UVA Language Requirements

Students and parents regularly ask about UVA's language requirements during my weekly, live q&a session on Instagram. While I have a highlight on my Instagram account about this, I thought "d write a blog post about it, too. 

Students in UVA's College of Arts & Sciences must show proficiency in a second language. Many students are able to show proficiency upon entering UVA because they're already bilingual or their high school work allows them to show a level of knowledge that satisfies the College's requirement. 

How do you show proficiency?
Proficiency in a second language can be demonstrated through the AP/IB exams, talking a college course at the 202 level (2020 at UVA), or a placement exam. 

For the AP exams, the scores needed vary by the language. Check the AP credit chart on the UVA website to see what score gets you exempted from the 2020 course. 

For IB exams, the scores also vary by language. See the IB credit chart on the UVA website to see what HL exam scores get you exempted from the 2020 level. 

What is the placement exam like?
Most placement exams are completed online before you come to summer orientation. In some cases, like ASL for example, the evaluation is done with a UVA faculty member. Check the World Language Requirement Placement page to see  whether placement is done online or in-person for your chosen language. 

I've taken the exam in my second language a few times and it only took about 20 minutes to complete. There was a multiple choice section and then a recorded section where I responded to a very basic prompt. The format of the exam may change over the time. I do not consider myself fluent anymore, though I watch the news/shows/tiktok in my second language, and I found the exam fair and straightforward. 

What about students with disabilities that might impact language acquisition?
There's a website about accommodations for students with disabilities that may affect their completion of the requirement. Staff from our Student Disability Access Center (SDAC) will help the student navigate their options. 

So I don't have to take a language all four years of high school?
If the goal as a UVA student is to show proficiency in a second language, it behooves the student to keep taking language classes throughout high school. If you take time off from language work, you will most likely lose proficiency. You will probably have to do more work as a UVA student to meet the requirement. 

Some high school students who say they're "done" with language work because they've met their high school's graduation requirement, but keep in mind that being competitive in a selective college admission process usually means going beyond graduation requirements. 

What if I want to switch languages? 
It's fine if interests evolve and you change your mind about studying a particular language. The options in college definitely more diverse than the ones you have at the average high school! If you started over, you'd need to take four classes to become proficient. 

UVA has a consortium agreement with Duke and Vanderbilt for language classes, too! You can take K'iche' Maya, Cherokee, Haitian Creole, Malagasy, and Turkish via zoom with Duke and Vandy while their students can take Swahili classes at UVA. 

Can students fulfill the requirement over the summer?
We have students who take college courses to fulfill the requirement over the summer. Some do that work at UVA through the Summer Language Institute. It's an 8-week, intensive program.  

As always, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments. 

The 2025-2026 Common App is Open!

Happy August 1st! As usual, the Common App opened next year's application a little early and I got my first "is this right" email from a counselor at 6:56 PM. 

The UVA screens on the Common App are correct. UVA retained the short answer question for students applying to the School of Nursing. There are no extra writing prompts for the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, School of Architecture, or the Kinesiology program. 

That one prompt:

School of Nursing - Describe a health care-related experience or other significant interaction that deepened your interest in studying Nursing. 

I'll miss the old short answers on the UVA part of the app. Dean Schlachter and I collaborated on creating many of the prompts from the back in the day and enjoyed the process of writing and tweaking those every year. That being said, UVA applicants have always given us wonderful Common App essays and we'll be eager to see your responses to those prompts this year. 

Remember that the filing period is several months. We don't refer to time stamps on applications, so if you do you best work under pressure, you have until 11:59 PM on the night of your chosen deadline to submit.

Best of luck on your applications! As always, if you need us, you can reach an admission office by phone during business hours, by email, and on social media. We don't use demonstrated interest* at UVA, so we aren't assessing your candidacy when we interact. We're here to help. 

*Demonstrated interest is the practice of consulting prior contact with an application when making an admission decision. Attending a tour, seeing one of us during a high school visit, following us on social media, or reading the emails we send does not impact your admission decision at UVA. 

How do you find data about job placement for UVA graduates?

I almost cried on my first day of grad school. I can laugh at this now, but I remember sitting in class (Research Methods, which was one of the most important courses I took, in retrospect) and could not follow the discussion despite carefully reading the text. I panicked. I worried that maybe I didn't belong in my program. I thought I wasn't smart enough to be there. The issue was that I wasn't familiar with higher ed lingo yet. Lingo can make people in a group feel connected, but it can also be confusing to outsiders. 

