<p>
[QUOTE]
The honor is more of a commendation for work done in high school. Without doing reasonably well at UVA, it's worthless. I've seen glorious success and epic failure at UVA, but it's all been a product of my own effort; none of it has been influenced by the Echols program.
[/QUOTE]
I'd love to forward you some calls from people convinced that the key to UVa is being in this program. :)</p>
<p>Cav-thank you for a clear and thorough explanation of how Echols REALLY works. Choose UVa for other reasons!! I cringe every time I read that someone is either considering UVa because they got Echols...or rejecting UVa because they did not get Echols. From what D has seen, it is a non-factor, with the exception of having first chance at a couple of highly requested classes. To weigh it against H and Y as a meaningful factor is kind of painful to even have to read!</p>
<p>Fair enough, thanks Cav.</p>
<p>echols is even more just an honor now considering the removal of priority registration over everyone. Those students entering fall 07 and later only get registration over their own year so the one true benefit of the program has been eliminated. </p>
<p>Cav's explained it pretty well so there's not much else to say on it.</p>
<p>My son is an Echols scholar, and the great advantage to him is that he's taking the classes that truly interest him - therefore, he's doing very well academically. He also has the 'license' to try courses that he may have not taken otherwise. </p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter, gadad. Let us know what she decides!</p>
<p>aww... this is kind of anticlimatic
oh well, i chose uva for other reasons
stanford dosn't really have a non-existent business program for undergrad, but their grad is sweet, which is what I am considering. Tuition isn't that much of an issue as the distance from home, I have a small brother who is just going to 1st grade, and I can not bear the thought of leaving him for months on end. Asian family, what can you do other than love them.</p>
<p>If Echols was actually a merit scholarship, even a partial one, I might have considered UVA more seriously... but ultimately I think Princeton will be a better academic experience for me.</p>
<p>I think if someone gets Echols, they should give UVA a bit more consideration, just because it gives them that freedom of education. But, I don't think it should outweigh other factors that would prohibit someone from attending (money, don't like UVA, distance, etc). On the other hand, if someone isn'g selected for Echols, I don't think they should write off UVA. UVA has plenty of pros and cons without the added factor of Echols.</p>
<p>Now, Jeff Scholars, are a different story. Being a Jeff Scholar, there's really no reason not to attend unless UVA just doesn't fit.</p>
<p>Lol Ceebee... I'm glad Princeton will be a better academic experience for you. We were dying to know.</p>
<p>Eh, don't forget that Echols Scholars have no gen ed requirements. That was one of the things I loved most about the program. And that my year got grandfathered into priority registration before the entire College. =)</p>
@“Dean J” Then what would you tell someone who got accepted to and is considering UVa but didn’t get into the Echols Scholar program? Is it not worth attending if you’re not in the program?
@Kate126, I think my comments from 2008 are still accurate on this one. Obviously, I think UVA is a pretty fantastic place regardless of scholar designation. 
Echols/Rodman/CSS don’t “make or break” the UVA experience.
Oh sorry I guess I was just a little confused cause you said it didn’t make or break the UVA experience but you also said it was the key to UVA
95% of UVa undergrads (including my son who is a recent grad) have a perfectly fine experience without being Echols or Rodman. Echols provides some nice benefits that are “icing on the cake” but the U. as a whole is a great academic and social experience.
Ah, what I said was that I wanted to put Cav on the phone with the people who call us convinced that the key to UVA is being Echols.