Hello everybody! I recently got accepted EA for UVa Engineering for Fall Semester of 2018.
I was wondering what people’s experiences have been with living/applying to residential colleges, or at least what you may have heard about them.
I am only planning to live in UVa dorms for one year, so I would like to make a good choice for a likable experience.
What is the general atmosphere at these residential colleges? And what kind of crowd does each attract?
I've heard that Brown is more liberal (I am curious to hear what that exactly means and to what degree), and is very geographically well positioned (i.e. close to everything).
The IRC is 40% international students and is also in a good location (though seemingly not as good as Brown).
Hereford I know nothing about, other than it's far from everything :)
I’ve also heard that going to a residential college I may “miss out” on the “freshman life” at the dorms, but in my opinion that seems rather silly and ridiculous (please correct me if I’m wrong).
—Also, are any of the residential colleges physically nicer places to live than normal dorms? From what I’ve looked into they all seem the same - may be wrong.
I have zero current info about the residential colleges, but many years ago I lived in the dorms that are now Brown RC, and also once lived in a dorm that’s now part of the International RC. And I lived on Alderman Road first year.
I really liked the setup in the Monroe Hill dorms (now Brown). It’s 2 rooms connected to a bathroom connected with 2 more rooms. My roommate and I shared one room and used the other as a living room. Some people did one room each. The location is fantastic. It was by far my favorite place to live at UVa, FWIW.
Brown is quirky and fun, which will be evident when their application comes out. One of the neat things about the residential colleges is that all four years of students live in them.
I believe you can apply to live in them second year, too. My preference would be to live in regular dorms 1st year and then consider a residential college 2nd year.
Thank you everybody for your responses! I am still hoping to hear more about the individual communities (I will make sure to try to visit them in the coming weeks).
I read your article Dean J and I found it very interesting. Is there any material that is possibly more insightful to the actual experience of living there?
prodesse - I would totally agree about the Brown location - must be a very convenient place to live. How was the IRC location/dorms (at least when you were there prior to the IRC)?
Charliesch - I will not be living on-campus after 1st year, which is the reason I am interested in applying to a residential college for this upcoming year.
Also, are any of the residential college dorms physically nicer than normal dorms?
The IRC dorms seem to be the former women’s dorms. (UVa was all male until the 1970s, with the exception of the nursing school. Those dorms were women-only in later years.) The location isn’t bad, certainly better than the Lambeth housing.
Also, those dorms have some singles as well as doubles. Surely the buildings have been renovated since my time, so I can offer no additional insights.
Thank you everybody for the information! I am still hoping to hear more though about the individual communities (I will make sure to try to visit them in the coming weeks).
I read your article Dean J and I found it very interesting. Is there any material that is possibly more insightful to the actual experience (possibly from students themselves)?
I will not be living on-campus after 1st year, which is the reason I am interested in applying to a residential college for this upcoming year.
Thank you everybody for the information! I am still hoping to hear more though about the individual communities (I will make sure to try to visit them in the coming weeks).
I read your article Dean J and I found it very interesting. Is there any material that is possibly more insightful to the actual experience (possibly from students themselves)?
I will not be living on-campus after 1st year, which is the reason I am interested in applying to a residential college for this upcoming year.
Sorry, it seems that college confidential posted the same thing I said multiple times, please ignore my last two replies.
Thanks Prodesse, also, I never knew UVa was all male until the 1970s!
UVa undergrad was all male until circa 1971. Women were supposed to attend what was then called “The Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia.” By 1979, UVa was 50% female.
Brown is very close to most of the engineering and other academic buildings, but it is only about 5 minutes closer than the old dorms (and 5 minutes further from a couple buildings than the old dorms). IRC is near the main libraries, but is a few minutes further than most of the dorms from classroom buildings.
