Dozens of Jefferson Scholars program finalists completed the final stage of the selection process on Grounds this weekend, spending four days participating in the University's 30th annual selection weekend.
Out of 101 finalists who visited Grounds this weekend, scholarships will be offered to about 30 students today, and those students will have until April 30 to accept.
The weekend enabled judges to get to know the finalists beyond the information collected on paper, said National Advisory Board Member David Tolmie, who serves on one of the selection committees.
"We see the background information, then we want to get to know them personally," he said.
Each six-person selection committee evaluated a group of seven finalists, he said. The weekend's events, which culminated yesterday with formal interviews, allowed the finalists to meet the committee members through various events. Arriving on Grounds Wednesday, the finalists first had the opportunity to attend classes and with current Jefferson Scholars, professors and selection committee members.
"We sit with them and we just get to know them as people, get to know them on an informal basis," Tolmie said.
Selection committee members also observed how the finalists interact with other students. The finalists participated, for example, in two seminars led by professors who assessed their performance. In addition, finalists are required to write an essay and take a mathematics exam, both of which will be reviewed by University professors.
"We really are seeking to find those students who can make the biggest impact here at the University in the areas of scholarship, leadership and citizenship, or service," Tolmie said. "We're looking for both leaders in groups and leaders individually through specific research they might do or academic work they might do, so it's a broad range of qualities that can lead to the selection that might be a Jefferson Scholar."
The overall selection process takes one year and is "highly selective," Tolmie said. Fifty-six regional selection committees interviewed more than 1,200 nominees to trim the selection down to the remaining finalists. The average SAT score of the remaining candidates is 2224, and 67 percent of them have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. About one-fourth of the students are predicted to graduate as valedictorian or salutatorian of their senior classes.
"All of the groups that we have invited to the University in past years are similar in their exceptional ability in leadership, scholarship and citizenship," said James Wright, president of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. "As a whole, this group is representative of the kind of excellence that we have attracted at this University for 30 years."
The process turns out to be "a very positive experience" even for students who are not selected as scholars or who ultimately do not matriculate at the University, Tolmie said.
In the past, students he has spoken to "are all surprised at how much they like each other [and] how much they grow to love the University of Virginia, even if they don't ultimately come here, and many of them form friendships that continue on even if they end up at different schools," Tolmie said. "I think that reflects on the vision of the Jefferson Scholars program, to find not just incredibly intelligent and talented people, but people who are passionate and are great to be with."
Overall, the weekend also may be more than just an opportunity to select new scholarship recipients.
"The weekend's actually a ton of fun," said Graduate Batten student Rahul Gorawara, a current Jefferson Scholar and former Cavalier Daily life columnist. "It's as much about selling U.Va. as it is about choosing the finalists"
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