<p>so.. i'm a rising senior and i just moved to va, following my dad when i could have chosen to stay where i formerly lived, because i knew there were some really good schools (UVA and W&M) i could apply to. that being said...how much to an advantage do in-state students really have over OOS students?? i know it's too late, but i just want to confirm whether i made the right decision in coming here for senior year... it's just seems so...rural. well, for my taste. but then again, it has only been like 2 weeks so maybe i'll get used to it??</p>
<p>IS have huge benefits over OOS students. IS students generally have average SATs of about 1300 (old score), rankings that are top 10% in their class, etc. OOSers usually have 1450+ and rankings that place them within the top few percent in their class. OOSers who are accepted are always easy admits instate</p>
<p>Do you live in the 540 or 804 area code? Most of Virginia lives in Hampton Roads or NoVa which are urban-suburban</p>
<p>In-state does get a big advantage...the admit rates are like 40% in-state and like 25% out-of-state (at UVA, at least, I imagine they're similar at W&M). However, that doesn't mean you get to be a complete retard if you're in-state. You still need to have good SATs, great class rank, ECs, good recommendations, etc. It's not a free ride in-state, it's just a bit easier. Personally I love VA's ruralness--it's quaint, but it still has some major metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>sv3a:
lol. i guess i'm really new. i had to think awhile before coming to terms with what my area code was. i'm 804. so in terms of location, is being 804 a good or bad thing? there always seems to be priority to students who go to extremely rural schools yet at the same time, being enrolled in a "school magnet" also matters (not that extremely rural schools can't be school magnets).</p>
<p>and you're right, everything here is very suburban happy. i swear, all homes here are located within their own little communities.</p>
<p>These kinds of things depend. If you excel really well in your school you shouldn't have much of a problem- but UVA takes less students from these schools, mainly because there are less people in general. </p>
<p>804 includes a lot of Virginia, and from what I remember the only real large city is Richmond and its suburbs. Otherwise you're out in the middle of nowhere most of the time, or within close communities as you describe. 434 (Which includes C'Ville) and 276 are like this, except even more rural.</p>
<p>Like 80% of Virginia lives in an 'urban corridor' which extends from Virginia Beach/Norfolk, through the peninsula, up to Richmond and then on to D.C. Most of it consists of cities/suburbs and immensely populated counties such as Fairfax.</p>
<p>...but living in a rural area of virginia gets you one step closer to the University Achievement award. If you have no idea what I'm talking about - Dean J mentions it in her latest blog post: <a href="http://uvaadmission.blogspot.com/%5B/url%5D">http://uvaadmission.blogspot.com/</a></p>