I have a 3.9 out of 4.0 GPA
-I take all honors or AP classes
-I got accepted into a summer program at harvard to take a courses with undergraduate and graduate students, which i will complete this summer
-i am in the mock trial committee, service committee, and Newspaper for my school
-I am running for class president
-I got accepted into an internship at John Hancock
-I am a huge part of one of the towns Park and Recreation figure skating program
-I am a competitive figure skater at one of the top clubs in MA
-skated in Stars on ice tour
-compete at national levels
-planning on skating for college’s skating team
-my coaches are one of the top coaches in the world
-harvard collegiate coach is my coach
-related to a president of a big college
-TONs of service at several locations throughout boston
No one here, not even I, can predict the outcome…especially with one line about your academic program.
Your counselor can probably advise you better than we can at this point. They’ll be able to look at your academic progress and talk with you about trends they have seen.
My son is a second year OOS and he was admitted with a 34 ACT. I also have a son who was admitted ED to Duke this year. Both are in the colleges of engineering. Consider focusing on the SAT or ACT only and dropping the subject tests. Since SAT subject tests are optional for UVa, you don’t need them and with your busy schedule it would be best to focus your efforts on the essentials. At this point (end of your junior year) your energy is best spent this summer working on your college essay(s), and activities descriptions. Hopefully, as you stated your last attempt on the SAT would have concluded in May and you won’t need to take any standardized tests senior year. Since senior year is so busy, I strongly suggest that you not take any standardized tests unless you are unhappy with your May SAT score. Also realize that many colleges don’t like applicants to take SAT or ACT more than three times, and twice is preferred. Once senior year starts it’s important that you maintain your gpa despite the heavy workload of college apps, activities, and course work. If you’re applying EA to UVa, which will maximize your chance of admission, they will want to see your first quarter grades. Working on applications in the summer pays off big time in the fall. Good luck, you have some activities to be proud of and with a thoughtful and introspective essay, you’ll have a strong application.
I would take the ACT it is more reliable and in my opinion the better test. 23.6% were accepted OOS if I remember correctly (I’m OOS). I did mock trial and was editor of the paper and I got in. It’s not a travesty if you are denied, waitlisted, or deffered. With that record you’ll succeed. FOCUS ON FINANCES!!! I chose UVa because they came in clutch with aid.
@“Dean J” That’s right. That is why I asked if it is weighted or umweighted. I took 9 AP courses in high school and had over 3.75 weighted but unweighted GPA was pretty terrible which is probably why I got rejected to second tier colleges despite high SAT and solid EC activities. I don’t know if it’s because I’m more knowledgeable in public college admissions but I came to appreciate high GPA regardless of the rigor. Admissions always emphasize what you just said but the truth is, there are plenty of students still taking advantage of easy courses to breeze through and get high GPA just because it looks good and it works, which probably isn’t true for top private universities but it’s still something of an importance.
It seems like you assumed that I was speaking only in terms of GPA; I was not. Only thing I needed to know was whether GPA was weighted or unweighted since everything else is written there. Therefore it is given that I took them into account. I asked that because, like I previously mentioned, I have experience with many AP courses. This student is saying all courses are either honors or AP which means there could be a high difference between unweighted or weighted. Honestly, that was just a precautionary advice in a form of a question. This student is overqualified for UVA otherwise and s/he is more than likely to know that. I appreciate the advice though!
This process is long and can be all-consuming. I think that’s why many students feel they are experts after going through it. I see so many assumptions made and bad advice given here by well-meaning folks who don’t have the right information. That’s why I’m here. I’m the only expert on UVA admission who comes to CC and I won’t even guess about chances because there just isn’t enough information provided.
There is no way to know whether OP is going to have a successful application with the information provided. We know nothing about the school, grading practices, or GPA methodology, and very little about OP’s academic progress through core subjects (“all honors and AP” can mean many different things). We don’t know about recommendations or how OP writes. We have wisp of information.
It’s college admission, not rocket science. You should be able to give a clearcut answer; repeating “it is too complicated” just doesn’t cut it. There are literally millions of applications being processed and the results are fairly clear. I understand that the admission’s doesn’t want to admit that it’s mostly just numbers because I know they spend a lot of time trying to analyze other factors that matter just as well but the evidence is just too obvious for them to hide in the “too complicated” argument. You are right in that it is not 100% but that is always given and there is no point in pointing that out except to preemptively defy any arguments that might lead to such inaccurate conclusion. I think it is pretty evident that no post is saying that other factors do not matter; we’re working with what we’re given. I think it’s more appropriate to say that there is a high (if you can’t accept this, than highER) chance of this applicant being admitted than average
We were at UVA about two weeks ago for a campus visit. During the information session, the asst. dean said that the acceptance rates for out-of-state students is around 25%. I forget what the in-state rate is, I want to say something like 44%. She said that while 2/3 of the students are in-state (required, because it is a state school) and 1/3 are out-of-state, the application distribution is the opposite (ie, 2/3 of applicants are out-of-state).
No way of knowing whether one particular person will be accepted or not because of all the factors that go in to making that decision. But knowing the percentages is always interesting, IMHO.
My OOS son did not know about the difference in UVa admit rates for in-state and out-of-state until a few days before EA decisions came out. The prior summer, we had looked up the admit rate in Barrons or something similar where of course the overall average admit rate is provided. While I was hanging around CC a week before decisions, I learned of the different rates for OOS and IS and tried to prepare my son for probable bad news. We even had a discussion about perhaps he should not have applied. He was admitted EA. He just finished his second year in SEAS. This is an unpredictable process, but do not be discouraged from applying. For all the colleges on your list, build an application that reveals who you are and how you think. There is a right fit for you and for them. You’ll be fine.
To clarify, I have not heard of any evidence that an applicant to UVa gains any competitive advantage by filing an early action application. It is a good idea to file EA for most students, but you will not be more or less likely to be admitted. If you are borderline as EA, you will be deferred for another consideration in the regular admissions pool
It is a different circumstance at many other universities, where there is a major admissions advantage to applying early decision or early action.