<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I am a Cali born and raised, Indian male, freshman, currently attending a UC school. Because of my career goals, I decided to apply to schools with stronger business schools in the East Coast and have received admission to UVA. I'm very excited to be a Sophmore this fall but have a lot of questions/concerns considering that UVA is a huge public school in a state that I have never been to. So the questions begin.</p>
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<li><p>I have heard that UVA is very preppy (which I am fine with). Honestly, I just want to know what is the standard outfit for guys
boat shoes? Vineyard Vines? Polos? I want to upgrade my wardrobe before I attend so that I don't have to worry about it when I get there. </p></li>
<li><p>Greek Life. Can somebody do a break down of the frats? What are the top tiers? How hard is it to get a bid? How bad is the pledging? Everyone talks about how bad the pledging is at at Southern universities
how much does UVA fit this bill? Are frats very elitist/exclusive and only willing to give bids to white/southern/prep school kids?</p></li>
<li><p>Academics. I want to transfer into Mcintire my junior year. I am currently going to be an Econ major in Arts and Science. What kind of classes should I take, what are the easy GEs, and how does the process of transferring into Mcintire work? How hard is the workload? Grade deflation? Does Mcintire work on a curve similar to say NYU Stern?</p></li>
<li><p>Living. This is my biggest concern. I have never visited the campus, and I have NO idea about the living situation. I don't know a single person that goes to UVA (none from my HS in the last 10 years). At my current school pretty much only the weird kids live on campus sophomore year, most people move into the college town. Which I would be doing if I was staying. How should I approach this? I am guessing I will be stuck with the dorms, where is the best place to dorm? How far are the dorms from the fraternities?</p></li>
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<p>Thanks in advance. Sorry if some of my questions come across as stupid haha. Just an anxious guy.</p>
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<li><p>Check out my highly scientific observations about UVa style: [Notes</a> from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Fitting in at UVa](<a href=“http://uvaapplication.blogspot.com/2010/12/fitting-in-at-uva.html]Notes”>Notes from Peabody: The UVA Application Process: Fitting in at UVa)</p></li>
<li><p>There are loads of threads about Greek life in the forum. That being said, if you are interested, there is plenty of time for you to make your own assessments before committing to anything.</p></li>
<li><p>MCintire’s required classes are listed on their admission page. They also have data about how competitive the process is.
[UVa</a> McIntire School of Commerce: Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.commerce.virginia.edu/undergrad/admissions/Pages/default.aspx]UVa”>http://www.commerce.virginia.edu/undergrad/admissions/Pages/default.aspx)</p></li>
<li><p>Plenty of people live on Grounds 2nd year. There are plenty who stay on Grounds all four years. You don’t have to live on Grounds when you come. If you really aren’t interested in the on-Grounds housing (more than dorms, there are suites and apartments), you can opt to go off-Grounds.</p></li>
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<p>None of this is stupid! I’m sure others will chime in with their take, too.</p>
<p>yes, skim through some of the older posts and do some searches on this forum, and you will learn a great deal.</p>
<p>There are plenty of persons who were not born and raised in the south at UVa. In fact, UVa has a very large South Asian student population (including many persons who moved into Northern Virginia in recent years). Many Virginians moved from other states.</p>
<p>If you decide to look at fraternities, do not be discouraged if you have a bad experience at the first few fraternities. Some of the houses that are the most down to earth are a little bit further away from the Rotunda. If you don’t like what you see, just keep walking.</p>
<p>People will constantly correct you if you say sophomore, junior, senior. Undergrads are called first year, second year, third year and fourth year.</p>
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<li><p>The common styles are pretty much what you’ve listed. I’d recommend wearing whatever you’d be comfortable with, though, in terms of style and brand.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not an expert on Greek life by any means - check out the other threads if you can.</p></li>
<li><p>The link that Dean J listed above is your best source. My roommates this year took classes in McIntire while they were in the application process, so there’s that. I assume those courses are pretty rigorous as well, so I wouldn’t overextend your course load if I were you. </p></li>
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<p>In terms of GEs, you’re able to search for them on the Student Information System online based on each requirement. You could also look at Lou’s List and use the same denominator to explore some courses. If you’re trying to get into Comm School, though, I wouldn’t try to breeze through these classes - the tougher they look, the better, IMO.</p>
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<li>To break it down: you have several on-Grounds housing choices for upperclassmen and transfer students. The closest dorms to the fraternities are Lambeth Field Apartments, which is where I lived this past year. It’s not a bad place to be in my opinion if you are interested in fraternities and don’t mind somewhat of a social environment.</li>
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<p>Another place to consider is Bice, which is at the southern end of Grounds, near the Medical School. I’ve also heard that’s a good place to live for upperclassmen.</p>
<p>Other options include Hereford - but the common complaint is that it’s WAAAAAY too far from Central Grounds - meaning the lecture halls, departments, etc. You also have places like Copeley and Faulkner which are closer to the Law School and Darden (graduate business school) with the same sorts of complaints.</p>
<p>All in all, I’d definitely live on-Grounds your first year, for the sake of getting used to life at UVA and having a lot of opportunities where you live to fit in.</p>
<p>Hope this all helps, and welcome to UVA.</p>