<p>Does the Summer Governor School have much impact on admissions to UVA? I know a lot of smart people get into it so it seems pretty good. Does it give a huge boost or a little?</p>
<p>Some of my friends went. I heard it was pretty bad. I don't think it helped their admissions chances at all. One of them was waitlisted at W&M but rejected by UVA.</p>
<p>it depends on which one you go to.</p>
<p>the ons tat are really easy to get into like the math/science one then maybe no, but the ones that are narly impossible like nasa/vims may b a big help. A lot of people (all but 1 that applied that I know of) I know from when I went to NASA/VIMS gov school got Echols or Rodman when thy got into UVa. Thats a hell of a track record!</p>
<p>A lot of my friends actually knew each other in gov school before coming to UVA. What is this 'gov school' program? Is it competitive?</p>
<p>some states have an academic summer program that you can go to called gov school. You have to apply so its somewhat selective, but most of them actually arent selective at all, because about the same number of people apply that are let in. Last year, they had room for something like 150 ppl at the math/sci one but only 145 made it past the high school round...</p>
<p>The NASA/VIMS one was different though. There were 15 selected out of around 130 that made it past the high school round. There is another one that is about as selective but I dont remember which one it is.</p>
<p>at the math/sci one you take classes in stuff your interested in or something. at NASA/VIMS you get an internship at either NASA or VIMS. Those are th only ones I know anything about though.</p>
<p>Oh woops. I was thinking of Boys State. My bad.</p>
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some states have an academic summer program that you can go to called gov school. You have to apply so its somewhat selective, but most of them actually arent selective at all, because about the same number of people apply that are let in. Last year, they had room for something like 150 ppl at the math/sci one but only 145 made it past the high school round...
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<p>I'll preface this by saying I went to humanities so I really couldn't comment on the math/sci process. But they are fairly selective. You are missing the selectiveness of the first step of the process which is where the applications are limited by school. For example my school (Fairfax county) could only allow two people to apply. So from like 50 kids (who were all interested), they narrowed it down to two. We needed teacher recs, an essay, full application, we had like fifty meetings, after doing all that I can't imagine how annoyed I'd been to not even be allowed to apply to the state. I was shaking when the counselor called me down to the office because I was so nervous I wouldn't get it, out of all the candidates, because first they had even narrowed it down to kids who were allowed to submit the full application to our school (based on a teacher panel). From the school, they only allow to apply people who they think will absolutely get it, and even then during the gov school admission round, they reject and waitlist kids. Humanities takes about 200 kids (from all of Va). </p>
<p>VPA (visual/performing arts) is a different story but since it's combined with humanities for the actual program I have a pretty good grip on their process. The initial step is being invited to apply, and then there are in person auditions, and without a doubt it is competitive. They go through multiple rounds of auditions and interviews. For art they have to produce timed pieces while being examined. The audition process was difficult for a lot of people - it's very cold and very competitive and a lot of people left disappointed (I know kids from school and around who didn't get it, but even from the kids I know from attending who obv got it, auditions were hard for them). </p>
<p>MST (math/science/technology) isn't as big of a program. But my school could only let one apply and there was more than one qualified student so it was competitive from that standpoint. Once he got picked to apply to the state, I figured he'd get in. For HUM it isn't as clear cut. I got picked in the first round of state admissions, but my friend who was our other nominee got waitlisted for awhile and was eventually picked after others declined. So it isn't a sure thing. For languages, all the schools nominate a few top students to take an exam, and then the top percent basically get to apply and I think they take most of that group, but it is pretty competitive, the exam is difficult and you have to score very well (but native speakers aren't eligible so it isn't impossible). The person we sent from my language class (French) is really absolutely incredible for a non-native speaker. </p>
