<p>sorry to hear this. I think this situation is common among all State Universities, but considerably less so among private schools.</p>
<p>I think the restrictions regarding transfer among schools is prevalent among private and public universities, particularly in pre-professional programs such as business, nursing, engineering and the like. Transferring to Wharton from Penn’s Arts and Sciences, or to Columbia Engineering from the College are by no means assured. From Columbia’s website:</p>
<p>“If you are enrolled at either Columbia College or Engineering and you genuinely feel that you should attend the other, you may apply as an internal transfer student. Internal transfers must submit the Internal Transfer Application by March 1, 2014. There is no guarantee that you will be able to transfer to a different school.”</p>
<p>To Guillaume – transfer talk stems from the OP suggesting that UVa has unreasonable barriers to majoring in the subject of one’s choice, including nursing, engineering, Commerce and Batten – movement between each requires an internal transfer though competitive application or other approval.</p>
<p>What’s with the attitude M2T? First of all, I haven’t had any input into her applications. I didn’t know about UGuides, or any of her other endeavors until after the fact. Concerning the Batten app: I don’t know what kind of research she did, I only know she is currently taking a course in Batten and was encouraged to apply. I found out after the fact. Had I known about it I still probably would have advised her to apply. You don’t just give up when you have setbacks which is what you seem to think I should tell her to do. “Oh honey, don’t apply to anything where you don’t have a guarantee of in. You can’t be ‘applying blindly’ to stuff”. My point was that UVA (and other schools that have similar policies are not doing their students any favors). The vast majority of schools that I have found do not have policies like UVA’s. Also, she has already moved on and is going with plan B. Her plan A wasn’t to major in Leadership, but to double major. She will now just major in only thing. </p>
<p>As for your example about VT: I read that info on their website and it does say that some transfer applications face an uphill battle because of a limited number of spaces. However, if you had read the section carefully you would have seen that the quote about how competitive it is applies only to the majors that are in the School of Architecture and Design. The Public Policy major is not in that School. It is in Architecture and Urban Studies (one that is specifically NOT mentioned as being very competitive). </p>
<p>I am not sure what to say about your belittling post about “crying victim”. You might call pointing out facts as crying foul. I call it the truth. The fact is that at UVA it is difficult to be involved. Everything is hyper competitive. That isn’t “crying victim”. That is pointing out shortcomings. </p>
<p>@maccenacompton I don’t think your statement about the ubiquitousness of such restrictive policies is correct. I have been searching for 3 hours and have found few examples of the kind of stringent requirements that are being given as examples here. Wharton for example is the only one that Penn mentions as being difficult to get into. Their website info on transferring clearly says that in general it is easy to transfer between schools. </p>
<p>MANY state schools list a GPA of between 1.8 and 1.9 as a minimum to be allowed to transfer between schools. </p>
<p>Minimums, averages and being considered a competitive candidate are different things. There’s a thread about a similar recent disappointment for a wannabe business major at a flagship. And what matters is how one’s particular school decides, not others. </p>
<p>“The fact is that at UVA it is difficult to be involved. Everything is hyper competitive.”</p>
<p>That you continue to assert this “fact” as you know it speaks volumes to you crying victim. It couldn’t possibly be any choices your daughter has made? To focus on competitive clubs /organizations/ programs over non- competitive? To travel on weekends instead of making friends in her dorm? “Everything” is stacked against her? Then it baffles me why you weren’t involved in researching this application decision when you recently expressed serious concerns about her mental well being? Not to say no, but to help manage expectations (even if yours were most in need of management). You certainly jumped quickly on this forum to let everyone know that, one more time, UVa had come up short for your daughter – just a little fuzzy on the facts. Perhaps the energy spent here complaining and spending 3 hours researching online rebuttals could better be spent researching BEFORE you post nonsense on a public forum, such as “Batten is not competitive because it is new.” It is good to hear that at least your daughter has moved on. </p>
<p>@M2T- If you are going to argue a point at least try get the facts straight. I didn’t say “‘everything’ is stacked against her”. I said “'everything is hyper competitive”. There is a difference. I realize it is a subtle difference but it is an important one, and judging by your mutilating the other facts and statements I am not surprised you didn’t catch it or understand it.</p>
<p>I also didn’t say “Batten is not competitive because it is new”. I said “Batten is not TERRIBLY competitive because it is new”. That is a HUGE DIFFERENCE and is completely true. A school like the Comm school is 'terribly competitive" with its low admittance rate. A school like Batten with its 50% rate (or whatever it is) is not “terribly competitive”. And, the reasons according to the articles that I read (and student comments) is that it is because it is new. So, again, my “fuzzy facts” are indeed absolute truths while your comments remain (well I can’t even say what they remain).</p>
<p>What part of “I didn’t know about the application” don’t you get when you say I would be better served
managing her expectations instead of responding to your inane comments. </p>
<p>You should also check the facts before you say stuff like “travel on weekends instead of making friends in her dorm”. First, she doesn’t live in a dorm. Second, she doesn’t go away on all that many weekends any more, and even last year was probably only ~8 weekends out of what, 32 or so?</p>
<p>Finally, she hasn’t done a lot of non-competitive clubs etc because she prefers helping people and feeling productive, to stuff like photography clubs etc. You should try it sometime. </p>
<p>There are a number of majors at UVA which are competitive - Honors Politics (4-6 students), Commerce, Systems Engineering, etc. </p>
<p>There are a number of majors which only have a minimum GPA requirement (most majors in the College).</p>
