<p>just wanted to see what i can expect in the next couple months that i haven't thought of yet.. i'm so nervous!</p>
<p>Classes here differ from high school classes. When you’re assigned a reading for homework, the professor expects you to actually comprehend the material! He won’t waste any time reviewing the homework assignment. Instead, he’ll expect the class to analyze, discuss and interpret the work. Or he’ll introduce the class to material relevant to their homework assignment.</p>
<p>You’ll have to be disciplined. College is completely different from high school! I’m taking summer courses here at the University and one thing that I’ve learned is that you HAVE to do your homework before you hang out with people! You’ll get several offers throughout the day to do a variety of things for eating lunch to partying and it’ll be your job to make sure you stay on top of your work! It sounds a lot easier than it actually is!</p>
<p>Be outgoing and talk to as many people as possible! Hanging out with the same group of friends every single day can get boring so make sure you make a name for yourself and meet as many people as possible! </p>
<p>This isn’t really something that I wish I knew, but it’s something that I learned through a few lectures from different Deans, professors and students. The University has an array of opportunities out there for everyone. However, you’ll have to actively search for them! Unlike other schools where kids are basically given opportunities, UVa actually makes its students work for what they want. Don’t be afraid to talk to your Deans and professors; they are there to help you. If you want to know where you should start looking for these opportunities, you can always confront them and they will tell you where to look (and if they don’t know themselves, they will direct you towards the right direction). Dean Groves gave a fantastic speech to my summer program last week. In it he said that the University has enough opportunities (whether it be research, study abroad, internships, etc.) for every student, but that every student won’t utilize those opportunities as effectively as possible. Make sure you do something throughout your four years here. Don’t be that guy who does nothing and wonders what could have been of his college career!</p>
<p>I wish that I had known that UVA isn’t ranked so high because its programs have superior content. In fact, college is what the students do with the opportunities given to them. You can get a cr4ptastic education at UVA if you choose to not invest yourself, and a stellar one at Podunk U if you seek out opportunities. UVA is ranked high because its students consistently seek out fantastic opportunities.</p>
<p>I went to visit UVA before I applied, and I was interested in Brown College. I asked all of these girls in a Dunnington suite if they had heard anything about it. They all said they wish they had applied. I applied. It was the best 4 years in a dorm, ever. I was still eating with my first year cohort in the dining hall my fourth year. Upperclassmen Brownies went out of their way to help me just because I lived in their dorm. I’m so thankful to have been given that opportunity. I know other people say equally good things about their experiences in traditional first year housing. My point is that don’t be afraid to do something just because it is not traditional, it may end up defining your experience here.</p>
<p>I went through a little bit of a crisis my 2nd year fall. I felt that there was not enough time to do all of the clubs I had wanted to do my first year, and that I really hadn’t found my place yet (sure, I had Brown, my class friends, and my club friends, but I didn’t have that perfect niche). Then I started TA-ing. It totally revolutionized my experience here. Helping others, even if you are getting paid, is a great thing. And not just an hour a week for Madison house. I had a friend my 1st year who was a 4th year. She volunteered much more than an hour a week for the Boys and Girls club and it really defined who she was. You need to do something multiple days of the week for it to really create your identity and impact you completely. It isn’t about putting lots of things on your resume anymore. It’s about becoming yourself. I hope that isn’t too profound for 11pm on an online message board.</p>
<p>You should know that your high school experiences will have a strong impact on defining you here. No one takes the time to teach you how to write, solve a math problem, etc. They expect you to be able to do it on your own. Plan your classes on your own. If you don’t have what you need to graduate, you won’t graduate. You are your own guidance counselor, this is the real world. The skills your teachers did or did not give you will have a heavy bearing on your studies here. If you know you are weak in something, get yourself a tutor right away. I saw my rural friends struggle because of their lack of adequate preparation. Just because you are valedictorian of Podunk HS does not mean you will be valedictorian here. Just because you were barely top 30% of your OOS HS does not mean you can’t be top 10% here (that’s me).</p>
<p>Did you know UVA was built by slaves? 1819, when you think about it, oh yeah, but really it was.</p>
<p>Finally. The professor makes the class. No matter how great the material is, if the professor is awful you will hate the class. No matter how dull the material is, the best professor can make it a great class. You have 8 semesters. Get yourself the best professors.</p>
<p>“Finally. The professor makes the class. No matter how great the material is, if the professor is awful you will hate the class. No matter how dull the material is, the best professor can make it a great class. You have 8 semesters. Get yourself the best professors.”</p>
