<p>As I recall (my info is getting old now), male and female dorms are intermingled now (used to be all girls on one side, all guys on the other), but each dorm is single sex. I do not remember any unduly onerous visitation rules, but I think they did eventually kick the guys out of the girls' dorms.</p>
<p>All these observations about Southern culture are quite interesting, because that ties into my perception of them pricing themselves out of the market. Their core "consitituency", if you will, is primarily going to compare them to Davidson, Wake, Furman, Sewanee, Rhodes, Mercer, B'ham-Southern, Elon - not Williams, Swarthmore, Lafayette, Colgate, Haverford. Compared to their Southern counterparts, it is a fine school, but the value is not there - it is not 15-18K better than Furman or Rhodes or Sewanee, and I'm sorry, it is no Duke, Davidson or Williams!
I wonder what they were thinking - charge more so the Yankees will think it's a better school?? If you build it they will come?? I just never understood why the huge increase, unless they were in dire financial straits, and that did not appear to be the case.</p>
<p>Still, when my rising 10th grader is looking in a couple of years, we may go back and look again, because as an 8th grader tagging along with sis, he thought it was great - but it will be a reach for him, and I think we can find a better fit for our full fare.</p>
<p>Maybe that's why my D liked it. We aren't comparing it to Southern schools; the ones in your post, cangel, are not even on our list. We saw it on a trip that included Bucknell, Haverford, Goucher, Muhlenberg and Connecticut College. It's the only one in the South that my D will even consider. So maybe we're just the type of Northerner they want!</p>
<p>Chedva, just curious -- why would your daughter only consider Richmond and not W&L, Davidson, Furman, Sewanee, Rhodes, Centre, etc? Richmond is still most definitely a "southern" LAC, as are the others. What you've said about her ambivalence about Greek influence probably takes W&L off the table, but the others, particulary the ones that might be a little more liberal?</p>
<p>man i remember looking at richmond when i was applying (for fall 2004) and it was expensive then. its REALLY expensive now. Looking at the website we have tuiton at $36,550 for the year? </p>
<p>tuiton, room (cheapest double), and board (15 meals a week) come to about 44000 a year...NOT including books, stupid fees, spending money, fraternity dues (if you join), and any other sort of fee...such as $10 per add and drop of a each class...which imho is the most ridiculous thing ever...and I would be spending about $500 a semester on adding and dropping courses (i have a fickle mind).</p>
<p>I sure hope they are generous with finacial aid...to EVERYONE...even if richmond considers itself as a peer to duke, w&l, amherst, and other similar schools, its significantly more expensive than any of them.</p>
<p>I remember thinking that Richmond was awfully up-front about its "Robin Hood" tuition plan when they raised the rates. Don't most colleges try to tell you that all financial aid comes out of the endowment? (Which may be the case at some elite schools, but I think there are many more on the Richmond plan)</p>
<p>I've lived within 10 miles of UR for the past 23 years, ever since I moved to Richmond from LI to attend UR law school. A "southern" school can be an adjustment for some kids, especially those from the northeast (I attended W&M undergrad and it was a definite culture shock for me) but there are so many kids from the east coast at UR that it really isn't as "southern" as it used to be. This holds true for Richmond and the surrounding counties as well.
As far as the sororities, because there are no "houses" the greek scene is really more clublike than at many other schools. As a greek alum (I swore I would never go greek when I first landed at college), I have interacted with my sorority's girls at UR and the focus is very much on community service; more than on parties, for sure.
According to all I've read and heard, while UR's tuition is quite steep, they are pretty generous with fin aid and also merit aid. Even as a VA resident, we will probably encourage our daughter to apply and compare the actual cost at UR with WM or UVa. My biggest concern with UR is that many of the kids do seem to come from quite priveleged backgrounds; I see lots of nice cars around town with UR parking stickers.
