University of Virginia

In brief

The University of Virginia (UVA), in Charlottesville, was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who also served as its main architect. It received its charter in 1819, and its first classes began in 1825. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #25 in the United States and #64 in the world. It admitted 16.8% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1475 and a median ACT score of 33.

Jefferson chose the site in 1817 with James Monroe, James Madison, and Chief Justice John Marshall, intending a modern university free of the religious requirements then imposed by the College of William & Mary.

Where UVA’s influence is strongest

UVA’s influence is led by law, followed by the social sciences and humanities. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Law: #12 in the US (#19 in the world)
• Political science: #17
• History: #18
• Anthropology: #19
• Philosophy: #20

Within those fields, UVA is a national leader in several specialties:

• #2 in the US: applied ethics (only Santa Clara University ranks higher) and parapsychology (only Duke ranks higher)
• #4: East Asian religions, orthopedic surgery, and criminal psychology

By comparison, UVA sits further back in mathematics (#42), social work (#49), and chemistry (#52).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

UVA has been affiliated with eight Nobel laureates, among them the physicist Clinton Davisson, the economists Ronald Coase and James M. Buchanan, the novelist William Faulkner, and President Woodrow Wilson. Two alumni, John Backus and Edmund M. Clarke, won the Turing Award. Other UVA-connected figures include Edgar Allan Poe, the explorer Richard E. Byrd, the poet Rita Dove, the comedian Tina Fey, the journalist Katie Couric, and the civil rights leader Julian Bond. Our full lists of UVA’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is UVA hard to get into? Yes. It admitted 16.8% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 700–760 on the SAT reading section and 710–780 on math.

What does UVA cost after financial aid? Tuition is $22,431 for Virginia residents and $61,457 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $13,391 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $8,203 for incomes of $30,000–$48,000 to $33,994 for incomes above $110,000.

How do UVA graduates do? 94.4% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 98% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $96,468.

What is UVA best known for academically? By our influence data: law, political science, and history, plus applied ethics, where only Santa Clara University ranks higher in the US.