UVA Early Action Thread: Class of 2023

I seeM to recall this last year with UVA. I don’t think the financial aid and admissions are linked and I don’t think you get financial aid decisions with the EA admission from UVA.

When will the decision come out? End of January???

Last year admissions decisions were released on 1/25. Dean J announced it on her blog and I believe via twitter a few hours before decisions were released. IIRC, if the FA application was submitted by Jan 1, we received the FA awards information about a week after the admission decision. But you can apply for FA until March 1 and receive the award some time before the commitment date. Applying for FA by Jan 1 just lets you know the award earlier in your decision process.

About holistic admission at UVA: http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2017/01/uva-admissions-holistic-review-and-gpa.html

The follow up to the rank stat is correct. The stat only includes those whose rank was reported. 57% of the class last year had no rank. The percentage of applicants who were ranked is published every year alongside the rank stat.

To see this:

  1. Go here: http://ias.virginia.edu/university-stats-facts/undergraduate-admissions
  2. Click on the third tab.
  3. Scroll down to the rank chart.

wait, so when are admission decisions going to released?

probably end of january @bellab5

The holistic deal. I don’t understand it I guess. Our D attends a selective, rigorous private school. Mostly white. No ranking. Naviance shows virtually no students accepted by UVA with less than an SAT of 1400 and a GPA of at least 4.0 including VA students, regardless of extra cirriculars. Our private SAT tutor, very experienced and consultant said, yep, that’s what your in state D needs to even be a coin flip at UVA. William & Mary is exactly the same. Maybe that is holistic and I misunderstood “holistic.”

@LANYLA I’m happy to answer questions, but I don’t really see one? Anyone consulting scattergrams would see a correlation between decisions and data. It would be wrong to assume a rule is in place, as we are talking about correlation and not causation. Keep in mind that if you are at a private school’s data, you are looking at relatively small numbers.

@lanyla If you look at the data website that Dean J references earlier on this thread, you can see average SAT scores by major of accepted UVA students.

I have pulled these numbers of the middle 50% from the first year class entering 2018:

-Architecture: 1305-1455

-Arts & Sciences: 1320-1495

-Education: 1290-1420

-Engineering: 1400-1530

-Nursing: 1230-1440 (at most schools, nursing SAT is HIGHER than the school average. My guess is that UVA is weighing demonstrated nursing interest/experience more heavily with these admissions. Just a guess…)

Overall: 1330-1500 (overall mean 1404)

Clearly, they do NOT require a minimum SAT score of 1400, as roughly 50% of their class is UNDER that score.

essays and ECs play a part
recommendations

@“Dean J”

Thank you for all the work you do here.

If I’m an applicant, and my school reports class rank, is it possible that puts me at a disadvantage versus a school that doesn’t?

GPA/rigor/ACT being equal.

I go to a rigorous public school. Approx 400 students in our class. I had a 3.86 after junior year and roughly a 4.1 weighted. (9 APs across all 4 years - max I was allowed to take).

My rank is 121 (our school uses unweighted gpa to rank). If I was at any of the other 4 high schools in my county, I’d be at/near top 10%.

I’m truly curious how much class rank matters? Basically the top 150 kids at my school are all separated by a minute fraction from a GPA standpoint.

I believe that UVA definitely uses a holistic approach but a student still has to show that they can handle the classes at the university. UVA classes are tough and require a lot of work and admitting someone that they do not think will succeed is just setting them up for failure. Holistic doesn’t mean that you can have a low GPA or test score it means that one single item that is not the highest will not decide if you get in or not. My daughter had a few students from her class get in UVA and some had scores in the low 1300’s but they also took around 15 AP classes and had good grades in them with 4’s and 5’s on the AP test. In these cases it was obvious that the students could handle upper lever courses they just did not test well. UVA also wants students who will make a difference at the University and the essay can help them decide. A student could have a 1500 SAT but if the essay doesn’t come across right then they may not get accepted. Every year these boards have students with test scores in the 1500’s that didn’t get in. Like Dean J says they do not only accept students in the top 10% of their class but the students they accept also happen to be in the top 10% many times but if only half of the students have a class rank then this does not really mean much. They cannot admit everyone that goes to a competitive school but they will admit the ones that have made the most of the opportunities given to them. A small rural school may not have the same opportunities but the students who excel at those schools will still have a good chance of getting accepted. If you read these boards you will see students with high SAT scores or grades not get in and ones with lower test scores or grades(low for UVA not low in general) get in. It really is a holistic approach from what I have seen.

Arts and Sciences
Weighted GPA: 4.1
Unweighted GPA: 3.85
Class Rank: 65 / 375
ACT: 32 composite / 34 superscore
8 AP’s: Calc AB / Psych / Enviro / Lit / APUSH / Bio / Lang / Geo

Extracurriculars
Captain of Dance Company
President of National Honors Society of Dance Arts
NHS Club Member
HOSA-Future Health Professionals Club Member
EMT (training course) / do monthly ride alongs with fire department
Part-time job at local restaurant
Volunteer at Eye Care Clinic (100+ hours)
Student Council (junior year)
Founder of HS and Junior HS Food Pantry

@dancejosie For what it’s worth, I have found college admission outcomes virtually impossible to predict. I’ve seen people get into schools others with objectively better transcripts/resumes didn’t get into, and then not get into their “probables”. “Holistic” review means “you never know.” So just wait and - breathe.

@vamom I have seen that data and without granular information for these students it tells me nothing. I refer you to the lawsuit filed by Asians disputing Harvard’s “holistic” process for guidance. Many thanks, though.

Does legacy make a difference as far as acceptance? I am a double legacy at uva (grandad and dad both alums) and I applied EA. Honestly I feel kind of bad because I know few people have that kind of advantage and I did nothing to deserve it (if it is actually an advantage)

@adaniel From their website:

“There are multiple components of the application; the academic pieces (e.g. curriculum, grades) are considered the most important. The legacy tie is a positive supplement to your application, and while impossible to quantify, legacy status is an important consideration in the deans’ application review. Being a legacy is not reason enough to gain admission to UVA. Every student who gets accepted to UVA does so on his/her own merit.”

So yes, it’s an advantage

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2018/07/legacy-applicants-admitted-to-at-nearly-two-times-the-rate-of-non-legacies-in-2018

@adaniel You have legacy status because of your parent (not grandparent). My daughter was an OOS legacy applicant 2 years ago and is a very happy second year student at UVA right now. She was a strong candidate, but I do think the legacy “hook” was a helpful factor (just as URM, first in college, etc.). If you read the article above, legacy applicants had “marginally better test scores and grades than non-legacy applicants.” Many colleges and universities are looking for strong yield too and I bet legacies provide a very high yield. That being said, I have a few friends whose legacy kids were not admitted. It can help but it is not going to be the main reason for acceptance.

@LANYLA I’m not sure I understand how the lawsuit against Harvard provides guidance here?