<p>Hey! I'm a first-year from Texas... I was in your shoes a year ago, and I'm sure you have lots of questions about what its like at UVA. So ask away!!!</p>
<p>What was it like when you first got to UVa? (i.e. moving day, meeting people)… I’m from Canada so I won’t know anyone when I first get there! did you know anyone else who was going?</p>
<p>I knew one girl from my school and a handful of others from different schools in Houston, but we were all just acquaintances, so I felt like I didn’t know anybody either.</p>
<p>It’s slightly more difficult on the out-of-state people at first, because the in-staters know people from their high school and their area in most cases. But they are all looking to make new friends and to branch out as well. </p>
<p>Move-in day was incredibly busy…I would advise you to get there as soon as possible. It was also when you get to meet all of your roommates/hallmates/suitemates for the first time. You go to dinner with your hall or suite and are encouraged to bond. Nobody on my hall knew each other beforehand except two girls from Richmond who went to middle school together. So, everybody was in the same situation. Most people become good friends with some if not most of their hallmates, and that really helps the process, especially if you don’t get along too well with your roommate. </p>
<p>I would advise you to immediately branch out, though. It’s wonderful if you make friends with your hallmates, but you need other outlets. There is an activities fair within the first week of school. JOIN CLUBS! Even if they don’t look too interesting, just join them to meet new people. Your course-load your first-year will leave you with a lot of extra time, so you can handle a few clubs/extracurricular activities. Don’t be shy at the beginning of the year, everybody wants to meet new people. Play intramural sports or join a community service group.</p>
<p>In my experience, the most effective and most fun ways of meeting people and becoming involved at UVA are:
-Join a sports team (varsity, club, intramural)
-Get a job with UGuides as a tour-person (they treat it as a fraternity of sorts when not working. I’m not in it but know many people who are, and they love it)
-Try out for and join a fine arts group like First-year Players or an acapella group
-Volunteer through Madison House, the largest community service group on grounds
-<strong><em>At the beginning of your spring semester, rush. Even if you don’t think Greek life is for you, give it a chance. It gives you SO many social, academic, and philanthropic opportunities, and you meet so many people!</em></strong></p>
<p>Hope this helped! You will be fine! Just don’t be shy and get involved, UVA has so much to offer!</p>
<p>Two questions:
- What was your GPA and test scores (if you don’t mind, I’m just trying to get a feel of what I need for OOS)
- What attracted you to UVA, and what is your current favorite aspect?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>This probably won’t help you too much because they really look at you holistically. I had a 4.7/5.0 GPA and a 2320 on the SAT. Don’t worry about the SAT score though, mine was on the high end. Look at all of UVA’s literature about who they accept or go to sites like collegeboard.com or get a college guide book at the bookstore to give you a better idea.</p></li>
<li><p>Now, I was attracted to UVA at first because it met a lot of my criteria for a school: -It is a medium-sized school, but small enough to have a personal atmosphere. When walking around grounds you see mainly people you don’t know, but you also run into people to do know constantly, especially close to dorms.<br>
-UVA has an incredible social sciences program, which I wanted to go into
-The campus(grounds) is literally the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen…and I visited a lot of schools. It is incredible to be able to study on the lawn, or just to walk around grounds and admire the architecture and the beautiful scenery
-In addition to a wonderful academic program, UVA is also well-rounded with great athletic and social outlets. UVA is number one or at least top 5 in almost all of their spring sports right now, and it’s fun to be able to go to a baseball game and know that they could be going to the College World Series. The social scene would take a while for me to praise… I love it. It’s incredible. There is never a dull moment on grounds, and if you want to party, you can… there are frat parties every thursday, friday, and saturday, and people through house and apartment parties all the time as well. You could also go see performances, plays, movies, etc. Or just chill on the quad or go eat on the corner.
