<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>I am a junior in high school and I'm considering UVa as one of my top choices. I'd just like some feedback from current students about academics, professors, TA's, student life, the college town, your satisfaction with financial aid [I am an OOS student], and whatever else you have to add.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi there, I'm very happy here. It took some time to adjust, as a first year student, but UVA is mighty fine. Some things that I didn't expect are that my pre-med requisite courses are huge and impersonal. I like the professors, but I'm like one of ~500 students or so in a single class. TA's fill in the holes here and there, and cover the labs. In Chemistry, I feared that my Asian TA for the lab was going to be awful (not that there's anything wrong with being Asian), but she's not, and has better command of the English language than I first gave her credit.<br>
The campus is gorgeous and historic as you probably know. I live in Brown College and I think I have the BEST dorm room on campus! It's central to all, single, has a fireplace and A/C, and lots of nice "Brown" people. For football games, I've been hanging out on the lawn for pre-game festivities with my friends. Some people party all the time, and I think that they'll wind up having a very unpleasant Christmas break with their folks. Others though study like mad, I'm in the latter group. And, though I studied like I have never studied before, I was delighted with my first grades on tests>>pay off for hard work!! The system works!
CVL has a downtown area too, that reminds me a lot of a European pedestrian strip of shops, restaurants, bars, mimes and such. Ever been to Las Ramblas in Barcelona? Really, it's way cool, and at the end there's a music complex that has great artists performing>>Dylan, Maroon 5, last year John Prine.
I'm OOS, and did not get any financial aid, but-to speak frankly, my folks are fairly wealthy, and I wasn't offered aid from anywhere that I was accepted at. I won a few merit scholarships and lost out on a few others, but nothing from UVA.
The kids are a really happy, good looking group of kids. I know that sounds weird, but they really are a handsome group. Very preppy, girls wear sundresses/pearls and heels to the FB games, and the guys wear ties.
I can't have a car as a first year, but public transportation is abundant, and I even took a cab once to get somewhere.
Hope this helps. I think I made the right decision for me.</p>
<p>Thanks for your awesome information! I am planning on being a doctor as well, and since you mention being in classes of hundreds of students, I was wondering if professors make themselves accessible? It's obvious that yes, there are going to be large classes, but it is alright with me as long as I know I can meet with my professors if I need to.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>I haven't heard of a professor who doesn't hold office hours (one on one time)... I wait for someone to correct me, as on this forum, there is usually someone to do that.</p>
<p>I would also suggest search through old posts as these topics are common ones.</p>