<p>I really like everything about UVA and hope that I will be admitted. Although I am not a lock for admission, and if I am rejected I want to have a second option that I would be just as happy with. What schools do you think are similar to UVA?</p>
<p>Are you instate? </p>
<p>If so, I’d say the closest instate is definitely William & Mary. Out of State, i’d say Vanderbilt, NC Chapell Hill, Wake Forest, UC Berkeley, Washington & Lee…there are probably others im forgetting</p>
<p>woops washington & lee is in virginia. i just automatically grouped it with the Out of state schools because its private. my bad!</p>
<p>I would disagree about Berkeley – academically-speaking, it’s on par with UVa (if not better), but west coast schools are very different than eastern/southern schools like UVa (not in a bad way, just a different way). Plus, it’s even harder to get into OOS than UVa.</p>
<p>I would also recommend checking out Vandy and Wake Forest, but also Lehigh University in PA. UNC Chapel Hill is very good, but again, probably harder to get into than UVa unless you happen to live in NC.</p>
<p>I know a few people at UVa who were seriously considering both Boston College and Boston University. I don’t know how similar they are to UVa in terms of atmosphere, but they are probably worth a look.</p>
<p>I would only recommend Wash & Lee if you’re particularly looking for a school with a similar campus feel and social atmosphere to UVa’s, otherwise, I haven’t heard fantastic things about it. Also, Elon University in NC has a very similar social atmosphere to UVa, although it is a much smaller-sized school (although still very good academically).</p>
<p>Uni of Maryland, Uni of Illinois in Champaign, and UMich in Ann Arbor might be worth a glance at too. While different, both I feel are similar to UVa in that they happen to be the top public schools in each of their respective states, therefore you’ll probably run into a similar academic atmosphere.</p>
<p>I doubt you can get a sound match. But in terms of schools being similar to UVa, there are a bunch.
UVa is a semi-large state, DI, top tier, public school. So, UMich,UNC-CH, and Berk are schools that have those same qualities. W&M is another school that has the same academic qualities, but less social scene/big school feel. I’ve heard that Vandy is much like UVa, as well as Duke and Wake Forest. UCLA is another to consider. Lots of people I know also applied to Cornell, Rice, Boston College, NYU, Georgetown, UChicago, and Penn, but I think those schools are more academically on-par, not overall.
Since you’re worried about rejection, a minor step down in academics (although I’m kicking myself for saying that, because the schools I’m about to list are still TOP NOTCH) : VT, UT-Austin, UF, UGA, Penn State, USC, etc. GMU is another VA school on the rise, and Wash&Lee could be considered too.</p>
<p>Long story short, if you want the same general feel of UVA, go for larger DI/DII schools that aren’t in major cities (C’ville definitely contributes to the atmosphere here) and have an academic reputation, whether it’s just ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ or ‘holy cow! you went there?!? wow!’. East coast schools generally follow the same vibe, and the school being southern will also help the mix (UVa is a southern school, whether people admit it or not). Private or Public doesn’t matter a whole lot, since the private and public schools that mainly rival UVa (UMich, Duke, UNC, Wake, W&M) all are about the same size/feel, just some cost a whole lot more than others.</p>
<p>^ I wouldn’t list UT anymore because UT is getting harder and harder to get into OOS. On the UT boards, some very strong OOSers are getting rejected with very solid stats. Basically, UTs getting really screwed over by the Top 10% rule and it wouldn’t surprise me if more than 80% of the 09 entering freshman class were auto-admits. Good news is on the horizon for OOSers who want to go to UT because the Texas State Legislature is going to meet again in 2009 and I’m pretty confident there will be some sort of adjustment to the Top 10%, but unfortunately for the OP, the adjustment would start to take affect for the 2010 freshman class, but not the 2009 class. Sorry.</p>
<p>I thought about that in my post, but I figured I’d list it just in case the person was OOS and I got lucky and they’re from TX =P just kidding. But good point, TX has a higher acceptance rate, but waayyy lower OOS acceptance rate. It’ll be interesting to see if it changes, or other states follow, over the next few years…</p>
<p>Maybe another that would be easier to be admitted into, but similar size, school spirit, Div I, same conf, etc. would be Clemson. I think they are up and coming and the campus is pretty nice too. </p>
<p>However, I also agree with UNC, Wake, and Duke as closer overall matches.</p>
<p>Just a grain of salt with William and Mary. This years rates of acceptance were extremely low and many, many qualified applicants (some that would have been considered “overqualified” a few yeas ago) are being waitlisted. A friend of mine was accepted at Brown and she was waitlisted at W/M. And she’s in state. </p>
<p>I think this year was a weird year in college admissions in that many schools acceptance rates dropped to astronomically low levels (I think Harvard was at 7%.) To really give you a sense of what that means: 93 out of every 100 applicants are rejected, and most of them have the creds to attend. I would keep in mind the selectivity of colleges when you apply and realize that this year and next year are supposed to be the spike years in the number of applicants (meaning that the most number of applications will be this year and the next.) Schools that you thought were “safeties” will suddenly become reaches so I would also look for schools that you never considered before just in case.</p>
