What are MY chances of getting into U.Va?

Colleges & Universities University of Virginia
1

<p>Hello, I am a high school junior and a prospective alumnus of U.Va.
Here is my info: (sorry I’m being quick because I’m at school) </p>

<p>Personal Facts:
GENDER: Female
ETHNICITY: Hispanic: Cuban
RESIDENCY: FL</p>

<p>G.P.A: UW=3.8 W=4.5 (without counting 5 AP credits for my Junior year, 2 over the summer, and 4 for Senior year)
Class Rank : Suma (top 5%)
Academic Program: Italian Language, Culture and Literature
Projected Major: Business⎯ Marketing, English<br>
Projected Minor: Italian </p>

<p>ACT: 27</p>

<p>WORK EXPERIENCE:
(2007-present)Official School designer -> designed school logo, ads, website banners, brochure, jackets, totes, shirts, uniform, banner, and many more things (I am the most dedicated member of the class of 2010 and a school legend) </p>

<p>(2008) Summer job at a film studio -> company’s graphic designer, apprentice video editor and CD and DVD cover designer. </p>

<p>(2009-present) Internship with the American Red Cross:
• Red Cross Holiday Card 2007
• Assistance with website
• Rebuilding Lives Project 2007: Autterbury residence
• Red Cross Hurricane Season 2008 Pin design: 3 different designs</p>

<p>Awards</p>

<p>• ISCHS Speech Excellence Award (2008)
• ISCHS Journalism Excellence Award (2008)
• ISCHS AP European History Excellence Award (2009)
• ISCHS AP Italian Excellence Award (2009)
• ISCHS Honor Superior Honor Roll
• National Society of High School Scholars (07 ⎯ )
• Ester Brennan Youth Award for Volunteer Service (2008)
• Red Cross “Rebuilding Lives” project participant and Certificate (2007)
• Red Cross Blitz and Community Service Recognition Certificate (2007)
• Miami-Dade College Dean’s List Nominee (2008)
• City of Doral Service Certificate (2007, 2008)
• 2008 FIU Journalism Day Yearbook Layout: 1st Place
• 2009 Prudential Spirit of Community Service Award Local Nominee
• Presidential Award for Outstanding Service: Bronze
• Presidential Award for Outstanding Service: Silver
• Presidential Award for Outstanding Service: Gold
• Silver Knight Nominee</p>

<p>Leadership Positions</p>

<p>• Newspaper Editor (2007-2008)
• Yearbook Editor (2008-2010)
• Red Cross Club President (2008-2009)
• Senior Class Vice President
• Children’s Trust Youth Advisory Committee
• Culture Shock Miami Youth Advisory Committee</p>

<p>RECS: Outstanding and very personal - my teachers love me and I love them. :slight_smile:
ESSAYS: I finished English a year early and I was in AP English Lit, a Senior class, this year. I write AMAZING essays, as all my teachers tell me.</p>

<p>Extra Points: I am an amateur poet and I will be published author before the year is over. I am also working on a novel.</p>

<p>I have well over 1000 community service hours and an outstanding reputation in my school and in my community. </p>

<p>I am trilingual: English, Spanish, Italian.</p>

2

<p>Senior Course Load:</p>

<p>AP Bio
AP Spanish Lit
AP Human Geo
AP Gov
Dual-Enrollment World Lit
Dual-Enrollment Philosophy
Italian IV Honors
Italian Humanities IV Honors
French I Honors</p>

<p>(I’ve taken almost every AP offered at my school already)</p>

3

<p>You have a great chance. You should aim higher than UVA IMHO.</p>

4

<p>other than the standardized test scores, very impressive! your OOS but I still think you’ll get in, and I agree with guillaume try your hand at some ivies or stanford, but then again UVA McIntire is great for what you want to go into</p>

5

<p>Other Award:</p>

<ul>
<li>Wellesley Book Award</li>
</ul>

<p>I graduate with three diplomas:

  • High school degree
  • APID Diploma
  • Certificato di maturita’, Italian High school Certificate </p>

<p>Thanks for evaluating me! What other schools do you guys recommend I apply to?</p>

6

<p>overall, your statistics and information look very good and definitely on target for getting into uva from out of state. The only thing thats a little worrying is your ACT score, though. While UVA evaluates applicants holistically, a 27 ACT translates to a low 1800 on the SAT scale. That seems a bit too low for UVA overall and definitely is on the low side overall. Like I said to another chance poster earlier, the average SAT score for the incoming class (all UVA schools and in state and out of state) was a 1390 this year, which is roughly around a 2100 on the new SAT scale.</p>

<p>What I am trying to say I guess is that you may want to consider taking the ACT another time to boost your score for UVA and other colleges you are applying to. Good luck and definitely apply to UVA.</p>

<p>btw, guillaume, what makes you say that the original poster is overqualified for UVA?</p>

7

<p>I would suggest really studying over the summer to try to raise your SAT score (or to get an ACT score that is better than your current SAT score) – studying vocabulary can go a long way toward raising your CR score…</p>

<p>Is your school eligible to nominate for the Jefferson Scholars? If so, go for it!
good luck</p>

8

<p>I’m not saying the OP is overqualified for UVA. I was just saying s/he ought not to limit himself to UVA. S/He could be Ivy material. True that the ACT should be higher.</p>

9

<p>With her numbers, it is highly unlikely that she’ll get into UVA OOS, let alone Ivy leagues. Being Cuban-American will not help her.</p>

<p>“I was just saying s/he ought not to limit himself to UVA.”</p>

<p>She ought to apply to V-tech, I’m sure she stands a better chance of getting in there.</p>

