UVA Class of 2018 Admission Decision Thread

[ABBCollege]

<p>Accepted to A&S</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 2120 (CR-720/M-680/W-720)
ACT: 33
SAT IIs: World History-710 Bio(M)-690
GPA: 97.95/100 (My school doesn’t “weight”)
Rank: 10
Other stats:</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: Common App was good and personal. Killed the Favorite word. Challenge essay was solid
Teacher Recs: Very good and he also is Head of Guidance
Counselor Rec: Good i guess
Hook (if any):</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: NY
School Type: Catholic
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors: Decent extracurriculars.
-2 yrs Lacrosse
-Service clubs
-Honor Society
-Summer job as a cook
-Worked at lacrosse clinic for disabled kids
-Worked for school athletic department
-student council</p>

<p>General Comments: Honestly pretty surprised I got in but I’m not asking any questions.</p>

[LesPaulFireburst]

<p>-____- this thread makes me upset</p>

[datherine]

<p>STATS
SAT: 2300
SAT IIs: 750 Math II, 750 Chem, 800 WH
GPA: 3.81
Rank: 15/400(?)</p>

<p>SUBJECTIVE
Essays: amazing. My common app essay has made people cry, my engineering essay (“what would you do with a small amount of funding?”) is currently in the semifinals of a startup competition, and everyone seems to laugh at my free choice essay.
Teacher Recs: I haven’t seen them; I expect they’re good but generically so
Counselor Rec: he likes me very much, but I don’t think he knows me very well
Extracurriculars: Won a national engineering contest and placed highly in another; a few NASA programs, some engineering research, FIRST Robotics Competition, and a bunch of leadership. Very aerospace engineering focused (supported by national awards, summer programs, and leadership) but balanced by sports, work, and the performing arts.</p>

<p>DEMOGRAPHICS
Location/Person: OOS
School Type: public
Ethnicity: I’ve got as much color as a snowball
Gender: XX</p>

<p>Strengths: National awards, considerable aerospace engineering focus, some non-STEM to round me out; I think my essays made the difference because UVA really seems to care about them.
Weaknesses: OOS and generic recs. Clearly didn’t hurt me.</p>

<p>I was also selected as a Rodman scholar.</p>

<p>Many of the deferred/rejected people in this thread seem to be placing way too much emphasis on stats. They’re really not that important.</p>

[SheepChopz]

<p>ACCEPTED (and i dont know how…)</p>

<p>SAT: 2210 (730 Reading 700 Math 780 Writing)
ACT: None
SAT III: 800 Chem, 800 M-Bio, 800 Math II
AP Tests: 5s on Chem, Calc AB, Bio, Psychology/4s on English Lang. Comp, both Econs, </p>

<p>ECs: DECA, 4 yrs varsity swimming, club swimming, Science League, Chem Club, etc.</p>

<p>Residence: OOS (NJ)</p>

[rkw0211]

<p>Accepted CAS </p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 2150 (710CR, 730M, 710W 10 E)
ACT: N/A
SAT IIs: 760 USH, 730 Math II
GPA: 3.93/4 (unweighted)
Rank: 2/235
Other stats:</p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<p>ECs:
Student Council officer all four years (VP senior year)
Marching/Concert Band all four years (Section leader, senior year)
Jazz Band (11,12; first chair senior year)
National Honor Society (11,12; President senior year)
15 hr/wk retail job
Bowling Club all four years</p>

<p>Essays: I really liked them, other people really liked them. I’d say it’s a little hard to judge your own essays.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: I read one which was pretty meh, the other one I’m not sure about but I’m sure it was at least decent.</p>

<p>Counselor Rec: Probably decent, thinks I’m the best thing since sliced bread but he actually barely knows me, so…</p>

<p>Hook (if any): None of the common ones. If there was anything, I would say geographic diversity (underrepresented state) and the fact that my school’s average SAT is ~1250/2400</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: OOS, U.S.
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M</p>

<p>Other Factors: Like I said, bad school (at least on paper) and maybe because I’m from a weird state. I doubt those made that much of a difference, but worth noting. Also I have around 30 college credits from my state flagship with a 4.0, which I think helped.</p>

