Could you kindly clarify what you mean?
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Question - what does a “holistic” approach to admissions actually mean? I know what it means in theory, but what does it actually mean for an admissions officer? I won’t use my DD as an example, bc I think she’s perfect for any school. But not one kid from my DD’s high school has gone to UVA since at least 2011. It’s a highly ranked high school OOS. Don’t you think some schools just don’t have relationships with certain colleges so it almost doesn’t matter what the kids stats are or essays or anything else?
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Holistic = Who do you want at your cocktail party? Different people with different skills/talents, interesting life stories and backgrounds. They are not looking for the best students. L
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I’m not sure that’s how @Dean_J would put it, but they look at the application as a whole and no one thing in particular. With that said, she always says that sustained academic rigor and performance is the most important thing. Lots of IG reels, blog posts and Tik Toks to explain the UVA holistic review process and they are very transparent.
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I see the holistic approach as taking into account the student- not just their stats. I also feel like my daughter would be an great addition to any school’s program but she WILL get rejected to a few programs and that’s ok. They probably wouldn’t fit her anyway in the long run. As far as the holistic approach, I would assume that they weighed her high achieving stats at a rural OOS school along with her commitment to a year around sport (6 days a week/2-3 hours a day) and non-school related volunteering as a plus to being able to balance her life and still be at the top of her game. I’m heartened that there are schools that don’t dismiss students based solely on their standardized test scores. My sophomore son isn’t as motivated as his sister in certain areas and I’m glad there are admission folks out there looking at these kids as a whole. UVA isn’t on his radar but there will be some school out there that will be his perfect fit. We (as parents) have a tough job helping our kids navigate this but I do believe they will end up where they belong. Good luck to all in their search for the perfect fit.
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You can’t apply to McIntire directly from high school and people listing majors don’t matter, you apply by school….arts and sciences, engineering, nursing, etc
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You apply during 2nd year into McIntyre and it’s highly competitive (very limited acceptances into the business program) to get in. It’s based on gpa so if end up at UvA keep grades up esp in Prereq classes.
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Right, I know. Was just stating her end game.
I get all that - but I also find it hard to believe that all 8 or so kids from my daughter’s school who applied to UVA got rejected. They all applied hoping they could “be the ones who got in” bc, again, they know “no one gets in to UVA from our school.” My daughter didn’t ED to UVA bc we realized going in to it that it was a “waste” of the ED. All these kids are very different, with a slew of different interests, majors, extra curriculars. Hispanic, Asian, Italian backgrounds. Some first gen, some not. The only thing they have in common is the high school they attend. Yet a town away from us 2 students from a private girl’s school were accepted. We’ve all heard the term “feeder” schools, and I do wonder how much the relationship a high school has with a college matters.
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Not as exclusively GPA dependent as you’d think for McIntire…there are 3.9 students who don’t get in and 3.5 students who do…there is a crapshoot element of it that people need to realize…more critical to get in specific clubs and hold leadership positions.
Also not as important to be in McIntire as you’d think except for the most selective IB or consulting jobs. My daughter didn’t get into McIntire and is graduating this year with an Econ degree. She has multiple students from McIntire who have the same job lined at the same employer in July with all of them making over $110k.
And didn’t have to pay the additional $8,500/yr for 2 years as a McIntire students…
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That’s good to hear. Things must have improved. My sister was an Econ major at UVA awhile back when Prof Elzinga was teaching (maybe he still is not sure- he was such an amazing professor) and that time didn’t have as much recruiting of Econ majors.
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He’s still teaching…
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I think relationships are important and colleges track how students do once admitted.
We are OOS at a competitive private school. For years no one went to UVA. Few got in. The ones that did (including my kid who was valedictorian and a legacy) didn’t go. In the last 5 years we have had several kids go, they have done well academically, and admit rates have picked up since at our school. The biggest barrier at our school is cost and quality of in state options with free tuition (we are in Georgia), and cost of UVA vs comparable OOS options like UNC (15k-25k cheaper a year). It is tough to pay OOS rates at UVA, which is among the most expensive in the country. So that may be a barrier as well - people getting in, not going because of finances, and then having a negative effect on future admissions?
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My brother in law was an Econ major at UVA in the 90s. Didn’t get into McIntire - had too much fun. Worked for a couple of years, got an MBA from an elite program (did great on the MCAT) and has a 7 figure salary. There are many paths to success and an undergrad business degree is only one of them!
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I honestly don’t know enough to opine other to say that UVA does not actively recruit (no school visits, etc) in our county. It was on my dd’s radar due to some of the programs at UVA that are top rated. I’m sure it’s a geographical thing as we are outside of Charlotte, NC and everyone here applies to UNC, NC State, Duke, etc in this area. I do know one other student from my daughter’s school was accepted to UVA and totally deserved the spot. Other than that, my daughter said she knew of no one that applied.
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I think it’s likely you’ll never really know why your kid was not admitted. It’s never going to be an exact science. You can’t just take the highest 8000 gpa’s, or SAT scores and call it a day, because not all 4.0’s are the same. And believe or not, not every 1500 SAT score is the same.
Did the kids get tutoring? What’s the grade inflation like at a certain school? Think you can factor class rank? Well what about schools like Thomas Jefferson where the average SAT is 1510 (or something like that)… they’re all exceptional, so being ranked in like the top 50% is pretty great.
Some kids have their parents pay for tutoring, some do not. In my son’s school, I know a number of parents who sent their kids to SAT prep classes. So, does their score of 1500 count more than another kid’s 1430 who took it once or twice with no tutoring?
It’s never going to be an exact science, nor should it.
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Wow that’s amazing - my sister graduated almost 20 years ago.
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He was there when I attended and I graduated 31 years ago
I remember Elzinga from my freshman year in 1986-87 - my roommate had a class with him. So 37 years? He is in his 80s now - can’t believe he is still teaching (and should he be?)
I am surprised with the OOS tuition at UVA and UMich. They admit a lot of OOS students at these two schools (from a percentage standpoint) compared to UT Austin and UNC - but their OOS tuition is almost close to private schools
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