<p>Isn’t 60 out of 300 top 20%?</p>
<p>Humm exactly clas84.</p>
<p>Yes, you are right clas84>>top 20%.
leebg91, I’m proud of you for apologizing to HHD. Well done!
On the other hand, I’m concerned about your class rank. OOS admission to UVA is very, VERY competitive. For OOS, I think you at least need to be in the top 5 % of your class. Maybe even top 3%.
You have some interesting EC’s and interesting family/cultural background, and perhaps this will work in your favor. But I’m still concerned about the rank. Others will post, I’m sure, so let’s see what the consensus is.
Also there is the geographic diversity question and I’m not sure how New Jersey works at UVA. I have one good friend who is from NJ, so, dunno?</p>
<p>I know–I was just making sure that kknight knew!</p>
<p>kknight, I think, is up for the Jefferson Scholarship, yikes! Oh well, we’re all human, just messin’ with you kk! Best of luck with your interviews!</p>
<p>I think the math testing isn’t until the finalist stage.</p>
<p>Hah! KK, still just messin’ with you! I never got nominated for the Jeff, best of luck to you!</p>
<p>ahaha, it’s okay. Mental lapse.
I’m not very good at math, but this normally shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>I wish I had an excuse.</p>
<p>But I found out if I’m a finalist today or tomorrow. And even if you weren’t nominated, you’ve already proven yourself, you made it in.</p>
<p>I’m glad math isn’t the focus.</p>
<p>Good luck Kknight!</p>
<p>My daughter has her second regional interview tomorrow. She’s not a math scholar either.</p>
<p>She’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I had mine a week ago, it’s a little different than the first. A lot of the questions are more general. I had:</p>
<p>If we went to your school, what would other students say about you?
How has your style of leadership changed over time?
How do you think the U.S. is viewed by the rest of the world? (then what would you do to change it)
Who do you admire?</p>
<p>Most of the rest were either followups to those or on essays, although all the other candidates I’ve spoken to said the second interview had almost nothing on essays.</p>
<p>I think you can find a lot of good advice/questions if you search on this forum -I can pull some up if you want. At the same time, if you just focus on yourself, how you lead, what you lead, and what you want to lead, you’re okay.</p>
<p>Good luck! The interviews are pretty relaxed. The interviewers are the nicest people I’ve ever met. So far, I’ve had them in one of the committee members’ houses each time -the houses are HUGE. One of them took up four numbers on the street, and the other had a sideyard as big as my entire house.</p>
<p>Not to mention the backyard. I didn’t know sideyards existed.</p>
<p>KK and clas84 you are both great sports, and nice people, from what I gather! Best of luck, it sounds exciting, but tense. Please let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>kk, thank you so much for the great info. D’s interview will be downtown in a law firm conference room. I think the first interview focused a lot on her essays and ecs. She had a panel of 7 alums, but said they were all very kind! I imagine this one will be more probing in how she thinks and with a different set of people (maybe). </p>
<p>Powderpuff–you have the sweetest personality. If my D ends up at UVa, I would love for her to meet you.</p>
<p>Thanks! I wish I could say I was being modest, but I don’t know if I’m that cool. Even though I’ve been accepted SCEA somewhere else, if I make it into UVa, I’m definitely going.</p>
<p>clas84 - Hopefully your daughter’s interview went well! It’d be amazing to see everyone at the national selection weekend.</p>
<p>Ah shucks, clas84; if your daughter ends up at UVA, I would love to make her acquaintance! Good luck to everyone with the Jefferson interviews!..nail biting…</p>
<p>I hate to hijack this thread, but thanks for the good thoughts. Interview was very challenging!</p>
<p>Lee:</p>
<p>Thanks for your apology; I appreciate and accept it.</p>
<p>This discourse is divided into five distinct parts to enhance readability and to allow for multiple CC postings if necessary.</p>
<p>PART 1.</p>
<p>I don’t care for “chances threads”, and normally don’t post on them. The primary reasons are threefold. First, all I or anyone else (other than a UVa Admissions Counselor) can offer is an opinion which has limited value, due to a lack of firsthand knowledge concerning your finished application package, and the related need to make assumptions and speculate about matters that will likely be pertinent to UVa’s final decision to offer, waitlist or deny. Second, in providing this opinion, we could give bad advice, raise false hope or inadvertently discourage someone like you about possible admission to the University. Third, the information and data that I (or anyone else) should use to inform my/our opinion is available (mostly from UVa related web sites) to anyone who is willing to take the time and make the effort to ferret out the material. FWIW, I believe it’s much better for aspiring UVa students to dig for and digest this material themselves, and relate it to the specifics of their own college application, than it is for someone like me to summarize its contents and hypothesize a possible outcome for your UVa application. However, since I promised you my input regarding your chances (based on the qualifications you stated and my understanding of UVa’s process), I submit for your consideration the following analytical assessment of your admissions’ prospects to UVa. Please don’t be offended by any of this discussion, and feel free to disregard anything you find objectionable if you disagree with either my facts or conclusions.</p>