<p>General Comments: Also accepted to Georgetown EA, Honors college at UVM, Drexel, and my state flagship. Waiting on UNC EA (OOS), USC, Cornell, Penn, and Dartmouth. Not expecting much from those, lol.</p>

[ChloeShaw]

<p>Decision: Accepted!!
College of Arts and Sciences (primary major interest: Commerce)</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2320(CR 720 M 800 W 800)
ACT: didn’t take
SAT II: Math II 800, Physics 770, Chemistry 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Our school system doesn’t have GPA but my estimated GPA would be 95/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Psychology 5 Calculus AB 5 Microeconomics 5
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Computer Science, AP Calculus BC, AP Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, English for Academic Purpose, Chinese, Math, American Government
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 3rd Prize National English Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students, President’s Education Awards Program “Outstanding Academic Excellence”, 2nd Prize National Creative Writing Competition for Secondary School Students (preliminary), and some school awards</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Theatre(5 yrs, actress, director&scriptwriter); Volleyball (5 yrs); French (2 yrs, French Honor Society); Student Gov. (5 yrs, Director of Activity); Business (2 yrs, CEO in Business Competition); Church Youth Group (1 yr); Environmental Protection Club (1 yr); Art (15 yrs, Class post board designer, grade emblem designer)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: English&Theatre teacher for support education program, fundraising organizer, Chinese tutor, Key Club
Summer Activities:support education in underprivileged area
Essays: PS: write about my exchange student experience and how I concur loneliness and all that stuff; Supp: Artistic Work: write about the first play I watched and how it inspired me to abandon the old timid self Quirk: about how I love singing though I never sing well and how I love bringing happiness to others this way
Teacher Recommendation: pretty good, one from from my US high school English teacher, he has really high evaluation of me, written as one of the best students he ever has; another from my US counselor, mainly about how I handle my exchange student identity easily
Counselor Rec: good, about how I easily incorporate into this new group and befriend with everyone, and eager to help others
Additional Rec: None</p>

<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): N/A
Country (if international applicant): China
School Type: International
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: standardized scores, diversity of ECs
Weaknesses: student interview, the whole time I was trying to sooth the atmosphere and make them laugh but they didn’t so it’s pretty embarrassing…
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: 'Cause I’m lucky enough?
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: None Deferred: Yale, Michigan-Ann Arbor, HKUST
General Comments: For moments I thought I would got deferred from all my EA schools! Thanks to UVA, I didn’t!! Good luck to all the RD applicants!</p>

[jbinmd]

<p>@grp2013</p>

<p>Since applying to UVA, other great schools have come through with merit scholarship packages for her, so she will likely decide to go elsewhere. Simple cost/benefit analysis. Money isn’t the issue.</p>

<p>She is my first college kid. I encouraged her to apply that all of the schools that she was interested in attending. UVA is her “reach”. I would be very proud to send her to Virginia.</p>

[Calabala]

<p>Accepted! Engineering</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 2030 (didn’t send)
ACT: 33
SAT IIs: 650 math 2, 690 chem, 770 bio
GPA: 3.93
Rank: 14/812
Other stats: Ap scholar w/ distinction, national merit commended</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: worked on them the day before the deadline and rush mailed them 5 minutes before the post office closed. They were pretty strange.
Teacher Recs: generic
Counselor Rec: generic
Hook (if any): questbridge</p>

<p>State or Country: Florida
School Type: large public (3500 people)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender:F</p>

<p>General Comments: I know that my sat 2 scores mostly suck. I think my questbridge essay was the real factor in the decision, even if I didn’t get in through college match. It truly demonstrated the struggle I have gone through to stay ahead with academics and extracurriculars when other people at my school hire tutors and counselors to do everything they need. I think the hardest part in applying was dealing with the guidance at my high school. With all of the stuff they deal with, its rare to find them in a compliant mood. I am so happy! Now I don’t have to take another trip to guidance to apply to my local safety school.</p>

[fiftyplus]

<p>Dean J mentioned in College (Un)Bound piece on LinkedIn and linked from Facebook, on why a rejection can be good news.</p>