<p>TV4caster, what I think you are experiencing is what I warn a lot of people about… The fact that everyone who got into UVA is a great student, and so going to UVA and competing with these other equal caliber students is a real eye opener. Not everyone can get that A anymore. Not everyone will be in the top of the class. That is OK, you are still amazing enough to have been accepted to UVA in the first place. There is a certain level of caliber just from that. But if you’re not the top of the top, then that’s how it is, and that just needs to be accepted (or you need to study for 10 hours a day… your choice).</p>
<p>Only the top of the top get to major in the special programs at UVA. That’s just how it is.</p>
<p>I would also point out all of my friends at small private colleges (it’s being brought up a lot I see) had to apply to their major during the initial admission process and really could not switch once they were enrolled. I liked the freedom I had at UVA to take whatever classes I wanted (all of those same friends had schedules prescribed for them for the first year). However they liked not having to apply to their majors. It’s a preference, not one is right and one is wrong.</p>
<p>I also agree with the post that said – many students choose to go to a different university so that they do not have to apply to their given major and face the uncertainty. The ones that end up attending UVa, either they get into the competitive major, or they don’t and they have a back up. It’s not as big of a deal as you are making it. 1/3 of commerce applicants have a back up, yes? There are tons of other students being rejected for majors and it’s not a right, it is a reward to the upper students to have those programs. Keep in mind I am not an advocate for how UVa spends all of its money but they do put more money into these top of the top students for their small elite majors. Unfortunately just paying tuition does not gain you entry into those majors.</p>
<p>I think that UVa is less competitive than you are seeing, just because, as previously pointed out, many people choose a few clubs or activities which are not competitive to be involved with… But the job entry process right now is more competitive than anything I experienced at UVA so I would work with your daughter to help her understand that rejection is going to be a common thing when applying for jobs and it is not personal, it is just how the market is right now. If she can use what she is going through now to help her down the line at least you would not consider it a total waste.</p>
<p>I’ll also reiterate… There are a lot of opportunities in the community to be involved, which are not competitive, and are meaningful. The Discovery museum, computers4kids, etc are all volunteer programs which really need people to come help.</p>
<p>Good luck…</p>
<p>“If the theory is that students could overwhelm the faculty department from another College with the U, then why couldn’t a department within any of the other schools also get overwhelmed? If double the normal number of kids suddenly declared basket weaving as a major the Univ. would deal with it. Same thing with too many declaring EE vs MechE.”</p>
<p>Just to clarify, within SEAS you are NOT guaranteed your desired engineering major until you declare/apply at the end of your first year. There are in fact limits on engineering majors and not everyone gets their engineering choice, especially the more competitive ones such as Systems or BioChem. The university does deal with it - by limiting enrollment in the programs. </p>
<p>On a side note, we also looked at Cornell. Its policy of easy transfer between programs and colleges was a huge selling point - and something that we found very unique to Cornell. In the end though, Ithaca was just not the right fit. In stark contrast was our local state school who has an excellent 5-year Engineering/MBA program which far outranks the undergrad engineering program. However, you have to apply in your 2nd year and only 10% of applicants get in - the rest must finish their undergrad BSEng. Even though my son was accepted as an honors student, he didn’t like the risk factor involved since that program would be the only reason he would have picked that university. So he passed there as well. </p>
<p>I do hope your daughter can find her niche and enjoy and succeed in her college experience. But of course in the end she needs to be driving it. There are more than 1000 organizations listed in the university directory, hopefully she can find a few that are a good match for her. Sometimes it just takes a small success to feel positive again.</p>
<p>TV4caster is getting beat up pretty bad here. It is REALLY tough as a parent to see your kid going through the stress of an unfavorable college experience. Both of my kids attended Virginia. One thrived, but for the other it was not a memorable experience (academics was not a problem). This still pains me because college is supposed to be some of the best years of our lives. In our case, our daughter thought Virginia was the only place for her. I think it was mostly because of the perceived status of UVa and the fact that I am a legacy. In fact, it was the only place she applied. In hindsight, she likely would have been better off at a smaller school like W&M or Mary Washington. I empathize with TV4caster. His anger and frustration is understandable. Please give him a break and join me in wishing that his daughter finds a path that will make her remaining time at Virginia a more positive experience.</p>
<p>I agree, Robertr, let’s tone down the conversation a little.</p>
<p>This discussion highlights the need for everyone to have a backup plan, and to spend time finding some non-competitive activities where they can feel comfortable. Then again, it is valuable for young people to experience some disappointments, so that it strengthens them for more serious challenges ahead. Some people feel that some modern parents have tried too hard to constantly protect their children from rejections and disappointments, which is not good in the long run. </p>
<p>At the same time, competitive academic programs should be as straightforward as possible in providing information to potential applicants about the difficulty of admission. Applicants also need to realize that essays and extracurriculars at times can be deal-makers or deal-breakers in admission. </p>
<p>I just got an invitation to apply to Madison House’s Alumni Board… There are interviews after the initial application… Just thought it was funny considering this thread. (Not applying.)</p>
<p>Madison house is the only thing she has done so far. Great group! Last year was the Childrens Museum and this year it is SPCA</p>
<p>sorry – misread something – ignore this!</p>