<p>My son turned doen UVA because our area did not offer a Jefferson Scholarship and he got a full ride from Washington and Lee.</p>
<p>yeah phrunk, I think that goes under the category of money, which has been discussed, but thanks for the input.</p>
<p>[begin controversial post, you have been warned]</p>
<p>I have never seen this mohawked kid, but I have seen a couple of scene kids, but the population density of indie kids or emo kids or scene kids (of which I am probably a part of the first two) is VERY low compared to most colleges and TINY compared to where I grew up. So its relative; the kids I know from waynesboro have essentially a carbon copy of their high school. Anyways, UVA is large enough that you will be able to find people you like regardless, and Brown College definitely attracts some diverse people so that is an asset that does UVa a lot of good for attracting and making kids like that happy.</p>
<p>I mean i wouldn't discount the school based on it, but if you aren't a party/preppie kid it will take you a lot more effort to find your niche, but I assure that it does exist!</p>
<p>So its up to you to decide whether or not you want to go to a school like that or a school like Swat (which is actually where my gf is going and we are very similar if that says anything) where everyone is odd and indie (and not too pretty... unlike my gf of course :D). I mean in reality, if the school fits you like a glove, it can't really be THAT diverse now can it? But honestly, who ever said diversity is a good thing? Maybe your really after FIT, and I think just about anyone can find a place to FIT in here, which probably makes it much more diverse than a school that would fit you like a glove, if you understand me.</p>
<p>I think people need to take good long looks at their definitions of diversity and then decide whether or not they really want to go to a diverse school, because it is NOT necessarily a good thing.</p>
<p>[/controversy]</p>
<p>MAIN POINT: just about everyone can fit in here, its about whether or not you want to spend your time finding that niche. :) and whether or not you can deal with seeing a lot of the same kinds of people/groups of races</p>
<p>Ehiunno's 'main point' hit it right on. Frankly, I believe that anyone can find their niche at any school. Sure, your friends may not be exactly like you, but that's a normal, healthy relationship. It's about finding people with somewhat similar tastes and interests and seeing if you connect. </p>
<p>About the diversity thing: again, I believe that if you disconnect yourself from racial diversity, you will be separated. But if you want to hang out with a certain race, or want to hang out with them all, it's your call. UVA has minorities, and a good number of them. It's up to students to inter-mingle.</p>
<p>I also agree with Plzaccept. This thread is interesting because most current students love UVA too much to find anything wrong (I know it took some deep searching and looking on at the outside to find my reasons) and high school students are often plagued with rumors (<em>cough</em> racism <em>cough</em>). Honestly, I find very very little wrong with UVA even myself, I love this school to death and wouldn't change anything really. But, it's important to find some flaws that other people might consider negatives and point them out.<br>
But seriously, we Wahoos....we love UVA :) And we mean it!</p>
<p>"when i read the posts and often the criticisms of UVA are accompanied by."....for a STATE school...." ie, cost, clothes, etc. well, to most of the country, UVA IS an ivy!"</p>
<p>I'm from Texas and trust me, UVA is not considered an ivy down here. Now most of the kids from my high school who had good stats went to UT and A&M, but of the kids who decided to go to a public out-of-state, 3 picked Michigan, 2 for UNC, 1 for Berkeley, 1 for UCLA and a few went to Cali CCs with the hope of eventually transferring to a Berkeley or UCLA. Point is, the really good students from my high school didn't look at UVA. I remember when I told some of my friends that I was thinking about applying to Virginia as a transfer and every one of my friends gave me this puzzled look followed by a "Why?" In Texas, UT is considered by most to be better than Virginia. Now I'm only a college student and I don't know what Virginia's reputation is like for Texas employers, but for almost every high school and college student in Texas, an acceptance to Virginia isn't exactly going to excite them the way some of the posters on this forum would think. I just don't think that Virginia has the name recognition in Texas specifically that most of the people up in the mid-Atlantic think it has. </p>
<p>Also, if you can get in out-of-state to Virginia, then you're probably going to be competitive for the big three prestigious privates in the South, Rice, Vandy and Emory, and at least in my opinion, I'd rather go to those three than UVA. Also, I feel that those three would be considered more prestigious and "better" by Texas employers. Now I may be wrong about the employers perspective, by from a students perspective, those three are more prestigious and "better" universities than UVA. I'd get a different response saying I go to Rice, Vandy or Emory than I would for UVA. If I told someone I go to UVA, I'd probably get the same response as if I told them I go to Ole Miss or Bama.</p>
<p>thats sad to hear, crs1909. although, quite frankly, i doubt the overwhelming majority of people at UVa care what texas employers think. Thats not where kids from UVa look for jobs.</p>