-UVA is also an incredible bargain for in-staters and less expensive than private schools for out-of-staters</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, the size, academic programs, campus beauty, athletic programs, social scene, and affordability all drew me to UVA and made me pick it over a lot of other schools. </p>
<p>My current favorite aspect would without doubt be my sorority that I just joined. I would seriously recommend rushing (UVA doesn’t rush until the spring semester) even if you don’t think that Greek life if right for you right now. I love my sorority and have made so many incredible friends though it already. Greek life also helps you get more involved with UVA in general through its philanthropies. It helps you out a lot socially with mixers and date functions and just meeting new people. Greek life, of course, isn’t for everyone and you’ll be just fine if you don’t pledge, but seriously look into it. Most people who are in it love it, and its my favorite part of UVA!</p>
<p>I’m from Texas too!</p>
<p>As an out of state student, did you receive much financial aid? If not, do you think UVA is worth paying the OOS fees to attend? I can go to a few other schools much more cheaply, so I wonder if UVA is worth the greater expense, especially considering grad school in my future.</p>
<p>I did not receive any financial aid, and affordability was definitely a huge consideration for me. I chose UVA over UT Plan II, and am so glad that I did. I absolutely love UVA and feel that it is worth the extra tuition. Also, UVA OOS is still less expensive than private schools, which helped. But I don’t know your specific situation or what other schools you have to choose from. So, PM me with more details if you want and maybe I can help more.</p>
<p>kyledb17-- Keep in mind that Financial aid isn’t necessarily based on where you are coming from, the OP’s family may have just made too much to qualify.</p>
<p>I was an OOS student ¶ and UVA ended up being approx. the same cost per year as a state-university in PA. I was quite pleased with the financial aid package that I received through Access UVA. It was primarily grants, but that is also partially due to being from a lower-income, single parent family.</p>
<p>Yes, wahoogril08 is exactly right. Although affordability was still an issue for my family, we made too much money to qualify for financial aid anywhere. We did not receive financial aid from any school.</p>
<p>I’ve heard a lot of rumors about stuck-up girls and a whole of appearance-oriented girls… which i’m not either of!! I know it’s a big school… but will I still fit in? I’m kinda worried…</p>
<p>Hey, by chance to you play soccer at UVa? (Just guessing from you account name) I just realised that UVa happens to be on the first place of NCAA men’s soccer.</p>
<p>I played soccer for basically my whole life, wondering if I can join even if I’m not recruited.</p>
<p>Jamie,</p>
<p>I don’t know how NCAA soccer recruiting works, but it’s highly unlikely you can just walk onto the team.</p>
<p>
UVa students are a happy bunch that are proud to be Wahoos. Perhaps some confuse UVa pride with arrogance. </p>
<p>There are 13,000 students here coming from every state in the nation and over 100 countries in the world. I think almost everyone finds their niche. :)</p>
<p>ushwalovwoua23, </p>
<p>I am not one of those girls either, at all, and I have had no problem at all finding people like me. Even in Greek life, most girls are not like that. UVA has its share of girly, appearance-oriented girls, but so does every other college, high school, etc. I would not, however, say that many girls here are stuck up. I have found very little of that type of attitude, and those girls are completely avoidable. I would say that UVA sometimes gets that stereotype because girls and guys here are probably more health/appearance oriented that most, but that does not mean that they are stuck-up or elitist. There are just a disproportionate amount of healthy, fit, well-dressed people. That said, there are of course tons of “normal”, chill people, who don’t care what they look like as much. Like you said, its a huge school, you’ll find people who are like you.</p>
<p>Jamie,
I do not play competitive soccer at UVA right now. I also played soccer my entire life, and I am going to try out for the women’s club soccer team in the fall for next season. Like oneguy said, it would be rare for you to just walk onto a Div I Varsity team, especially one that just won the national championship. However, it would not hurt to send the coach an email and give him information about you. You could then try out and see if you are good enough. I have a friend who walked onto the football team and is now second-string as a first-year. If that doesn’t work out, club soccer is a great alternative. Club soccer is also very competitive, and they travel and compete against other schools much like normal, varsity soccer. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer :)</p>
<p>Just wanted to add about athletics at UVA. I think UVA offers a great balance between academics and athletics, so it’s an ideal place for a student-athlete. However, for others, athletic events are often great to attend since we pretty much dominate in every sport. Men’s tennis, lacrosse, baseball, soccer and women’s rowing, for instance have all been ranked #1 this year. These student-athletes have been in Olympics and UVA as a whole collected several medals in Beijing, including gold.</p>