<p><a href=“Why a Rejection Letter From Harvard or Other Top Colleges Can Be Surprisingly Helpful”>Why a Rejection Letter From Harvard or Other Top Colleges Can Be Surprisingly Helpful;

[bmirish898]

<p>Decision: Accepted College of Engineering as a Rodman Scholar </p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: N/A
ACT: 34
SAT IIs: Math II: 760; Chem: 790
GPA: 5.48 (school has an unusual point system)
Rank: 2/56
Other stats: IB Math Studies SL: 7; IB Chem SL: 7</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: Worked extremely hard on these. All were very personal and reflective, and my personality definitely shined through them. My Common App essay was also very entertaining. 10/10 Common App; 8/10 UVa topic of choice; 8/10 UVa engineering
Teacher Recs: 10/10 and 9/10; One teacher said I was one of her top 3 students she taught in 25 years
Counselor Rec: 8/10; counselor does not know me well, but she had some nice things to say
Hook (if any): None at all</p>

<p>EC’s:

• Tennis: 3 year singles player; helped lead team to 3rd place in WPIAL and state playoffs (both firsts); ranked 8 in the district (USTA tennis)
• Basketball: 2 WPIAL Championships; Best record in WPIAL over last 3 years: Highest scoring team in 2012
• Volunteer at Hospital and Retirement Community: 300+ hours; initiated an iPad program to help senior residents
• ICAN Research Internship
• Student Government: 3 years; VP, Treasurer, Executive VP
• SADD: President
• PA Junior Academy of Science: Two 1st Awards (Regional) and 2nd Award (State)
• Westinghouse Science Honors Institute
• Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair
• NHS
• Job: Assistant Tennis Pro at a country club </p>

<p>Awards:
-20 A+ Average Awards

• Mind, Heart, and Soul Award </p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: PA
School Type: Small Catholic School
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors:
General Comments: Very surprised at being selected as a Rodman Scholar. My essays and recommendations probably put me over. UVa will be a great back-up if I don’t get into my top choices.<br>
Accepted at Washington and Jefferson College
Deferred at Princeton
Waiting on Notre Dame (top choice), Dartmouth, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and Case Western PPSP in Medicine </p>

[kitts95]

<p>Accepted to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences!</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 2260 (730CR, 740M, 790W, 11 essay) [three attempts]
ACT: 34 (33R,32M, 35E, 35S, 10 essay) [one attempt]
SAT IIs: 720 Math II, 730 US History
GPA: 3.94UW, 4.2W
Rank: around 30/560
Other stats: 9 APs (have taken/will take 8 tests), National Merit Semifinalist (223 PSAT), AP Scholar, National Hispanic Scholar</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays:
Common App: About my hatred of olive oil and my eventual embrace of my Hispanic culture. I really liked it and everybody who read it did as well. 8.5/10
UVa Quirks: About Pride and Prejudice and how I have watched that movie so many times (I’m a guy, btw). It showed a whimsical side and I enjoyed it. 8/10
Engineering: All I can say is meh. It wasn’t very good honestly and I wrote it all the night before (finished at 11:50 that night lol).
Teacher Recs: Both very good; from teachers that know me quite well and could speak to my habits and personality. 8.5/10
Counselor Rec: Awesome! We have a really good relationship and he knows me better than any other adult at school. 9.5/10
Hook (if any): Hispanic? Also, my mother never finished college so I guess I’m half first-generation? I’m not sure lol</p>

<p>Location/Person: Philadelphia
State or Country: PA, USA
School Type: Large. somewhat prestigious public that sends about 5 kids to Ivies every year. Last year, only one student committed to UVa
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors: I also applied to 10 other schools (HYP, Cornell, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Boston College, Pitt, Northeastern, Northwestern, and the University of OK) and have been accepted to Pitt and its Honors College, and was deferred from Princeton SCEA.
General Comments: Right now, UVa is at the top of my list! Good luck to those who have applied and I hope to see you all on Grounds this fall!</p>

[wwsosfs]

