<p>I am a second year at UVa, and ever since I applied to UVa as a high school senior, I have heard prospective students talk about UVa as a safety for Ivy League applicants. The more people I meet at UVa, the more I realize that this is generally not the case. Out of my close friends at school, two people turned down Princeton, two turned down Yale, one turned down Columbia, two turned down Dartmouth, one turned down Brown and another turned down Duke (okay, not an ivy, but still excellent)--all to come to UVa. So, if you are automatically ruling out matriculation at UVa for the opportunity to attend a big name school, think again. </p>
<p>I just thought I'd start a thread for those who have decided to pass up big name schools for Mr. Jefferson's University. If this is true for you, feel free to mention where else you were accepted.</p>
<p>It really depends on your other options. If you're instate, and you don't qualify for financial aid anywhere, there is no rational reason to pay more for a school like Cornell or Brown. However, if you're in a position where UVA and the Ivy (or similar private) is comparable in price, then the nature of the decision changes.</p>
<p>Probably depends on which Ivy. I think that too many people make a mistake lumping the Ivies together. They differ a greast deal in terms of prestige and difficulty of getting into. Yale, Harvard and Princeton are the elite. Not too many people would get into one of those and go to UVA instead UNLESS selected for a Jefferson Scholarship - and then all bets are off. Cornell and Penn? I see UVA as a very tough competitor for those.</p>
<p>Hey I'll probably be coming to UVA over three ivies if I get into any of them. But thats just because I can get rid of a year with all the credits I would have if I went to UVA.</p>
<p>I'm going to UVa in the fall, and am out of state, and people here (Houston) consider UVa as just a good school as most of the Ivies and other places such as Duke. UVa doesn't have as big a name as those do, but many people (including me) believe it's just as good academically.</p>
<p>My friend is at a freshmen at UVa and she chose it over Harvard and Penn...so I think once you get to a certain level of academics, every school will offer you a similar academic experience, it is about how you feel when you are at the school and a social aspects of the school should definately come into the decision making process.</p>
<p>This makes me feel right at home. Back in Feb, I could've said UVA is my safety since I got a hopefuly letter, but that would be way too condensing.</p>
<p>I'm debating between UVA and UF, although it should be a no brainer.</p>
<p>I'm debating between UVA and UF, although it should be a no brainer.
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<p>haha.. thats so funny.. because my whole life i thought i wanetd to go to UVA. up until even like last summer i wanted to. then i found out we are moving to florida and so i check out UF and i fell in love with it.. and i applied early there and got in. im glad i did too because UVA just seems wayyyy too elitest for me. but it is a GREAT school for a GREAT value. but go gators man.. final 4 :-)</p>
<p>Is your friend a Jefferson Scholar? If so, then it would be an obvious choice: full tuition plus expenses, fun and free trip to Europe, fancy dinners, etc.</p>
<p>Well yeah, I mean a Jefferson Scholar is really prestigious. I also know a friend who turned down Stanford for UVA because she would be 100K in debt if she went there. She's an Echols scholar here, so she would not have any debt, as there is adequate amount of money to be drawn from her college account to pay for UVA.</p>
<p>I really would argue that UVA belongs to the same academic tier as the Ivies and the rest of the top 30 schools, who in my opinion really all offer about the same level of academics. The reason I choose UVA over any Ivy League school is because I wanted to get a great education in a college town while still being able to party and watch my sports teams in the stadium AND on ESPN. I'm sorry, but very few other top 25 schools (and none of the Ivies) offer the same balance of fun social life and academic quality.</p>