<p>I am a prospective Indian student, and I was wondering how many other students of Indian descent attend the college?</p>
<p>Honestly, there aren’t a whole lot, but that being said, one of my best friends and former roommate was half Pakistani and half Indian (as hard to believe as it may be) and first generation American.</p>
<p>a few! one of my best friends is an international student of indian descent</p>
<p>Not much diversity at UR. Some, but nothing like what you’d find at BU or Vandy, etc.</p>
<p>investor, I’m just going to nitpick a bit. Just personal belief, but there is more diversity than initially expected. My roommate that I mentioned above was more like me in every way (politics, background, experiences, ambitions, non-New England, etc.) than a lot of other people who appear to be just like me on the surface (white male). </p>
<p>The physical diversity on campus definitely isn’t as great as it is at places like BU or Vandy, but at the same time, this is steadily improving and is very important to the current administration. The “ideological diversity” is certainly there but is not as easy to see or communicate in a brochure. For example, UR recently improved its LGBT rating to 4-stars out of 5 ([University</a> of Richmond receives four-star LGBT-friendly rating from Campus Climate Index - University of Richmond](<a href=“University of Richmond receives four-star LGBT-friendly rating from Campus Climate Index - news - University of Richmond”>University of Richmond receives four-star LGBT-friendly rating from Campus Climate Index - news - University of Richmond)).</p>
<p>Diversity is an interesting thing and can be viewed from many lenses.</p>
<p>investor, the data would seem to say otherwise. I know UR isn’t the <em>most</em> diverse school out there, but your comparisons to Vanderbilt and Boston University took me by surprise. I notice you’ve been commenting on this board for a number of years. Perhaps it’s been a little while since you visited UR, but things have changed a lot in the past 4-5 years (my time there).</p>
<p>If you mean ethnic/racial diversity, then UR sits comfortably at 28% minority students, between Vandy at 25% and BU at 32.3%.</p>
<p>[Student</a> Profile - Undergraduate Admission - University of Richmond](<a href=“http://admissions.richmond.edu/studentprofile/overview.html]Student”>http://admissions.richmond.edu/studentprofile/overview.html)
[The</a> Vanderbilt Difference | Apply | Undergraduate Admissions | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/apply/vanderbilt-difference.php]The”>http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/apply/vanderbilt-difference.php)
[About</a> BU: Fast Facts Undergraduate Admissions | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/admissions/bu-basics/fast-facts/]About”>http://www.bu.edu/admissions/bu-basics/fast-facts/)</p>
<p>If you mean socioeconomic diversity, UR has a greater percentage of students receiving aid (69%, [Prospective</a> Undergraduates - Financial Aid - University of Richmond](<a href=“Financial Aid - University of Richmond”>Financial Aid - University of Richmond)) than either Vanderbilt (62%, [ReVU:</a> Quick Facts about Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, Tennessee](<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/info/facts/]ReVU:”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/info/facts/)) or BU (57%, [Tuition</a>, Room and Board to Rise 3.79 Percent | BU Today | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/tuition-room-and-board-to-rise/]Tuition”>http://www.bu.edu/today/2012/tuition-room-and-board-to-rise/)).</p>
<p>Or perhaps a better indicator of socioeconomic diversity would be the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants. That would be 13% of Vandy’s undergrads, 15% of BU’s, and 17% of UR’s (see USNWR [Economic</a> Diversity | Rankings | Top National Universities | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity]Economic”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/economic-diversity)). This is a good dipstick for how things have changed at UR; when I started at UR, only 9% of students were Pell-eligible. That’s close to a 100% increase in five years.</p>
<p>Spiders05 already mentioned the recent 4-star LGBT rating, which ties UR with Vandy (also 4 stars). BU isn’t included on that list.</p>
<p>All three schools have similar geographic diversity, with 80-84% of students coming from out of state (UR at 83%), and with 9-11% international students (UR at 10%).</p>
<p>Granted, this diversity was not always the case at UR even in recent history, so it’s easy to understand how misconceptions exist. But UR has seen a huge increase in all forms of diversity in a very short period of time, and it remains a high priority for the president and administration. In fact, if you consider concrete recent growth in diversity over time, or an institutional commitment to diversity resulting in tangible recent gains, I think UR clearly takes the cake among the schools mentioned.</p>
<p>Excellent points by Higher Ed and Spider05. We have been to campus as recently as last month - our daughter is a student there! But, I stand corrected for not having looked up any stats. My observation is from being on campus for the past three years on numerous occasions. I travel (in my job) to college campuses on a regular basis, and I observe diversity the moment I set foot on a campus. So, again, my comments come from the “feel” and were not backed up by the great statistics you both provided. Bottom line is that walking on BU or Rutgers campus ((I was there last week) the students look and feel very different. Richmond just still “feels” very preppy and all the other characteristics that go along with that moniker. That doesn’t mean there isn’t diversity! The students couldn’t be any more friendly, the professors are top notch, the campus is gorgeous, and the academic rigor has been way higher than we expected when we started there. There is so much to do and be involved in. I think anyone who has the opportunity to go to Richmond will find exceeds expectations!</p>
<p>After looking at the links, I do want to point out a few things. You can break down the numbers a number of ways, but at BU the Caucasian population is only 52%. The remaining 48% are broken down between asian (18%), international, etc. etc. If you look at Caucasian vs. all others, the minority population is 48%, not 32% as you reported. Again, it is all how you choose to break it down. I think most would agree that when we think of minorities on campus, we mean non Caucasian students. Vandy class of 2015 profile shows 29% minorities on the chart. See: [The</a> Vanderbilt Profile | Undergraduate Admissions | Vanderbilt University](<a href=“http://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/profile/]The”>Vanderbilt At A Glance | Undergraduate Admissions | Vanderbilt University)</p>