Reasons not to attend UVA

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
41

<p>For my s, there are a few negatives. I was born in va and have always raved about it. should not have! it has made them think that it can't be as good as it really is. the airport part is a very big concern. it is about 1 1/2 hours from Richmond and that is a long drive plus the flights in and out used to not be as reasonably priced as other cities. for instance, a roundtrip at RDU is very affordable. Also not crazy about the Ric airport. Roanoke used to be very small but have not been there for years. any current feedback on it? </p>

<p>But the major negative for s is it seems more remote than other schools that are in small towns. have taken them all over va and they love to visit but they don't seem keen on living there. we have been in a larger area all of their lives and they see it as too limited. but i am definitely working on him.</p>

42

<p>Go north 2 hours to Dulles and you can go anywhere in the world for probably as cheap as you can get. It's a major hub for United so even United is fairly cheap and it'll serve anywhere, as well as Jet Blue calls Dulles a "hub" and they have cheap flights, just less destinations. You can catch a bus out of UVA to Vienna's metro from which you can catch a cab to Dulles, or you can take Amtrak, or Greyhound to National Airport (DC's major airport).<br>
And C'ville isn't limited it all, it's got everything you'd need. DC is two hours away...my dad calls it "almost the suburbs of DC"</p>

43

<p>1) Bell Curve grading - school becomes a competition, especially with the kids from Thomas Jefferson.
2) Preppiness....blatant, blatant preppiness
3) a few in-state ditzy people here and there
4) awful, awful food
5) the people can be notoriously stuck up
6) not diverse at all for such a school it is
7) charlottesville is pretty boring depending on where you're from
8) awful thai calculus TA
9) a LOT of reading
10) racial barriers</p>

44

<p>All very valid reasons, ewihateapps. Also add in the greek culture there, and that list is pretty solid. </p>

<p>By the way, it's tough to get to Dulles unless you have a car. You can take the Amtrak to the Union Station but that doesn't get you to Dulles through the metro. Therefore, flying from DCA (Reagan) may be the most viable option if you are seeking public transportation (Amtrak or Greyhound) to get to DC, as DCA is connected through the metro. If you want to fly out from Charlottesville, be prepared to pay up to $400 extra.</p>

45

<p>Note that there's often an inverse relationship between the quality of a university and the quality of its dorms. Harvard's facilities leave a lot to be desired, but hey, do you think that's going to dissuade someone from going there? Lesser compass-point state college is going to have palatial dorms because that's one of the main ways they have of getting students to come. The fact that UVA is a popular college destination with average residential facilities indicates that it's got other, more substantial selling points that apparently work well.</p>

46

<p>That's not true at all, gadad. There are many other factors involved...and I would imagine that school quality has little to do with it other than that better schools have students willing to pay more to attend and larger endowments.</p>

47

<p>I don't think ewihateapps list is a very good one. Some of those don't even make sense. Too much reading?!?</p>

48

<p>ewihateapps is in high school and doesn't appear to have a clear idea of what either UVA or college in general is like.</p>

49

<p>i dont like this thread....it's an opportunity for people like ewihateapps, who probably knows nothing first hand about uva, to be negative because he knows he has an audience ...and unfortunately other people may see it and actually think he/she knows what they are talking about...let's end this... college bound applicants need real, first-hand info.</p>

50

<p>Or maybe this should be limited to current students. We know we have issues, and they shouldn't be hidden. Some of ewihateapps points are valid because even though they're rumors, they plague the school and maybe this will let people look into these thoughts and make assumptions for themselves. (Some of his points are blatantly wrong though)</p>

51

<p>ewhateapps is entitled to his or her opinions, and I think he or she has reflected pretty good or typical observations of what I see and generally hear at UVA.</p>

52

<p>Aceit, you seem very unhappy with UVa. I am interested in why you chose to go there and whether it has failed to meet your expectations.</p>

53

<p>haha cute. because i'm in high school my opinion is null. </p>

<p>my viewpoint, i believe, is an objective third party opinion in that sense. this is college confidential - mainly for high school students to gain insights on colleges. a high school student's perspective for other high school students is a very valid one, i believe. </p>

<p>for someone who's screen name is "cavalier," the bias and irony (cavalier means arrogant and disdainful, right?) speaks for itself. the stereotypical uva attitude that stigmatizes uva.</p>

54

<p>i listed "too much reading," because whenever i'm with my mcintire friend, she brings her textbook. even to dinner or to shopping. i was just surprised by that, but granted, mcintire is hardcore. </p>

<p>and i would say i know a lot about uva for someone who doesn't attend. i'm from va, and my best friends go there. those are the negatives they speak of. there are certainly positives, but don't belittle my input! this is the reasons not to go to uva, remember?</p>

55

<p>i've seen these stupid battles on other threads; sorry to see them here. as far as ewihateapps's list....IT'S "awful awful" ...listing all the unsubstantiated stereotypes! and for the record, there's not a defensive bone in my body as i write on this thread...i have a grad of UVA and have nothing to lose. UVA is pretty terrific and i'm curious about its bashers.</p>

56

<p>ewihateapps: LOL your replies are very funny. I'm sorry that you never heard from your UVA friends that Cavalier is the mascot of UVa. Maybe this is the objective opinions you're saying, but with A LOT OF flaws because you JUST heard from someone about their feelings of UVa, whether they are indeed UVa students or not, but you never came to UVa to experience it yourself. </p>

