<p>By some statistics, UVA is as much as 80% in state. If this is the case, does this mean that the standards are raised significantly for out of state applicants? What would be a similar school to compare to in terms of selectiveness for out of state applicants? I was thinking it would be similar to BC? What are your thoughts?</p>
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If this is the case, does this mean that the standards are raised significantly for out of state applicants?
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<p>One word: yes.</p>
<p>The selectivity for OOS applicants this year was 27% (compared to 37% for In-state). Schools with similar admit rates include NYU and Tufts.</p>
<p>I believe your 80% firgure is off, at least for undergraduate. UVA stays pretty close to 2/3 In state and 1/3 OOS. Even so, the higher selectivity described above is real. Just note that this phenomenon is true for all state schools. Most have a much higher percentage of in state, especially Texas and Cal. Michigan is 70/30, and as with UVA, OOS kids need slighly better stats.</p>
<p>We have 2/3 instaters, but our admissions deans have stated over and over again in their information sessions that there is no real difference between numbers for instate and out of state students.</p>
<p>I think "no difference" would be a little misleading. I believe some gap still exists, though it is closing without question. And it certainly isn't a question of the quality of VA students, it is simple math. If you gurantee one sub-group a disproportionately large share of the slots, that group will be less competitive. That is the privilege the state buys with its dollars.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference. Maybe not in the numbers, but in the quality of education. If you put a valedictorian from a rural high school in a class with a kid from a top prep school, maybe they both had straight A's, but the rural kid doesn't stand a chance. The Ed school (Curry) even did research on it, how ill prepared rural kids are compared to suburban especially. How do they even compete with the Nova kids... They struggle a lot, I can assure you of that. So maybe you as OOS have to work harder to get in but you'll be better for it and have an easier time at UVA.</p>
<p>I remember my orientation session I was helping this girl from SW VA plan her schedule, she had straight A's but had gotten a 2 on the AP Calc test. One of my closest friends (valedictorian of her rural HS) had similar experiences with her AP tests, she is smart but her teachers were ill-prepared to help her and her classmates do well on AP tests. I think the SAT scores (you know, the kids who can't pay to take classes to have their scores raised) really show the difference. Not to say OOS kids couldn't be in that situation, but it would be somewhat questionable to pay (read: get loans for) UVA OOS tuition when they could proly find an instate school to give them a full ride.</p>
<p>I think the worst part is how down they feel about not getting straight A's. Both my previously mentioned close friend, as well as my boyfriend (Hispanic... Straight A's in community college but not here), both really want ~3.5 GPA but they both work so hard just for B's. It's not a matter of how smart they are, it's a matter of everyone else in the class being more prepared academically and how do you compete with that. Their numbers might be the same, but their preparation wasn't, so the deans can preach what they want, but that's the REAL situation.</p>
<p>It is more competitive to get in from OOS than from IS. The normal OOS admits are, on average, more talented than instate admits, but there are plenty of kids from VA who chose UVa because it's an excellent, balanced school at an excellent cost.</p>
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there are plenty of kids from VA who chose UVa because it's an excellent, balanced school at an excellent cost.
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<p>definitely true. uva couldn't get its reputation as an excellent state school without those kids.</p>
<p>UVa OOS admission is harder than BC or NYU though.</p>
<p>Haha, but I got waitlisted at NYU.</p>
<p>HartinGA is completely right. There are good, medicore, and bad students all around the country. If UVa admits twice as many IS students than OSS students, it is only logical to assume that you will get good and mediocre kids from Va and only good students OSS. To say that there is "no real difference" doesn't make any sense.</p>
<p>There are plenty of mediocre and terrible admits from OOS every year. They're just not part of the general applicant pool.</p>