<p>Alright guys, as most of you know I really want to go to UVA. After getting destroyed by the SAT (I got an 1820 and cried for days) I just got my ACT back and got a 30! I know this isn't up to CC standards but most people I know are looking at it with awe. However, I don't care about most peoples opinion lets get to the point.... What do you guys believe I need to get on the ACT inorder to have a good shot at UVA OOS... I'm aiming for a 33 on the next one which is probably attainable but I just want to get some feed back.
Thanks for the help guys.</p>
<p>you, my dear, need to chill the hell out.</p>
<p>tbh there is nothing wrong with being over zealous ;o. Lol I just really want to go here and would like advice.</p>
<p>I don’t want to sound harsh, but a 30 OOS won’t come anywhere close to cutting it. (Even if you had a 4.0 and several APs…it simply doesn’t reach the benchmark for OOS.) Shoot for a 32+, and you might be a contender depending on your GPA. Study/prepare and retake both the ACT and the SAT several times over the summer and this fall (if necessary) and see if you can’t do better on at least one. (Aim for above a 2100 on your SAT.) It’s REALLY competitive for OOS as I’m sure you know!</p>
<p>Thanks for the respons Jc40 this is what I wanted to hear. I know I have to improve and I wanted to hear that… I definently know I can get a 32+ but I am really aiming for a 33+ which is my goal. I’m not taking the SAT again… I got a 1820 first try with studying and a 30 on act with not much studying. This summer I’m doing some hardcore studying but I’m hopping to break the 33 mark by june (I would die if I got a 33 or higher in june! would be crazy!)</p>
<p>Don’t give up on the SAT just yet. I scored a 1700 on my first try but I ended up with a 2130 after much practice and several retakes. I also scored a 30 on the ACT, twice.</p>
<p>30 is a good score, I love your enthusiasm, if anyone on this board deserves to go to
UVA is you!</p>
<p>Wow thank you Wahoomb. Once I app to UVA I’m going to write a long passage about my journey to UVA; why I love the school, and what I’ve done since I was young knowing that I knew I wanted to go to UVA.
Well I’m going to begin intensive studying for the ACT. I WILL get a 33+ if it’s the last thing I do…</p>
<p>Not to cause you more angst, but my oos son had a 34 and was denied. That doesn’t mean that the same will happen to you, just be sure you have more than one school that you would love to attend.</p>
<p>Yea I mean I know UVA is a dream but I’m remaining confident. I’ve taken all the hardest classes at my school, 2 languages (latin and spanish), and have worked at the same job for 4years (15hrs p/w during school year, 30hrs p/w during summer). I mean I’m really praying on getting into UVA. I’m going to basically apply to all top 20 schools as safetys (I just need to get into 1) But getting into UVA would be a dream come true.</p>
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<p>lol oook</p>
<p>interesting perspective</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^ yeah I found that real interesting too…</p>
<p>I just dont think you can get in… Its just the facts…</p>
<p>Congrats, UVAorbust. If you could show this passion and enthuasim to admissions, you be fantastic. Some many, by the numbers, look fantastic. There has to be an edge to someone that stands out on a different level. Wishing you the best.</p>
<p>UVorbust
your enthusiasm won’t be enough but your essays, references, work history and transcripts are weighted heavily.<br>
in your corner: UVA staffers actually read essays and value them…this is not a state school that uses numbers only as cutoffs.<br>
not in your corner: Mere enthusiasm for UVA won’t be enough. We all get misty eyed at the sight of the Lawn. Seriously. What is not to love.</p>
<p>in your corner: students with real job histories for cash and work ethics are respected…you don’t have to be in a lot of extra curriculars to impress, do a couple of things well</p>
<p>I am not dissing your 30. That is a point better than I did on first try at your age! </p>
<p>However, as an experienced parent, please consider this advice. Ditch your screen name and ditch your one school or bust outlook. I have watched too many OneSchool screen name students crash and burn…and the students I am thinking of always incorporated their dream school name into their IDs. </p>
<p>A new neutral screen name for the next 12 months allows parents and current students to speak to you fairly and rationally about your applications. There is nothing more annoying to a student at another school than to get questions from someone named UVAorBust. Why? </p>
<p>All the current college students have been through the “system” just like you. Did they have crush colleges? of course! Your love for UVA is no less than my son’s preoccupation with the Big Green five years ago. (Reject! and he was in their top quartile in all categories!) Your love for UVA is not less than the crushes and many students on many other institutions. Perfectly normal to adore a college…</p>
<p>But they had realistic assessments of themselves and they developed intimate contact with their MATCH schools. My son was perfectly happy to attend his match colleges and spent more time on them than on his reach colleges. Attending classes at a match college…helps you realize you will still be working your **s off at said Match College under the eyes of faculty members with the same credentials at Crush College. </p>
<p>You need a handful of schools that are quite likely to let you in as Match schools. And you need to visit them and to sit in their classrooms and to imagine yourself being part of the BeTrue2YourSchool outlook at your match colleges while still pursuing your admission to UVA.</p>
<p>This is the key to a psychologically healthy year, a year where you can cheer for and support your friends as they are disappointed or as they get lucky, and a year in which you end up next April proud to attend either your match or reach college.</p>
