<p>All we've heard are good things. Anybody have any things they would change, or that need improvement?</p>
<p>They could cut that 46k tuition a bit.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the total cost has been increasing, not decreasing. I don't see any prospect of cutting the tuition. </p>
<p>They could perhaps increase their national ranking a bit higher, and expand the campus. The current ranking isn't doing justice for the University's true potential.</p>
<p>bad things of UR:
1. Tuition is a huge turnoff (If you're a modest family, you'll get a lot of help, but if your family is making 200K, that's still a pain to swallow)
2. Rather low LAC ranking, only 34th? With that huge endowment, it should be a bit higher. Some of the schools ranked higher than UR in the LAC's are definitely not as good....
3. It has money, it has a lot of smart kids, but Richmond's prestige is nowhere near that of Washington and Lee, and definitely not like the University of Virginia or the College of William and Mary. But from what I've heard, the school has been a "high rising star" college for the last 20-30 years, so maybe the rep has yet to rise up to the level of its student body. Nevertheless, I think #3 is the biggest negative, and obstacle for U of R.</p>
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- Rather low LAC ranking, only 34th? With that huge endowment, it should be a bit higher. Some of the schools ranked higher than UR in the LAC's are definitely not as good....
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<p>Richmond has only been in the national LAC group for 3 years. I suspect that suppresses its rating somewhat.</p>
<p>standrews I agree with you to a degree. A little over 10 years ago or so, Wake Forest was moved from the Southern Master's University category to the National Doctorate Research University category. As a southern master's school, it was ALWAYS ranked #1, and Richmond was #2 in that category, a distant second to Wake, prob because Wake was clearly a bigger university with top tier law, med, and business schools. Richmond has a 2nd tier (and rising star) law school (used to be a 3rd tier), an ok MBA school, and no med school. Anyway, Wake Forest has been in the top 30, consistently, year after year even though they and peer schools are improving constantly. Given that Wake hasn't moved that much in the National category, U of R isn't likely to become a Top 20 LAC anytime soon. I can see them sneaking into the top 30 in the next couple of years though, and they clearly have a lot more financial resources, along with stats similar to UVA and W&M.</p>
<p>In short, I don't think being a newcomer to a certain university category will suppress Richmond's ranking, since that didn't happen to Wake Forest.</p>
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<p>I'll also add to why #3 of my negatives is the biggest one for Richmond. They never seem to consider UVA or W&M rival academic institutions, even though they are. Though I will pull for W&M to be the best in VA, Richmond should do that too by saying their undergrad education is better than W&M, UVA, WLU. They've already gone a long way to be considered better than all the other VA schools, and they should now be aggressive against these three too.</p>
<p>WM, when UR was being assesed by its "peers" in the Master's South category in USNews rankings, it was receiving a 4.2 or so. That makes up 25% of the college ranking. With new peers, who are not nearly as familiar with UR, that score has dropped, therefore the ranking has been disappointing to everyone associated with the school. I would expect that the ranking will go up as the peer institutions find out more about UR. Additionally, the change in classification coincided with the tuition hike, which forced us to be less selective in our admissions. This year we had our largest applicant pool ever, so I would expect our admissions numbers to improve enough to bump us up a bit. </p>
<p>For undergraduate education, in the 2005 edition of The Princeton Review's "The Best 357 Colleges," Richmond received four stars, the highest number possible, in academics, student selectivity and campus life. In the academics category, Richmond received a score of 96, topping Harvard, which scored 94. Unfortunately the liberal arts peers that now rate UR don't realize how strong of a school it is. An additional problem is that UR isn't a traditional liberal arts school. We offer a very strong undergraduate business school, which most LA schools do not. In fact, our undergrad B-school, Robins, is considered by BusinessWeek to be stronger than WM in every facet. (<a href="http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/07rankings/specialty.asp%5B/url%5D">http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/07rankings/specialty.asp</a>)</p>
<p>To the original question, one of the biggest problems at UR currently is an unresponsive administration. Luckily, that will be changing, as the current president, Dr. Cooper, is resigning on June 30. I fully expect the new president, Dr. Ayers from UVA, to be a huge improvement. In the last 10 years campus life has really taken a hit as the emphasis was placed on academics, and not on the whole educational experience.</p>
<p>WM, concerning your original #3 about UR being nowhere near as prestigious as WLU...