<p>^Wow! I am laughing so hard!!! The only reason why Rice and Vandy would be considered more prestigious than UVA is that they're both private. Sadly, very few people understand how DIFFICULT it is to get into UVA if you're out-of-state. </p>
<p>But seriously, there's some validity to it. I mean, most employers in California would recognize UCLA or Berkeley immediately rather than UVA. I think that geographic proximity is a quite factor there.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s pretty shocking that anyone would equate UVa as just another Ole Miss and Bama. Are you kidding me? Actually, I would be equally as shocked if someone put UTexas at the same level as UVa. UT has 40,000 undergrads where 25% never graduate compared to UVA’s 13,000 where 93% do. Those 2 stats alone give you some insight on the quality of education at both schools and how much more attention students are given at UVa vs. at Texas.</p>
<p>Well Crs1909, some students at Texas must know about Virginia since your state has the 7th largest out-of-state representation at UVa and the 10th largest number of UVa alums in the US.</p>
<p>Thank you Globalist, you said everything that I wanted to say and more. I don't even want to waste my time trying to convert someone like Crs1909 over to the CVL way of thinking. Crs, if you want to go to the schools you mention, then please go.</p>
<p>"Thats not where kids from UVa look for jobs"</p>
<p>With the NYC financial industry going into the crapper for a few years, Texas and Atlanta will be places that attract many grads. I hear the energy area is booming and that means Texas is booming. That old IB arrogance looks a little more like scared now.</p>
<p>UVA has plenty of name recognition nationally in industries that matter. Yes, UVA probably places better on the east coast than in other regions, but most people here self-select into those markets anyway. And who cares about what lay people think? </p>
<p>Also, like barrons pointed out, there are more and more great, high-paying jobs in markets like Houston and Dallas. Honestly, who wouldn't consider a top job in one of those cities over something in NYC? BIGTEX salaries are only slightly lower than those found in NYC, but the COL is MUCH, MUCH lower.</p>
<p>the comment about emory had me giggling for quite a while, while the comment about UT just left me shocked. There must be delusional kids in texas if they think that UT is even on the same level as UVA. But it wouldn't surprise me if UVa lacked name recognition in the west/southwest since their prime focus has been east/northeast.</p>
<p>i'm from texas, so let me clear things up
ut plan ii is comparable to uva academically (they accepted like, 30 kids this year), but otherwise ut is NOT
also, TONS of kids at my school have applied to uva, and uva is quite a top school choice for lots of ppl here
while we dont consider it ivy, that doesn't mean it doesnt offer good things like balance and good academics.</p>
<p>I'll only address a few comments...</p>
<p>"Actually, I would be equally as shocked if someone put UTexas at the same level as UVa. "</p>
<p>Actually, someone (from UT coincidentally) did come up with rankings that places UT and Virginia in the same tier (or level). (And I know you guys are going to declare the rankings to be complete bs, so go ahead)</p>
<p>A</a> RANKING OF UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS</p>
<p>"Well Crs1909, some students at Texas must know about Virginia since your state has the 7th largest out-of-state representation at UVa and the 10th largest number of UVa alums in the US." </p>
<p>List</a> of U.S. states by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Well, Texas is the second most populated state in the US with about 23 million and there are only 5 other states in the US who have populations that are more than half (11.5 million) of Texas' population, so it doesn't shock me that UVA has more Texas kids than Montana kids. </p>
<p>The main idea of my original post was to give some outside perspective as to how highly regarded UVA is outside of the mid-Atlantic and the North and to refute the claim the people throught the US consider UVA to be an Ivy. Now I know I made a mistake in saying that Texas, as a whole, doesn't consider UVA to be an Ivy, because I'm not the voice of the entire state of Texas. But I can speak for my high school, which is one of the best and most academically competitve in Texas (Soutlake Carroll), and at my high school, no one considers UVA to be an Ivy. Like I said, when I told my friends that I was thinking about applying to UVA, they gave me a puzzled look and just asked "Why?" Why were they puzzled? Because most of the kids I know don't think that UVA is as good as you guys seem to think it is, and they feel that the extra money I'd pay going to UVA, as opposed to UT, isn't worth it.</p>
<p>I just want to get something straight, I'm not saying UVA isn't a good school, but just that UVA is definitely not considered equivalent to an Ivy where I'm from. Like I said in my previous post, UVAs national prestige isn't as great as some of the posters think it is. </p>
<p>And comparing UVA to UT is ridiculous. The schools have different objectives. UVA wants to stay small and selective, where as UT wants to stay large and provide the students of Texas with a quality education.</p>
<p>Oh crs1909, your postings make me weary and bored. If you don't like UVA, that's OK, and it's your opinion, don't apply and go away. Why bother with your continued good cop/bad cop routine on this site?? UVA is not an Ivy; we know that, you know that. I turned down an Ivy school
