I’m not sure either. It just seems strange and the kids know this (“no one gets in to UVA unless you’re an athlete”). One of those kids that UVA rejected, just got accept to Vandy. UVA seems pretty transparent in all their communication, but Tulane also says they don’t practice yield protection and everyone knows they do. So it could very well be that our school has been softly blacklisted
“No one gets into UVA unless you’re an athlete”
My daughter was accepted and hasn’t played a sport since grade school!
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I think she was referring to her school only.
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There are so many very well qualified OOS applications to UVA that people will be disappointed. Many more OOS apps than instate. Getting into Vanderbilt and not UVA, or vice versa doesn’t seem unusual. Best of luck with where your child lands!
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A few years ago my niece got denied from UVA but accepted at Duke!
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My neighbor’s son got rejected at UVA EA and was accepted at Brown…there are tons of these thru the years and expect more as the number of applicants trends up.
It’s always been tough out of state but to go from a 43% acceptance rate IS 4 yrs ago to 27% this year for EA is an eye opener. Hardly a safety for anybody anymore
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My son is in the college of engineering and has had an amazing experience as well. Very grateful for the friendships etc and happy memories he’s made at UVA
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Any idea when echols comes out?
Dean J said this week via email. I’m sure she will announce as well.
Looking back through the blog, last year a blog update was posted at the same time as Echols was announced, ~10am on the Wednesday after EA decisions. Theoretically it should be soon then 
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This is such a great and accurate post, especially as it relates to being an in-state Virginian for UVA. The admits vs deferrals from our school rarely surprise me when the whole context of the transcript is considered. We do not get the whole context here on CC. For example, in a prior year there was a defer then reject of a student with a 3.9UW and 35 ACT and 5 APs, which for IN state seems surprising on the surface. Parents super surprised and annoyed. No one “in the know” was surprised. The kid had taken the ACT several times with multiple tutors to get several points higher than the original high-20s score. UVA would not know that, however, the typical kid with a 35 from this school qualifies for honors all 4 yrs and takes the hardest APs. Moreover: the kid’s weighted GPA put them in the 4th decile, and they had done very few honors or AP in HS compared to other kids who typically get in --their course load was essentially average, where from our school almost all admits are 3rd decile and above AND have to have outstanding rigor.
Bottom line: DeanJ and her team can figure all this out by looking at the transcript and knowing the school; they are extremely transparent in what they look for/expect in applicants.
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Also if you look at Dean J’s post above, there is literally no mention of test scores and for what is emphasized in their admissions criteria test scores are like 4th or 5th. So someone trying to get a high GPA without academic rigor and higher scores isn’t paying attention to what UVA is asking for…
Scholars program invitations are going out this evening!
Notes from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars Notifications
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GPAs are fairly meaningless. I have a school in my docket where 78% of the class had over a 4.0 at the end of junior year. You have to look at every courses taken and every grade to understand a student’s preparation. It’s not just about counting advanced courses. The individual courses matter.
This was a really long post where I went through a transcript as if I was reading app. It flopped, probably because it’s boring if you don’t have to make a admission decision, but it gives you a sense of how detailed the review is.
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Is the scholars program open to Kinesiology majors?
First line of the blog post has the answer:
The Office of Admission reviews all applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars.
Thank you for your response! From the post, I would assume the scholar program does not apply to Kinesiology since it is within the College of Education. Your posts are so appreciated!!
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I also appreciate how you answer questions specifically- not giving more or less information than is asked😊
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Does this surprise you? In state; 3.9 UW; 4.4 W; 1550 SAT (only took it once with no tutor); 11 AP classes (most AP classes were advanced math, chemistry and Physics, not Psychology or
basket-weaving) and 2 Dual Enrollment classes (multivariable calculus and linear algebra); school is one of the top high schools in Virginia. Got a deferral…go figure…Duke or UNC, here we come!
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Not enough info to tell, especially as I am not an admissions officer looking at the whole file and full transcript. There is no way for anyone on CC to see how the app compared to apps from the same school. Good luck with Duke and UNC, or any other option pending!
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