10

<p>Well that’s very encouraging, might as well not even apply to U.Va, right? joy…</p>

<p>Listen, I am NOT a good test taker and personally, I am a strong believer that they DO NOT reflect a student’s academic capability. Moreover, U.Va clearly states that they focus on ACADEMICS more than anything, and my grades are quite satisfactory, as is my class standing. U.Va also puts a lot of weight on strong Recs which I will surely have. </p>

<p>I’m not perfect, which I know more than anyone, but I am still a very dedicated student. </p>

<p>Why won’t being Cuban help me? Hispanic is Hispanic…</p>

11

<p>Don’t pay attention to wahoomb.</p>

12

<p>No, I mean, I appreciate advice, but I really did not like the fact that he/she was so “positive” about my admission. I do not want to go to V-Tech, I am a business major, and personally, I think I am at a higher tier. I COULD be at even higher if it were not for standardized tests, which I so adore.</p>

13

<p>APino, I can definitely understand your frustration with these standardized tests. It’s true that they can’t measure how intelligent or hardworking you really are, but you still need to try to improve your score. As you know, that’s the best thing you can do right now instead of worrying about your chances. </p>

<p>You should still apply to UVA for sure, its a great school and definitely top for business, but I (and most UVA students) would suggest that you raise your test scores. As an instate student, I personally dont know anyone IN-state who has gotten into UVA with that score. Not to say that it’s not impossible, but wahoomb’s statement has some truth in that it will most likely be difficult.</p>

<p>Also, in case anyone was wondering, wahoomb is pretty much right in asserting that being Cuban won’t help as much as most people think. From what I have heard (I admittedly dont know firsthand because I am not an admissions officer), they dont look at all hispanics as the same and do look at actual background. Being Cuban is not nearly as big of a boost as URM generally implies. </p>

<p>Bottom Line: You definitely have a decent shot but you are also definitely not a lock. There’s gonna be uncertainty, this is just how admissions works to top schools like UVA</p>

14

<p>I agree with the other posters. Hispanic is a HUGE plus for ivy’s.
Go get 2100 on the SAT’s and that’s where you’ll be. Super EC’s!</p>

15

<p>Thank you! </p>

<p>Are there any other school’s you all might recommend? (public or private)</p>

16

<p>Barq45–Thank you, you understood exactly what I was saying. To the OP: I’m sorry if I came off as rude, but it generally irks me when people think that by virtue of being Hispanic, you’ll have a good chance of getting into UVA and into other highly ranked schools with sub-par SAT/ACT scores. There are whole threads on this forum (do a quick search) that show that UVA does not favor Latinos in first-year admission and as shown on the data that UVA has, for transfer admissions, the rate of admission of Latinos is lower than the rate for their white counterparts. I completely agree that test scores don’t reflect one’s intelligence and your grades ARE excellent, I’d say you’d have a semi-good chance if you were in-state, however, being out-of-state it will be difficult. My little sister applied this year to UVA and got waitlisted. She has the highest GPA in her graduating class with all IB classes and is fluent in three languages, but her SAT scores were only a 1200, she’s Latina and I went there (I don’t know if that would count as being a legacy). She’s now going to V-tech (despite of my advice against it, I wanted her to travel the world and volunteer for a year and then re-apply or go to GMU Honors IMO better options), but she’d rather move away from home even if that means moving to Blacksburg. Anyway, good luck. </p>

<p>PS: Look at UNC-Chapel Hill.</p>

17

<p>Those of you who are stating that someone will be accepted to UVa with low scores just because they are hispanic don’t seem to realize that the hispanic students here at UVa . To say that students who are hispanic with 1200 SAT scores are sho-ins while other students with 1400 SATs have merely “a chance of some kind” grossly underestimates the caliber of hispanic students here at UVa. This school has a lot of high achieving hispanic (and yes Cuban) students, they most certainly did not get here just because they are hispanic.</p>

<p>Also, APino your statement that you could be at “even higher than UVa if it wasn’t for your scores” might come across as you having a chip on your shoulder which is undeserved. UVa is one of the best schools in the United States, I’m not sure that you completely understand the standards of UVa if you think you are limited to “just UVA” with a 1200 range SAT score. In reality, a 1200 would be considered by most affiliated with UVA to be too low for admission and most people would be lucky to be accepted into the university with a score in that range (although I also feel that the SAT might not be the best measure of a person academically). </p>

<p>Also, please know that none of this is meant to discourage you. What I (and wahoomb) are trying to tell you is that you should work harder to improve your score (it can be done) and to be realistic (apply to many top schools but also some safeties). At schools like UVA, high GPAs such as yours are the rule and not exceptions.</p>

18

<p>I never said “even higher than UVa if it wasn’t for [my] scores.” What I DID say was that I would be at a higher tier, meaning that I would be “more competitive” if my scores were higher - never did I speak in ignorance and classify U.Va as not being “worthy” of me. I KNOW that U.Va is a great school and that is precisely why I want to attend the institution. </p>

<p>Thanks wahoomb, I am looking at UNC as well.</p>

19

<p>PSS: Look at Cornell as well, my little sister got in there (due to our finances, she wasn’t able to attend), but they did seem to disregard her low SAT scores and look at her complete file.</p>

20

<p>alright APino, thanks for clarifying. Maybe it just sounded like that the way I read it.</p>

<p>on that note, if you are looking for schools with good business programs that are considered similar to UVa id definitely check out Michigan, which is great all around and has a really good business program. </p>

<p>Also, I’d reccomend looking into Georgetown. As far as safeties go, your pretty set with UF down in Florida. The school has a good rep too.</p>