hzhao2004

I have never seen anyone comparing UCSD to Georgetown and Dartmouth.

bluebayou

of course you are correct about the ranking part, xig. But what CMC's cooking did was look good to the Prez and board and alumni). Sullivan coulda done the same home cookin' and made everyone feel good.

Anyway, back to regular programming. No one willing to comment on the latest rumor and innuendo (classics and german)?

According to ipeds, there were 2 graduates in German last year, and 18 in Classics.

jc40

UVA deserves it's ranking as the #2 public in the nation -- it's not overrated. Its students are among the brightest. 2/3 of the student body is from IS, and it is well-known that Virginia public schools consistently rank tops in the nation (ex: TJHSST). Furthermore, the OOS students at UVA typically have SATs surpassing 2200 and have offers from other top 20 schools. The Echols/Rodman programs draw very high stat kids away from other "prestigious" institutions. These kids love the weather, tradition, school spirit, and overall vibe UVA offers. (My D and her friends, for instance, turned down schools like Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, Wake Forest, Dartmouth, Cornell, Emory, Notre Dame, and even Columbia.) UVA is also unlike the other publics mentioned in that it's not large which is another appealing factor to many. It's comical to me those who are trying to bash UVA right now. Your motive of trying to advance your own public is transparent and try as you may, it simply won't fly -- the academic caliber of the student speaks for itself:


Berkeley -- 2030; avg. GPA 3.83; 98% top 10%; acceptance rate 21.5%
UCLA -- 1950; avg. GPA 4.22; 97% top 10%; acceptance rate 22.7%
UVA -- 2020; avg. GPA 4.19; 91% top 10%; acceptance rate 32.6%
UMich -- 2020; avg. GPA 3.79; acceptance rate 50.6%
UNC -- 1940; avg. GPA 4.5; 79% top 10%; acceptance rate 32.5%
W&M -- 2015; avg. GPA 4.0; 79% top 10%; acceptance rate 31.7%
UWash -- 1795, avg. GPA 3.75; 92% top 10%; acceptance rate 56.8%
Wisc -- 1925; avg. GPA 3.72; 57.7% top 10%; acceptance rate 56.5%
UIUC -- 1970; 52% top 10%; acceptance rate 67.1%
UT -- 1865; 73% top 10%; acceptance rate 47%
tOSU -- 1850; 55% top 10%; acceptance rate 68%

rjkofnovi

"(My D and her friends, for instance, turned down schools like Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, Wake Forest, Dartmouth, Cornell, Emory, Notre Dame, and even Columbia.) There are only two other publics I can think of that can boast the same."

This happens at every top public. UVA is not unique in that regard.

rjkofnovi

"The Echols/Rodman programs draw very high stat kids away from other "prestigious" institutions."

Paying top students to attend happens at other top publics too.

rjkofnovi

"UVA deserves it's ranking as the #2 public in the nation -- it's not overrated."

I think your ex president disagrees with you.

barrons

Don't they say the portion of the brain governing judgment is far from fully developed at 17-18? ;-)

Discovery Health "Teenage Brain Development"

sevmom

rjkofnovi,Just for the record-there is absolutely no money attached to Echols/Rodman.

jym626

I have a healthy respect for those who are honest with their opinion, even if it costs them their job.

rjkofnovi

"rjkofnovi,Just for the record-there is absolutely no money attached to Echols/Rodman."

My error. It appears that students are informed after they have matriculated that they are echols scholars. Not sure how that works with students who are drawn from other universities to attend UVA, as jc40 indicated.

xiggi

In addition to the fact that it does not happen with the regularity that some would like to believe, it is not THAT relevant. Studying a class of freshman though the lens of the top 10 or 25 percent yields a fuzzy view of the school.

The real story is told in the bottom half, or even in the 0-75th percentile. That is where you can see the real difference in the student body and how the selectivity impacts a school. The same difference that separates the schools on the bottom half of the first page of the USNews from the schools above them as there is little to no overlap in student body between the first group and the second one.

The fact that some brilliant students turn down highly selective schools does indeed happen, but there are always very good reasons behind the choices: and those reasons are often related to finances as opposed to academic choices.

As an example of the difference between reality and rumor, I point to the eternal debate between Cal and Stanford. The rumor mill would want you to believe that MANY students do turn Stanford to attend its Bay area rival. The reality is that no more than a handful of students accepted at both schools do finally ENROLL at Cal, a school that does not even show up on the cross-enrollment radar screen of Stanford.

goldenboy8784

UVA is a top 3 public school along with Cal and UCLA. I'm not sure what is left to argue.

beyphy

Basically this. I've heard of people turning down Caltech, Harvard, and Yale for UCLA. Is it because UCLA's the "better" school? Of course not. It's usually due to some personal reason such as UCLA being more enjoyable, or wanting to live close to home. I'm sure the same could be said for Michigan, Berkeley, etc.

There are very compelling reasons to go to Stanford. I mean, a B at Berkeley is an A at Stanford, right?

A "B" in Berkeley is an "A" at Stanford

jc40

No, rjkofnovi...They're told a day or two after the acceptance letters go out that they were chosen. There is no application -- it's simply based upon the profile of the student (typically top 5-8% of applicants). They still have the month of April to decide.

True, but it doesn't happen with the same frequency at every public. One can infer, based upon the stats above, that there are a much larger number of top 20 "contenders" at the top four publics.

Xiggi...I would agree that few would choose Berkekey over Stanford. I doubt there are many that would chose UVA over HYPS for that matter (except for the Jefferson Scholars perhaps). However, I know of NUMEROUS kids at UVA who chose it over schools ranked 10-25. There was simply something that resonated with them or they were IS kids who considered it to be a better value.

rjkofnovi

"UVA is a top 3 public school along with Cal and UCLA. I'm not sure what is left to argue."

Not according to the outgoing president at UVA, who should well know how the school stacks up with it's peers. After all, she was the provost at The University of Michgan just before taking on the presidency in Charlottesville. You can take the argument up with her, a world class administrator. By the way, what are your qualifications that prove her wrong? In the meantime, you're right, there isn't anything left to argue.