<p>Even within NoVA, there are major differences in the opportunities for students if one stays within the public school system. Interesting discussion and one thing I had hoped was some insight into whether or not there was such an informal quota system. On the grapevine, I had heard there was but that it was “fair” in the sense that it applied to all schools, not just areas.
The points made about not being penalized for limited opportunites is valid as my child’s NoVA high school ( remember the Titans) could not compare with Thomas Jefferson (which was barred anyway to City of Alexandria students) in terms of caliber of advanced classes , elite student selection, etc. In some ways the SATs even it all out but as I have posted in many threads here: diversity is good, whether it is conservative/liberal, NoVA /RoVA, etc/etc. I saw benefits to my child’s going to a high school with real diversity and if a “quota” system helps UVA, then fine.</p>
<p>However I know the party line at UVA and most universities has to be that “no one factor” is determinative - no cutoffs for SATS, no specific AP classes, no quotas, no anything that could result in a legal challenge to being guilty of a practice “with discriminatory adverse impact”. Which if true would make all of the “what’s my chance” posts irrelevant 
(don’t get me started on that again -)</p>