<p>Concerning VTech: their application is so streamlined it’s not even funny. They don’t ask for teacher recommendations and awards and all of that. For the most part, VTech makes their decision upon your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars. There is an optional personal statement for you to explain any special circumstances, but other than that no essays. You can also view the eligibility requirements online for their honors college if you are interested. Again, it’s based off of GPA and test scores. Personally, I loved this application and after I finished filling everything in, I went back through at least 10 times to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten to fill in a page. Tech is also having problems with housing so I think they’re taking less people to compensate for that. They just had too many people last year and RAs who usually get rooms to themselves were living with one or two more people.</p>
<p>I’m really not familiar with any other colleges except the ones I applied to (and you can count to that number on one hand) but I would say that Duke is a good match. Within the Ivies, I think Penn comes closest. Really, you need to just compile a list of possible matches and go visit. Even if it looks lke UVa and sounds like UVa, it may not be UVa.</p>
<p>UNC/Penn St/Cornell are all very similar in size academics/social scene to Virginia.</p>
<p>Miami University, Oxford, Ohio also fits the description of semi-large state school, Div. I, top tier, public, small-town setting.</p>
<p>i figure james madison would be similar as well</p>
<p>as an OOS parent, i’d say PennState and JMU are nothing like UVA. Penn State is huge and of much less academic prestige. has about 15 satellite branches thruout PA., some being much lower than the University campus, which is their flagship one. JMU, while a VA school has much lower academic requirements, is larger and not in a college town, let alone C’ville. i don’t know the Ohio schools, so can’t comment. yes W&M is as close as one can get to UVA IN-STATE, tho a very different feel both location and personality. i’d say UNCCH is very close as well.</p>
<p>I’d definitely agree with UNC-CH being compared with UVA. Similar college towns, similar academic atmospheres, both very hard to get into OOS, etc. Both of the campuses are stunning. </p>
<p>The biggest differences I’ve noticed (keeping in mind that I am not a student at either school, but an applicant who is down to one of the other for next year :D. And leaning towards UVA, I might add) are 1) the OOS population (18% at UNC, 32%ish at UVA) and 2) I suspect the social scene is fairly different, but I’d love someone to elaborate on the specific differences as it is going to be a factor in my decision. I’m not much of a partier and not too interested in Greek life, but I love concerts, horseback riding, trying out weird sports (like curling), and just generally hanging out and trying new things with new people. 
And I’m really hoping that’s what I’d get at UVA. </p>
<p>Anyway basic point being that I agree with UNC being very similar to UVA in terms of academics, the campus, and relative size (UVA being smaller).</p>
<p>Kmcdowell:</p>
<p>I know this region of VA has a ton of places for horseback riding, and there are some clubs (either outdoors clubs or horseback riding-specific) that would probably give you the opportunity to go.</p>
<p>John Paul Jones Arena (basketball arena) is an amazing new concert venue, there are a lot of really cool things that come through and really nice student discounts.</p>
<p>I haven’t tried any weird sports, but I’m sure there’s plenty to be found.</p>
<p>“Penn State is huge and of much less academic prestige.”</p>
<p>Ha, ok happycollegemom, let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves. While UVA is by no means a bad schools, do not be under the delusion that it is comparable to the Ivys. The UVA law school is a different matter, but UVA undergrad is not that far ahead of Penn State undergrad. USNews: UVA-#23 PSU UP-#48</p>
<p>Sorry, but I don’t perceive the similarities between UVA and PSU either. I don’t think it’s close. That’s not to say PSU is not a nice place, it definitely is. Not similar to UVA though.</p>
<p>I agree with happycollegemom and FLVADAD, PSU is nowhere close to UVA.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>UVA is ranked **25 places ** higher than PSU. That’s more than UVa’s rank. </p>
<p>And Penn State has ~20 campuses. I’m pretty sure that classifies it as “huge.” </p>
<p>PSU Campuses:
* Penn State Abington
* Penn State Altoona
* Penn State Beaver
* Penn State Berks
* Penn State Brandywine
* Penn State DuBois
* Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
* Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus
* Penn State Greater Allegheny
* Penn State Harrisburg
* Penn State Hazleton
* Penn State Lehigh Valley
* Penn State Mont Alto
* Penn State New Kensington
* Penn State Schuylkill
* Penn State Shenango
* Penn State Wilkes-Barre
* Penn State Worthington Scranton
* Penn State York</p>
<p>I realize this isn’t exactly a “backup” school, but I think Stanford has a very similar feeling to UVa. Course, you have to beat the 10% admit rate, but if you get in, hey, great school!</p>