As someone researching colleges, you might find it hard to find certain data because of lingo. One example of this is when looking for job placement information about graduates. "Job placement" seems like a pretty standard term, but it might land you on a general career services website. If you want the data, you want to find the Outcomes Report. Many (most?) colleges use the word "outcomes" for this information. 

The UVA Career Center Outcomes Data has a few years of information, presented in charts that cover data about destinations, industries, salaries, and graduate schools. There are similar dashboards that show Employer Engagement and Summer Internship/Job Placement. 

Keep in mind that these reports are based on optional surveys sent to graduating students. While Career Services tries to be persistent, they don't require students to share their personal information. 

You can use the menus to change the charts to show information about students who were in a specific school/college or major within UVA. 

2025 Waiting Update #1

The May 1st deposit deadline is beyond us and transfer decisions are posted! The next part of our process is to work with the waiting list. If you haven't read about the process on the waiting list page of our website, please take a look! It covers all the frequently asked questions that we get at this time of year. 

A few notes...

1. We are going to make a small number of offers to students on the waiting list. The offers will post in portals around 5 PM today and an email will go to each student letting know that there is an update to view. ETA 5/4/2025: The offers were made to students on the waiting list for the Kinesiology program.

2. Students getting waiting list offers have a few days to accept or decline. If a student applied for financial aid, the decision period starts when financial aid posts their package. Please be sure UVA has your FAFSA and CSS Profile (you have a portal to check this) so Student Financial Services can work without delay. 

3. All updates you wish to send us should be uploaded in your portal. Remember, the portal isn't smart enough to "read" the documents you submit and classify them. It simply files them. You will not see an uploaded item appear on your checklist. 

4. The best source of information about UVA admission is UVA admission. This season feels a bit different. I've come across several third parties giving incorrect information about our process on social media. I know it's exciting to hear news about the schools on your list, but please remember that we have always tried to keep our students and parents informed about our process via our website, this blog, and our social media channels. If you don't see the news coming from my office, take it with a grain of salt. 

The website update:

We’re grateful to the many deserving students who remain on our waiting list. We will offer admission to a small number of students on the waiting list for the Kinesiology program this evening. These students will receive an email notifying them of an update to their status in their MyUVA application portal.

Over the next month, we will continue to monitor our class. We expect to resolve the status of all students who remain on the waiting list no later than June 15.

We are thankful all of our applicants for putting their faith in us and for their interest in UVA. We wish you the best as you wrap up your senior year and get ready for what we hope is a fun, safe, and relaxing summer.

 

By the way, this is the first year admission blog. The transfer blog has always been the first link in the menu to the right. Updates on that process are posted there. 

Incoming Class Accounts on Instagram

Back in the day, social media accounts for college classes would get started by an excited student. Word would spread. Roommate surveys would be created. It was a good time...until companies got involved. 

In 2008, someone working for a company called College Prowler (now Niche) created hundreds of Facebook groups for incoming classes. A bunch of admission officers who were on social media at the time collaborated to track down all the "fake" accounts. Here's a rundown of the story from a blog that no longer exists. 

In 2010, this was still happening. It involved the same people, but they were working for a roommate matching website. The Choice blog at the New York Times covered what was happening and the Washington Post covered it as well.

These days, this activity is happening on GroupMe, What's App, and Instagram. There are dozens of "official" incoming class accounts for every college on those platforms. Please be careful about sharing your personal information on social media. They are not affiliated with UVA. One is actually selling tickets to "Welcome Week." There is no "Welcome Week" party at UVA. The first week here is called Wahoo Welcome and aside from maybe needing a ticket for the big concert that week, you don't pay for Wahoo Welcome. 

UVA offices like Orientation, Housing, and Dining will communicate with your via email, from virginia.edu email accounts. They have portals where you'll carry out transactions securely (registering for Orientation, signing up for Housing, requesting a roommate, etc.). 

By the way, the website for that "Welcome Week" account is registered in Iceland. 

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars, Round 2

The second round of invitations for three of UVA's scholars programs went out this evening by email and portals are updated. Applicants from all rounds (ED, EA, and RD) to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering were reviewed for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars. We may extend a few invitations after May 1st if spaces are available. 