<p>OOS to UVA is a REACH COLLEGE for everyone. You are distinctly at a disadvantage at this point.</p>
<p>On an encouraging note…my son who went to Duke upped his SAT scores by 200 points October of his senior year. He was frankly just too immature and lazy to wake up and get test ready till his brain approached age 18. Obviously, we were mentally ready for him to go to his match colleges and focused on them for good reasons based on his junior year test scores and reality based thinking. </p>
<p>In the end, he was rejected by his Ivy crush but got into two great reach colleges and into his wonderful state flagship colleges with honors. I would say that the College Board would have pulled his scores for cheating suspicions but he had nailed some very high SATIIs as a junior. In fact, you better be sitting in on the May and June SATIIs if you want to have a trajectory similar to our son’s. He woke up about spring of Junior year and started showing up uber prepared for these exams at the last minute. </p>
<p>I wish you open doors and happy outcomes.</p>
<p>^^^^One of the most constructive pieces of advice that I have ever read on CC.</p>
<p>UVAorBust…I hope you will take it to heart.</p>
<p>I’m chiming in too. UVAorBust, please heed Faline’s advice. I’ve read all of your posts, including the one in which you said you didn’t want to visit any other schools, even though your parents are urging you too, and you need to, maybe, breath deeply into a paper bag and broaden your scope.</p>
<p>Figure out what it is you like about UVa (we’re talking tangible things – not "the Rotunda is so beautiful and Lawn rooms are so cool!) and seek similar characteristics in safety and target schools as well.</p>
<p>The UVa denial letter said this year that they now turn down many qualified applicants who would thrive at UVa (including my would-have-been-third-generation legacy, in-state son who had a 31 ACT, took 10 AP courses, is an AP Scholar with Distinction and interned in the U.S. Senate and worked during the school year for the Drug Enforcement Administration.) </p>
<p>I’m glad your enthusiastic. Obviously, I think UVa is a great school. But please, please be realistic. Pay attention to the advice on these threads. Or, as Dean J might say, get off these threads. Live your life!</p>
<p><a href=“including%20my%20would-have-been-third-generation%20legacy,%20in-state%20son%20who%20had%20a%2031%20ACT,%20took%2010%20AP%20courses,%20is%20an%20AP%20Scholar%20with%20Distinction%20and%20interned%20in%20the%20U.S.%20Senate%20and%20worked%20during%20the%20school%20year%20for%20the%20Drug%20Enforcement%20Administration.”>I</a>*</p>
<p>oooooh. Wow. I know that hurt. As a Virginian, my heart goes out to our deserving instate applicants, yours included. Virginians can’t assume anything when it comes to UVA or Wm and Mary re admissions odds. The OOS students also can assume nothing.</p>
<p>Hope your great son is saying yes to a great institution this month, and that he will love his new mentors and friends at said college.</p>
<p>Duke gets an extraordinary number of kids annually on the boards with blue devil names and obvious blindness to the level of complexity that makes up the Duke community and the Duke admissions process. We also watched people who put Vandy first and had Vandy names end up not getting in this year where they had a 13% RD admission rate…it was in the high 30s just five years ago. </p>
<p>UVA is also a very complex community with multiple missions. That said, any one of my son’s match colleges would have worked him and challenged him and been a tough academic experience. You must fully appreciate and love and respect your match colleges…bottom line.</p>
<p>I freely admit that our son was momentarily “hurt” when he didn’t get into his crush college, despite all the evidence that hundreds of top stats kids were simply not getting a chair…he is only human. Most people will “attach” to a college emotionally for reasons that are not rational.</p>
<p>But for his other reach colleges…and for UVA…it is best to assume a waitlist or rejection and keep moving…and hope for a happy surprise among your favorite colleges.</p>
<p>He was floored to get into Duke and another reach college. Never expected it. Your goal is to be at the point where you respect your match colleges so much you are actually sad to decline admission to them in April.</p>
<p>Faline, I want to copy what you said into every thread UVAorbust has ever made.</p>
<p>Just to piggyback on the other valid points made, UVAorbust…I appreciate your passion to get into Uva, I imagine the prospect of college is very exciting for you, as it is for many. But your passion is bordering on obsession, and nothing good can come of this if you do not get accepted. Take it from me, I am trying to transfer to UVa. I know straight off the bat that the numbers are not in my favor no matter how good a chance I think I have…more people are choosing public schools these days and applications increase year by year. I am optimistic that I will get in, but if I don’t, that does not say anything about me as a person, nor does it diminish the accomplishments I have made. Would I be disappointed? Yes, I have lived in Virginia my whole life and have seen UVa as the “Gold Standard” so to speak, and the prospect of joining such a prestigious university is very appealing to me. If I get in, I will be super excited. But the point I am trying to make is that you have to exhibit some level of neutrality and composure, otherwise the process will just take over your life when it shouldn’t.</p>
<p>Alright guys you have given me some amazing responses. One thing that is definintely on my side is that I got to a NY Jesuit Prep school which is looked highly upon. I know UVA is a reach for everyone OOS which really hurts… The thing is, I’m kind of stuck. I love UVA and really don’t want to give up my chances of not going. However, I know if I app to a school that is easier to get into ED, (such as duke) I will have a much better shot then if I wait and app Regular decision. Anyone got any advice on this matter?</p>