Hi everyone. I am wondering if any or you personally were going to apply to UVA and have decided not to do so because of the recent events in Charlottesville. I personally know two people who have decided to take UVA off their lists because of the violence in Charlottesville.
Their loss. Shortsighted, knee jerk reaction to terrible events this weekend. But, people take schools off their lists for lots of reasons so no big deal . There are plenty of kids who will still not be deterred at all from applying.
Haven’t we had this discussion already? Applications will not decrease because of this event. Every elite university has it’s jerk alumnus who is an embarrassment to the institution. UVA is no different.
I don’t think this is about a jerk alum. Yes, every school has this. But I think it is about going to school in an environment that feels so volatile - at least for the parents I have spoken to.
These were not Alums at all. They are just Rednecks gathered in Charlottesville to mix things up. Not a good look for UVA or Virginia in General…
Are these Virginia residents? As I said, if they are concerned, take it off the list. There are plenty of schools out there.
Yes, I know someone who’s taken it off his list (from out-of-state.)
And I think ITBERP91, that is how my friends feel. So they have crossed UVA off the list for this reason.
Richard Spencer, one of the organizers of the rally, is a graduate of UVA…as well as Duke and the University of Chicago, as unbelievable as that may seem.
Edit: He didn’t actually graduate from Duke.
So, for the out of staters- I suppose if Neo Nazis decided to congregate in a field near Harvard, grab some torches out of their UHaul , and started descending on Harvard Yard ( with no permit to assemble), and converged on the John Harvard statue, Harvard would come off the list?
@ITBTERP91 , “not a good look for UVa or Virginia in general.”. Where is that coming from? Most of these white supremacists were not even from Virginia ! And any leadership from UVa and Virginia have strongly denounced these hate groups.
We’re in California, an extremely diverse state where non-Hispanic whites are now in the minority. (This is particularly true of younger demographics.). Kids typically have friends from many different races and ethnicities–and they value that. When they see this kind of horrible display of bigotry and violence, it reinforces, rightly or wrongly, stereotypes of the south. And yes, that influences where they go to college. To think this won’t cause some students to drop UVA from their college lists is simply naive. Certainly some parents also will be concerned about the volatility, as @elise303 said. I can completely understand how unfair this must seem to those loyal to UVA, but there often isn’t a lot of logic applied to college application decisions, and it’s clear to me this will have some effect. How great of one won’t be known until next year.
There are plenty of students who want to attend UVa next year. If someone is so fragile that protests can make them cross a college off their list, they better not apply to any of the following schools:
UC Berkeley
UC Davis
Claremont McKenna
Middlebury
University of Chicago
University of Washington
And I have already said there will be some kids that will drop UVa. I am not naive at all about that. And my kids grew up in Virginia, had/have plenty of friends that are not white like they are. They went to a very diverse public high school that drew from different income levels and races. . I lived in Pennsylvania until I married. If anything, there is more diversity I’ve seen here in Southern Virginia than I did in Pennsylvania. This " horrible display of bigotry and violence" is not about UVa or Virginia. Most of these haters came from out of state . And to think this kind of thing cannot happen anywhere is what I find naive. There are 100’s of hate groups out there and they will use any excuse or cause to advance their agenda. This is not about the Robert E. Lee statue or about Charlottesville or UVa. It is about hate
^ Actually, University of Missouri is a bad example.
@TTdd16, I saw a story just now on the national news about a cook , Cole White, at Top Dog in Berkeley who came to Charlottesville all the way from California . He is no longer an employee there. Nathan Damigo from California also was there and there is plenty of info out there on him. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-nathan-damigo-alt-right-20161115-story.html. According to this article, California has the "largest racist skinhead population in the country. " Yet, there are plenty of kids going to school in California. Damigo was involved in volatile events at Berkeley. Are there racists in Virginia? Of course, including Kessler. They are everywhere. And these kinds of events are going to continue, at other colleges.
To add to @sevmom, If you are paying attention, you have surely seen other states mentioned in news reports along with California. MA, WA, NV, OH, AR, FL, SC, NC, GA, TX, and yes, Virginia were re.
If someone doesn’t want to join us at UVA, that’s fine, but I hope they don’t convince themselves that this is a Virginia problem. I hope what we are doing this week and beyond will be an example to other communities because that growing list of states represented points to many others potentially dealing with what we did last weekend.
BTW, our office has been surprised and touched by the supportive notes we’re getting from prospective students and parents. If any of you who wrote to use are here, thank you. 
@“Dean J” even if it appears that the university is doing everything it can, if a minority does not feel comfortable walking in the adjacent town, that kid and their family is going to take the school off it’s list. See the linked article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/‘charlottesville-might-be-changed-for-me-forever’-students-contemplate-return-to-school-after-deadly-rally.
Agree with melvin123
I read the article and see positives in it. The students were traumatized . Anyone would be by having Nazis with torches descend on your campus. They need time to heal, as does the city. Student quotes from the article include "UVa is diversity, not hatred or violence. " "UVa has a lot of room to improve . But this wasn’t UVa, or Charlottesville, This felt like an invasion. " And it was!
If some kids choose not to apply because some Nazis showed up in Charlottesville, that is not significant in the scheme of things. There will be plenty of applicants. The kids that saw things firsthand will need support. I’m sure there are resources in place to help returning students process this. That is more worthy of attention than any hand wringing about number of applications
This hits close to home for Virginians, residents of Charlottesville, and those with ties to UVa. It is painful to see these images. For those of you thinking that something like this could never happen in your state or on your kid’s campus, I wish you the best . I truly hope these kinds of incidents do not escalate, but I am unfortunately , not optimistic.
It is very important to feel comfortable, wherever you end up for college. So, all the best to those looking for schools for their children. This has been very traumatic and new and returning students coming in soon will need lots of support. The Black Alumni group has reached out to the class of 2021. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/08/uva-black-alumni-an-open-letter-to-the-class-of-2021
There is a candlelight vigil going on right now on the Lawn. Steps to healing.