<p>For current students or anyone who knows current students, please…just a few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What are students like? How happy are students here? What is the "quality of life" like?</li>
<li>What was the deciding factor of UVA for you, and now that you go there what is your favorite thing about it?</li>
<li>Would someone at McIntire be able to tell me about the business program UVA offers?</li>
<li>Does the schoolwork/atmosphere create a lot of pressure?</li>
<li>How are the career services in terms of internships and job placement?</li>
</ol>
<p>Just looking for some insight. Thank you so much!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There are 14,000 undergraduates here. I think it would be foolish to try to paint them all with the same brush, but in general, they are smart, motivated to learn, accomplished, and have good school spirit.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ll let students cover that.</p></li>
<li><p>The McIntire School of Commerce has a site just for prospective students that describes what they do. :)</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve heard students say they are competitive in that they are motivated to learn, but not competitive in the sense of being cut throat. </p></li>
<li><p>The Career Services office also has a page for prospective students (and parents) that covers their services and gives general information about where UVa students wind up after graduation. :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>By the way, posting the same question in all the school-specific forums might get you flagged as a spammer. It’s probably best to do research on the school websites and then ask more specific questions in the forums. </p>
<p>Hi @Dean J! Our daughter just spent two weeks at the Summer Enrichment Program at UVA. She had a great time! She also claims that the food varies greatly from one dining hall to the next and that surprised me. Isn’t there one gigantic food service company providing all the food – like there is at other campuses we have visited? Silly question, but I figured that you would know the answer.</p>
<p>@Momzie Aramark is the food service provider here (and at many other universities). Each dining hall is a little different. Food is not made in one central kitchen and then trucked around the Grounds. That would probably be horribly inefficient. </p>
<p>For example, Newcomb Hall has two main areas: Pavilion 11, which is a la carte and styled after a mall food court (sushi, smoothies, Tex-Mex, deli, pizza, and Chik-Fil-A). Each section has their own area for food prep (Obviously, what Chik-Fil-A needs is different from what the pizza place or the smoothie place needs). Upstairs is the all-you-can-eat dining hall with several more sections.</p>
<p>If you look at the list of dining halls/cafes, you’ll see why it would be impossible to have one, central kitchen. :)</p>
<p>UVa Dining Options:
Alderman Cafe
C3 at Lambeth
C3 at Runk
Cafe McLeod
Clark Hall
Domino’s
Einstein Bros. Bagels
Einstein Bros. Bagels at the UVA Bookstore
Fine Arts Cafe
Garden Room-Faculty Dining
Global Dining
John Paul Jones Athletic Dining Room
Language Houses
N2GO
Fresh Food Company at Newcomb Hall
In the Nood
Observatory Hill Dining Room
Pavilion XI
P.O.D. at Med Ed
P.O.D. at Newcomb
Poolside Cafe
Runk Hall Dining Room
Sidley Austin Cafe
Starbucks
Street Eats
The Castle
The Crossroads
West Range Cafe
Wilsdorf Cafe </p>
<ol>
<li>There is a high retention rate. Most students LOVE UVA.</li>
<li>The BA/MT elementary ed program and the size of the school were the deciding factors for me. My favorite thing about UVA was living in Brown college.</li>
<li>Only in certain majors - ie. premed is very competitive</li>
</ol>
<p>shoe speaks the truth… The castle is SO GOOD. My office hours went late sometimes on Sundays and students would buy me food from the castle if they wanted me to stay after hours, lol!</p>
<p>Hope you’re having a great summer Dean J! I went to CVille in June and went to the Glass Palette which is the coolest place ever. I made a glass ornament animal. Do you ever go on weddingbee anymore? I haven’t been there in a few months now…</p>
<p>The turkey club on whole wheat with honey mustard…oh geez, I don’t think I’ve remembered sandwiches as much as I remember those. I was also partial to the sandwiches at Crossroads too, especially the ham/pineapple on ciabatta. I used to change up two sandwiches so much that the guys there on certain days would know me and know exactly what I wanted…heaven between two pieces of carbs man</p>
<p>People tend to knock off UVa’s dining program, especially in comparison against VT, but I was always able to find something to eat, you just sometimes had to find the niches (even at Newcomb!). I do think college dining plans as a whole, not just UVa, are a rip off anytime you have a kitchen unless you get the absolute smallest plan. I got the 10/week or 5/week (don’t remember) plus extra dining bucks my second and third year since I was on grounds so much, but fourth year I wisened up and just put the cost of a semester plan onto my CavCard and bought a la carte for the entire year (especially a la Castle)</p>