Students can apply to join these program and Miller Arts Scholars after some time at UVA. The timeline and processes vary by program.

Scholars are less than 5% of the students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering. You can read more about the programs on their websites. In addition to showing exceptional academic records, scholars show a love of learning and an extraordinary commitment to academic pursuits beyond the classroom. We see this in transcripts, recommendations, essays, and activities. The review for the scholars programs is not driven by GPAs or test scores. 

Congratulations to all!

2024-2025 UVA Admission Statistics (Unofficial)

I've written a post like this few times per year since 2008. UVA has always been pretty transparent about statistics. The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics website has admission data going back to 2016 and our office shares admission rates broken down by residency in our presentations, publications, on our website, and on social media. If you're familiar with any of those, then these numbers I'm sharing aren't all that surprising. 

 If you are a reporter, please contact the Office of University Communications for current, official information.

Regular Decision Round

Total RD applications: 17,568 (16,866 last year)
VA RD applications: 3,519 (3,750)
OOS RD applications: 14,049 (13,116)

VA RD acceptance rate: 11% (15%)
OOS RD acceptance rate: 9% (11%)
Defer acceptance rate: 3% (no deferrals last year)

Overall Admission Statistics

Total applications: 64,463 (58,995 last year)
Total VA applications: 17,608 (16,455)
Total OOS applications: 46,855 (42,540)

Overall VA acceptance rate: 23% (25.5%)
Overall OOS acceptance rate: 12.5% (13%)

 

A few notes:

1. We publish in-state and out-of-state admission rates because residency is a major factor in our review. If you cite admission rates for UVA, cite both rates to be most accurate.

2. Schools admit more students than the enrollment goal with yield in mind. Yield is how many students accept an offer of admission. We do not try to figure out an individual student's likelihood of enrolling (or look at demonstrated interest), but yield trends influence the offer rate. For example, out-of-state residents tend to have a lower yield rate than Virginia residents. You can see yield rates by college/school (first tab) and residency (second tab) on our website. We do not practice "yield protection" at UVA.

3. Unofficial early decision and early action statistics were shared when we concluded those rounds.

4. Admitted students will get a hard copy of their letter in their offer packet. Unfortunately, I can't predict when USPS will put that in your mailbox.

5. Students offered the waiting list option should read the Waiting List FAQs. That link will be in the decision letter as well. Please share that link with the adults in your life!

6. The second round of Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars program invitations will come out next week. I will post an update when I have one. This review round included all applicants (Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision). Miller Arts Scholars apply after the first semester.

Good luck tomorrow night! If you get an offer, we are thrilled to have you considering UVA! We hope to see you at some of our virtual or in-person admitted student programs. Information about those will be in your portals. 

If this is the end of your time with UVA, best wishes for the rest of your college search. There are exciting times ahead for all of you. I have loved interacting with you here, on Instagram, Tiktok, reddit, and Discord. Thank you all for considering UVA! 

UVA Regular Decision Update

I know why you clicked, so here it is:

Regular Decision results will be posted

Friday, March 14, 2025

This is official. No need to call to confirm!

What time will decisions show up?

The decisions get posted all at once in around 5 PM. There's a technical team that runs through several processes to prepare for the release and load the decisions. I can't predict the exact moment when they will finish their work.

Where are the decisions posted?

You will see a place to review an update in your MyUVA Applicant Portal. You received login credentials for the portal back when you applied. Remember that your applicant portal is different from SIS, which is used for the financial aid process. 

The portal emails you when there's an unseen status update. Decisions are not given out by email or phone. 

Are there early signs of my decision anywhere?

The portal will look different leading up to the decision release as the technical team does their work. These changes are not tied to your decision.

Are scholar notifications coming?

The second round of review for scholars programs includes Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision students. Notification will be in portals next week. As always, I'll post updates when I have them. 

When will statistics be ready?

I usually receive admission statistics for the round a day before the decision release. As soon as I have data, I'll share it here. 

Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars, Round 1

The Office of Admission reviews all applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars. 

The first round of invitations will go to students who applied during the Early Decision and Early Action rounds. An email with invitations from this first round is going out between 5:00 and 5:30 PM today and a short note is being added to portals. 

The second round of invitations will include students from all three rounds and will be posted after the conclusion of the Regular Decision process. Echols has a third round that takes place after the first year. 

