I’m going to be a senior. What are my chances of admission into UVA’s class of 2022?
GPA: 4.54W, 3.98W
SAT: 1350/1600
ACT: haven’t taken
Classes: all honors except the theology courses the school requires. School only lets juniors and seniors take APs so I took 2 as a junior and will take 3 as a senior.
AP scores: 4 on apush, 4 on ap Lang
Extracurriculars
•Model United Nations since freshmen year. Member and press secretary
•National Honor Society president
•founder and president of my schools She’s the First chapter (organization that helps low income girls in developing nations receive secondary education)
•Student government. Was secretary junior year, running for class president senior year
•Student ambassador (helps promote school, give tours, speeches, host shadow students etc) since sophomore year
•Drama since sophomore year
Other things I probably won’t include on my apps: Retreat leader, art club, Johns Hopkins CTY member, service hours, soccer (it was cut after my sophomore season because there wasn’t enough people)
Awards/Honors
•Academic scholarship for my school (awarded to the top percentage of the incoming freshman class, takes some money out of my tuition)
•Scholar athlete award (when I played soccer)
• Chosen to speak on a student panel about the struggles of young people in academia (may not include this)
Nothing major really
Income: 70-80k but will probably go down since my dad is now disabled following a severe accident and can no longer work. My mom is now running our small business.
Gender: female
Race: Caucasian
Hooks: first generation college student, daughter of an immigrant, that’s about it
Other schools I’m considering besides UVA:
JMU
Pitt
UDelaware
Penn State
Boston University
Honestly I can’t really see a single weakness in your application. Maybe your sat score, buts its really just on the low side of average at uva which isn’t a big deal at all. UVA should honestly be a lock for you, especially since uva weighs gpa more than sat. Though if you could raise your sat a bit you would be very competitive at a number of Ivys. With that said I ended up transferring to uva so I’m really just basing this off the stats of other students who got into uva out of hs. Good luck!
Are you in-state for UVA? If so, you may have a better chance than out of state. Your SAT is around the 50%tile for UVA, improving your SAT to > 1400 will help your chances. Your ECs feature a lot of leadership, so that is a plus.
JMU looks more likely - your scores are above the 75%tile there.
have you had a discussion with your parents about what you can afford to pay? BU is pretty expensive and does not generally give a lot of need based aid. Likewise for UD and PSU if out of state.
Have you run the net price calculators for these schools? be careful with those however since your family has a small business.
First, sorry about your dad. Second, you mention a few things you may not include in your application. There’s no need to focus on them, but there’s also no reason to not include them. (Particularly soccer, if you mention you didn’t continue because the school dropped it, and that you got a scholar-athlete award.)
If you are in-state, you probably have a better than 50% chance (especially if you get the SAT up a bit) but it’s not a lock. I think you have a really good chance, though. If you’re out of state, you might not have any better than a 50% chance, but it’s certainly possible. Could go either way. Essays and recs will count a lot.
You really should look for schools that say they “meet full need,” unlike BU, UD, and PSU, which don’t. Fortunately, UVa meets full need for in or out of state, so you have a good chance of being able to afford to go there if you get in.
My D was accepted out of state at UVA but took a pass. They meet “full need” with very heavy loans and work study. She decided to attend University of Richmond which has a $2.4 billion endowment and is very generous with merit and need based financial aid. Different schools. UVA has prestige but Richmond has a very good reputation and undergrad focus, not to mention incredible opportunities. As a Delaware resident with financial considerations, you might add private schools to your list. They are more generous if you are a strong student.
Out of state will be hard. UVA is mandated through the state legislature (I believe) to take 2/3 instate. The 1/3 out of state then gets incredibly competitive. I think a higher SAT or ACT might be better, but they do take a holistic approach. Good luck!
