We took a tour of VCU for my daughter looking into VCU Arts. We did not see a dorm or a dining hall and the tour guide did not talk about weekend life. What do students do there? Are social activities all intergrated in Richmond or does VCU have campus activities like other non urban schools? What are the dorms and food like?
Both. There are many kids on campus who do things on the weekends together and hang around at school. Richmond has a lot of activities/festivals free or at a low cost going on all the time, and many of the college crowd will hang out there, go down to the river, Maymont/Byrd park, go to Carytown, etc. The area is lively and fun.
The food options are great as compared to the other schools I know about. You use a swipe to get into the dining hall, and that is buffet style, all you can eat. They have pizza, salad bar, sushi, and a couple of other things everyday. The school is a bit hipster, so they have good vegan and vegetarian choices. You can also swipe at a variety of restaurants on campus, from I-HOP to Chili’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Chik-fil-A, etc. There are certain days/items that they allow swipes, and other days they take dining dollars. Once you get used to it, you know which places to go to on which days if you want to swipe versus use your dining $. Also, there are multiple campus places to eat that all take swipes.
Dorms are typically high rises. I think someone answers further down with more detail about the freshman dorms.