About 5% of students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering are invited to join these programs. You can read more about them on their websites. In addition to showing exceptional academic records, scholars show a love of learning and an extraordinary commitment to academic pursuits beyond the classroom. We see this in transcripts, recommendations, essays, and activities. The review for the scholars programs is not driven by GPAs or test scores. 

Congratulations to our first group of scholars for the Class of 2029!

2025 UVA Early Action Admission Statistics (Unofficial)

I've written a post like this few times per year since 2008 and while the numbers have changed a lot since then, they haven't changed much in recent years. The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics website has admission data and our office shares admission rates broken down by residency in our presentations, publications, on our website, and on social media. If you're familiar with any of those, then these numbers I'm sharing aren't all that surprising. 

Early Action Applications

Total number of Early Action applications: 41,885 (37,642 last year)
Total number of VA apps: 11,240 (10,109)

Total number of OOS apps: 30,645 (27,533)
We use completed applications in our statistics.

Early Action Offers

Overall offers: 6,746
Total VA offers: 2,788 (25% offer rate)
Total OOS offers:  3,958 (13% offer rate)
Enrollment Goal: ~3,970
It's misleading to average these offer rates together because residency is a major factor in our review. If you are going to share these numbers, cite BOTH offer rates. 

Some notes:

1. I do not have additional statistics. I report the data I'm given. We are already immersed in the Regular Decision review process and I have files to read tonight!

2. Decisions will be posted in the applicant portal tomorrow night around 5 PM. You got login credentials back when we received your Common App. If you never logged in before, do it now so you know how it works. 

3. Admitted students will get a paper copy of their admission letter by mail. It will take a while for us to get those out. I can't really predict when the USPS will get that into your mailbox. Your enrollment deposit is due by May 1st.

 
4. Defer letters have a link to the deferred student website. Please go over the information with your parent(s) and counselor. If you'd like to be considered for during the Regular Decision review, complete the reply form in the portal by and upload your semester grades and any other updates when they become available. This takes the place of writing a Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI). Our instructions are clear that updates are uploaded in your portal, not emailed to admission officers. 

5. The first round of invitations into Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars, will probably be sent by email and via the portal next week. I will post an update when that happens. A second round will be posted after the Regular Decision process is completed. Echols and Rodman also allow self-nomination after your first semester. Miller Arts Scholars only apply after the first semester.

6. Admitted students will get a "save the date" email next week with information about programming just for them. 

7. Remember that these numbers are unofficial. Institutional Research and Analytics is the source of all official statistics about UVA. They take a census to determine the final statistics for the class in the fall. I wrote a big post about all the great sources of data that you may find helpful.

An Early Action Update!

 If you've been watching our live q&a sessions on instagram, you've heard me say we're close...

Early Action notification will be 

Friday, January 31, 2025 

This is official. Please do not call our office to confirm it. 

Where are the decisions posted? 

You will see a place to view your decision when you log into your MyUVA applicant portal. You received login information for the portal back when you applied. Decisions are not sent by email, but the systems sends an email when you have an unseen status update (there's a lag, so if you view your decision quickly, the email won't go out).

What time will decisions show up? 

The decisions will get posted all at once to portals around 5 PM. There's a technical team runs several processes to get the portals updated and I can't predict the exact time that they'll finish their work. 

Why is the portal changing? Is it a sign of my decision? 

The portal will look a little different as the technical team prepares for the release. The changes are not tied to your decision. 

 As always, I'll have a post with admission statistics before decisions go up. 

If Your Application is Deferred

If your Early Decision application was deferred to the Regular Decision round, we provided instructions for what to do next in your decision letter. We also linked to our deferred student website, which restates this information and answers the most common questions we get about deferral.

To have your application considered again in RD, you must complete two steps.

1. Complete the deferral form in your MyUVA Applicant Portal by January 15th.
2. Submit your fall trimester/semester grades by February 15th. 

On the defer student page, we explain that midyear grades can be submitted either by the student using their portal or by the school counselor. We aren't picky!

That is all you have to do. 

What else should you send?
Nothing else. We know there are third parties urging you to do other things. I strongly suggest that you follow our instructions instead of theirs. We specifically address Letters of Continued Interest (LOCIs) on that deferred student page. Please take a moment to read it if you haven't already. You're a senior and you have a lot on your plate. We are trying to help you use your limited time in the most productive way.

