@dragonmom3, from our tour, it sounded like there was a very strong connection with Richmond the city both for internships, educational opportunities, and social life. Several students mentioned how much they loved the city of Richmond and I believe they were all out of staters. It is about 20 minutes away, the campus itself is pretty self contained in a residential neighborhood near a country club. Hopefully @nikuedu will respond as well.
I would check on how kids get to Richmond. I’ve heard that many kids have cars. I’d love to find out if that’s true.
Many students at UR do have cars, and there is plenty of parking available (the campus is large relative to the number of students). My 2 UR students have used a combination of rides from friends, campus shuttles, and lyft to get into Richmond regularly. Undergraduate student parking passes are currently $65 per semester.
@SaSmith While U of R has a smaller student body, you are not in an isolated environment. VCU is 6 miles a way (a great cross town basketball rival and a huge university with its own identity). Downtown is a straight shot down River Road/Cary Street. See the link below. There are tabs on the site which give you a good idea about the city’s vibe and what there is to do there. Also, there are zip cars available on campus to explore the area.
@SaSmith a little late to conversation and you may have already decided by now but… my D18 is going through the same struggle as you with the exception that we have visited her top choices 3 times each now AND went to admitted student days for each (URichmond vs Vanderbilt vs UVA oos). She was also waitlisted at Wake Forest. She loves something specific at each school but I can tell you that she loves everything at URichmond! All of the things that the posters before me told you about UR here are 100% true - nicest kids, beautiful and safe campus (and we have visited Fall, Spring and ending Winter!), fabulous food, may seem small but excellent networking opportunities and the smallness brings you closer to your professors and your classmates - small class sizes taught only by professors, great opportunities for research even for 1st years, not certain about the actual stats but everywhere we went we saw students who looked different from us, all of the kids we met were double majors (a few triple even!), there is Greek life but it doesn’t seem to dominate (even though we’ve heard that fraternities do sort of drive the on-campus fun! girls are welcome regardless of in a sorority or not, although many pledge just for the sisterhood and something to do), Richmond the city is really neat - lots to do and see when you go off campus, great history and fantastic museums … basically there is nothing to not like. For us the debate is UR is the furthest away from home (15 hr drive) and one of the other schools is better financially (plus only 7 hr drive with cheap direct flight rates). We were hoping for some outside scholarships to even the financials but alas none yet-giving it until Friday just in case… Good luck with your decisions! You have some really great choices!
@ASKMother
I just returned from the admitted student event at U Richmond and I was very impressed.
At this point it looks like I will be a Spider!
Has your daughter made a decision about which she favors?
My brother is a senior at Vandy and he loves it-I was denied ED there but now I am thinking that UR might be a better fit for me after all.
It’s like a smaller, cozier version of Vanderbilt-I could make a home there.