I’m posting on my daughter’s CC account, because she hasn’t used it in a while. I would just like to ask the people in this forum why you think she was deferred from UVA based on the following stats: 2380 SAT, 36 ACT, 6 APs with scores of 5, top 5% of school, 3.9 GPA, 740 - 800 SAT IIs, great essays (imho) and recs (we read one, it was phenomenal).
She was accepted to Yale SCEA, so this is not me feeling desperate and asking for her chances. I’m just genuinely curiously as to why she would be deferred from UVA, as I can’t think of a reason that she would be accepted to Yale but not here. Is UVA exceptionally hard to International students? Or was there something wrong in her application maybe? Of course I know no one can ever know for sure, but some attempt at explanation would really set my mind (and probably hers! She pretends like she’s not worried, but I know this is bothering her) at ease.
could be something was missing, but i have noticed that certain applicants from certain regions seem to have a more competitive pool. Perhaps this is true with internationals. I believe it to be true with NJ, PA, MA and CT so far from the stats reported. It could also just be coincidence. My daughter is too nervous to even check her account yet and its been over 24 hours. i’m so curious, but i must wait until she’s ready to handle whatever outcome.
I was just accepted EA from CT but I’d swap acceptances with your D in a heartbeat. Unless she would actually attend UVA over Yale, I just don’t see a point in worrying about the deferal. Just chalk it up to “C’est la vie” and enjoy New Haven!
I agree with 1600mPenn- she was accepted into Yale! Students love it there - why would you worry about a deferral? The admission process is not a “science” - it’s not predictable. Obviously admission officers at Yale fell in love with her application; at UVa they probably appreciated her accomplishments, but they just might not have found her application as compelling. And the essays are different at the two schools - maybe her UVa essays didn’t resonate with them. Who knows? But it doesn’t matter - focus on the colleges she is admitted to, not the ones that don’t accept her.
Thanks for your kind comments! The problem is, her Yale financial aid package is not generous at all and the sticker price on UVA makes it much more affordable, even for us OOS people. So the thing is, were she accepted, she probably would attend UVA, and that’s what makes her deferral so upsetting. As her mother, I can’t bear to tell her she has to attend a school lower on her list (her top 2 were Yale and UVA, and Yale is looking too costly for us to manage at the moment), so if she could get accepted in the RD round, it would make things easier for all of us!
I’d really appreciate any guesses as to reasons for deferral, and maybe how she can better the flaws for RD? Stats, recs, anything? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Don’t some schools sometimes reject applicants if they think that the applicant is just applying to their school as a 'safety?" I’ve heard that some schools - not sure about UVA - will do this if they know that that student would probably not attend if admitted.
Oh … We were not aware of this, and obviously, UVA is not her safety. And I highly doubt a school of its caliber would worry about yield protection, no? Please tell me if I’m wrong in this assumption! And if I am, what can we do to show that it is not a safety?
I have an answer for you @CandyFloss! This is from the Ask The Dean section of CC:
“Harvard, Yale and other colleges that have “single choice early action” programs do not allow candidates to apply to other schools during the early-action period only. However, once they receive EA (Early Action) decisions (mid-December), then applicants are free to apply elsewhere, if they so choose.
Some colleges with early options exchange lists of admitted students, once their picks have been made. Therefore, if you apply early to such a college and you are admitted, then other colleges will see your name on that list.”
So, I’d say UVA saw that your daughter was admitted SCEA to Yale and realized she should not have even applied to UVA Early Action so they kindly moved her to RD so they could then accept her. In all, I think she’s lucky to have a deferral seeing as she didn’t follow the rules of SCEA.
I saw this on another thread “because of the extreme number of applicants this year to the College of Engineering we are deferring you to the regular decision pool but will allow Eng applicants to switch their applications to a different College, like A&S etc”.
If she switched to A&S, it may increase her chances for RD admission.
Good luck! My oldest is a second year and younger daughter was just accepted! It’s a great school!!
My son was just accepted EA and my husband and I are alums, so I realize that I am in a different spot as you. But that being said, we were fortunate enough to use the alumni legacy liaison program. They stressed the importance of students taking the hardest/highest courses in each of the core subjects. I admit, at first this was a turn off to me. My son’s school offered many interesting courses, such as engineering, etc. But he decided to commit and took all AP’s, etc. From reading Dean J’s blog it would seem that the primary part of the application that they look at with deferrals is their transcript. Midyear grades appear to be so important. Can the student, now a senior, keep up with the rigor of his or her classes and still get good grades? Though OOS is tough, her stats are outstanding and hopefully her deferral will change to an acceptance. And congrats on Yale!
Thank you all so much! You’ve all been really helpful and kind, and I’m glad I came here with my question. She did get good grades in 7 AP classes last semester, ktcollege, so hopefully you’re right and she will eventually be accepted!
I emailed Dean J through FB a month ago (after UMich deferrals) and she confirmed that UVA does not practice “yeild protection”. Her exact words were, “nope, we admit and hope people pick us.”
Is UVA one of the only schools that doesn’t practice yield protection? Does UMich? Just for future reference (I have two other kids who have to go through this craziness in a few years )
@CandyFloss - There is a lot more to an application than grades and test scores. Even essays and recs may not be enough. What were her ECs like? Did she have something that made her stand out from her peers and indicate she would fit UVa’s profile? Remember that many kids have top grades and scores, and they can’t accept everyone. Most people would be thrilled to get into Yale…don’t let money be an obstacle. Talk to the Yale financial aid office…as they may be able to negotiate (although I remember hearing that some schools don’t give financial to international students). Regardless, you should consider taking out loans to pay for Yale. I work at a financial firm where most of the grads come from Yale, Wharton, Harvard, etc. They rarely interview candidates from other schools, such as UVa. Trust me, if she does well at Yale, she will have plenty of job offers that will make it very easy to pay off loans. If her heart is set on UVa for non-financial (or financial) reasons, she should write a letter to UVa expressing her ongoing interest, provide any updates on her transcript or achievements, explain why she thinks she is a good fit, etc. If they didn’t let her in, maybe they had too many international or similar students or didn’t feel it was the right fit for her. Trust me when I say she should seriously consider Yale, regardless of the cost.
Having a Yale degree I would caution against taking out loans to pay for one. A Yale diploma opens doors, BUT it also limits options if you need to go deep into debt (really depends on how much one needs to borrow). Some of my friends were limited in career choice because they had to pay off their loans. If you are planning on going into a field with high salaries I would say finance Yale (the doors that are opened for you, think Wall Street, are well worth the cost), but if you want to be a teacher or work with a non-profit remember that you might not be able to afford that kind of work.
Her EC’s were pretty great, imo - I know she just about killed herself doing them, and spent a lot of time with them. But she’s a very right-brained person and hasn’t won Intel or Siemens, which may have hurt her, I suppose (just a few writing contests). She wants to major in English and pursue a career in writing, as a journalist or as an author. That was why Yale and UVA were her top choices, b/c of their phenomenal writing programs. @terp2B, would you recommend us taking loans for that career path?
This whole process is so overwhelming for our family. In India, we simply had to take an exam to get into college. I never knew of all the intricacies the US application process entailed, and am really starting to worry
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