<p>I am very familiar with both schools. I actually like Charlottesville a lot better than Philadelphia. The UVA campus is gorgeous and there are a lot of outdoorsy things to do in the area. Academics at both schools are excellent. Penn has the edge in prestige, but not in the South. UVA has a lot of students who are every bit as pre-professional as the Penn students- perhaps more med/law oriented than i-banking, but still aiming for those sorts of careers. UVA is a state school, and state schools have funding concerns these days. It will have a majority of students from in-state (which to me is not a bad thng). I have a kid at Penn and he feels he could have been very happy at UVA. </p>
<p>The sports info above is not current or correct. The football team was great this year (well, as great as an Ivy team can be) and won Ivy. The basketball team is horrible and the coach has been fired. Basketball is not selling out. Track is not all that big because Penn isn’t great. You THINK it is because of Penn Relays, which is a really cool event but ignored by most Penn students. Wrestling gets more press than running at Penn. UVA has a great running program.</p>
<p>Wharton students are much less smug now that they can’t get jobs due to the economic collapse.</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean about bowing to political correctness (Schmaltz). I haven’t observed much of that. UVA is more conservative than Penn, but academia isn’t all that conservative anyway.</p>