My daughter is very excited about attending Richmond this fall but she keeps getting blank stares from friends and family about why she chose Richmond over her other acceptances…Tulane, USC, SMU, Emory…and others.
Money was similar but a little better.
Over-all though, we think it’s an awesome school and feel that she will thrive there.
Anyone else with similar experiences?
Why did you or your kid choose UR?
University of Richmond is a well respected school–especially for business. Also, I could understand one who prefers Richmond’s location & climate over the others.
Exactly what my daughter is thinking!
We are from CA and she is the first from her school to attend.
We just had one kid graduate Richmond and a second starting in the fall. They went to different high schools and both the first from their schools to go there. Yes, we get a lot of blank stares but it really doesn’t matter. My eldest had a wonderful experience, travelled the world, got an excellent education and is off to a great start career wise. Middle initially had no intention of attending his sister’s school but in the end, Richmond just had so much to offer in a package we could afford!
Our D is currently a student at UR and we really like the beautiful, walkable campus, top-notch facilities, and a safe, suburban location. No undergraduate classes are taught by teaching assistants. A great 8:1 student to faculty ratio and an average class size of 16 students for undergraduate classes means professors know their students by name. At first, our D thought the student body size of approximately 4000 is too small, but she actually thrives in such an academic environment that’s not too large and overwhelming.
We live a great distance away so our D flies between home and Richmond, and the Richmond International Airport has convenient airline service, is a well designed terminal that’s not overwhelming, and is easily accessible by campus shuttles or ride sharing services.
My child is attending U of R in the fall over many other well-known and highly ranked schools. Turned down a full scholarship at another school and two other school’s significant scholarships to attend Richmond. School is highly respected in education circles and on the East Coast, but may not yet have as much of a national reputation. I think it will become much more well know in the coming years. As a parent, I have several friends who are successful alums that speak very highly of the college. It is a fantastic school - my only concern is the somewhat large Greek presence. Hoping that it is not too overwhelming - very glad there is no Greek housing.
Spiders do quite well in the business world. It’s an excellent school. First class all the way.
Sounds like your daughter selected a school based on fit rather than worrying about perception of prestige. Nothing wrong with that!
Do blank stares mean your friends think she should have chosen one of the other schools? These schools are quite different from UR, beginning with size. I’d say you did your homework and found the right fit…ignore any blank stares, be proud and embrace your decision!
And I love @ARTCC’s response!
It’s so reassuring to hear all the love for UR!
I am so glad my daughter chose it.
I graduated from UR in May, as a Richmond Artist Scholar (full-tuition) for music, with a double major in CS and Math, and double minor in Music and Dance. At the Scholars Q and A (accepted scholars get to talk with current scholars during their visit with no faculty present, and ask questions), I always told my story of how I chose Richmond. I got a full-tuition music scholarship to Case Western Reserve University, which is well-known for engineering (and therefore CS and Math are strong programs), and has a strong music program, especially since it is co-located with the Cleveland Institute of Music (where my brother was attending), and they share some faculty and classes. I actually received this news less than a week before my trip to UR for my finalist audition. I was ecstatic and didn’t even want to go to the audition at UR. My mom told me I should go anyways. I ended up loving my visit- the classes were much more personal, the food was way better, it really felt like my kind of community, and UR really encouraged exploring multiple areas of interest. I ended up receiving the scholarship, and in the end, I turned down Case Western. I don’t regret it at all.
People who have not visited Richmond often don’t realize what a great school it is. Personally, I also don’t think the school’s name helps. I think people may assume it is a small, regional LAC and don’t realize that at this point it is drawing students from around the country, has a huge endowment and many terrific programs. I see it as a school on the rise.
@bettzke Blank stares as in never heard of it. We are in California so Richmond is not on the radar unless you attend one of the pricey private high schools (which my kids didn’t.) People assume it’s a good school because they are good students but the UC’s are favored pretty heavily here and so people do look at you a little funny when you tell them you are going to a tiny LAC in Virginia they’ve never heard of. We don’t care. It’s just amusing.
My cousin graduated from URichmond 15 years ago. I remember thinking, oh that must be a good school because she was salutatorian in a really large high school but I did not know anything about it. She studied German, went onto Harvard to study library sciences and some other obscure language (cant remember) and just finished her Ph.D. and is teaching+head of library at a large college in Ohio after working at U Pittsburgh. She really did well for herself and is very happy.
That’s why we toured URichmond - now I know more about it…love it…on the list to apply this year.
@turtletime Ah, this puts it in context; more understandable when you live in California! My Pennsylvania D will definitely apply to UR and will still get blank stares if she ends up there because most graduates from her high school go to in-state publics or local LACs. I agree that it’s amusing. 
All that matters is that she is excited and that she felt it was the best fit for her. As was stated up-thread, Richmond is on the rise and one of those schools that you have to visit to understand what a great place it is.
Those blank stares are probably very similar to those someone from Virginia would get if they told their friends and neighbors that they were attending Pomona, Harvey Mudd or Claremont McKenna.
We understand the blank stares! We live in the SW. NO ONE has heard of Richmond. S turned down 12th ranked liberal arts school everyone heard of for UR (though I am a bit concerned now about inability to get classes during registration, but that’s another issue) and better scholarships from better known universities. It’s interesting, bc everyone’s heard of Vassar and Wesleyan, at similar ranking, but not Richmond. With all the Richmond shirts he’s been wearing, they’ve heard of it now, but have no idea what is it or why he’d go there!
We live in upstate NY and no one has heard of it here either; my daughter is the first person in her school to attend. HI am just surprised by the lack of name recognition for such a great institution but thrilled she is attending.
Those unfamiliar with Richmond might compare it by to statistical factors to schools which may be better known to them. Californians, for example, would see that Richmond students enter with standardized scoring results recently identical, at 74th nationally, to those of UCLA students: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9.
My DD just finished her 1st hr there and we got blank stares as well, however, the VERY few who had heard of it thought quite highly of the school. Before she decided to go there I was concerned this could hurt her in getting jobs so I did some research & found out that with recruiters has an excellent reputation and the school is well known in putting out very ready graduates. That the recruiters hear UR and it seems to give the students an edge, esp on the east coast & esp in DC.