Outside of the Commonwealth, WLU isn't that well known (not that UR is). Those that do know of it view it as a good old boys school for legavy Virginians. I hope that UR has higher aspirations than that.</p>
<p>Spiders05, you make some good points about U of R and their strengths. I wasn't fully aware that it was only peer schools that rated Richmond, so in that regard, that may be why they aren't in the top 30, where I think they should be. Also, if it's really true that 1 out of 10 or so guys get a full ride to U of R along with many others receiving good scholarships on top of a financial aid that guarantees that everyone's needs are met, well, rankings have gotta move up soon, since very few schools do any of this.</p>
<p>The undergrad business rankings certainly do show that UR is higher than W&M. I'm not too familiar with what's going on in Robins, but W&M's graduate business school isn't that good, and possibly to the point where some BBA students at W&M claim that they do better work than the MBA students. They are making a new B school building too, but I don't know if that's going to help W&M's ranking much in either category. W&M's B school right now is primarily in one rather dirty building... </p>
<p>If I had to compare W&M and U of R to each other, the student bodies I'd say are pretty damn good either way. However, W&M has more prestige (given that 17th century founding, etc), but it has very little financial resources given our public university status as a second rate school; the state govt to some consider W&M a little sister to not only UVA but Virginia Tech as well, and that may have started our "Road to Richmond" movement if you are aware of it. I doubt W&M's status will drop, but not having much $$ does take a toll. On the other hand, U of R has the resources to be really really good, but its visibility has yet to be seen in my opinion. When, (not if) this happens, it'll be interesting to see where they'll be..</p>
<p>The administration..hmmm..Cooper's mush statement certainly was inappropriate, and from friends I have from U of R, he isn't very popular... Hopefully UR will continue to improve with their new president as it has been.</p>
<p>Spider ... may I probe a little? Why are you persuaded the new prexy will bring a new, improved attitude and responsiveness to campus? Hoping you're right. </p>
<p>Seems that UR is one of those sorely undervalued and undervaluing places with enormous possibilities in need of strong, future focused leadership. As the saying goes, none can rise above the level of leadership, and while I'm not fully familiar with the new dude, on paper it looks a bit like the classic academic hire.</p>
<p>We're gonna look @ UR and really welcome candid insights from candid insiders. :cool:</p>
<p>Whistle, I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Ayers, I have communicated with him via email. That's more communication than 95% of students had with Cooper in their 4 years at UR. Cooper was an enigma to students. Ayers' message in the email was short, but very effeective in communicating how anxious he was to take the helm and work with what we had to continue to improve the school.</p>
<p>I was extremely impressed with the fact that in the two or three day span from the time he was hired to the time he was introduced, he spent it reading a book on the history of UR. You can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been. I think he understands how important a brand image is. That is sorely lacking at UR. Our school does a poor job of marketing itself and that is one of the reasons that its reputation is probably 10 years behind its quality. He also understands the value of athletics on a collegiate campus, whereas Cooper did not appreciate athletics. Academically, Ayers was a student favorite at UVA. My cousins that attend UVA spoke very highly of him as a professor. He knows what it takes to be an effective professor. Everyone that I have spoken with that works at UR is blown away at how much of a difference there is between Ayers and Cooper. Cooper was a very cold person, whereas Ayers is very warm and outgoing. </p>
<p>I do think Cooper did a nice job upgrading the academic side of UR, but in the process, he alienated alumni, hurt the quality of life on campus and was a poor ambassador. I think Ayers will continue to improve the academic quality of the school while also improving the quality of life outside the classroom walls while bringing alumni back to support the school. June 30, 2007 will be a great day for me.</p>
<p>Sounds like UR may have a winner. Hoping so. You are so on the $$ with 2 points, imo. The "branding" issue, which UR seems to have none much discernible, and athletics and the free and positive PR it can bring UR. And despite VCU's presence there, UR could be THE game in THE VA town with some sizzle on the steak. Where's Bonanza Steakhouse or Burger King? I'll bet they have some management who can blow some of that wonderful charbroiled smoke about town and the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>Keep us posted. You seem to have some good insight into the scene.</p>