lets’s say a kid has narrowed things down to these 2 schools and is planning to ED to 1 of them. she is not in state at either (she’s from NJ). she goes to a highly ranked public school, which traditionally for whatever reason has not done well getting kids into UVA (but their ED round is pretty new). she recognizes both will be reaches but she has the grades and scores to have a shot. she doesn’t know what she will major in or go into career-wise, but maybe education or psychology or political science (not business or STEM or medicine). she is outgoing and likes to have fun and is not afraid of a big school. she kind of likes urban environments for college, or thinks she does.
which should she pick if she had her choice? which would you pick?
and if she wanted to play it strategically, which one would she have a better chance at (ED)?
If looking for an urban environment, then Vandy is the choice. Nashville is an urban city, Charlottesville is quaint, small city. Both have surrounding sprawl, and then rural areas.
No out of state high school is going to have a fabulous track record with getting a bunch of kids into UVA. Even in-state is extremely tough.
EDing is a commitment. If she is undecided, then she does not have to ED anywhere. Look at all EA options available.
This is not realistic. She needs to play the ED card to increase chances of admissions. What will make her more certain in a few months? Agree this should just be student’s choice, I would prob go for Vandy as a better location (UVA is surprisingly painful to get to from the Northeast) and my general impression of the schools.
Few thoughts from a parent of a first-year at UVA.
UVA is not urban and if that’s really important, it’s probably not the best fit. UVA does have a great (small) downtown and surprisingly good shopping (good for groceries - Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wegmans, etc.) that other ‘college towns’ do not.
As another poster mentioned, UVA isn’t the easiest to get to. You’ll need to fly to Dulles or Richmond and then figure out the rest of the way. There are direct flights, but they are expensive. Easy if I’m visiting and can just rent a car, but a PITA for my daughter to travel back home. There is train service to the northeast, so that may be an option for you.
The essays and prompts for the app at UVA were some of my daughter’s favorites to write, so was a great indication that its quirky nature was going to be a fit.
UVA OOS is still considerably cheaper than Vandy. We are full-pay family, so it was a $10K-$13K swing more per year at Vandy.
My daughter did apply to Vandy, but ended up getting waitlisted. I have a colleague who has a junior there - and she loves it.
Hopefully, the acceptance rate won’t be as brutal as last year with both schools. At my daughter’s catholic high school in Florida, there were two admits to UVA (both are attending). My daughter is enjoying her time at UVA so far.
she visited Vandy and liked it. We may not have time fora visit to UVA.
test score was 1530 SAT. good enough to send and be considered, maybe not eye-opening these days. That was early Junior year and she opted not to retake it.
mainly brought up this question because she has friends from school who will also be applying to Vandy, prob ED, and she hates the idea of “competing” with them (although I am not sure they have the same qualms).
Charlottesville does have a small airport with direct flights from New York, DC, Atlanta and Charlotte. But, Nashville Airport , of course, has many more flights .
I wouldn’t let the fact that others from her HS are applying to impact her decision. You can’t really ‘game’ these things, because we just don’t know the inner workings of these admission offices. She should apply ED to the school she prefers.
If you put any credence into niche rankings and not saying you should, Vandy is #1 in education and #4 in psych. For UVA Psych is 23 and education not listed.
Agree, ED if it is a top choice and the family can afford it.
The pressure to ED somewhere this time of the year creates other issues later in the school year when some regret EDing and want out. Some folks lose perspective and forget they do not have to ED.
Honestly, that’s not high enough for Vandy, IMO. Competition is fierce from out of state kids esp East Coast these days. Vandy is an “in” school these days so is UVA. Our CG said 1550 was a minimum for Vandy consideration and should ideally be high in both with higher in Math if STEM focused or Vice Versa.
Has she also considered other top schools which aren’t getting a huge increase in applications?
My kid got into Vandy and waitlisted at UVA/then accepted. Didn’t end up at either. The kids who got into UVA had higher GPA’s than test scores ( tiny school and the kids were peers so we knew some stats). Both kids accepted at UVA were scholars but not leaders or into sports. Both went into unusual majors ( hotel management& classics). The Vandy acceptances there were 3 were more well rounded with top grades and super high SATs (all above 1560 according to the online system). No one accepted went to Vandy.
I agree Vandy is a reach but I think it will not be her 1530 that keeps her out, and I don’t think a 1550 or 1560 would get her in. And she would have no chance if she didn’t ED, I’m sure. She has some other things going for her so hopefully it’s enough.
She has plenty of other schools on her list that are more likely. she won’t be devastated. she’s prepared for the rejection.
Test optional application cycles seem to be really skewing the average score ranges for schools. Some very capable students are no longer submitting a 1480 for a T25 because it’s now below the average. To me, it’s completely bonkers that a 1530 isn’t seen as helpful for an application. As that trend continues, the submission ranges may just be 1550 to 1600.
Just tossing in the obligatory cautionary note that at most schools ED acceptance rates are skewed by recruited athletes. Probably noticeably so at a school with average class size of 1500-1800 like Vandy, where there are probably a hundred or more of those kids per year making up a significant proportion of the early decision apps.
For sure. Our guidance counselor and others have told our D23 to put a little less weight in the common data set or published 25-75% ranges schools are putting out, because the numbers are definitely juiced by test optional. They’ve also told her that in a holistic process, there are enough kids from her demo applying to her targeted schools that if she’s anywhere in that range she should be submitting numbers, because she’ll be getting compared to kids who on paper are indistinguishable from her other than in that they didn’t submit a score. Which, for her demographic, is like putting a cover page on your application saying “I had access to test prep tutors and took the SAT three times but didn’t do well.”
