Hi everyone.
My son just declined his acceptance, hope it helps someone here.
Good luck!
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and Htas: Our school district (4th largest in the state) eliminated class ranks for the '22 class and beyond. One part of the reason was the unhealthy chase for AP weighted points. Kids loaded up with APs they had no interest in. Often at the expense of other interesting non-weighted classes, just to chase that GPA.
It also did not help that all the districts adv. academic programs are housed within a regular HS with non-program (meaning regular zoned) students, who basically got frozen out by this to make it even near the top 10%, due to the offering of weighted classes to kids in the program.
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I applaud that move. My D’s school is the same with an IB program and non-IB program.
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IMO, that is a grading problem, not an equity or a competition problem. The idea that 12% of a graduating class would have straight As is crazy to me. My daughter is ranked 4/500 at a top 5% public HS in PA and she only has a 3.85 UW GPA. Her school actively attempts to correlate AP exam scores with class grades. That system contrasts starkly with those that produce the myriad students in College Confidential who have 4.0 UW GPAs… yet who scored 3s on their AP exams.
I agree with @Htas. Colleges have become largely arbitrary with their acceptances. That is, in part, because high schools have become too lenient with their grading and have made putting those grades into context all but impossible for AOs via the elimination of class rank. Add in the new test-optional environment, and you might as well just have a lottery for slots at top colleges. I say this as someone whose daughter was just RD admitted to UVA. The accept / declines I’m seeing are just all over the place this year, and it’s incredibly frustrating.
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I got straight As, very rigorous courses, ranked high in a fairly competitive school. 1500+/35, tons of EC and leadership roles, did research, won competitions. And I am in-state. I have a ton of friends got accepted and my profile is the strongest as far as I know; but I got deferred which is essentially a rejection.
Not that I care the acceptance that much as I am heading to a T10, and I can handle a rejection from UVA because it’s a very competitive school. But I am confused that all my friends got accepted (well deserved by the way), but not me???
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And test optional certainly doesn’t help.
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Again a reason to not rank kids. Our schools around here do not weigh curriculum for #1 rankings. If you get all As’ you are ranked #1. There are so many more important factors a student can be evaluated on. Plus, a child’s mental health needs to be protected.
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Period. 100% agree. All things aside, bottom line, we are collectively failing our kids, and their mental health is suffering because of the stress all of this puts on them. How many suicides at elite universitites will it take?
I am going to stop posting as I appreciate I am going off topic, but appreciated your comment and wanted to respond.
Could not agree more with this assessment. No idea how an AO can make a reasoned decision on this. I’m sure there’s a process in place, just hard to figure out exactly what it is or how it works. And test optional now brings in another 25% more similar applications to sort through. Thinking a 250 word essay + another few prompts gets you there also does not add up in my head.
Like you, our D was waitlisted at Villanova (which was not her top choice) while getting in EA at UVA OOS. Good outcome for my D, but a very frustrating journey.
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No system is ever going to be 100% fair. There are tons of deserving kids that have amazing grades and ECs. For my husband and I, we’ve always told our girls that no matter where they land, they will succeed. I think so many parents, kids and schools put too much pressure on kids to get into these Ivy league schools and T10/20 schools etc. What’s meant to be will be, so maybe it’s UVA or maybe it isn’t. They will be just fine either way. I don’t think this needs to be a stressful thing. It seems like so many people are overthinking it. It’s a crap shoot who gets in and who doesn’t, plain and simple.
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It is largely a lottery, but that wasn’t what kids were told or led to believe for the prior 12 years of their education, nor did they necessarily act accordingly, nor do the taxpayers of Virginia necessarily support such a lottery. Hence the current dissatisfaction with this year’s results. Claiming it all will work out in the end is neither true nor helpful for residents expecting more from their public university than changing the rules arbitrarily.
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I agree with this, except for one thing. We all buy into it. In reality, it doesn’t REALLY matter where our children go to college. A smart student with a good application will be able to get into a “top 100” school if they want, and study after study show that is good enough. Work product, skill, and effort will determine happiness and success in life, and I’d argue that many of the students pursuing the prestige in college admissions are going to do the same in professional life. Many, many of those will realize before they’re 30 that they aren’t really interested/happy in that pursuit, and hopefully will change careers before it’s too late.
So, yes. This process STINKS. But we’re also culpable.
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I couldn’t agree more, but there really is no excuse for a public institution to maintain such a process
Congratulations on all your acceptances! Amazing choices and you will surely do well. Do you have any hooks? (Eg first gen, URM, low income, athlete, etc.?).
I want off this treadmill race to nowhere🤣 something will have to give eventually
I want off this treadmill race to nowhere🤣 something will have to give, eventually
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Agreed and I’d add on that kids should focus more on the programs that schools offer and excel in.
I have a friend, who’s daughter is so upset by not getting into her top three with low acceptance rates, that she’s completely ignoring that she’s been accepted to the top three universities in her field.
I’d argue that she’ll receive a much better education and internship opportunities at the these three universities.
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Agree… and a year from now, when they are thriving in their new college and happy, the application process is just a distant memory. Grad school is always an option, and getting into these schools will be much easier. Once graduate school is completed, no one cares where the UG degree came from.
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Has anyone been to a “Day On The Lawn” - accepted student day? We are going on Friday. This is going to be the last exploration before my daughter makes a decision. Can anyone tell me anything about the Day on the Lawn? Advice?
We were just there this past Friday for a “Day On The Lawn.” It was a very casual event. We checked in, there was an opening address at the Rotunda, and then we went on to a College of Arts and Sciences panel discussion with 4 professors. You could have lunch in a dining hall - each admitted student received a sticker enabling access. We chose not to do that and walked over to The Virginian for a burger instead. We then went back for a student tour and we found that very informative.
The available schedule is on the UVA website - I think you can link to it from your student’s portal. We went to some things but not at all because my son had done some of the Zoom info sessions.
My son and I arrived the afternoon before. We spent hours that evening and after Days On The Lawn exploring the campus and historic downtown Charlottesville. Great restaurants, shops, etc. Very cool environment! We ended up walking over 9 miles.
Kids were out and about. People were smiling. The campus was active. Tons of kids on the basketball courts, soccer fields, volleyball courts, etc. It was wonderful to see.
It is a beautiful campus and surrounding area and my son has chosen to attend. Wish you all the best in your campus visit!
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