<p>In summary form, here is how others have described (correctly I believe) the most important criteria that factor into the vast majority of UVa’s admissions’ decisions. Obviously there are selected cases where different factors predominate, based on other important and overarching institutional needs and/or goals.</p>
<p>“What UVa really looks for are mostly A’s and some B’s in very challenging courses, great essays and recommendations, involvement at a significant level in activities, and good scores. The Admissions’ Deans say this at all the public sessions, and the Alumni Association echoes it.”</p>
<p>These criteria are also listed on the University’s Admissions’ web site with a prefacing statement that says: “We focus on the following credentials …..”</p>
<p>Let’s evaluate your UVa application prospects using the summary statement above, as well as the relative importance of some of the Academic and Non-Academic factors the University used in making first-time, first-year, degree seeking freshman (FTFYDSF) admission decisions for their 2007-2008 incoming class that enrolled in the fall of 2007.</p>
<p>PART II.</p>
<p>UVa considers these four Academic factors “Very Important” in admissions decisions:
1)Rigor of Secondary School Record; 2) Class Rank; 3) Academic GPA; 4) Recommendations.</p>
<p>Let’s assume for the sake of discussion that your Recommendations are outstanding, and focus on the other three factors, using known data for FTFYDSF who were offered admission last spring for the 2007/2008 academic period.</p>
<p>Rigor of Secondary School Record: I do not know enough about the specific curriculum at your high school to reach any meaningful conclusions here. I would strongly suggest that when you apply to UVa your GC should include with the School Profile and his/her recommendation a discussion of the overall difficulty of your school’s curriculum, and an assessment of how the classes you took compared to the most rigorous academic track available. In any instance where you took a less demanding course load than what was available to you, a note explaining why you chose to take what you did (sort of like what you explained in answer to my question about AP courses your Junior year) probably should be included. The bottom line here is that UVa is looking for you to have taken challenging classes (subject of course to what was available to you) and to have done well in them. The more challenging the curriculum the better; and the more exemplary your performance better yet.</p>
<p>Class Rank: Your rank after your sophomore year was just below the top third (33%) of your class. That’s low by UVa’s admission standards. You project that it will rise to the top fifth (60 out of 106; 19.61%) by the time you submit your college applications. That’s better, but still could stand more improvement. Of the students that UVa offered admission to in 2007, 87% were in the top 10% of their HS class, and another 7% were in the next 10% of their class. Note that these percentages include both In and Out of State applicants. I don’t have data that shows Class Rank separately for IS and OOS, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that the OOS Class Rank percentages may be higher.</p>
<p>Academic GPA (Unweighted): Your cumulative Unweighted GPA is 3.48, with an upward trend (3.2/3.4/3.84). The upward trend is certainly good, and the 3.84 isn’t bad either. If you maintain the 3.84 your Senior year, you would be around 3.57. Here is how your Unweighted GPA compares to students who received offers from UVa in 2007: 85% had GPA’s above 3.75; another 9% had GPA’s between 3.50 and 3.74; and the next 3% had GPA’s between 3.25 and 3.49. Thus, 94 % of students offered were above 3.50. As with Class Rank, this GPA data combines In and Out of State applicants. Thus, the Average Unweighted GPA for OOS students could be higher than the above figures.</p>
<p>PART III.</p>
<p>The other two Academic factors UVa uses in admissions decisions are Standardized Test Scores and the Application Essays. These two factors are considered “Important”. </p>
<p>Again, for discussion’s sake, we will assume you write outstanding essays. Please note however, that UVa’s essay standards are VERY HIGH. A “well written” five paragraph, three point essay won’t do anything to set you apart from the crowded field of applicants. Here is how UVa Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Parke Muth describes such essays:</p>
<p>“Ninety percent of the applications I read contain what I call McEssays - usually five-paragraph essays that consist primarily of abstractions and unsupported generalization. They are technically correct in that they are organized and have the correct sentence structure and spelling, but they are boring. Sort of like a Big Mac. I have nothing against Big Macs, but the one I eat in Charlottesville is not going to be fundamentally different from the one I eat in Paris, Peoria or Palm Springs. I am not going to rave about the quality of a particular Big Mac. The same can be said about the generic essay. If an essay starts out: “I have been a member of the band and it has taught me leadership, perseverance and hard work,” I can almost recite the rest of the essay without reading it. Each of the three middle paragraphs gives a bit of support to an abstraction, and the final paragraph restates what has already been said. A McEssay is not wrong, but it is not going to be a positive factor in the admission decision. It will not allow a student to stand out.”</p>
<p>So I suggest that you take Parke’s comments to heart when drafting and crafting your UVa essays.</p>