Hope this alum/parent perspective helps.</p>
<p>What I remember from the old days was that the local students who tended to gravitate towards Richmond were from some of the private high schools, like Collegiate, more preppy east coast versus southern. As to fooling the yankees into parting with their money, there may be some truth to that.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of your insightful responses. Some comments are very insightful, other information I already knew :) Anyway, I am on a quest to find the very best school for D2 to fit her needs. She will not continue on to grad school, and I am as concerned about academics as I am about social "fit." I don't completely agree with Curmudgeon's grouping of U of RichMen (LOL) with some of the other southern schools he has suggested. I say that only because top notch NYC executives seem to be familiar with Richmond, but not with Sewanee, etc.. The list seems to be down to U of Richmond, Bucknell, Trinity college, and Union for ED consideration. We will be heading up to Maine in a few weeks to see Bates and Colby. All of these schools will be a reach (Union less so) but worth a shot, nonetheless. I LOVE hearing perspectives of parents and kids who know Richmond fist hand, and it is great to hear memories of those who were there years ago. Please contribute anything else you may know, I really (and hopefully others) appreciate it!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Chedva, just curious -- why would your daughter only consider Richmond and not W&L, Davidson, Furman, Sewanee, Rhodes, Centre, etc? Richmond is still most definitely a "southern" LAC, as are the others. What you've said about her ambivalence about Greek influence probably takes W&L off the table, but the others, particulary the ones that might be a little more liberal?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>lderochi, several of the schools you listed don't have dance programs, which is high on her list - she at least wants to take classes. Greek life (as well as no dance) also takes Rhodes off; she visited last week, and they said the social life was 85% Greek, and rush began the first week of freshman year. She really didn't like that.</p>
<p>The major reason we even looked at Richmond was because of a guidance counselor recommendation and its more urban environment. Mine is a city kid. She was actually surprised that she liked Richmond as much as she did. And I also liked the fact that there is a sizeable Jewish population in Richmond (the school and the city). Sticker shock, I guess, isn't as much a problem for me, since the cost is about the same as the Northern schools she's looking at.</p>
<p>By the way it wasn't just me and anyway - we didn't group them together. The numbers did. ;)</p>
<p>I do now have to go back and apologize to the folks who raised the tuition . Really good job, girls and guys. Outstanding work. I had totally misread your market. Sorry. ;)</p>
<p>As to Rhodes greek life, no houses for frats or sororities at Rhodes either.</p>
<p>I'll continue to say I like the school but it is very expensive within its peer group . A full payor could do better IMO.</p>
<p>Chedva , as it should be. No kid should have to give up a passion. Good luck.</p>
<p>Also, did you know that Rhodes includes the service sororities and the social sororities (I don't know the difference) together in their numbers ? Rhodes number of Greeks can be off-putting, though I think 85 is high. That's W+L high and I know Rhodes is less than W+L. It was off-putting to my D. A trip to DePauw was enough for her to be scared to death of Greek life. Maids in the sorority houses? :eek: But it appears to be less all encompassing at Rhodes than it did at first. We are about to see anyway. LOL.</p>
<p>Kind of off-topic but picking up on Curmudgeon comment. I never realized that the "Greek" percentage number for some schools included the service and academic organizations until this past week when somebody asked the question at an info meeting. I had always assumed that the number was just for the social organizations. I wonder how many schools are seen as being more heavily "Greek" than they really are. Learn something new every day.</p>
<p>lderochi, I've never heard of the academic greeks being lumped with them but it is possible, I guess. They are Greek letter organizations. Rhodes only has 4 active sororities that are what most would think of as traditional sororities, the Chi O, Tri-Delt stuff, PanHellenic stuff. Maybe that explains the numbers even more. I'll ask my D.</p>
<p>I have not read through all of the posts, but since OP wants to know everything, I do have a couple of comments. I know of someone who transferred out after freshman year. He came from an upper middle class family, and he felt very uncomfortable socially. He says that the majority are preppy students from very wealthy families who are products of pirvate prep high schools. He felt that he did not really fit in, but did make a few friends. He also found the school to be too small. He loved the way the campus looked on the tour, and I have heard that campus is just gorgeous. Also, his mother told me that the advising was not great, and that he did not get into classes that he would have liked, but I do not any more about this aspect.</p>
<p>OT- It appears Rhodes has "about half" in Greek life . But I went back and looked and what Chedva said was that they were told "social life was 85% Greek", not that the student body was 85% Greek. Those could be two very different statements. The actual % Greek appears to be 56% and does appear to include service sororities. D says it is less overwhelming than other schools she has visited. She also said that the social sororities did pretty big service projects themselves and that service is pushed everywhere at Rhodes. </p>
<p>Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.</p>
<p>Hi Oldhag! Have you further considered Oxy? I visited Richmond and was accepted and got a great offer that my Dad was very disappointed I turned down. When I visited and sat in on classes and I didn't get the sense of academic seriousness that I noticed at Trinity and Colgate to name a couple for comparison. I felt it was a bigger jock school and more party-atmosphere than the others. There was also something indefinable about the fact that many people I met were not applying to top-notch colleges. My Mom sensed this also. I did not feel that I was going to be surrounded by students intellectually curious as contrasted with students I met at Colgate, Trinity, Dartmouth and others. I do think it would be liberal enough for your D. Also, and this may seem dumb, but the presentations were dreadfully boring and I thought, well, they should be putting on their best face and if this is the best, it's not for me. Good luck!</p>