Look at the scattergram I posted above. I go to a very typical “feeder school,” and even then, UVA brutalized us; another friend of mine with a 4.0+ (top 10%) was flat rejected, and two in-state students (boarding school, so people can be from anywhere) who ED’d didn’t get in either.
I think UVA is trying to move away from that paradigm, or, at the very least, in relation to my school.
With the record breaking # of applications this year, (up 10% from last year), competition is more fierce than ever. At my D’s high school, Naviance is no longer an accurate predictor so we take past results with a grain of salt.
Accepted
Engineering (Computer Science)
In-State
4.0 UW
4.58 W
1530 SAT
6 APs, 3 DE
Top 5% in class of ~450
Weird/Unorthodox/Questionable ECs, probably decent overall.
Great Essays (imo)
I checked on the scattergram/naviance and it seems like there is a pretty hard cut-off (except for a few outliers) with GPA/SAT and rejection/acceptance. At the very least with in-state applications UVA admissions doesn’t seem very holistic…
EDIT: Welp. Just looked at the post above haha. Maybe all the increased applicants will start forcing more schools to take a more holistic approach to admissions, which means more chaos/uncertainty/ambiguity
Also might be worth mentioning that I go to a STEM magnet school of sorts in addition to my home school for 4 years (not going to say the name of the school as to not completely dox myself, but if you live in Virginia there’s a good chance you know what I’m talking about). The kids like to joke that UVA really likes the students that go to this school and others like it but I’m not entirely sure how much of a boost going to a magnet school has on admissions. Does anyone have any assumptions/information on what factors STEM magnet schools play in admissions.
S23 deferred, OOS. 4.0 UW/35 ACT. Nominated by his school for the Jefferson Scholarship. We consider it a polite rejection and he will opt out of continuing in the process. Congratulations to those accepted and good luck to those still waiting!
I think I know where you’re talking about. I’m not too sure honestly, but I think your school is better for ivies and high reaches because of its reputation. In contrast it seems like less from your school are being admitted (that’s what I’ve heard) because many students are treating uva like a safety? I’m honestly not too sure myself on this.
Rodman?
Reality is only certain number of kids will get into UVA from that school because they can’t accept everyone from that magnet school which I know which one you are referring to. But I can tell you anecdotally that my brother’s team, his coworkers- their kids did not get accepted to UvA last year even though they were high stats because of the competition from the school. However he has coworkers whose kids did not attend the magnet all school and they all got into UVA because they were top of their regular public school in Nova. Those kids from the magnet school never got into UvA even after deferral. They did not go to another Instate VA school - they are now all attending Univ of Pitt on a full ride. Even if UvA is a safety for everyone from that magnet school- unfortunately not everyone will get into UVA even if they are qualified - how they choose among all the selective students who to accept from there - who knows.
The Jefferson Scholarship process is not run by the university. It is its own separate process run by an outside foundation.(Jefferson Scholars Foundation) Please consider having your son continue with the scholarship competition! And, best of luck to him!
There are multiple Governor’s STEM schools in VA so you really aren’t outing yourself. Both of my kids have attended the one in our area (part time 11-12th) and both were accepted to UVA. When my son graduated 4 years ago there about 80 gov school seniors and there were over 30 acceptances to UVA. While I am sure there were some, I don’t know of any that were rejected. Not sure yet with my daughter’s class this year. There were a few that got deferred ED. I think this has most to do with the rigor of the curriculum the students get by going to that school. So yeah, kids that go to the STEM gov school have an advantage because they take some of the most rigorous courses available in their area.
There were over 100 posts since I last checked in. I’m going to try to address some of the questions, but I’m sure I’ll miss some things.
Yield…We don’t try to determine a student’s likelihood to enroll and we don’t look at whether students from a certain high school have accepted admission offers in the past.
