N.Va. College Applicants Face Extra Hurdle

Stresst · 04-13-2008, 10:54 PM

N.Va. College Applicants Face Extra Hurdle

Pretty interesting article that touches on admissions in Virginia and at UVA briefly. Thought some may want to read it

Quote:

On the role of geography in admissions, JMU's Egle said, "We are interested in the best high school students from all of the regions across the state." Greg Roberts, associate dean of admission at U-Va., said through a spokesman: "Our primary goal is to enroll an academically strong and diverse class of first-year and transfer students each year. As a state institution, we are interested in enrolling students from all areas of the commonwealth."

Quote:

In the meantime, some Virginia lawmakers have called for tighter limits on the number of out-of-state students. But the higher out-of-state tuition, $8,693 this year at JMU compared with $3,333 for in-state students, helps pay faculty salaries as the state government grapples with lean budgets amid a difficult economy. The governing boards of each state university in Virginia decide how many out-of-state students will be admitted. At JMU, the ratio is 70 percent in-state and 30 percent out-of-state.

Quote:

"I have been frustrated by this for many years," Meier said. "We have such wonderful state colleges, but it is so difficult for our students to get into them."

galoisien · 04-13-2008, 11:15 PM

It feels kind of strange reading this as an OOS student.

brkr · 04-14-2008, 01:18 PM

lol....same..

VAGrad0812 · 04-14-2008, 07:19 PM

I read that the other day. I guess being from NOVA is like being OOS. I wonder what the NOVA admission rate is.

rcc0324 · 04-14-2008, 07:43 PM

I don't think being from NOVA is a big disadvantage at all... 48 kids from my school got into UVA last year. This class is simply the top of the bubble and there are a lot of students applying for a limited amount of spots this year. I don't think the difficulty of getting into college now is limited in any way to NOVA and in-state schools, but to the country as a whole.

As for the student in the article, he had a low GPA with high SAT scores. I really don't think colleges like to see this because it shows that a student is smart but they don't work as hard. He might not have done an effective job of conveying his reasons for the low grades his first two years. I don't think this one example at all demonstrates what applying to college is like in NOVA in general.

I don't know, that's just me.

db123 · 04-15-2008, 08:55 AM

Quote:

out-of-state tuition, $8,693 this year at JMU compared with $3,333 for in-state students

holy moly. JMU's out of state tuition is comparable to UVa's in state.

Miru · 04-15-2008, 09:40 PM

That kid (from the article) must have a pretty inflated opinion of himself. Woop-de-doo I got a 2270 and NMS as well, that doesn't make me an automatic acceptance anywhere decent. One has to fill out the rest of their application nicely, and that includes writing good essays and showing that your ECs mean more to you than just one more item on the list. I can't say I buy the whole fantasy story writer thing either ... if he was actually any good and sent in an example of his work, he probably wouldn't have been denied all those places. I hate it when communities believe that they have some genius and then, when their "genius" falls, they go and exaggerate all of his qualities to make it look like the colleges made the mistake. Sorry about the rantiness, but I've seen this junk one too many times.

Gangsturr123 · 04-18-2008, 09:07 PM

that kid goes to my school!!!! EVERYONE is talking about it!

Gangsturr123 · 04-18-2008, 09:08 PM

i think this shows how much colleges look at your entire gpa, including freshman and sophomore years, although junior year is stressed especially.