Questions

Colleges & Universities University of Virginia
1

I’m looking at UVA, and I really like it. It seems like a great school, and it has a strong Political Science program (what I want to major in) I had some questions.

  1. I go to high school in Virginia(in state) Is it true that UVA has a much higher in-state acceptance rate?
  2. My GPA is low for an applicant to UVA (3.4) but I have a vision impairment ( I have no vision in my right eye, and some in my left.) I am at a good private school, and I do everything on my own without assistance. I am taking Honors and AP courses. Do you think UVA might go a little easy on me as far as admission goes ( I am involved in plenty of EC’s, but my vision does make it tougher for me)
2

Yes, VA accepts in-state students at a much higher rate (IIRC it is 40ish% versus 25% OOS).

I am not sure if your vision problem would be discounted or not. @Dean J will have more info on that and hopefully she will respond to your question.

3

Unofficial admission statistics for class of 2019 (#UVA200):
http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2015/03/unofficial-uva19-admission-statistics.html
41.5% in state offer rate, 23% out of state offer rate.

Official admission statistics for prior years:
http://avillage.web.virginia.edu/iaas/instreports/studat/hist/admission/first_by_residency.htm
2014 for example was 43.8% in state offer rate, 22.9% OOS offer rate.

Basically, competition among OOS applicants is intense, because there are so many more OOS applicants (21,706 vs. 9,147) for only half as many seats.

Overall, the admission rates (both in state and out of state) have been trending downwards, and the number of applications have been increasing rapidly. Offers are made with yield in mind, to put together a class that is 2/3 Virginia residents and 1/3 OOS. The number of applications basically doubled from 2005 (15,657) to 2014 (31,021), while the number of enrolled students increased only 19% (3709 vs. 3112) in the same period.

It is my understanding that UVA is less concerned about your GPA as such, and more concerned about the academic rigor of the courses you take (are you taking the most challenging course load available?) and your class rank (how do you compare to others in the same school?).

Is your remaining vision correctable? How much does it affect your academics, and how? If it really impairs you then they should take that into account when reading your application; you’ll probably have to address the issue directly, and include a medical doctor’s confirmation.