Deferred from UVA (chances for impossible other schools)

Colleges & Universities University of Virginia
1

Dear all:

I live in Northern Virginia, and I got deferred from UVA. It’s really making me consider my chances for these schools.

UVA (Deferred)
Cornell (RD)
Carnegie Mellon (RD)
UPenn (RD)
Harvard (RD)

Desired Major = Computer Science
Desired Minor = Finance/Business Administration

I have a good resume, except for one terrible SAT II score.

GPA (weighted) = 4.2
SAT Score = 1490
SAT Essays score = 7, 6, 7
SAT II Math = 790
SAT II Physics = 550 (There was a large family crisis around this time, I wrote a letter to the colleges about it).

I have taken 5 AP Courses before my Senior Year: AP World History, AP BC Calculus, AP Computer Science A, AP Language and Composition, and AP US History.

This year I am taking: Computer Science AB (post-AP), Multivariable Calculus (post- AP), AP Literature, AP Economics, AP Comparative Government, and AP Physics C.

I have also taken Orchestra for four years and Spanish for three years.

Activities:

Head Treasurer of Model Orchestra Board for two years
Senior Member of Model UN (ever since 7th grade)
Assistant to Lead Programmer/Mentor of Robotics Team
Last summer our team attended the National STEM Advocacy Conference in order to lobby for Every Student Succeeds Act, Title IV. We also went to the World Robotics Championships last year.
For our current FRC (First Robotics Challenge) competition, I am an assistant programmer specializing in vision processing and debugging.
Creator of CodeCville (one-day coding-fest in my school).
Creating my own club called CARE (Child Advocacy Research and Education).

Community Service/Other Achievements:

Volunteer at a retirement every Sunday since the summer of my freshman year (taken on the role as a co-manager)
I created a program called TechTalks, where I explain various technological marvels (such as Amazon or Facebook) to the residents.
Taught English for two weeks at an underfunded school in India
Did Ph.D. level Computer Science Research at the University of Virginia for a month (summer 2017)
Took a college class as well at UVA, got college credit (got an A on my transcript)
Discussed and Written Public Policy with Congressman Gerry Connolly on the state of our Education system
Wrote a bill that was noticed by Virginia Senator George Barker. Just recently I went to Richmond, Virginia to introduce the bill on the Senator floor, and it passed unanimously (very well might become a law).

Honors:

Academic Honor Roll
Engineering Inspiration/Outreach award/other awards for Robotics
Outstanding Delegation/Best Delegate and other awards in Model UN
Member of 3 honor societies at my school (including Secretary of NHS)
AP Scholar with Distinction
Participated in National Solo and Ensemble Festival for Music twice (got 1’s)

FYI:

I can speak four languages: Bengali (first language), English, Hindi, and Spanish
I can play the violin and have taught myself how to play the piano
I know three programming languages: Java, Python, and R
I previously earned my second-degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
I am going to be the first in my family to go to college in the US.

Is there any hope left?

2

Do you have any safety schools?

3

@GnocchiB I applied to Virginia Tech, UMD, and UNC (Chapel Hill).

4

Just an FYI, UNC is more selective than UVA. Definitely not a safety; if you’re not a legacy, it has Ivy League acceptance rates for out-of-state students.

5

You have an awesome profile and you still have a chance to get in in RD!

You may or may not get into UNC/the Ivies. But I could definitely see you getting into UMD and VT.

Good luck!

6

@lesjubilants Do you know what the stats are?

7

@sciencenerd Thanks! What do you think about UVA?

8

I think you could get into UVA RD as long as your essays were very good. The other thing that’s a little low is your GPA. They usually look for people who have had mostly straight A’s in rigorous courses. Your SAT scores and ECs were better than mine, but I was accepted EA.
My stats:
In state (Richmond Area)
WGPA: 4.7
UWGPA: 3.9
SAT:1310
SATII: Math II (510) US History (540)
Great Essays + Recommendations
Art Portfolio
I think you could definitely get in after they see your midyear grades, but at the same time there are people who are admitted with the same stats as someone who was denied. Also I saw someone else talking about a lot of people from NoVa got deferred or denied, so maybe that’s a factor. I wish you the best!

9

@Alezzu Thanks for the feedback and congrats for getting in!

10

UNC’s acceptance rate for OOS is max 18%. So many OOS kids apply that it is usually more like 14%. Out of 14%, 40% are legacies. So, if you’re OOS, no matter what, UNC is not a safety.

11

You need to meet with your counselor to apply to some safety schools. None of the schools on your list are safeties.

12

@lesjubilants Not sure there is much difference between UVA and UNC for OOS. The acceptance percentage is lower for UNC because they accept fewer OOS, but the scores of OOS UVA admits are higher than UNC. I think @“Dean J” posted that the middle 50% of the UVA22 OOS class has an ACT composite range of 33-35. I agree that UNC and UVA (and Michigan) aren’t safety schools for anyone OOS.

13

@vamominvabeach I also applied to Virginia Tech, GMU, and UMD.

14

Just asking, why did you even submit the SAT II Physics score? It was not needed, in the first place. I’d say VA Tech would be a safety, especially because you’re in-state. They have an acceptance rate of around 70%, and we were really impressed with their programs.
Good Luck!

15

@Essel I didn’t submit it for UVA but I had to for the RD schools, but thanks for the feedback

16

Virginia Tech seems like a match, not a safety. You will probably be admitted but the high acceptance rate noted is misleading when it comes to engineering (and CS is within engineering).

GMU should be a safety. Good luck.

17

Agree, Virginia Tech a match (does not mean guaranteed), GMU a safety. You can never really know what admissions will do based on all the factors they look at we are not aware of however. Best of luck