<p>As far as the actual program they are all different. HUM/VPA is one of the bigger ones and it's longer than some (about 4 weeks - basically all of July). Some of the others are more like three weeks. HUM/VPA is held at University of Richmond. You live there for a month, take one long class (3.5 hours, in your area - for example I was humanities, there are like six HUM classes about different topics, seminarish, and everyone's split among that. But then dancers have their morning class, art, woodwinds, brass, vocal, strings, etc). Then there's a shorter afternoon class which is like 2 hours and it's mixed, and you're with a teacher different from your morning teachers. Then there is a daily short "exploration" class before dinner. And then there is always some enrichment activity for the night of a show of some sort. I won't say it's all amazing, you have to wake up at 7 AM every summer day for a month but then again gov school is like it's own world and you won't be up past 11PM at night either. No computer, no TV, and above all NO CELL PHONE. :) It's not as bad as it initially sounds. I'm glad I did it, I probably wouldn't do it a second time (not that you can). It's interesting, you learn a lot, get really close to some really cool people, and establish some contacts with the instructors who are great. The experience included a ton of thought provoking things, yes it's lame a lot but if you get picked to apply, it's worth it. Go if you can. It helps with IS admissions I'm sure.</p>
<p>yeah, good clarification Princedog. I should have said something about the high school round. Mine was like that as well. they do cut out a lot of people before even allowing the state to see the app, so it is fairly selective in that right.</p>
<p>I forgot about VPA, that one is hard as crap to get in.</p>
<p>I wonder how many kids applied to the gov schools before high school cuts. I mean even if its only twice as many (I'm sure its much more than 2ce as many) that puts MST at ~300 with 145 accepted, fairly selective, and NASA/VIMS at 250-300 with 15 accepted... thats retarded hard. Now I know why my guidance councilor told everyone not to apply to that one. I know a girl going to MIT next year who got waitlisted for NASA/VIMS (yet I got in? something isn't right here, lol!)</p>
<p>but boys state, yeah boys state looks good. Its a nice thing to have.</p>
<p>i went to math/science. it was a fun experience. we just partied all the time.</p>
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I wonder how many kids applied to the gov schools before high school cuts. I mean even if its only twice as many (I'm sure its much more than 2ce as many) that puts MST at ~300 with 145 accepted, fairly selective, and NASA/VIMS at 250-300 with 15 accepted... thats retarded hard. Now I know why my guidance councilor told everyone not to apply to that one. I know a girl going to MIT next year who got waitlisted for NASA/VIMS (yet I got in? something isn't right here, lol!)
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<p>Yeah those ones ARE very difficult simply because they have so few spots for, well a whole state full of kids. Even once they cut it down to all the people who deserve it, they have to still cut it down much further unfortunately. The other ones have hundreds more spots for about the same field of "qualified hopefuls". So while they probably aren't less selective if you go by quality (because once it gets crazy selective there have to be some arbitrary decisions), it is easier to secure a spot if you are in the top whatever percent in Va. Everyone I know from HUM so far got into UVA/W&M. Most VPA kids probably did but a lot of them apply only to conservatories so it's hard to say. </p>
<p>I know what we were told about the NASA one was that if you had prior experience of some sort or some other program like it, then our counselor theorized they would probably be less likely to accept you because they would want to give the opportunity to someone else because the space was soooo limited (someone had interned with some sort of NASA type thing and wanted to know if it would be a plus). She said it COULD be a plus, but she got the feeling it was probably more of a minus. So that could explain a discrepancy like the one you mention, maybe they do it somewhat like thinking about who would benefit the most by it at the time. I mean they have to get it down somehow. No one from our school ended up applying to that one this year. </p>
<p>But as far as selectivity, I mean if you went to Harvard applications and limited the kids who could even apply from the high school round, the way gov school does, their percentage admitted would rocket up too. It would end up the same quality of selectiveness anyway though, if you get where I'm going with that. Of course this is limited to only kids in Va (or whatever state) but on a larger scale, it's the same principle.</p>
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<p>very true</p>
<p>10 char</p>