UVa admits 6907 applicants for the Class of 2014

http://www.examiner.com/x-20753-DC-College-Admissions-Examiner~y2010m3d29-UVa-admits-6907-for-the-Class-of-2014

After months of deliberations, University of Virginia admissions decisions were released online late Friday afternoon. Minutes later, reactions began pouring in to student discussion boards including CollegeConfidential.com. “Wow I’m sooo happy,” cheered one admitted student.

But the news wasn’t universally good. “I had a 2390 SAT and am waitlisted,” lamented an out-of state applicant. Another student summed up the sentiments of the disappointed, “I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

In her wonderfully frank and helpful admissions blog, Notes from Peabody, Dean J provided students and parents insight into how difficult these decisions have been. “With the number of applications we had, we were not able to admit all of the qualified students,” she explained. “Many of those who wind up on the waitlist and deny list are perfectly capable of doing the work at UVa. Our first-year class just isn’t large enough to accommodate everyone.”

Compounding the shock for some students was UVa’s decision to trim the waitlist this year. In the past, between 3000 and 5000 applicants were offered places on the waitlist. In fact, waitlist offers have outnumbered the entire incoming class by as much as 40%. “We have cut the waitlist down a lot this year for a few reasons,” explained Dean J. “This means there aren’t as many of you feeling like you are in limbo.” It also means that some students who might have ordinarily found a place on the waitlist were denied instead.

So here are some preliminary numbers from the UVa Office of Admissions:

Total applications received: 22,516 (up from 21,839 last year)
Total number of Virginia resident applications: 7,964
Total number of out-of-state applications: 4,652

Overall offers: 6,907
Total instate offers: 3,380 (42.4% of resident applicants)
Total out-of-state offers: 3,527 (24% of nonresident applications)

Enrollment goal: 3,240 first-year students

The offers for residents and nonresidents are similar because historic yield—or percent of students accepting offers—for nonresidents is generally lower.

Dean J reports that the middle 50% SAT scores among admitted students ranged from 1300-1480. Over 93 percent of the students receiving offers of admission were in the top 10 percent of their class.

The UVa Office of Institutional Assessment is the best source for all official statistics. Their website will be updated in time with additional data relative to this year’s admissions.