UVa ED and Affirmative Action

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
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<p>I applied ED for UVa. Im curious as to what yall will think of my chances. Here are some highlights:</p>

<p>Top 5% out of 550 size class
3.9 GPA
Several Ap/Honors/Pre Ap classes throughout school
Excellent Musician (first chair UT summer music program, Texas State Solo Ensemble Contest, other awards exceeding half a page)</p>

<p>All State Debate (varsity for 4 years, numerous awards, championships, national bids, etc. List exceeds half a page)</p>

<p>NHS, SHS, Homecoming Court, Debate Team Captain, Marching Band Section leader, Model United Nations, Football (fish year only), Church Technology Assistant, great recommendations from counselor, coach, band director.</p>

<p>Killer essays. Everyone who read them gave them amazing praises. Non Stock, Original, funny, and everything you could ask for in one. I wrote 3.
(if you wanna see, pm me)</p>

<p>The BAD part.....590 CR 550 M 580 W on Sat. I took NO sat subjects. YEAH.</p>

<p>However, I am about as minority as you can get. I am a hispanic male from san antonio, texas. Not many (none, to my knowledge) from my school have attended or applied to UVa. Affirmative Action, as UVa states, places me in consideration as a legacy admission or a lucky son of a gun whos parents donated money to the school.</p>

<p>So what do yall think my shots are?</p>

<p>(Sats BAD, Everything else GREAT, plus ive got AA going for me.)</p>

2

<p>I don't know...those SAT scores are kind of low....you should definitely try though.</p>

3

<p>I think you're in. You've got the goods where it counts--the SAT is only a very small portion of the application, and the one that adcoms are the most forgiving of minorities for. You're probably taking my spot. I hate affirmative action, as well as legacy and development admits. >(</p>

<p>Anyway, you deserve to be admitted. The SAT is stupid and I think it should be abolished. If it had been, you'd be in no matter your race.</p>

4

<p>Is the GPA weighted or unweighted?</p>

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<p>its weighted, but so is everyone elses at my school......</p>

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<p>I would disagree on SAT's being a minor thing, their a big part of UVA admissions. Of the 15 or so kids who applied last year from my school, six of those who had 3.8-3.9 Uw didn't get in. thenthere were also those with 3.2's who got in. the big difference: Verbal scores. As an admissions officer told me, these is the most imprtant number because it affects so closely how well you do your freshman year. I would recomend you work on the verbal. If you can hit a 670, you're in.</p>

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<p>Even if SATs are not minor, and even though I have ZERO SAT II's, everything else is still very strong. So the question remains, what impact will affirmative action have on my decision?</p>

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<p>I read an article by the Washington Post about UVA and the preference it may give to Southern Virginians over Northern Virginians. The article also mentioned the preference minorities may get. Hispanics, apparently, receive little if no preference in admissions at UVA; African Americans, on the other hand, receive much preference. This is just what I read from that Washington Post Article.</p>

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<p>Here is the Link: <a href="http://www.loper.org/%7Egeorge/trends/2003/Jul/956.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.loper.org/~george/trends/2003/Jul/956.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>I originally read this article on the washington post's website, but I couldn't find the link on that website.</p>

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<p>HAHA. WP seems to be wrong. I just found a study about this. It basically says AA is big at UVA AND OOS apps arent BRUTAL</p>

<p><a href="http://www.ceousa.org/docs/virginia2.doc%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ceousa.org/docs/virginia2.doc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>• Whites and Asians admitted to the University of Virginia (UVA) have roughly the same verbal SAT scores and high-school ranks. Asian admittees on average have higher math SAT scores compared to all other groups. On average, Hispanics admitted to UVA have slightly lower verbal scores and high-school ranks, and somewhat lower math scores, compared to whites and Asians. Test scores and high-school ranks for black admittees in general are much lower compared to the other groups. The gaps among racial and ethnic groups are smallest for high-school ranks.</p>

<p>• UVA frequently rejects many white, Hispanic, and Asian applicants with higher test scores and high- school ranks compared to black admittees.</p>

<p>• For all racial and ethnic groups, in-state applicants are admitted with lower test scores and high-school ranks compared to their out-of-state counterparts. </p>

<p>• On average, out-of-state blacks are admitted with substantially lower test scores and high-school ranks than are in-state Hispanics, Asians, and whites. </p>

<p>• There were many in-state Asian, Hispanic, and white applicants rejected by UVA despite better test scores and high-school ranks than the average out-of-state black admittee</p>

<p>Hispanics may have slightly lower test scores and class ranks compared to asians and whites; however, they are not given as much of an edge as African Americans. I think the Washington Post is right in saying that black applicants receive much preference, and hispanics receive little if no preference in admissions.</p>

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<p>Tuba guy I don't think your chances are that great, you should certainly apply but UVA is a reach. Your SAT's are pretty low for OOS. A 3.9 weighted is not that great, particularly for out of state. You don't say what type of high school you go to but judging by the size I'm assuming it is a public one which makes your rank a bit less impressive. As the previous poster noted, AA applies mostly to black applicants according to the WP article and the study you cite.</p>

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<p>Which school do you go to? I'm from SA-town also! :-)</p>

<p>HCHS</p>

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<p>How come there is only 2% Hispanic?</p>

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<p>UVA is approximately 3.2% hispanic. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/stats&facts/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.virginia.edu/stats&facts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There's not much more room for the hispanic percentage to grow before that group is equally represented, given that virginia's hispanic population is approximately 4.7%.</p>

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<p>Well.....the university wants diversity, but that doesnt mean they want to reflect the hispanic status quo in virginia. 3% is still low, and it makes no sense to strive for diversity but be bound to the status quo....especially since it isnt high to begin with. Even if thats not so, 1.7% more is still a little bit more room for a mexican.</p>

<p>I dont live too far from HCHS. My friend naveen penmetcha goes there. I go to Robert E Lee, which is about 7 minutes away from the medical center....going down callaghan.</p>

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<p>I know of him...lol....that's cool.</p>

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<p>Re: Washington Post Article:</p>

<p>The article does, however, have a sidebar that points to a WaPo web page with more and revealilng information on in-state applications. In-state blacks are admitted at a much higher rate with much lower test scores. 69 percent of black applicants were accepted, and their average SAT scores were 563 Verbal/545 Math. 48.4 percent of Asians were admitted with average scores of 626/660; 50 percent of white applicants with SAT scores of 643/647; and 49 percent of Hispanics with SAT scores of 623/619. By comparison the SAT scores of the 48 percent of Northern Virginians who were admitted were 644/651. The averages from the 54 percent who were admitted from the rest of the state were 626/618.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.discriminations.us/storage/002125.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.discriminations.us/storage/002125.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/education/specials/uva_chart.htm?nav=hptop_ts%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/education/specials/uva_chart.htm?nav=hptop_ts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Tuba Guy, please apply! believe in yourself! write a stunning essay!</p>

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<p>I already applied ED! This was stated in the first sentence in the first post in this thread.</p>