Please give me the pros and cons in having my child live in the IRC instead of being in the “regular” dormitories. My child is considered an international student, although we have been living in the US for 5 years. He has fully integrated into the American life and culture. Just curious to know before we do the housing for UVA. Thanks!
For first year, I’d recommend being in the regular first year residence halls. Anyone can apply to live in the International Residential College in any year, so that option is always available later. I think it is best to start out with other first year students. The IRC includes a mix of many US and international students, including some recent transfer and short-term exchange students.
It totally depends on what your kid wants. My D is in the IRC this year as a first year and it has been the best possible thing for her. The IRC has a mix of international students, US students whose parents live abroad, or who lived abroad themselves, or whose parents are immigrants so while they grew up in the US they have strong ties to another country. There are also US kids with no international ties beyond thinking it would be cool to live with Internationals. And as Charliesch mentioned there are some transfer and exchange students.
It is a different experience than the 1st year dorms. If you want more of the classic first year American big college experience go with the 1st year dorms. Many international students do that.
If you want to have a sense of community within the larger university and enjoy interacting with people from a wide variety of backgrounds than the IRC is an excellent choice. There are tons of activities and my daughter found a very wide, diverse friend group that has been just awesome. She also liked that fact that there are older students there as well. She was matched with a third year mentor who has been really helpful to her. There are also special dinners with professors and other opportunities unique to the IRC.
If you have any questions about the IRC please feel free to ask.
I lived in an international student building in grad school and really enjoyed it. You will never get a chance to live with so many people from so many different countries who have similar interests and who all speak fluent English.
I convinced my son to apply to IRC for 2nd year, and he was accepted (I don’t think it is too hard to get in). However, he decided to live elsewhere.
The IRC is only about one-half international students, so the other half is American students. I lived there for a couple of months as an American student with no international experience at all - I’d barely ever been outside my home state. I enjoyed it a lot. So it’s not just a place for international students; rather, it’s an internationally-focused residence with all kinds of students.
For anyone considering living at the IRC, they should think about whether they want that global living experience - not just “I want to live with international students” because all kinds of students are there. (And you can seek out international students no matter where you live. There is a strong community here of international students and those students can be found across all dorms.)