The University of Virginia

Depite being out of state, this school was still 10,000 less than the nearest private school. It also had a pretty decent reputation, and was only about 3 hrs away from Baltimore where I live. Hence I went.

The first lasting impression I have from UVa comes from orientation, the July before my first year. People would ask, "What did you think?," and all I could say was that the people were absolutely beautiful. This stems from the most memorable portion of orientation, the pool party at the AFC. Of course, you would expect that the same people who would attend the pool party would also be above average in appearance just by the very nature of the activity, a bunch of strangers gathering around in bathing suits. But trust me, UVa has definitely got its share of attractive people.

The point of this review is to characterize UVa the best I can for someone who has never gone here. It's an extremely social school where the crowd mentality does not place the most weight on deep thinking, analysis, or art. The counter culture is extremely limited here; and this isn't to say that you can't find just about any type of culture, but you won't be part of the majority.

Do not underestimate the importance of the overall characterization of UVa. If you are indie, artistic, and like non-mainstream music, you'll be right back where you were in high school as far as population percentage (even worse depending on high schools). Most indie people don't like being mainstream so this won't bother them, but considering that the rest of your life will be spent in a minority, you might want to consider trying out a college where that isn't true.

The same goes for intelligence. It's frustrating to be a highly competitive school and still have to fight to find people who really seem to care about being smart. I can't tell you how many times I'll have a pseudo deep conversation with someone and they'll tell me how refreshing it is to find that in this school. That's not how college should be. Sure you can find people to talk to on a serious level, but the key is different people to get different perspectives. The girls especially really have a knack for playing dumb. The problem is, the guys love it, and definitely play into it only to further encourage it. It keeps me up at night to wonder if any of the girls at a place like Harvard could act as ditzy and mindless as so many of the ones around here. My guess is probably yes, just because it's no fun being smart all the time, especially with flirting or things of a sexual nature. I'd still like to see it with my own eyes though.

UVa definitely breeds fast, independent, successful people. There's no denying the reputation, size, and faculty of the economics dept. and Comm. school. People here are self assured, perhaps explaining why it's not always important to talk about beliefs or argue. I mean, if you have things figured out for yourself, you don't need to hunt around as much. Pre-med and Pyschology are extremely big here as well. The Pysc. dept. is absolutely top notch.

Being a large school has major advantages too. The sports are extremely entertaining for one. Even better, so many opportunities exist that it's a spontaneous and/or indecisive person's dream. Freshman year I went to China for some unknown reason (UVa has got so many random international connections), only finding out, deciding, and leaving all within 1.5 months. Finally, the size makes leadership a necessity. There's no guiding light that will pull you anywhere at UVa. The kids are completely expected to take full initiative and make with their time what they will. UVa has great classes (if you really read and think about the material, you can get past the boredom of big lecture halls, the small classes and good w/o any extra work), a nice campus, and great opportunities. If you are the right person, this is probably the greatest place on earth. For me, it is a really above average place. Imagine a student body whose overwhelming characteristic resembles SGA in high school, or a popular person who is smart but really places little emphasize on intellectual pursuit. These people are easy to get along with, drink with, or have wild nights partying with, but they don't provide any great inspiration.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A+, Scholastic Success: B

I transferred to UVa in the fall of my second year, after having a fairly rough time at my first school (a very prestigious small, liberal arts college). I am from Virginia, and perhaps I am being a school snob, but I felt that (in general) the undergraduate student body was slightly greater than average in intelligence. I also felt that many were close-minded...maybe a better word is ignorant - in terms of overall mentality and morals rather than intelligence. Although you will find this at most schools, I felt that the students were especially self-segregating. The social scene (to me) appears to fall into two main categories: jocks, greeks or geeks. This limits "fun" things to do to fraternity/sorority parties, bars, or house parties. It is much too "Varsity Blues" for me, but I guess if that is what you are in search of, then you would have fun here. The city itself had a surprising number and variety of restaurants and bars, considering its location and size. The classes are astronomical in number (even higher level classes stll had over 100 students), many classes were taught by TAs, and even when I had a real professor, they were inaccessible outside of class, even immediately following lectures for a quick question. My dean and supervisor were probably the most helpful to me during my attendance, though this does not say much - the dean actually DIScouraged me from taking upper-level courses, saying I was "overambitious", while my supervisor sang me high praises and offered little substantial advice to my classes. I think the only true benefit I gained from my experience at UVa was to put everything into perspective for me - I only learned to truly appreciate my first school for what it was. Needless to say, I transferred back.

1st Year Female -- Class 2007

Campus Aesthetics: B+, Education Quality: D+

UVA definitely has the good, as well as the bad. The campus ("grounds") is beautiful, and the surrounding city of Charlottesville always has something going on. Greek life is a huge part of the social scene, at least for me, and that also adds to weekend events. UVA also just completed the "south lawn" project, which houses a new building for the government department, and most of my classes are there. This is a much prettier and newer building than New Cabell, which is currently being renovated. It's basically falling apart, so hopefully it will be done soon.

The classes are okay - it probably depends on which classes you take, but a lot of mine are very large (think a few hundred people) that break up into smaller discussion sections with a TA. How you do in a class really depends on the TA you get; if you get a bad one, you are totally screwed. Some of them don't speak English and don't know how to teach, and going to the professor isn't too helpful. If you need help with a specific problem, the TA is expected to help you, whereas the professor is there to discuss larger problems or ideas. My friend is in the Engineering school, and I'm told their office hours are different, but I haven't been too impressed as far as the government department goes.Overall, I really do love UVA, but the classes haven't exactly been what I expected, and my GPA definitely shows it. I was expecting more exciting and interesting topics and lectures, and for the most part, they are just extremely boring and I don't want to go to class most of the time.

3rd Year Female -- Class 2013

Campus Aesthetics: A+, Collaboration/Competitive: B-