Richmond seems like an intriguing option for my D18 because of the size, location, beautiful campus, study abroad opportunities and good financial aid.
However, we are from San Jose CA and neither my daughter or any of her friends have heard of it-until I mentioned it, of course. Also, 100% of the students from her school who have applied (all 5!) have been accepted so it doesn’t appear prestigious or rigorous from our Naviance.
It seems possible that they really just want kids from our area since there are so few applicants for such a well regarded school?
In any case I am encouraging her to apply…
I have no first-hand experience, but an anecdote: My daughter attends a rigorous prep school, and one of her senior friends last year was an excellent student with a strong college application. She was accepted to 9 or 10 selective colleges, but was rejected by one-- U of R, her top choice! She is now at Bucknell or Carnegie Mellon, can’t recall which. But I always thought that was kind of a random result.
I just sent in my application to Richmond a few days ago for regular decision! I would agree with you - Richmond is beautiful, in an interesting city, has diverse opportunities like a university, but still has that small college feel. Unlike you, Richmond is more well-known in my school - we typically send 1 or 2 people every year (that’s pretty good from a small class of 2017) and is considered “prestigious” in my school and area. Normally, it’s a safety for “smart” kids who are wishing to go to more reach schools like Ivies and the like, but reaches for more B students. It can be possible that they want more people from your area, but I’m assuming around the same amount gets in from my school every year. Definitely encourage her to apply.
u of richmond is an awesome school. just because you have not really heard of it means nothing to the learning, enjoyment, growth and final outcome of the four years your daughter would get attending! i would strongly recommend getting on a plane and visiting. How many people are rejected is not a sign of how good a school is for you or your child. and prestige is another one of those baseless things. there are 1000x of colleges in america and most people do not attend HYP or Stanford,yet they have awesome college experiences go on to happy lives and successful careers. and many students at elitist schools would have benefited more and been happier at a school like u of richomnd, laffeyette college, hendrix etc… they just never thought to consider them.
URichmond has several distinguishing features.
First, of the ~60 colleges that claim to cover 100% of demonstrated financial need, URichmond is one of the least selective. In this respect it can be a good target/match for students aiming for some of the other “full need” colleges. Second, it’s one of relatively few top liberal arts colleges in the East that is located close to a city center. Third, it’s one of the few LACs with strong undergraduate business programs. It’s also a little larger (at nearly 3K students) than many other LACs.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Also, the small class size and the Jepson School seem to be a possible fit for her. We will definitely need some financial aid so that aspect is what got it on the radar for me.
Her older siblings all attend(ed) much larger schools…UCB, WUSTL and Vanderbilt, so I am thinking that she is unsure about a smaller liberal arts choice at this point.
However, it IS one of the larger LAC’s and that is good! She is a self-described “very chill” person with a 1420 SAT and a 3.8 uw at a very rigorous Catholic prep school.
Thanks everyone for the good feedback.
Anything that might make it not a good fit?
Distance from home?
The fact that ~2/3 of its students come from the South or mid-Atlantic (and only 5% from the West)?
The high percentage of business majors (nearly 40%)?
The Greek scene (21% of male undergrads in frats, 29% of females in sororities)?
Some of these numbers present a very different profile (on paper at least) than most other selective LACs.
That could be good or not so good depending on what you want.
Other LACs that claim to cover 100% of demonstrated need yet are less selective than the Ivies or top NESCAC schools:
Bryn Mawr (women only)
College of the Holy Cross
Colorado College
Franklin & Marshall
Kenyon
Mt. Holyoke (women only)
Occidental
Smith
Union College (NY)
@dragonmom3 UR is highly thought of here on the east coast, and I think they would love to have more west coast students. They also have aprox 10% international students from all over. It is considered to be fairly selective with an admit rate last year of approx 32%, but not super selective like the Ivies , etc. Here is the link to the admitted student profile for this past year:
http://admissions.richmond.edu/studentprofile/index.html
The 25-75% ile SAT scores for admitted students last year were 1320-1460 (old SAT) and 1380-1500 (new SAT), so you can see there are many students with strong stats at UR.
UR is a wonderful school with strong academics. My eldest D just graduated this spring and I have another D who is a junior. They have taken challenging courses with small class sizes and had many excellent professors. Their advisors have been great, they have had paid internships, and the older D spent a semester at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Neither D was involved with Greek life, but some of their friends are/were, and there are lots of nice clubs and activities to choose from.
UR’s suburban campus is beautiful, about 10 minutes from downtown Richmond, with lots of nice museums, restaurants, parks, and outdoor activities.We have really come to love the area on our many visits. There is also an amtrak stop just a few miles from campus and it is easy to get to the DC area (2 hours), NYC (6 hours), Philadelphia (4 hours).
UR meets 100% of demonstrated need (as calculated by them, not FAFSA). They are a CSS Profile school, so be sure to run the Net Price Calculator to get a good estimate of cost for your situation.
Following as my daughter is applying ED2 from OOS but worried her scores aren’t quite high enough.
What state are you in?
Did you visit?
I am curious because I don’t think my daughter takes my research seriously as of yet and I am pretty sure she would not go ED.
Just curious, what are your daughter’s scores which concern you? I don’t have a feel for the ED/RD difference in rigor.
@tk21769 You are right about the geographic breakdown, but it does seem like UR is trying hard to become more internationally diverse. I had a look at the map and there were 3 current sophomores from Greater London and I think that there are 2-3 current freshman from London as well. I know at least 2 London kids who are applying this year.
@dragonmom3 We’re in SC no, didn’t visit, she wanted W&William & Mary and so tried ED but didn’t get in. The 65% in state rule also played a factor, at a private school that doesn’t matter. We started looking & asking friends & UR kept coming up, it seems great but a reach.
My D got a 29 ACT but her Eng & Writing were 35, math was 23 which pulled her down. Same thing with SAT. She will graduate with 8 AP classes, scores so far mostly 5’s. Subject History SAT is 750. Strong letters, AV to good EC’s, strong essays but didn’t tune in well enough how her passion for history will relate to her studying at W& M. I called admin when she didn’t get in & they went over the reasons with me, which was very helpful.
Look at the common data set, it will give ur D facts she needs. Reality is a slap in the face but it really is better to know the odds.
@dragonmom3 Also, Richmond does consider the level of interest in the school and seems to appreciate it when kids visit the school. Therefore, if you can swing it, you may want to visit the school before D18 applies.
I love Richmond. If I could afford it, I would try to talk my daughter into applying if she ends up with the stats, but @dragonmom3, you asked for things that might make it not fit.
I visited the school. The campus is beautiful, the surrounding area is beautiful, it has a great reputation. Plus all of the things other people mentioned - Business classes, small class sizes.
The only thing that I can think of that could be a negative is that it seemed like there was a lot of money in the air. I could be wrong, and I’ll defer to other people who have more experience with the school, but I saw a lot of luxury cars in Carytown. It’s an area near the school where the students hang out.
For all I know, the cars belonged to the suburbanites living in Carytown, but I’ve heard from people with kids there, that there are a lot of rich kids at Richmond. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I don’t know if it’s any more rich kids than at the other LACs, but I just thought I’d point it out.
My DD is a sophomore at UR and really likes it. We are from AZ so I hear you with regards to no one’s ever heard of it. But, I don’t really care. My DD applied to schools that met a certain criteria. She also wanted to go far away - midwest or East Coast. While UR may be less known, our experience so far has been great. She’s very happy.