In many threads people have stated that it is more difficult to get into Virginia state schools if you live in Northern Virginia. Do folks here think this is true, and if so, what are the reasons that it is harder? Does it make a difference if you are at a public or private school or a magnet school like TJ?
The reason it is harder is basically down to the density of high-achieving students clustered around the DC area- they could easily fill the whole class from NoVa, but they are under pressure to make sure that the distribution of the student body reflects the state as a whole. I heard a top admissions person from UVa say to a class of NoVa students, ‘basically we start with TJ and move on from there’, but he also went on to say that between the private schools and the really high quality public schools in the region they are spoilt for choice. Anecdotally, the hardest seems to be UVa, btw, followed by W&M (esp for girls)(which seems counter-intuitive but maybe there is more self-selection with W&M), then Tech. I know a student who was a W&M Monroe scholar (and shortlisted for the 1693 Scholars), but was waitlisted for admission to UVa- go figure!
It is not harder to get into UVA from Northern Virginia. The NOVA counties get the vast majority of offers of admission and there is no target, limit, or quota for any high school, town, county, or region. I know there are lots of people who position themselves as “in the know” who say that, but they are incorrect. The only pressure we have is to maintain a 2/3:1/3 ratio of Virginians to non-Virginians and to make sure that more students realize [the VCCS guaranteed transfer opportunities](http://www.vccs.edu/students/transfers/).
Colleges look at students in the context of their high schools, not compared to students from other schools. The counselor sends a high school profile (you can get a copy in the counseling office) that explains the course options, grading scale, and methodology used to calculate GPA/rank (Fairfax doesn’t report rank, so that doesn’t apply to them). They will also inform colleges about any restrictions in place that may affect course registration.
By the way, you can see [admission rates by county for all Virginia colleges](B08A1: Admissions by Student Level and Student Locality) on the SCHEV website (pay attention to the raw numbers…percentages can be funny in the smaller counties) and you can see our [url=<a href=“http://ias.virginia.edu/university-stats-facts/enrollment%5Denrollment”>http://ias.virginia.edu/university-stats-facts/enrollment]enrollment by county here/url.
@collegemom3717 I think there was a misunderstanding. That’s not how our process works. I cover Fairfax and Arlington (and read Loudoun until 2010, when Tuscarora and Woodgrove opened and we had to split the area). I’m happy to chat with parents from those areas, so feel free to call me or reach out via social media (I don’t PM here, though). 
@DeanJ, I agree with you that there are a lot of opinions stated as facts on CC, which is why I am quite careful not to position myself as ‘in the know’ beyond things that I have encountered first-hand.
It is of course entirely possible that I mis-interpreted or misunderstood what was being said- and as you are a member of the Admissions team, I completely defer to your expertise.
However, I do know that it was said, and that it was a discussion point afterwards amongst the students I was with (a NoVa independent school, not TJ!). If it was wrong or misunderstood, then perhaps it is helpful to you to know that there is at least one school where a number of students think they heard that (also, that it was not in this years admission cycle). I also know (again, b/c I was there) that the GC at a different NoVa independent school told her seniors this past autumn that if they wanted a chance of getting into W&M in this admissions cycle they had best apply ED, because of NoVa competition.
Finally, I will also point out that your assertion that it is not harder to get in from NoVa is somewhat contradicted by your point that students are compared to other students in their school. It is, obviously, the fairest way to compare, but in a school where much is given, much is also expected. I have nieces and nephews in parts of Virginia where ‘most rigorous’ is a whole other ball of wax than what is considered ‘most rigorous’ in a Fairfax County school. What they have to do to stand out is quantifiably different, and how their GCs assess their admissions chances are correspondingly different. Again, I don’t see that as unfair, just reality.
Thank you for your offer to get in touch- if our next collegekid to-be is interested we will follow up (we are, mercifully, not involved the next admissions cycle).
Yes, this definitely wasn’t recent, since our entire NOVA team has women on it (coincidence, not by design). I do think there is a misunderstanding as we’ve never read TJ first or used TJ as a reference point. There’s a thread in the UVA forum from a few months ago about NOVA. I posted quite a bit there and address the NOVA rumors on my blog yearly.
At schools with tremendous resources, there are lots of ways for students to put together a great program and the data shows that we recognize that. Some people think students at under-resourced schools have an easier route, but fewer options makes putting together a challenging program a bit harder.
Of course, I can’t give any insight into how things work at the other Virginia publics.
It seems that looking at students in terms of what they have available at their school is a fair method. Understand that there are many strong students in the NOVA area but I don’t believe that all of the smart kids in the state all live in NOVA. I believe that the students in NOVA are strong applicants because of the many programs and opportunities they have. UVA looks at how students from one school perform against other students at their school given the same opportunities. My non-Nova student took 18 AP’s with mainly 5’s on the tests and a 35 ACT. He also had leadership positions but he did not have all of the programs or opportunities that many students in NOVA have. Especially in STEM areas. He was admitted to UVA engineering and after two years he has a 3.9+ average. If UVA did not consider what was offered at his school then a student from NOVA may have been involved in many more STEM activities and had won more STEM awards because the programs they have and he may not have been admitted. But by his GPA you can see that he is more than capable of doing well at UVA. I believe Dean J and the admissions team do a great job at admitting the top students around the state. They choose students who excel over their peers in their given school.
@“Dean J” thanks to the the links for data. One thing I am still unclear on are stats for admits from different counties. My (perhaps untrue) belief was that since NOVA is so competitive the stats are higher for admits from that area vs some less urban areas.
I have family that live in places/go to schools in VA that simply don’t offer 18 APs, where much of the class is not college bound, much less selective college bound (& where both financial and teaching resources are in genuineky short supply). NoVa has many private and public schools, where substantial majorities (and in the case of some of the privates, essentially all) of the students are college bound. That has a positive aspect: the standards and expectations are high, and that can help students push to do their best. On the other hand, it makes a high bar for the students. A niece is in a down-state school where the expectation is that the 4th year of math is pre-calc; for her cousin in NoVa Calc BC was where the break for the ‘stand out’ students was.
This is not to disparage either set of kids or UVa admissions- and I don’t think that it is unfair! You can only swim in the pond that you are in.
But the OPs question was ‘is it harder’ and imo, yes, it is harder to stand out, b/c both the standard of the competition and the density of competitive applicants is high. The down-state niece has been told by her GC that UVa is a comfortable match: she is a star in her (small public) school, and that’s how it plays out for kids from her school with her ‘package’. Her cousin in NoVa, whose stats are comparable, but who is an ‘average excellent’ student in her competitive NoVa Independent school has been told by her GC that UVa is a low reach. That, plus my apparently mistaken impression that there is some effort made to get representation across the state* are the basis for my original response.
which I also think is appropriate! It is a *state university, and there are a lot of very able students around the state who don’t get the benefits (and downsides, to be fair) of the hothouse of NoVa.
ps, @momofthree55 I am in awe of your son’s 3.9+ in Engineering!