Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Reviewing the Common App Activities Section in the UVA Admission Process

A new student asked the UVA reddit subforum how to get off some of the club listserves they joined. It's inevitable that people who sign up for a few too many clubs realize that they have to cut back. It reminded me that it's been a while since I've written about what we are looking for when it comes to the Common App activity section.

Before I get into that, though, let me restate what we make clear in our application instructions, on the Common App, and on our contact page: we do not accept resumes with applications here. We want applicants to fill out the activity section of the Common App. With 56,000 applications, it's important that we be able to read efficiently. The consistent format of the Common App is helpful. We also hope it makes things simpler for applicants. The Common App is enough.  

Now, let's talk about that section...


The activity section shows us where you've chosen to spend your time outside the classroom during high school. This is both a "getting to know you" section and a section to see ways you might get involved in the future. There are many ways and venues in which to make a contribution - through work in the classroom, research, at a job, in student organizations (we call them CIOs here), in the residence hall, around Charlottesville, etc.  

1.  We don't value certain activities over others.

There are over 900 student organizations at UVA. All of those CIOs make UVA the interesting, innovative, and fun place that it is. Whether you are involved in the most popular club at your school or the most obscure one, we'll be happy that you are making a difference in some facet of your school or community.

2. Few students fill the Common App activity chart.

Our review isn't about who has the longest list, it's about understanding the activities that have been important to the student over the last few years. The length of your list is not a factor in our review. Most students don't exhaust the spaces available in this section. 

3. You don't have to show consistency.

If you are one of the lucky students who found an activity you love early on and have maintained involvement in it throughout high school, that's wonderful! If your interests have evolved over time, you are totally normal! Most applicants are at an age where interests evolve and new ones emerge. You are allowed to change your mind about your activities. Please don't apologize if your activities haven't been long-term.

It's fine if your activity list shortens a little bit in junior and/or senior year. As academic responsibilities increase, it makes sense to reshuffle your priorities and let one or two activities fall by the wayside. If you don't have to do this in high school, you'll certainly have to do it in college like the student in our reddit subforum found out the other day! 

4. Descriptions don't have to be elaborate.

I've seen some "experts" online who spent a lot of time telling students their activity descriptions have to be exceptionally powerful or witty. For UVA, that's just not the case. Give us a line or two about your involvement and move on. What's more, there are sometimes activities that don't need explanations, at least for an admission officer. For example, I once had a student include statistics about weightlifting. The numbers didn't mean anything to me and I could acknowledged they dedicated time to the activity without them. 

5. We aren't literally assembling an orchestra.

This is very specific, but the idea that admission officers are charged with literally assembling an orchestra with a certain number of chairs for each instrument has been going around since I was applying to college. UVA admission officers aren't charged with finding someone who plays the French horn to fit some French horn "slot." While a coach might be concerned with filling certain positions or events for their sport, the admission office at UVA is not admitting or denying people based on what instrument they play. 


What questions do you have about how activities come into play during the UVA application review?

Wednesday, August 09, 2023

Why GPAs Don't Drive Admission Decisions at UVA

It's pretty common to hear students say "I don't want to be a number." However, a lot of people cite a GPA when they approach admission officers and expect us to gauge a student's chances of admission. This is why we try to explain why the numbers don't drive our decision. Let's go over two major points to remember...

GPAs aren't standardized. 

Most schools these days have weighted GPA methodologies. They'll explain how they calculate the statistic at their school on a document called a high school profile that the school counselor submits along with the transcript. If you've never seen a high school profile, you can usually find it on your school's website or in the counseling office. It goes over the curriculum offered, restrictions when it comes to registration, how grading works, and how any statistics like GPA and rank are calculated there. 

Methodologies for calculating GPAs varies by district/school. Here are some snippets from school profiles I read 

This GPA distribution chart shows the high school data on the left and the county on the right. 



Some profiles aren't super precise.





GPAs don't convey coursework or trends.

Details are impactful in a highly selective admission process. We look at all of the courses and grades on the transcript to understand a student's academic preparation. GPAs can't give that level of detail and they don't convey trends in course rigor or grades. 


If you have questions, feel free to put them in the comments or join me for my next live q&a, this Thursday at 3 PM on Instagram