<p>Accepted: College of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Affairs</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 2390 W:800 M:790 CR:800
ACT:
SAT IIs: Spanish: 780 Math 2: 750 Chemistry: 740
GPA: 3.96/4.77 W/UW
Rank: Does not rank, 1/241
Other stats: AP’s: Euro (5), APUSH (5), Chem (5), Senior year: English Language, Spanish, Physics B, World History, US Government, Calculus BC, Comparative Government (Self-study)
Two Harvard Summer School courses, rec letter from professor
Awards: National Merit Semi-finalist, School spanish award two years in a row</p>

<p>EC’s: Theatre for four years with major awards, Member of Honor Board and Academic Prefect on Student government, Choir, NHS (Vice-President), Self-taught Portuguese</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: Great common app and two well written UVA supplements
Teacher Recs: Didn’t see, but probably great
Counselor Rec: Great, she knows me well
Hook (if any): </p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: CA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity:White
Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other Factors:
General Comments: Accepted as an Echols Scholar!</p>

[lovelife1]

<p>size=+2]Decision: Accepted into CAS Pre-Commerce[/size]</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2080 (750 M, 670 CR, 660 W)
ACT: didn’t take
SAT II: 740 Math II, 730 Chem, 700 US
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): don’t know. Weighted: 4.30
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 27/280
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chinese (5), APUSH (4), Chem (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): none offered
Senior Year Course Load: AP Euro, AP Calc BC, AP English Lit, Phys.ed, AP Environmental, AP Spanish, AP Music Theory
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): bunch of school awards, piano high honors recital award, Key Club RFL and Golden Member, FBLA.
[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Key Club (historian 9th-10th grade, Lieutenant Gov. 10th-11th, District Treasurer 11th-12th) w/ multiple chair position on state committees
DECA : state qualifier each year
FBLA : state qualifier each year and 1st in regionals
Children’s Specialized Hospital volunteer
Piano (since 5)
NHS & NSHS
Spring Track</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Hostess at restaurant
Volunteer/Community service: over 400 hours. none reported though
Summer Activities: volunteer and vacations
Essays: amazing! my common app one was about a very personal and sensitive traumatic event in my family. really delivered the impact it had on me and who i am because of what had happened
UVa essays were very good too! talked about the henri matisse collection at the MET I saw in the winter of 2012. Explained how i lost track of time observing and forgot about my friends who were looking like crazy lol. Second one was about honor code and it was very creative.
Teacher Recommendation: both were probably awesome!
Counselor Rec: good but probably generic
Additional Rec: could’ve but didnt do it
[ b]Other**
State (if domestic applicant): New Jersey
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation (my parents and relatives are so proud!!!), extremely low income bracket
[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: essays definitely, maybe my dedication to key club, hooks
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: ummmmmmmmm very unique experiences??
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Villanova: Rejected: NYU Stern
[ b]General Comments: ive been absolutely flabbergasted for weeks already!!! Lost a lot of hope when rejected from NYU, but honestly you never know where life can take you and now im so excited to meet wonderful people at DOTL! </p>

<p>ps please excuse my typing, keyboard is broken :(</p>

[lydie43]

<p>Accepted EA to UVA College of Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: 2120 (660 CR, 710 Math, 740 W)
ACT: 31
SAT IIs: US History 730, Math I 660
GPA: 93.66% on a 100-point scale - unweighted
Rank: School does not rank but inducted into Cum Laude Society as a junior which implies top 10% (out of 50 students)
AP: APUSH 5, AP English Lang 5
Senior Year Course load: AP English Lit, AP Spanish Language, AP Chem, International Relations, Calculus
Awards: Cum Laude Society, Jefferson Scholars nominee, acceptance into VA Summer Governor’s School for Humanities, a merit scholarship at my high school for Math, Science, and Community service</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Chorale, Drama, JV Volleyball (1 year), Varsity Softball (1 year), Architecture camp, lots of work with international exchange students (hosting and going abroad). Last year I won a full merit scholarship from the US and Finnish governments to live with a host family in Finland for six weeks (I wrote my essay about this). I still volunteer with the exchange organization.<br>
Job/Work Experience: Internship at a plantation in the development office and curator’s office. I also hold a leadership position in the dorms at my school - junior year I was a leader (like an RA) in the freshman dorm, where I helped the girls with their study skills, roommate drama, homesickness, etc.
Teacher Recs: I assume very good, I go to a very small boarding school so the students get a lot of support from the teachers and get to know each other very well.
Counselor Rec: I assume very good to excellent.
Essay: I think my essay was very good, I have been accepted to all my early action schools so far. I wrote about my experience going abroad to Finland independently. Of course, I continued to revise and think it got much better for my January applications, but we will see! I wrote my UVA “quirk” essay about how I am a very logical thinker.<br>
Hook (if any): none</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: Virginia (NOVA)
School Type: Private girls boarding school - I have heard that they put private schools in a different category from the other NOVA public schools.
Ethnicity: white
Gender: Female</p>

