At a Glance
UVA admits 16.8% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
Net price data temporarily unavailable. Visit each school's net price calculator directly.
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Sticker price
Not reported by this school
Debt at Graduation
28.7%
receive need-based grant aid
$25,137
average debt at graduation
UVA graduates carry an average of $25,137 in debt.
Merit Aid
Not reported by this school — some schools award aid based on need alone, without merit scholarships.
Getting In
UVA admits 16.8% of applicants.
University of Virginia's Early Decision applicants are admitted at nearly 2x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 27.9% vs 15.9%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 46% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 14% of the class submitted
84% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
University of Virginia considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
47.2% of UVA classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At UVA, 47.2% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
14:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
28.6%
Live on campus
41%
In Greek life
~25%
Greek-life participation from UVA FSL (2025) — not reported in UVA's 2024–25 Common Data Set.
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
UVA's student body is 48.8% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
UVA graduates 92.3% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
UVA graduates 92.3% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
UVA
92.3%
4-yr grad rate
Most finish on time
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
95.6%
Overall 6-yr rate
92%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 3.6 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
97.9%
97.9% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Charlottesville.
Charlottesville is a small city wrapped around a genuinely beautiful campus, with a brick pedestrian mall of restaurants and music venues a short walk from Grounds and the Blue Ridge Mountains visible on the horizon. Wineries, hiking, and Monticello are all within half an hour. It suits students who want an outdoorsy, historic setting with a walkable town attached; Washington, D.C. is two hours up the road for internships, museums, and big-city weekends.
Notable Alumni
Edgar Allan Poe
Pioneer of the short story and the detective genre; his room on the West Range is preserved and open to visitors.
Tina Fey
Writer and performer behind 30 Rock and Mean Girls, and the first woman to serve as head writer of Saturday Night Live.
Katie Couric
The first woman to solo-anchor a weeknight network evening news broadcast, after 15 years hosting the Today show.
Ralph Sampson
Three-time national college player of the year at Virginia and a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
Paul Tudor Jones
Hedge fund founder who also started the Robin Hood Foundation, one of the largest anti-poverty organizations in New York.
Walter Reed
Army physician whose research proved that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes, transforming public health worldwide.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Charlottesville, VA
Best For
Traditions
Living on the Lawn
Each year a small group of fourth-years is selected to live in the original rooms Thomas Jefferson designed along the Lawn. The rooms have fireplaces but no private bathrooms, and residents still walk outside to shower — which is part of the appeal.
Lighting of the Lawn
Every December, students gather on the Lawn for an a cappella and dance performance that ends with the Rotunda and colonnades lit up at once. It began in 2001 as a community gathering and has become the biggest student event of the fall.
The Honor System
Students run their own honor system, investigating and adjudicating cases themselves rather than leaving it to the administration. It's why many exams at UVA are unproctored and take-home.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Charlottesville
Shenandoah National Park
30 minutesSkyline Drive, waterfall trails, and a stretch of the Appalachian Trail that's close enough for an afternoon trip.
Washington, D.C.
2 hoursFree Smithsonian museums, monuments, and the internship and interview circuit that draws a lot of UVA students.
Richmond
1 hourVirginia's capital, with a strong restaurant scene, riverside rapids in the middle of the city, and the VMFA art museum.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Charlottesville-Albemarle (CHO)
15 minutes from campus
For international flights: Washington Dulles International (IAD) — about 2 hours by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Washington Commanders NFLAbout 2 hours away
- Washington Capitals NHLAbout 2 hours away
- Richmond Flying Squirrels MiLBAbout 1 hour away
Career Proximity
UVA sits two hours from Washington, D.C. and one hour from Richmond, which opens up government, policy, consulting, and finance internships without requiring a summer move.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Deloitte
- Capital One
- CFA Institute
- UVA Health
- Booz Allen Hamilton
Washington, D.C. — about 2 hours from Grounds
Who Thrives Here
UVA pairs a 92% four-year graduation rate with a commitment to meet 100% of demonstrated need, and two-thirds of undergraduates are Virginians — so this reads very differently depending on which side of the state line your family lives on. The culture is traditional and self-governing: students run their own honor system and adjudicate cases themselves, which is why many exams here are unproctored take-homes.