Many schools are releasing their Early Decision I and Early Action decisions as December flies by. Psssst…. We have the most up to date release information here. These results are pretty straightforward for students who are accepted or rejected. Some students, however, will face a less definitive status: deferral.
But here’s the interesting thing. The percentages staying constant do NOT mirror what we are seeing and hearing anecdotally from kids here in Fairfax, Arlington, and even Loudoun County. Not at all. To the point that I checked my math about five times (I really hope I didn’t make a mistake)!
I won’t spread the misconception that UVA has quotas because they don’t. However, I would really love to know how these state-level figures were broken down by county or region. It’s just really difficult for me to understand how the percentages remained the same this year when so many of us counselors (independent and high school) are observing a different scenario with our Northern Virginia students:
Here’s what we noticed in particular:
- The quality of the admitted student pool has not significantly differed between the ED and EA rounds over the past two years. There are typically more legacy students and recruited athletes in any school’s ED applicant pool, making ED statistically slightly easier but also having a different applicant pool. This can often balance out a moderate differential. Nevertheless, based on our internal data, which is statistically insignificant and comes from a comparable demographic, it did not appear that the ED advantage was nearly as significant as it is for some other schools. Other independent and high school counselors noticed the same.
- This year was different, starting with ED. I was extremely surprised (but thrilled, don’t get me wrong!) to see some students admitted during that round. These were not kids with any particular connections, either. Of course, we also admitted extremely qualified students to ED. also a couple that we believed ought to have been admitted But overall, it was a significantly easier ED year.
- This year, there were fewer EA applicants than usual because so many of our students applied ED with UVA as their top choice. Additionally, we had many ED students who were accepted to other schools later withdraw their UVA EA applications. However, some of the decisions made regarding the remaining candidates in the EA pool were quite shocking. Kids who 100% should have been admitted were not. You would be shocked if I revealed their statistics, which I’m unable to do due to confidentiality issues. And you can’t blame it on essays or teacher recommendations or anything else because these extremely qualified students were accepted to other institutions that, in some cases, have much higher admission standards than UVA. And SO MANY OTHER COUNSELORS are noting the same. I have talked about it so many times this week that I can’t even tell you.
- Several students (not our clients, actually) who had already advanced in the Jefferson Scholarship rounds were not admitted. This is WILD to me. The reason this is so interesting to me is because the admissions committee does not make the decisions for Jefferson Scholars – its a separate committee from the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, so it makes sense that these students were more focused on the scholarship at this point and assumed that admission itself was more or less a done deal. I further assume that the admissions committee must take into account additional factors in order to shape the class, whereas the Jefferson Scholars committee is free to make decisions based solely on merit.
Again, I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the statistics do not match what our admittedly unrepresentative student group observed from previous years.
SO – My advice for Class of 2023 juniors interested in attending UVA? Apply early decision, and for the love of God, please PLEASE continue foreign language during your senior year!!! I HATED IT TOO SO I FEEL YOU BUT THIS WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU!
How I Got Into UVA (Stats, EC’s & More)
FAQ
Do deferred students get accepted at UVA?
Regarding the number of deferred students we would like to enroll, we do not have a specific goal in mind or quota. During Regular Decision, we will review the deferred students and admit those we believe are best suited to have an impact on our classrooms and community.
How likely is it to get accepted after being deferred?
According to the university, about 15% of deferred applicants gain admission in the Regular Decision round Deferral statistics can also be impacted by yearly trends and modifications to the admissions procedure.
Is it harder to get accepted after being deferred?
Your chances of acceptance after being deferred may be the same as, lower than, or higher than the applicant pool for Regular Decision. The school you applied to and what you do after being deferred will both affect your chances after deferral. Let’s look at MIT, for example.
Do deferred students have a higher chance?
Don’t worry if it happens to you; data shows you have a higher likelihood of being rejected from a college than accepted. You and many other early decision applicants are in the same situation. Georgetown University is one school that defers all early decision applicants who are rejected.