 

How many people will get offers in RD?
I can't predict the offer rate for the defer group. I've seen it as high as 16% and as low as 4% in recent years. Our decisions depend on midyear grades and how the rest of the applicant pool looks. 

It's now the Early Action students' turn to have our attention. Your application will get a second turn during RD if you choose to continue in the process. 

Unofficial 2024-2025 Early Decision Statistics

Early Decision students, you all gave us some great apps! I smiled a lot, I laughed a bit, and I shed a few tears, too. My favorite essay folder is certainly a little bigger! You're pretty amazing and I look forward to seeing some of you propel UVA forward in the next few years. Now, on to the numbers...

These statistics aren't all that different from the ones I shared last year, so I don't think anyone should be surprised by this data. 

Early Decision Applications

Total number of Early Decision applications: 4,971 (4,465 last year)
Total number of VA apps: 2,795 (2,573)
Total number of OOS apps: 2,176 (1,893)
We use completed applications in our statistics.

Early Decision Offers

Overall offers: 1,282 (1,133)
Total VA offers: 825 (29.5% offer rate)
Total OOS offers: 457 (21% offer rate)
Averaging these offer rates together is misleading because residency is a major factor in our review. If you are going to share these numbers, cite BOTH offer rates and not an average. Last year, we made about 9,500 offers overall to reach the enrollment goal.

A few notes:

1. I do not have additional statistics. I report the data I'm given. We are already immersed in the Early Action review process and I have files to read tonight!

2. Decisions will be posted in the applicant portal tomorrow night. You got login credentials back when we received your Common App. If you never logged in before, do it now so you know how it works. 

3. Admitted students will get a paper copy of their admission letter by mail. It will take a while for us to get those out. I can't really predict when the USPS will get that into your mailbox. Your enrollment deposit is due by January 15th.

4. Defer letters have a link to the deferred student website. Please go over the information with your parent(s) and counselor. If you'd like to be considered for during the Regular Decision review, complete the reply form in the portal by and upload your semester grades and any other updates when they become available. This takes the place of writing a Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI). Our instructions are clear that updates are uploaded in your portal, not emailed to admission officers. 

5. The Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars program invitations will be extended at the end of  the Early Action and Regular Decision processes. Early Decision students will be considered in both of those rounds. Echols and Rodman also allow self-nomination after your first semester.

6. Remember that these numbers are unofficial. Institutional Research and Analytics is the source of all official statistics about UVA. They take a census to determine the final statistics for the class in the fall. I wrote a big post about all the great sources of data last week that you may find helpful.

If you are a reporter, please contact the Office of University Communications for current, official information.

An Early Decision Update

Early Decision notification will be 

Friday, December 13, 2024 

This is official. Please do not call our office to confirm it. 

What time will decisions show up?

The decisions get posted all at once in around 5 PM. There's a technical team that runs through several processes to prepare for the release and load the decisions. I can't predict the exact moment when they will finish their work.

Where are the decisions posted?

You will see a place to review an update in your MyUVA Applicant Portal. You received login credentials for the portal back when you applied. Remember that your applicant portal is different from SIS, which is used for the financial aid process. 

The portal emails you when there's an unseen status update. Decisions are not given out by email or phone. 

Are there early signs of my decision anywhere?

The portal will look different leading up to the decision release as the technical team does their work. These changes are not tied to your decision.

Are scholar notifications coming?
The first round of review for Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars will be completed after the Early Action process in February. A second round will occur in March and decisions will go up after the Regular Decision process is completed.

When will statistics be ready?
I usually receive admission statistics for the round a day before the decision release. As soon as I have data, I'll share here. 

 This post is about Early Decision. Please consult the chart of dates for other rounds.

UVA Admission Data is Plentiful!

 

"Beyond our in-state to out-of-state ratio (2/3 of our students are Virginia residents), there are no restrictions on how many students we may take from a high school, town, county, or region."

I say this sentence during every information session, evening program, and high school visit. I say it regularly during live q&a sessions. I post it regularly on social media. I've been at UVA for 19 years, so you can imagine how many times those words have come out of my mouth! 

Rumors of regional quotas are a common concern among college-bound students. At UVA, we don't have them. We're large enough that can have many students from the same high school/town/county in our class. There's no directive that we must have someone from every state or county in the incoming class, either. With close to 18,000 undergraduate students, we have geographic diversity here. 