<p>Standardized Test Scores: You have strong SAT scores – 800 in Math, 750 in Reading, and 760 in Writing. Congratulations. These test sores put you above the 75th percentile for students who were offered admission to UVa in 2007. Those 75th percentile scores were 720 in Math, 700 in Critical Reading, and 710 in Writing. Again, these UVa figures are averages that include both In and Out of State students. The OOS numbers are most likely higher, but your scores are still quite good IMO.</p>
<p>PART IV.</p>
<p>To shorten this dissertation (yes, I hear those “Amen’s”), let me just briefly mention the Non-Academic factors in the UVa admissions process, listed by their relative importance. I will leave it to you to evaluate your application prospects as they relate to these factors.</p>
<p>“Very Important” Non-Academic Factors: First Generation College Student; Alumni/ae Relation; State Residency; Racial/Ethnic Status.</p>
<p>“Important” Non-Academic Factors: Extracurricular Activities; Talent/Ability; Character/Personal Qualities.</p>
<p>These Non-Academic Factors are “Considered” in UVa admission decisions: Geographical Residence; Volunteer Work; Work Experience.</p>
<p>These Non-Academic Factors are “Not Considered” in UVa admission decisions: (Personal) Interview; Religious Affiliation/Commitment; Level of Applicant’s Interest.</p>
<p>When you prepare your Application Package for UVa, I encourage you to think through each of these Non-Academic factors, and tailor your narrative discussion(s) to those that tend to strengthen your overall resume if you will. Don’t sell yourself short in any of the areas listed above, regardless of their “relative importance”. Translation: there could be more than one gospel in some instances, depending on an individual applicant’s profile and particular strengths. [Note: that last conclusion is pure conjecture on my part, totally lacking any authoritative written basis in fact.]</p>
<p>In 2007, the University received 18,046 applications from FTFYDSF; ultimately 17,798 of these were deemed completed applications. There were 10,910 applications from Out of State students; 10,708 of these applications were considered completed applications. UVa offered admission to 2,924 of these Out of State applicants, an 27.3% acceptance rate. This number was slightly below their average historical offer rate for Out of State applicants. The average historical offer percentages for OOS students applying to UVa as FTFYDSF are as follows:</p>
<p>Average Last 3 Years (2005/2006/2007): 30.03%
Average Last 6 Years (2002 thru 2007): 30.15%
Average Last 8 Years (2000 thru 2007): 29.70%
Average Last 16 Years (1992 thru 2007): 29.59%
Average Last 18 Years (1990 thru 2007): 29.22%
Average Last 28 Years (1980 thru 2007): 28.64%
Average Last 31 Years (1977 thru 2007): 28.81%</p>
<p>PART V.</p>
<p>We’ve discussed the most important criteria UVa uses to make admissions decisions, and considered how your present and projected academic record compares in several respects. We haven’t evaluated the relative strengths and weaknesses of your application in many non-academic areas, but if these areas are fully developed in your application package, they could improve your chances for an offer from UVa. The bad news is you still have some work to do to make your UVa application more viable. The good news is you have another year to build a stronger track record before your application is submitted to UVa.</p>
<p>In summary, I think you have a competitive academic and non-academic history, and I encourage you to apply to UVa next January. If I was to make a guess (and that’s all it is) where you stand right now, I would put your chances for being offered admission to UVa at somewhere between 2 in 10 (worst case); 4 in 10 (best case); and 3 in 10 (most likely). These estimated probabilities depend heavily on you making your application as strong and as genuine as possible. Prove to the Admissions folks that you can do the work, and allow your personality and character to be manifested throughout your UVa application. Let the Admissions’ Deans know what makes you special, and what you will bring to the University if offered admission. Put your best foot forward in every aspect of your application. Then let the chips fall where they may.</p>
<p>Some would say your chances aren’t especially good – that these are really long odds. Yes, they are formidable; but in my opinion they are not insurmountable.</p>
<p>There’s a story you most likely learned when you were much younger. Your bible may tell it somewhat differently than mine, but the outcome and moral are probably the same. It’s about a young man named David, an Israelite who undertook a gargantuan challenge when others (including his older brothers) lacked the courage and conviction to take on an opponent of great stature. Armed only with a slingshot, five smooth stones, personal determination and faith, David chose to fight a battle from which the other Israelites had fled, and which few, if any, thought he could win. You know how the competition turned out. With a single stone the young man slew the giant Goliath, to the surprise, delight and adulation of his fellow Israelites.</p>
<p>David won a great triumph for himself (and his countrymen) by seeing opportunity when others saw only adversity. He succeeded where others had failed largely because he was willing to engage in the contest, he was confident in his abilities, he was determined to do his best with what he had to work with, and he was content to leave the rest to the Lord.</p>
<p>With all due respect, that’s how I suggest you approach applying to the University of Virginia. I wish you Godspeed with your UVa and other college applications.</p>
<p>Footnote on Financial Aid at/from UVa: I have no useful information on that. Sorry.</p>
<p>Correction for typo in Part II under Class Rank:
60 out of 306 = 19.61%, not 60 out of 106.
Oops, my bad. Sorry.</p>
<p>thanks alot</p>