<p>A friend of mine is a Japanese national currently living in Europe but previously the USA and of course, Japan. His daughter was just accepted to Villanova U and is planning to attend as an econ undergrad student. I haven't seen her since she was young but since she's lived in the USA and Europe I think her English skills must be very good.</p>
<p>Do any of you have opinions on Villanova for a student like her? Is the surrounding area nice/safe? Any other advice for her and her family?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>The surrounding area is suburban and appears safe. The campus is, in my opinion, very pretty. I could be wrong but I did not notice public transportation when I visited -- there may be a bus line to the train into Philadelphia. One plus is that it is maybe 20 minutes (when there's no traffic) to Philadelphia airport. </p>
<p>Villanova is a nice, all around school. The Catholic tradition is very much present on campus, but not over-powering. Students tend to be middle of the road types, and career focused. It's really a nice school in many ways.</p>
<p>While I'm not sure how many internationals Villanova attracts, I would feel comfortable sending my own kids there.</p>
<p>ucsd dad - you should post this in the Colleges>Villanova forum. My S will attend Villanova and major in Econ (unless he is taken off myriad waitlists). </p>
<p>Surrounding area is a wealthy suburb (Main Line area of Philadelphia), very lovely and safe. Train into town and Villanova will drive you to the King of Prussia mall and airport.</p>
<p>We visited Villanova and met with the international admissions rep - they are pretty active in recruiting expats and internationals and have a popular study abroad program - she actually made a point of coming out to talk to us when we came for the standard campus visit. My daughter thought it was one of the friendliest schools we visited with a great sense of community service.</p>