are in FCPS, you can access it through Blackboard, and you can see accepted student data for your specific high school.

For my son’s NoVA high school, the averages are 4.3 weighted GPA and 1460 SAT score. There are kids with lower SATs accepted, but very few with GPAs below 4.2.

5

UVA requires a transcript of grades with the application, which is generally final grades for all courses in grades 9-12. They require midyear senior grades as mentioned above and final transcripts. GPA ranges are not very meaningful since some schools weight, some don’t and the scales they use are all over the place. I second the recommendation to read through Dean J’s blog. Take challenging courses and get good grades. Don’t sacrifice core courses to load up on math and science …all in the blog.

As far as what else to work on… the grades let them know if you can handle the academics. The ECs let them know what you bring to the community. What I see in the students I know that are there - strong leadership, commitment to serving others, entrepreneurial nature.

6

Welcome to Virginia! We have a fantastic range of state-supported colleges and universities, probably the best in the country. I suggest you get acquainted with many of them. This will have the additional benefit of taking you and your family to some beautiful parts of Virginia.

The University of Virginia deserves its reputation as one of the nation’s best. It is also on the small side for a flagship university, though larger than when my husband and I attended. Charlottesville is an attractive small city, not just a “college town” - and Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, is a must-see.

The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in the country. It is Virginia’s other “elite” state school, with the characteristics of a LAC (liberal arts college). The lovely campus is adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg. Within a short drive is the Busch Gardens theme park, and Williamsburg isn’t far from Virginia Beach. My daughter is a very happy freshman who chose W&M over her parents’ alma mater.

Virginia Tech is in the scenic SW part of the Commonwealth. It’s the largest of our universities, with especially strong engineering, but very solid overall.

James Madison University is in the historic and scenic Shenandoah Valley.

Virginia Military Institute in Lexington has a proud tradition and is now co-ed. The private LAC Washington & Lee is also in Lexington. Natural Bridge is nearby.

VCU, Virginia Commonwealth University, is in Richmond. It’s a top art school, among other things. Richmond has a lot of Civil War history, of course, and also a great science museum and children’s museum.

Christopher Newport University in Norfolk is an up-and-coming school with the same kind of rapid expansion that Northern Virginia’s George Mason University experienced a decade or two ago.

University of Mary Washington, now co-ed, was all women during the era when UVa was all men. Its pretty campus is in Fredericksburg, another of our Civil War-saturated areas.

I don’t know much about Virginia’s small rural colleges, which include Radford, Longwood, and Randolph-Macon. Nor am I familiar with our several HBCUs such as Hampton University. But the career center at your daughter’s high school will surely get visits from all these and more.

Have fun exploring!

7

Based on Naviance data for my son’s school they clearly seem to have a cut off for GPA. It may vary based on each school to meet the requirement for the kid to be in the top 10%. I also think it varies based on school you apply to.

8

Hey there, we don’t have a cut off for GPA. You maybe believe to see correlation between offers and GPA, but GPA is not the variable that interests us. We look at actual courses and grades. More here: http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2018/03/can-we-talk-about-your-gpa.html