in-state female...chances for RD?!

Colleges & Universities University of Virginia
1

<p>hi everyone, congrats to all who made it in ED! i wish id done it early…oh well. please be brutally honest:</p>

<p><em>IN-STATE</em> (in NoVA)</p>

<p>SATI: 2130 (740V, 690M, 700W)
SATII: 700 literature, retaking literature and math 1 tomorrow
GPA: 3.5 (i know it’s disgustingly low. it would be a 3.7ish without junior year, when i had an exceptionally bad case of mono and missed a lot of school/had difficulty catching up)
-my school doesnt rank, my counselor says im in the top 20%</p>

<p>courses: 7 APs, the rest honors except chem and physics. 4 years of spanish
ap score: 5 on psychology, 2 4’s and the rest 3’s</p>

<p>other stuff:
-national merit commended scholar
-school newspaper 10-12; opinions editor
-yearbook staff
-varsity swimming 9-12; captain this year
-year round competitive swim team 9-12, 10+ hours/week
-summer swim team; MVP, assistant coach
-keyette club
-fellowship of christian athletes
-unicycling showtroupe (weird, i know) 9-11
-piano lessons- 12 years. (PS- is it really beneficial to send a music sample?)
-camp CIT(counselor in training)- summer 2004; one of 25 chosen from 200, based on person evaluations, merit, staff recommendations, etc… at a YMCA sleep-away camp in new hampshire (camper for 8 years previous)
-JV lacrosse 9-10
-NHS application pending</p>

<p>volunteer stuff:
-“EXCEL” tutoring- program set up to tutor elementary school kids
-various things here and there, probly 40ish hours… retirement home, “LINK” food drive, church-related activities
-elementary-school math club… “helper” ?</p>

<p>WORK:
-summer lifeguard- past two summers, 40-45 hours/week
-fitness center lifeguard/desk attendant- 11th grade, 10ish hrs/week
-barnes and noble booksellers- september-now, 16 hrs/week</p>

<p>i know uva is big on GPA, but do any of you think they might be a little forgiving based on the mono? one of my teacher recs mentions how dedicated i was to catching up once i returned to school…staying in for lunch/after school etc. my essays should be fantastic, ive gotten good feedback so far. also, my sister is a second-year there right now…i dont know if that matters or not. oh yeah and also, 14 people from my HS just got in ED…doesn’t that mean theyve pretty muched reached their “quota”? (last year, 19 people total were accepted; 16 the year before that.) and i am really done rambling now. any responses would be appreciated, and please say so if you think it’s too much of a long-shot, thanks !</p>

2

<p>Low chance for UVA. Your GPA and rank are simply too low. Where else are you interested in going?</p>

3

<p>boston u, va tech maybe, u of maryland. my school doesnt rank, UVA won’t see my percentile at all… all theyll see is the bad gpa. dont they look extensively at the essays? i know its too late to do anything about it but i just thought there could have been cases when they lifted their strictness about gpa; ive heard them telling people to mention any illnesses/traumatic events that kept their GPA down</p>

4

<p>most of the 14 people who’ve gotten in from my HS so far had 3.7s…only a few with 3.8s or above. which is lower than the average acceptance i think. will i even be considered?</p>

5

<p>They might like the unicycling. Could be a hook. Plus your sister as a second year might help.</p>

6

<p>like Cav said, your GPA is too low. They probably hear stories about illnesses a lot worse than mono so that may even sound like an excuse. Your sister going there won’t help because siblings don’t count as legacies. The one thing to keep in mind is that people with a lot lower stats have gotten in before so it can’t hurt to apply!</p>

7

<p>i recommend that you send in a music supplement…i just got in ED and did one for piano and flute (12 years piano also) and the band director called me and told me they sent a really strong review to the admissions office…in a previous meeting with the director, he told me they can make special requests to get the musicians they want…won’t hurt to try!</p>

8

<p>i thot i would have been lucky, cuz i did a music supplement on the tabla, a indian percussion instrument. i thot it was unique and all…got deferred</p>