Having some numbers can help manage expectations about the admission process and prepare you for admission decisions (no update yet, ED applicants!). Let's go over some places where you get get factual information about UVA's enrollment and admission.

1. The Enrollment Maps

The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics publishes enrollment maps and charts that show the home countries, states, and counties/cities of UVA students. They are on the third tab of the Enrollment Data page on their website. At the top of the tab, you can switch the view from the world, the United States, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

You can zoom in on the maps and hover over an area to see the number of students at UVA from that specific country, state, or county/city (in Virginia, cities and counties are separate).

Below the maps are charts with raw data. You can export those to see them in a spreadsheet. Here's just a snippet of one:

You can use the drop-down menu to look at specific populations within UVA (undergraduates, graduates, different schools/colleges). 

2. Official UVA Admission Data

The Office of Institutional Assessment & Analytics also has pages of admission data that you can view using the same system of drop-down menus. The data goes back to 2016 and can also be seen by school of entry.

One piece of data that gets a lot of attention is the rank-in-class statistic. The Assessment team includes important contextual information that never seems to get reported. The rank statistics is only about the students who had a rank reported. We do not assign a rank if the school doesn't report it. I've seen some people claim that we do on social media. They are incorrect!

3. Official SCHEV Admission Data

The State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) collects admission data for all of the colleges in Virginia. There are all sorts of charts on their website. Some items of note:

Chart B10 General Profiles 

This chart has a general profile for each school. Just remember that GPAs are not standardized in Virginia, so the average GPA stat isn't all that significant. It's better to get data from your high school. Remember that at UVA, we are more concerned with coursework and grades than GPA, as you can have students with the same GPA and very different transcripts. 

B10 also shows you how many first years submitted an SAT score. Remember that we are still more concerned with sustained classroom performance at UVA and that many of our students have surpassed the material on the SAT (especially the math section). 

Chart B15 Regional Data 
These charts show first year admission and enrollment data by nine regions: Greater Charlottesville, Shenandoah Valley, Northern Virginia, Greater Fredericksburg, Hampton Roads, Greater Richmond, Southside, Roanoke/New River/Lynchburg, and Southwest. Enrollment data is at the top, but scroll down for admission data.

It's not all that surprising...densely populated areas have lots of high schools, so we wind up with lots of students from NOVA, Richmond, and Hampton Roads. 

Chart B08A1 County/City Data

This page has admission data for all of the Virginia colleges broken down by county/city going back several years. The raw numbers are helpful, as there could be a county with a very high admission rate, but only a few applicants. For example, Mathews County had a 100% acceptance rate in the 2023-2024 cycle. We admitted the one applicant from there. 

Note: SCHEV's Chart B08 and B08H is very buggy and is showing me incorrect data. I'm guessing it's  combining first-year and transfer data (maybe even graduate student data?) in some of the charts. I'm not in Institutional Assessment, so I can't be sure. I just know that their numbers are higher than the ones I have.

Last Minute Reminders for Early Applicants

It's deadline week and we are watching the submission numbers climb as we approach November 1st. I have a few reminders for those who are putting the finishing touches on an application.

1. The Deadline is November 1

If you're someone who does their best work at the last minute, you have all day on November 1st to get your application submitted. 

2. The Deadline is for Your Common App

This is covered in the application instructions, but I realize that a lot of people haven't read them yet (please do!). November 1st is the deadline to submit an early application. It's not a deadline for school counselors or teachers. 

In addition, don't worry about the "download date" in Common App being different from the date you submitted. The automated process for getting applications into colleges' systems sometimes runs in the wee hours, so the date of submission might be different from the date of download. 

3. Almost Everyone is Undeclared

With the exception of students applying to the School of Nursing or the Kinesiology program, everyone comes to UVA undeclared.

We have a "getting to know you" question about your academic interests, but you aren't being admitted into those programs. This is covered in the text of the question on the Common App, but is also in the "School Choice and Academic Interests" section of the application instructions.

4. MyUVA Application Portal Credentials are Coming

After our system has your application, it will send you login credentials for the applicant portal. This is where you can monitor required credentials and upload updates. The system can't "read" your updates, so it can't mark them as a certain kind of document. The portal will give you an error message if your upload didn't work, so as long as you don't get an error, your item was added to your file. 

We post decisions to portals, so you'll definitely want to be familiar with yours!

