Over the past few days, I visited Duke, UNC, UVA, JMU, and University of Richmond. Here are my thoughts! I am a junior in hs btw
Up—
UVA:
Now my dream school. Unfortunately very expensive out of state (really the only con—probably impossible for me to go.) Gorgeous campus. You could tell that academics were an important part of campus culture but also that the students had a lot of fun. There seemed to be a good mixture of sports, school spirit, and traditions with studying and caring about the future. Lots of study abroad and research from what I heard. The size was great imo. We had a really good tour guide which I’m sure helped. I also liked Charlottesville.
University of Richmond:
I really had no idea what to expect with this one, so my mom and I were both shocked at how great it seemed. Beautiful campus, which I did expect. The facilities were super nice. Definitely recommend visiting if you’re considering it because I could not tell from online just how nice this place was!! It almost felt like a super fancy boarding high school though so if you go to one of those right now, you may not like it. I liked how they have sports but they don’t rule campus. The size was perfect for me!! I also liked how progressive it was. Coming from NW Louisiana it was a breath of fresh air, and I didn’t know what to expect in that regard. The administration seems to just throw money at students to pursue their research, start ups, and study abroad. The tuition is very high which does explain it, but between that and how nice the buildings were it felt like they had so much money they didnt know what to do with it. I also noticed the stats of the accepted students are high but not so high that I will have no shot at a scholarship, which made me want to like it
Neutral—
Duke:
We didn’t get an official tour of Duke. The campus was beautiful and it happened to be the only warm, sunny day of our trip. I loved the chapel and the choir program with it. It didn’t move up though because I accepted that it’s just not a possibility for me so I tried not to love it too much lol.
JMU:
It didnt go up or down on my list because it wasn’t very high to begin with. We didn’t get an official tour, but we did get to talk to the head of the honors college. It was a pretty campus but awful weather so we didn’t walk around much. The people were all very friendly and there seemed to be a good mix of different types of people, which I liked a lot. I didn’t love it, but there wasn’t anything in particular I didn’t like about it either. I didnt get to see much of the town it’s in, but it looked like there was nothing to do. Everyone seemed shocked someone from Louisiana was there. Maybe that will help me with scholarships.
Down—
UNC:
This one made me a little disappointed. I had been thinking I wanted to go to UNC since I was in 8th grade. To be fair, I did come here right after Duke. But after seeing how Duke was nestled into the woods, it felt like the chopped every tree down at UNC and turned the campus into one endless expanse of brick. Our tour guide talked about sports the majority of the time and when I asked about the music department or music things around campus, she didn’t have much to say and gave the impression that there is not much of a music scene at all. I know it is a highly ranked, but it didn’t feel much more academically focused than any other state flagship. It also felt way too big for me. My sister loved it though. She is VERY extroverted, a cheerleader, plays lacrosse, smart but not super focused on school, etc. so if that describes you you may love it!! Or maybe I got the wrong impression. I’ll still probably apply since the OOS tuition is much lower than most other places and I really want to get out of the south.