9

<p>Grades and student quality vary by school as does UVA’s GPA cutoffs. Whether your grades are good enough depends on the high school that you attend. Your high school counselor should be able to give you a good idea of your chances based on your school’s prior history with UVA. UVA admits 200+ students each year from TJHSST, obviously, they are not all high in the class. UVA also goes much deeper into the classes at competitive private schools. Just because a school doesn’t rank students, doesn’t mean UVA cannot accurately estimate where a student ranks. UVA receives a class profile from non-ranking high schools, and they work with the same schools every year; they have a good handle on a student’s class rank.</p>

10

<p>thanks for the responses, congrats roanoke on your acceptance! anyone else?</p>

11

<p>while having a sibling at the university doesn’t make you a legacy, i think if your sibling does extremely well at the university, its going to help you. there’s a reason why they ask on the application “do you have any other siblings and where do they go to college.” my sister was a lawnie my senior year. obviously the school knew that my sister was on her game and figured it runs in the family.</p>

12

<p>jags, I suspect that maybe, maybe if the adcoms had a choice between two identical applicants one with a sibling at UVa and one without that they would take the one who had a sibling there. I seriously don’t that the adcoms have time to figure of whether or not your siblings a doing “extremely well” here.</p>

13

<p>well if you’re a lawnie - which is the greatest honor you can get at the university - the admissions people would probably atleast know the name, theres only 54 of them and they’re all involved in enough stuff to be recognized. So in this instance I would say if you have a sibling at the school who does extremely well - then yes it can be advantageous. Extremely well doesn’t mean having a 4.0…</p>

14

<p>I don’t know that I would call being a lawnie the greatest honor you can have at UVa. There are a lot of people who do well at UVa who don’t even bother applying to live on the lawn. Again I doubt admissions even knows the names of the people living on the lawn.</p>

15

<p>I definately would call it the greatest honor. True not everyone applies, because mostly only people who have a shot at getting on it apply. If you apply to live on the lawn and have a 4.0 and do nothing, you definately won’t get on it. It involves how important to the university you are. For the school to recognize you in this way, is definately the greatest honor. I’d venture to say, 95% if not all of the 4th year leaders live there. But this is a stupid argument to have, as you can’t prove it, it’s just an opinion - I’m just going to consider this to be done with.</p>

<p>Besides the point, considering how liberal people are at thinking what the admissions officers do look at and are willing to consider, if you’re borderline, and they see you have a sibling at the university, why wouldn’t they see how they’ve done? Like I said, there’s a reason why they ask where your siblings went to school in the application. If it made 0 difference, why would they ask for it?</p>

16

<p>wow, ive never heard of lawnies or any of that before. thats awesome that your sister was one. but putting my sister aside, how realistic(or unrealistic) are my chances? a friend of mine got accepted from my high school in '01 with a 3.5, but im guessing the university was less competitive then?</p>

17

<p>You always have a shot, admissions committees are wacky. You do have great SATs but like I said, I don’t know how much admissions committees around the country, let alone UVa are going by those scores. Also, I think something like 86% of either accepted people or people who attended UVa last year were in the top 10%. So if you figure everyone OOS was in the top 10%, you’re chances might be a little better then that number dictates. I’ve seen several instaters who didn’t have phenominal highschool stats at the school. For you it might depend on how many people from your highschool applied this year, and how of them did better than you. If 10 or so people applied and they’re all have better GPA’s than you, you probably won’t get in. If only 2 applied and you have the better scores i’d say you have a decent shot. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

18

<p>haha college is stressful, im going insane. thanks jag for all your responses! lots of people from my school are applying…14 already got in ED. they probably have better GPA’s than i do but i’m pretty sure my sat’s are higher. but it seems like uva’s looking more at GPA, so i guess ill just have to wait and see. thanks again for posting :)</p>

19

<p>i dunno. only four people got in ED from my school…one person had a really high/ really low 3.8 one had a high 3.8 and the other 2 had a high 3.9. thats unweighted. weighed they were something like 4.1, 4.2, and two 4.3s. I’m one of those people. :smiley: I’m so excited and I wish you VERY much luck. You never know what happens with admissions. Keep working :)</p>

20

<p>wow congrats! where do you go to school? im guessing instate since several people applied early</p>