<p>and I don't find competition a bad thing. Seriously, even most advanced high school courses use bell curve to take the difficulty of the classes into account. (At least my regular physics and all AP I've taken back in HS junior year did). It happens everywhere I guess. If you want all As with no effort, go to some heavily grade inflated schools.</p>

<p>PS: If you are accepted to UVa from a reasonably competitive high school, you should have no real problem competing with TJ kids, as long as you work hard.</p>

57

<p>I’d like to comment on Ewihateapps list based on my son’s experience as a first-year student and generally accepted principles of common sense and basic human behavior. </p>

<ol>
<li> Yes, UVa’s academics can be tough. If you want to get top tier grades, you probably will have to work fairly hard for them. And here’s another kicker: to get them you’ll be competing not just with smart kids from TJ, but with accomplished students from all over the world. If you aren’t wanting or willing to be challenged academically, go somewhere else where you can skate. But do so knowing that being challenged academically prepares you well for the real competitive global world you’ll face after finishing college. Yes, I know that’s a long way from high school, but when it comes to being prepared for the future, it pays to think ahead.</li>
<li> “Preppieness” – Yes, there’s right much Preppieness at UVa. What’s wrong with that? Young ladies in sundresses and gentlemen wearing a shirt and tie while taking in the football game on a warm Saturday afternoon in the fall, and some of the other stuff folks would see as Preppie, isn’t so bad IMHO. Certainly there’s such a thing as too much Preppie, but where do you draw the line since so much of that’s in the eye of the beholder? UVa has a lot of tradition, and Preppie goes well with a good bit of that tradition.</li>
<li> UVa’s enrollment in the Fall of 2007 consisted of 13,353 undergraduate students and 7,014 graduate and professional students. Surely there’s a handful of ditzy (nice word) people (In-State and Out-of-State) among these 20,376 students. Duh, Hello! Make the number 200 instead of 20,000+ and you’ll still have a few eccentrically silly, giddy, or inane folks in the bunch. If you’re not prepared for this part of the University experience, perhaps you should stay at home instead of going off to college, live in your parents’ basement, and get your college degree on-line or through correspondence courses. And if you do, make sure you have the school mail you your diploma, so as to avoid contact with any ditzy students at graduation.</li>
<li> As has been noted on other threads, the food at UVa most definitely is NOT awful. While this is obviously a matter of individual taste (no pun intended), the food in the school’s Dining Halls is more than decent, and there’s a broad selection from which to choose. Other Dining Locations offer different fare vis-</li>
</ol>

58

<p>Postscript:
Thirty-five+ years ago the food at UVa was awful. "Mystery Meat" was said to belong to one of the Main Food Groups; we just couldn't figure out which one at any given meal (for the record, we were often afraid to guess what the "meat" really was!). Back then, much of what we were served was only slightly better than the stuff/things Bear What's His Name eats on that TV show "Man versus Wild". UVa Dining: It may not be gourmet, but it's come a long way.</p>

59

<p>Ah thank you for your comprehensive reply HopefulHoo'sDad, I wanted to reply but didn't really feel like retyping a lot of stuff that had been said in various threads around this forum.</p>

<p>For reading, well, your McIntire friend is in the #2 business school (#1 next year hopefully hehe) in the nation, she's not going to coast by. And of course school becomes a competition, do you think you'll get your job handed on a silver platter? Tis the real world.</p>

<p>As an Asian American at UVA, I find there's tons of diversity, sometimes all I can see are the diverse people and can't find any Caucasian folks.</p>

<p>And some folks are defensive because of their love for UVA, I think it shows well for our character that we haven't resorted to catty name calling or dubious remarks about one's ancestors.</p>

60

<p>There are legitimate reasons not to attend UVA, which the admissions office would know well since they survey students who turn down offers of admission. D, and several other top students I know, chose to attend other schools for a variety of reasons.</p>

<p>D1 wanted to continue a sport, but was not competitive for UVA’s teams, so part of her decision was to attend a DIII school. </p>

<p>Choice of major was another; either the major was not offered or it was not accredited at UVA. </p>

<p>Personal attention during the admissions process was a factor, and no, this does not equate to scholarship money. It meant that there was an admissions counselor who was a point of contact and provided personal communications throughout the process. This did make a difference in perception of being a person vs. being a number during the process, and potentially as a student. </p>

<p>While the grounds are beautiful and the history impressive, there is another side. It is difficult to look at the historical buildings, or the founder of UVA, without thinking of the meaning of slavery and the role it played at the University. </p>

<p>Also, it took the threat of a federal lawsuit to bring women into UVA and engineering, all within my lifetime, so that was a personal concern to this mom. </p>

<p>Finally, during days on the lawn, the student guide said that “the professors were old and couldn’t teach”. I understood the context in which he said this (trying to alleviate a concern asked about number of TAs and their effectiveness) but it was a stupid thing to say to students deciding on whether or not to attend UVA.</p>

<p>D2 is a current applicant and I would be happy for her to attend UVA. But please don’t trivialize reasons smart, capable, admitted students would chose to thrive at another University. UVA suits some, and not others.</p>