<p>Strengths: Good ECs - especially all the travel and intercultural work I have been doing. Also I believe I have great recs and the solid stats to back them up.
Weaknesses: Not a huge athlete
General Comments: I am so excited and thrilled!!! Many of my friends who seemed equally or more qualified have been deferred or even denied from EA. I am not sure why exactly I got in but I am so grateful!<br>
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: So far I have been accepted to JMU, Mary Washington (honors college), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and of course UVA! Still waiting on some more decisions in April, but UVA is definitely a possibility!</p>

[sonicsymphony]

<p>Accepted, College of Arts and Sciences</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: didn’t submit
ACT: 32
SAT IIs: didn’t take
GPA: 4.733 Weighted, 3.956 Unweighted
Rank: 4/191</p>

<p>Subjective:
Essays: Great
Teacher Recs: Awesome
Counselor Rec: I don’t know, probably good
ECs: Marching Band (section leader), Interact Club (President), Symphonic Band, NHS, a couple of others that aren’t important</p>

<p>Location/Person:
State or Country: FL
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female</p>

[rhythmandbible]

<p>Accepted, College of Arts and Sciences!! I’ll post my stats later. </p>

[ChemEngDoctor]

<p>Hello guys,
I am slightly worried as to why they hadn’t stated what college I was accepted to; the letter just said I was accepted. Anybody had this same problem?</p>

[collegerej3ct]

<p>@ChemEngDoctor mine said the same thing. I’ve been searching to see if I got into my major!!</p>

[Saona63]

<p>My Son was accepted OOS to the school of engineering, but with likely letters from UPenn, Cornell and Rice, UVA is in the back-burner:) Good luck to everyone!</p>

[cclark14]

<p>Decision: Accepted!</p>

<p>Objective:

• ACT: 33
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
• AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang and Comp 5, AP Bio 4, AP Spanish 3, AP Art History 3, APUSH 4, AP Gov 5
• Senior Year Course Load: Spanish 5 H, AP Physics C, AP English Lit, AP Macroeconomics, AP Psychology, AP World History, AP Calc BC
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, School Science Fair, Regional Science Fair, District Literary Rally, State Literary Rally</p>

<p>Subjective:

• Extracurriculars/Volunteer/Community service (place leadership in parenthesis):
  Multiple Service Clubs, Tutoring, NHS, Cross Country until I injured my knee (essay about this), volunteer outside school with a green organization</p>

<ul>
<li>Job/Work Experience: hahahha no</li>
<li>Essays: Common App 9/10 (exact grade given by English teacher), can’t really rank UVA specific because they were very risky…I may have admitted to watching a football game while writing their essays…</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: Spanish teacher I’ve had for 3 years, History teacher I’ve had for 3 years who has written me letters of rec before</li>
<li>Counselor Rec: pretty good? She knows me well and has me tutor kids for her</li>
<li>Interview: none</li>
</ul>

<p>Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: Yeahh
• Intended Major: Biology
• State (if domestic applicant): LA
• School Type: Public but nationally ranked
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: F
• Income Bracket: not entirely sure…I don’t think I’ll be getting any need-based aid though
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none sadly</p>

<p>Reflection

• Strengths: top ranked high school, I guess they like really weird essays???
• Weaknesses: GPA, ECs, work experience, no hook at all, pretty bad AP exam scores…
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: test scores, pretty good major awards I guess?..this is hard because I’m not an admissions officer</p>

<p>General Comments: After all of the deferrals and rejections I’ve gotten, this was pretty nice. Congratulations to everyone who got in, and if you didn’t, do not feel bad. There are schools out there for you.</p>