<p>How hard is it to get into UVa OOS versus top private schools like northwestern, chicago, vanderbilt, emory etc…</p>
<p>Based on the scattergram I have from our school it is easier to get into the privates. Lets see, Northwestern SAT magic number was 2150, GPA 3.78, surprisingly (to me). UVa UVa,(instate for us) 3.94 and 2120. Just so you know this data is from 2006. They didn’t update the system yet so this is hardly hot off the press. I didn’t query Emory or Vandy sorry.</p>
<p>I know this isn’t the answer you want, but it’s really hard to say. From what I’ve seen over the past four years (and two sons), the entire college admissions process is filled with inconsistencies. Even when schools seem similar, each has its own priorities. So while statistics like GPA, class rank, and SAT scores are often reliable indicators, they aren’t foolproof. </p>
<p>For example, this year, one of my son’s friends (a female from CA) got into Northwestern, UNC, and UC Berkeley - but was waitlisted at Boston College. Another friend (also a female from CA) got into Duke, Cornell, UC Berkeley, and W&M as a Monroe Scholar - but got waitlisted at UVA. Go figure…</p>
<p>oos students getting into uva are similar to the better half of students at NW, Vandy, etc.</p>
<p>cganyard, I agree with you. What I didn’t mention to goblue about these scattergrams I have, was that you will see two accepted students with nearly identical numbers and wedged in between them will be a red x signalling a rejected student. Even worse is a student dead in the middle of the page at a 2.5 and a 1450 is another green box signalling acceptance. This person is all alone on the chart with the rest of the admits are way up in the northest corner of the page. I’m guessing a recruit of some sort.</p>
<p>One thing to remember about the competitive publics like UVA, Berkley, UCLA, Michigan, and U of Texas (Austin) is that they are not only highly competitive for OOS but, for both in and out of state, their criteria tend to be systematically different. For a variety of reasons the publics tend to favor class rank and GPA over other criteria like test scores realtive to the highly selective privates.</p>
<p>Curious I would like to agree with you but my ananlysis suggests that adcoms are seasoned professionals. The scattergrams I am reviewing are beweentwo hs that are 3 miles apart. One I’ll call L is 20th in newsweek rankings and has a subsidized lunch rate of 1%. Wealthiest district in the state. GPA 3.88 but SAT of 2107. These kids can afford SAT prep but the teachers never give a kid a break. The other school which I will call M, ranked 48th by nesweek has an average admit GPA of 3.94 but an SAT of 2027 b/c the kids can’t afford SAT prep. The UVa adcom has managed to balance the difference beteween the haves and the have nots. Personally, I am dazzeled by their savy.</p>