Legacy…OOS legacies were never considered Virginia residents. That was the shorthand way people used to describe UVA’s policy of giving legacies an advantage back in the early 2000s. They were never counted as Virginians in statistics or giving in-state tuition.
Scholars Programs…the first round of invitations to Echols, Rodman, and CSS will go into portals some time this week. I always post an update on my social channels when that happens. There will be a second round (that includes ED and EA applicants) after the RD process. There’s another chance to join once someone is here.
Holistic…this means we review the entire application before making a decision and aren’t just a numbers-drive process. Academics will always come first, but we are looking at course, grades, and trends on transcripts instead of GPA. GPAs aren’t standardized and don’t convey the details needed to make decisions in a selective process. We have to see the courses and grades. I have a lot of posts on the blog and tiktok about this. We also use recommendations, essays, and activities in our decision making. Some students think holistic means decisions can be random, but the review is systemic. It just includes more than GPAs and test scores.
Where we recruit…we don’t leave the state very much. When we do leave Virginia, it’s often on group trips where costs can be shared. We try to get to every public school in Virginia and as many private schools as we can fit in.
Ken Elizinga is still here! This was recorded last year. This is a little older, but it’s cute and short. President Ryan also interviewed him on his podcast recently.
Days on the Lawn…info for the admitted student days is coming by email! One thing to note on the calendar now is the School of Engineering’s Open House is Saturday, April 1st and we’re going to add DOTL programming to the morning so engineers can get to both “events” on the same day. This is one of my favorite days of the year, so I hope anyone who is interested in engineering considers coming!
I’m going to hit reply and hope I covered every thing. Congrats to our new Hoos! Deferred students, be sure to share the defer FAQs with your parent and counselor so they are in the loop. We just need those midyear updates uploaded by you or your counselor (we aren’t picky) by February 24th.
S23 was accepted.
UVa is a school we’ve always liked for our kids; I had family and friends who went to school there. We had a little college trip snafu in the spring that prevented us from visiting Charlottesville (DW and DS had never been to that part of Virginia), but DS liked the curriculum, the location and the academic level enough to apply. He rolled the dice on a somewhat risky application strategy with no true safeties, but he’s happy that he got in at UNC and Uva and how has two great options.
Some stats:
OOS (Intl)
1530 SAT
12 APs
4.0 UW, 4.5 W
Two math Olympic medals, NHS
Captain of the basketball team
Secretary General MUN
Contributor on a published medical paper
My son (1st year now at UVA) also did a morning program at Governor’s school his junior and senior year. We are from a small more rural high school that doesn’t offer a ton of advanced coursework. However, our sister high school in the same county, does offer more opportunities. (Which had us a little concerned.) We were grateful to have the Governor’s school opportunity as my son felt it made him competitive for UVA, even though he was from a small hs. It meant very early mornings and a 45 minute bus ride each way. It was a lot of work but it paid off. I think he was forntatue that he didn’t have to compete with a huge number of high stat kids like some of the NoVA high schools, but on the other hand, the pathway for rigor in a small hs requires a lot of initiative and drive. Typically the only folks that recruit at our hs are the community colleges and Marines/Army, to my knowledge. I am grateful the Governor’s schools provide a pathway for the kids off the beaten path too!
Quick question to make sure I understand correctly. If a student is deferred to RD, and they continue on in the process, then the next decision will either be accepted, waitlisted, or rejected? I keep seeing deferred and waitlisted and want to make sure they are 2 separate things. Thank you!
Yes that is correct
Yes it’s true- all three decisions are options, but it’s just that very little get accepted after being deferred. If you review the blog from last year, very low numbers of acceptances from deferrals.
Yes, thank you. I’m aware :-). Can’t hurt to keep the hat in the ring.
Esp if you are Instate good to stay in the game.
My kiddos both landed elsewhere but @Dean_J I just want to say that your interactions on social media, thoughtful answers and transparency about the entire process is refreshing and welcomed. Thank you!
Yes. Twins in-state.