Hey Guys,
With decisions coming out over the next few days I just wanted to see if anybody had questions regarding anything about Nova - academics, social life, housing, basketball, whatever you can think of. I’m in the engineering school but I know a lot about the other colleges because I room with business school and A&S students. I know I had plenty of questions coming into college so if you wanted to know anything about Nova, here’s your chance to ask!
Last time I was on campus one of the student emphasized how small the school was. Does the size of the school ever bug you?
Does the school really live up to the villa-no-fun nickname? Is the tuition really worth it?
^^^^^
I wanna know too because my older sister went there and it seemed like she had plenty of fun so idgi
@seniorfh2016 I actually found the school to be the ideal size of what I was personally looking for. Class size is around 1600 students, so I’d like to believe here you get the best of both worlds. Some colleges are so small that you feel like you’re still in high school and you learn everything about your graduating classmates very quickly. On the other hand, some state schools are so large that you may never see some of your classmates on campus and there is no real sense of cohesion in classes. Villanova strikes a balance where I feel like I am always meeting new people, but if somebody from home asks me if I know “such and such” I’ve usually at least heard the name through a mutual connection.
@cms724 To an extent, yes. Girls usually have no problem finding off-campus parties freshmen year (maybe not always ideal ones), where guys usually have to join club sports or greek life to go to parties. Unfortunately I came in at a bad time where, due to several incidences on and off-campus, the school and local police really came down hard on drinking and parties. For example, about 5 years ago there was an off-campus spot called “the courts” where most students went on weekends and police monitored everyone’s safety. When I was a freshman, the courts parties got shut down within an hour and there was a high risk of getting cited. Fraternities still have houses there but have to keep things small for this reason.
Similarly, bars are now extremely hard on fakes for risk of police doing “raids” on them serving underage kids and giving huge fines. Also, when I was a sophomore, RA’s would knock on doors even if they heard quiet conversations going on in the room past quiet hours. All of this was most likely to stop any negative press that Nova was getting, and I’ve heard it’s gotten better, but once you become an 21 year-old upperclassman you obviously don’t have to worry about that stuff. So to answer your question, you definitely need to join some sort of organization to get the most out of our lackluster party scene, but I usually had too much work to party 3x a week anyway.
Do I think the school is overpriced? Absolutely. However, if you compare Nova to other private schools on the same academic level they really don’t get much cheaper. Unfortunately we live in a time where to be on the same ground as other educated workers in America, you have to shell out the dough (Assuming you don’t get a full ride / need-based grant). That’s why I am studying hard in a difficult degree to be able to pay off my loans quickly. So yes, the tuition is worth it if you study hard and go into a high-salary field, but I think private schools are all obscenely overpriced and Nova is just as good of a value as the next.
Did you always know what you wanted to major in and is the school helpful in figuring it out if you don’t? I’m currently battling between business, biology, and some undeclared program (I have no clue, basically) and I want to be sure that I’ll have assistance in figuring out my life ahead of me if I get in and make the financial commitment.
@kfitz2016 I came in knowing what my major would be, but I also came in on an accelerated track due to AP credits. I believe that when you apply to Villanova, you apply to a specific college. If you aren’t sure, you probably applied to arts and sciences, where you don’t have to have your major figured out yet. From there, you do a separate application to one of the other colleges after your first semester. I have one friend who transferred into the engineering school second semester and several friends who transferred into the business school at the beginning of their sophomore year. All of them are on track to graduate in 4 years.
What I would recommend for someone like you is to look up the curriculum for programs that your’re interested in (they’re all on the website) and try to take those prerequisites so you have the most flexibility in future years. I cannot speak from experience about the advising for undeclared majors, but I haven’t met a person here who feels like they are “stuck” in a major they don’t like, if that makes sense.
What’s the best undergraduate housing?
Nova is one of my top schools that I’ve been accepted to, but I’m still kind of in the dark about the campus culture. Do you think that it’s easy to characterize the Villanova student body as a certain type of person, or do you think that the student body is pretty diverse? I’ve noticed in the accepted student Facebook group for Villanova that lots of the students seem to have similar interests/priorities, but I don’t want to generalize. Thanks for your help!
@seniorfh2016 Depends on different factors of what you consider best, but the general consensus is…
Freshman year - Anywhere on South campus, especially if you apply to the leadership community dorm (usually St. Monica’s)
Sophomore year - Sullivan or Sheehan (the quad), known to have the strictest RA’s but hands down the best location if you’re in the business school and this is where most of your friends will be
Junior Year - Up to you, many students decide to live in the west campus apartments for convenience (and they’re really nice but expensive) while others decide to move off campus. At this point you’ll probably know what you want to do.
Senior Year - Most seniors live off campus unless you have a scholarship, Home properties is very popular, but many others live in duplexes around the Bryn Mawr/Ardmore area
@agle16 Villanova definitely has a common theme among its students (hence the nickname “Vanilla-nova”). Most kids are white, dress well, and are outgoing/friendly people. Personality wise there are two types of people who stand out at Nova: you have the really spirited, service oriented kids who love doing extracurriculars and seem to always be super energetic (Orientation counselors, Blue Key, Special Olympics). You also have kids from wealthy areas of NY and New Jersey who party a lot and, even though plenty are down-to-earth, many can be pretty superficial. I personally don’t think I fall under either of these types but I still enjoy the social life.
If you really want to get a feel for the campus culture I suggest you visit during accepted students’ weekend in April. Just keep in mind that a lot of the people you’ll meet will fall into the first category I mentioned (Blue Key and Ambassadors).
PS: Final Four Bound Baby!!!
thank you!
Hello, I have been recently accepted as an undeclared A&S student.
I am still not 100% completely sure of what I want to major in, however I am gaining interest in a business major which is part of VSB. Do you know how internal transfers work at Villanova?
Nova is my top choice and reading this reaffirmed what I’ve seen/heard about the social scene at Villanova. Do you have any advice for freshman that you can think off the top of your head? And do you have any tips about roommates?
Thanks
Please delve into the freshman roommate situation as asked above ^^ Thanks, can’t wait for next year, pumped that we are in the final four
I just got my financial aid, and it was more than I expected and now Villanova is a feasible option. However, they gave me the bulk of the money through a Villanova grant, which says it is subject to change each year. Are you familiar with this? Do you know how much it might change? I don’t want to screw myself over for the other years.
@julia1611 I just got my financial aid too and was wondering the same things, covers almost half my tuition for 2016-2017 and am curious to see what will happen sophomore year
@CJYP98 Two of my friends transferred into the business school from A&S sophomore year and both are slated to graduate in 4 years. You write a formal application to the school (same with engineering), and I’m sure your advisor can give you more info on this. I can’t speak to the difficulty of transfer acceptance but my 2 friends did not seem to have a problem. Just make sure you get good grades freshman year.
@nccollegeboy The best advice I can give you socially is that you have to keep in mind that everyone is just as nervous as you are the first 4 weeks. A lot of kids try to put on a front of making themselves seem alot cooler than they actually are (which is perfectly normal and goes away) and it is very common to not have a solid group of friends right away. I highly recommend looking at some of the clubs on our website and seeing if you are interested in any. things like Club sports and Special Olympics volunteering are probably the best ways to meet people first semester and really helps you ease into college.
Roommates are really up to you. You can try posting in the Facebook group to see if you have anything in common with someone and then roommate request that person if they seem like a good match. I went random and was perfectly fine, and I was not that close with both my roommates. The only thing I wouldn’t recommend is rooming with someone from your HS because it doesn’t always work out and you will probably tend to cling together instead of branching out and meeting new people.