<p>UVA does face a dilemma in this area. Competition for top students is increasing, and many sub-ivy institutions (it really isn’t fair to call UVA and others like it “second tier”) are offering money to get them. At the same time, there is a big push among the elite schools (Ivys and very high end LACs) to do something about the growing concentration of wealthy students at high end schools. </p>
<p>Cav brings up the key issue: who are UVAs peers? While I would have to agree that UVA is not in the same group as IVYs/CalTech/MIT/Stanford, it is something of a question of where do you WANT to be. Stated another way, it isn’t “who are UVA’s peers today,” but “who do they want to be their peers in 20 years.” The fact is UVA must choose whether to follow the example of the elite schools and focus on the access problem for less wealthy students or try to pump up their stats with high scoring students.</p>
<p>My son and his roommate at UVA are both National Merit Scholars ($2500 winners) from the same OOS high school. By appearances, UVA has never seemed to express the slightest interest in their status, though I am sure it factored into the admissions process to some degree. While other schools wrote letters, offered small scholarships (some not so small), and generally made them feel wanted, it was an eery silence from UVA.</p>
<p>On the other hand, other students from my son’s HS who are financially challenged were admitted to UVA and offered stunning financial support, up to and including free rides. I know more than one student who simply could not have attended without that support, and they would have gone to good, but clearly lesser schools.</p>
<p>So I can tell you from experience that UVA is being true to its word. They have made a decision about where they want to go and who they want to be. While it is easy to criticize the decision, and I certainly wish they would throw money at my son, there are limited fund available, and it is better to do one thing very well than to try to do both with mediocre results.</p>
<p>I would, however, encourage the school to at least spend more time contacting high scoring students, encouraging them to apply and to attend once admitted. Just feeling wanted is half of the decision.</p>