5. An Incomplete Application is Normal

It takes time for documents to be processed and matched. Do not assume items weren't sent if your application is incomplete the first time you log into your portal. Remember #2 above. We'll be in touch later in November if we need anything from you.

6. We have One Email Address

Please use undergradadmission@virignia.edu for all admission inquiries. This is explained on the "Connect" page of our website, but some people still decide to email an admission officer (or several!) with questions. Use the office account and we will route your email appropriately. 

If you have any last minute questions, I'm happy to answer them in the comments. Good luck, EA and ED applicants!

What does holistic admission mean?

One of the interesting parts about being on social media is that you get to see how admission concepts get interpreted by people still learning about the process. Recently, I came across a discussion on a forum in which a student proposed that colleges with holistic application reviews admit students for random reasons. They suggested that admission officers look for students who share their personal hobbies, interests, or beliefs. This is incorrect. 

Holistic admission means we look at the entire application before we render a decision. There's a story that unfolds when reading an application. We learn about a student's academic journey in high school, their experiences beyond the classroom, their interests, and how they express themselves. In a holistic review, all those components come together to compel an offer. We don't read to find students who share our personal interests. We read to meet the needs of our institutions. If I only admitted students who shared my interests, I think some of the schools and colleges within UVA would be disappointed!

There are no "cut offs" or automatic decisions based on numbers. We review every file before we make our recommendations and double check our decisions before they are finalized. 

Our website has more information about the characteristics and qualities we look for in applicants and our application review process.

We want to know the full story!

Deferral is back for 2024-2025

I just got word that we will have the option of deferring applications during the Early Decision and Early Action cycles this coming year.

If you are just starting the college search, you may not know that we tried a defer-free process last year. The possible decisions for all three rounds of admission were the same: admit, deny, and waiting list. Our colleagues at UNC Chapel Hill have done this for years and while it was interesting to try it out at UVA, we have ultimately decided to go back to the process we've been using for decades. 

The defer information page is back on our website and our FAQs are updated. I'm going to use the "defer" tag on this post you anyone who is curious can read past posts about this topic. 

An Update for the 2024 Waiting List

 If you watch my weekly live q&a sessions on Instagram, you've heard me talk about the waiting list a few times already, but I have an official update for the waiting list from Greg Roberts, the Associate VP of Enrollment and Undergraduate Admission. This update is going into portals and will go out by email momentarily. 

Thank you for your continued interest in the University of Virginia. We are grateful that you chose to remain on the waiting list, and we realize that waiting is never easy.  Thank you for your patience, and thank you - again - for your interest.

You have demonstrated to us that you are more than capable of thriving at UVA and contributing to the education and experience of your classmates. We want you to know that we respect and admire all that you have accomplished, and that we have great faith in your future.

At the same time, after considering the size of the first-year class and the spaces available, we have unfortunately concluded that we cannot offer you admission to UVA this year. I expect this will be disappointing news to receive, and I am very sorry that I have to deliver it.

If your heart is truly set on attending UVA, we are here to help. Many waitlisted first year students earn admission after one or two years elsewhere, provided they let us help them with planning. If you would like to talk to an Admission Counselor about transfer admission, or how you might begin your college career at the excellent and welcoming UVA Wise campus in southwest Virginia, please contact us. We would welcome the chance to answer questions and assist.

We appreciate your interest in the University of Virginia, and wish you the best as you begin your college career.

I hope you can look at your chosen school and move forward with you plans to go there with excitement. Best wishes for a wonderful summer and exciting start to your college career!

Another Waiting List Update

We just shared this message on the waiting list website...

We’re grateful to the many deserving students who remain on our waiting list. We offered admission to a small number of students this evening. These students received an email notifying them of an update to their status in their MyUVA application portal.

Over the next month, we will continue to monitor our class. We expect to resolve the status of all students who remain on the waiting list no later than June 15.

We are thankful all of our applicants for putting their faith in us and for their interest in UVA. We wish you the best as you wrap up your senior year and get ready for what we hope is a fun, safe, and relaxing summer.

Enrollment Deposits Due Today!

The end of the "yield season" is interesting in admission offices. When I was a counselor working at my first school, we'd eagerly wait for the mail delivery and then go through the envelopes to pull out the ones we thought were deposits to add to our count. This was obviously in the paper days when everyone sent a physical check and a form to secure their place in the class. Every once in a while, a student would show up in person to give us their deposit and we'd have a little celebration in the office. 