(Scholar status) to come here because I loved what the school has to offer (quality education, history, mountains, TJ stuff, etc). I'm a first year student, and, for me, I made the best decision possible. Living the dream!!!</p>
<p>oh powderpuff, the things I could say about how annoying, unsubstantiated, and blindly obsessed with UVa all of your posts are. He has a serious point, that was backed up by a source he has seen. Maybe you just have an inflated impression of what UVa is? Maybe you could counter his points instead of just assuming that he hates UVa. He is just trying to get the facts straight.</p>
<p>It does seem like so many people on this board have an inflated sense of UVa. Its a great school with a lot of things to offer, and certainly has an Ivy rep in parts of the country, but not everywhere. Although I found the rankings in that particular article to be quite odd... and I still wouldn't put UVa on the same level as any state school other than Berkley.</p>
<p>Edit: I would like to see a serious discussion about how prestigious UVa is outside of the east. Just because he doesn't think its the best school evar doesn't mean he hates it, but thats a good topic for discussion, especially in a thread about the PROBLEMS with uva.</p>
<p>ehiunno,
I commend you for a fair and balanced response worthy of a UVA student. I hope most of them are like you.</p>
<p>I'm sorry ehiunno, crs, and others. You have some very good points regarding crs. My positive nature can be overwhelming. I'll try to tone it down a bit, but not too much. I do love this school, what can I say??</p>
<p>"i'm from texas, so let me clear things up ut plan ii is comparable to uva academically (they accepted like, 30 kids this year), but otherwise ut is NOT also, TONS of kids at my school have applied to uva, and uva is quite a top school choice for lots of ppl here while we dont consider it ivy, that doesn't mean it doesnt offer good things like balance and good academics."</p>
<p>Are you "from texas," or do you currently LIVE in Texas? </p>
<p>Plan II Honors must have had a huge dropoff to go from over 200 to LIKE 30 kids for the 08 entering freshman class</p>
<p>I highly doubt that "TONS" of kids from a school in Texas applied to UVA. I think you used the word "TONS" very loosely. Maybe several, but not "TONS." </p>
<p>The only way I could maybe, possibly see how that could be true is if you went to a Private School, in which case I honestly don't know where Private School kids from Texas apply to for college. (I went to a public high school) Also, your school must be very different from my school considering no one from my school, to my knowledge, applied to Virginia.</p>
<p>HopefulHoo'sDad, thanks for taking that much time and consideration to rebut a teenager. i'm honored.</p>
<p>first off - the quality of c-ville depends on who you're talking to. my opinion is my opinion. my points are opinions and observations from multiple uva students, not just my own son. i think as a student, i have an exclusive insight and perspective parents are unable to get. i don't think it's fair to say my points aren't valid. </p>
<p>again, this is for the reasons NOT to go, right? i have plenty of reasons why one should.</p>
<p>this is noteworthy: my friend visited uva during spring break. the girl she roomed with said the honor code is "overrated," and "a joke." sure, people can assuredly leave their coat or bag unattended, but as far as cheating goes, it exists. i was really surprised. again, i heard this from someone else.</p>
<p>Re: Ehiunno, Powderpuff, crs, and this whole deal</p>
<p>Ask any Hoo, and they'll tell you they love UVA. It doesn't mean it's perfect, it just means we overlook a lot of the daily flaws. We know that out in LA some recruiter might chose a Berk guy over one of us Hoos. We're okay with that. We're okay with the food not always being great. We're okay with the fact a ton of IS kids are from NoVa (which I don't think it's that bad, you can visit each other over breaks!). That's why we love UVA and don't always mention this stuff. Because we're okay.
But, there are flaws. Applicants need to evaluate these and say "hmm, can I be okay with this?". If you can, and you're admitted and want to come, welcome! If you can't, or you think there are better options, go for that! But everyone's views of what's good and bad at UVA vary, and everyone's reactions vary.<br>
On another note, UVA is prestigious. You can't deny that. But UT is an amazing school (their e-school...well, i'm jealous!). Berkley is amazing. UMich is amazing. Honestly, schools like this are all supurb, and all have their geographical areas that they truely shine in. UVA may beat both on the East Coast, but both may beat UVA out west. Who cares. Go where you can say "I'm okay with this school's flaws", and love it. There's always transferring! Hah.</p>
<p>PS- add to my list: the bus system. If there really is one true thing I really don't like about UVA, it's the buses. Everything is very walk-able on Grounds and even to off-grounds housing. But, somedays I just want to be lazy or it's raining, and the buses aren't very reliable, get crowded, and the routes aren't planned out well. Most students agree on this. However, it looks like they heard us on this issue, because they're changing the routes to better serve first-years/Lambeth/commuters, and adding all this GPS stuff.</p>