<p>This. Definitely wish I had really known this.</p>
<p>As a student in “the college,” I wish I had known that the TA makes the class as well. At my previous university none of my classes had TAs so it was a new experience. Most of the time, the TA has sole authority in deciding your grade, so keeping in their good graces during discussion is a must.</p>
<p>Yes, the professor is much more important than the course title.</p>
<p>In exams, the material covered in the lectures is often much more important than the material in the textbooks that was not covered in class.</p>
<p>People are much more open to making brand new friends in the first few weeks. After that, they start to hang around established groups. Don’t spend all of your time in the first few weeks with a couple people in your dorm, or you will miss that opportunity.</p>
<p>Something just came to mind that may affect some of the new students – if you have AT&T for your cell provider, beware that your calls home to your folks will drop CONSTANTLY. Our D had to go to outside of her room to the end of the hall by the window and even then the calls would drop frequently. We got to the point that we simply texted all the time and occasionally Skyped. She’ll be off grounds this year, and her complex gets zero reception for AT&T; hence, I just went down to AT&T and paid off her contract and switched her IPhone to Verizon.</p>
<p>Also, UVa has a closed campus during school hours meaning parts of the campus are blockaded to those other than faculty & staff. You can drive on grounds during move-in and move-out; however, if your parents come for a visit, make sure they know how to go “around” the blockades and where to park; it can be frustrating until you know your way around the school/town.</p>
<p>If you live in a non-airconditioned dorm, you CANNOT have too many fans in August, September, October, and May. (You can have your parents take them home for storage during the remaining months.) Being from TX, our D is used to brutal heat; however, it was stifling at times even to her (especially during move-in…you’ll want to bring the fans up first and have them all going to cool off the room). Her roommate is from the north and had a harder time with the heat. The good news is that it cools off around the first of October.</p>
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<p>ABSOLTUELY true!!! Look at the reviews and make your own assessments. Also, make sure you attend office hours and additional review sessions; this proved very useful for my D’s physics and 80 series chem classes.</p>
<p>GET INVOLVED! The first week there’ll be an activity fair that you go to with your floor; sign up for things that interest you and become involved. College is a transition and even the most independent students their first year get homesick – it’s normal. You can combat this by becoming involved in clubs and orgainzations. Our D had her sport which consumed quite a bit of time, her sorority, her classes, and a pre-med volunteer activity. Her roommate was involved in an activity that was also quite time consuming and her sorority. They weren’t together 24/7 in their room, so there was harmony and they got along SUPERBLY! (In fact, they’ll be living together this year as well.) Many of the girls on their floor had problems in part because they simply spent too much time together in their small dorm room and naturally got on one another’s nerves. Also, our D loved to study at Wilsdorf, Starbucks on the Corner and the library; this is a great way to strike up conversations with others and meet new people. Lastly, this should go without saying, but try to organize study groups (especially for some of the difficult science classes) whenever possible.</p>
<p>Jc40,</p>
<p>You’ve been pumping out some fantastic responses lately. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>It’s my pleasure, UVAorBust; glad to help. If I think of anything else that might be useful, I’ll let y’all know. :)</p>
<p>My D had AT&T for the whole 4 yrs there and we never had any problems. You may want to check out the phone before switching to save some $$. Remember the Iphone attenna issue a while back?Everyone complained about AT&T and it turned out to be the Apple phone!</p>
<p>I’d like to bring this thread back to life to see if any 2015 first years have any more suggestions for the new class.</p>
<p>This may seem silly, but coming from a tropical climate, I had no idea that winter weather lasted until April. Along with that, I chose to attend UVA specifically because it is quite far from my home (~16 hour drive). While I’m happy that I was able to develop independence, I do wish I had known how hard it would be to not be able to go home for weekends like Easter, family birthdays, etc.</p>
<p>My son was surprised to find out that there were several other options in the meal plan other than just eating inside the dining halls (these options are in addition to the flex dollars).</p>
<p>My son also found out that a combination of curry and kim-chi in a dorm room creates a smell unlike any other.</p>
<p>What are the other dining options?</p>
<p>There are some other places you can get a meal under the meal plan other than the standard dining halls, and options for some take out sandwiches, etc. There is a snack bar type place (The Castle) in the back of the old first year dorms that can be used for some of these options, among other places. Some of those options apparently are only allowed certain hours. I believe they are explained in the fine print on the campusdish.com website, but I believe the options are not widely publicized when students first start school. The options become valuable on Tuna Taco day in the dining halls.</p>