These days, deposits are submitted online. There's less ceremony and there's more activity at the last minute, with some people accepting their offer at the last minute (just like they may have submitted their application. It's still exciting to watch the class comes together!

Of course, the question that most people want answered is whether we'll go to the waiting list. The answer is...probably. It's highly unlikely that all ten portions of the class (you may see people online call them "buckets") wind up perfectly filled, even if we have the right number of students in the overall class. We'll know more about where we stand when deposits clear and the dean looks at school change requests. 

I tend to share updates more quickly on instagram these days, but I'll keep posting updates here.

A Waiting List Update

We are grateful to all students who remain interested in attending UVA. On Tuesday, April 9, we offered admission to 57 students who were on the waiting list for first year admission. We’ve reached out to these newly admitted students through their application portal and by email. All admitted students, including those offered from the waiting list, have until May 15 to submit their enrollment deposit to secure their place in the class. Enrollment deposit fee waivers are available to students with financial need and deadline extensions are available to those experiencing difficulties with FAFSA submission.

Although we may be able to offer admission to additional students who remain on our waiting list, we do not expect to do so before May 15, and the process may extend into June. Learn more about the waiting list on our FAQ page.

Again, we are grateful to all students who remain interested in UVA and wish all students the very best as they complete their senior year and make their college selection.

Second Round Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars Notfication

The second round of invitations for three of UVA's scholars programs went out on Monday afternoon by email and a short note was added to portals. All applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering were reviewed for a potential invitation to three scholars programs: Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars. 

Echols and Rodman add a few members through a third round that takes place after the first semester (you can self-nominate for that round). 

About 5% of students in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering are invited to join these programs. You can read more about them on their websites. In addition to showing exceptional academic records, scholars show a love of learning and an extraordinary commitment to academic pursuits beyond the classroom. We see this in transcripts, recommendations, essays, and activities. The review for the scholars programs is not driven by GPAs or test scores. 

Congratulations to all!

2023-2024 UVA Admission Statistics (Unofficial)

I've written a post like this few times per year since 2008. UVA has always been pretty transparent about statistics. The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics website has admission data going back to 1991 and our office shares admission rates broken down by residency in our presentations, publications, on our website, and on social media. If you're familiar with any of those, then these numbers I'm sharing aren't all that surprising. 

 If you are a reporter, please contact the Office of University Communications for current, official information.

Regular Decision Round

Total RD applications: 16,866 (15,828 last year)
VA RD applications: 3,750 (3,413)
OOS RD applications: 13,116 (12,415)

VA RD acceptance rate: 15% (16%)
OOS RD acceptance rate: 11% (10%)

Overall Admission Statistics

Total applications: 58,995 (56,439 last year)
Total VA applications: 16,455 (15,200)
Total OOS applications: 42,540 (41,338)

Overall VA acceptance rate: 25.5% (27%)
Overall OOS acceptance rate: 13% (12%)

 

A few notes:

1. We publish in-state and out-of-state admission rates because residency is a major factor in our review.

2. Schools admit more students than the enrollment goal with yield in mind. Yield is how many students accept an offer of admission. We do not try to figure out an individual student's likelihood of enrolling (or look at demonstrated interest), but yield trends influence the offer rate. For example, out-of-state residents tend to have a lower yield rate than Virginia residents. You can see yield rates by college/school (first tab) and residency (second tab) on our website.

3. Unofficial early decision and early action statistics were shared when we concluded those rounds.

4. Admitted students will get a hard copy of their letter in their offer packet. Unfortunately, I can't predict when USPS will put that in your mailbox.

5. Students offered the waiting list option should read the Waiting List FAQs. That link will be in the decision letter as well. Please share that link with the adults in your life!

6. The Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars program invitations will come out next week. I will post an update when I have one. This review round included all applicants (Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular Decision). Echols and Rodman also allow self-nomination after your first semester. Miller Arts Scholars apply after the first semester.

Good luck tomorrow night! If you get an offer, we are thrilled to have you considering UVA! We will be in touch by email to let you know about virtual and in-person admitted student events. If this is the end of your time with UVA, best wishes for the rest of your college search. There are exciting times ahead for all of you. I have loved interacting with you here, on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, reddit, and Discord. Thank you all for considering UVA!