<p>I was accepted to both W&M and UVa, and I chose UVa. After going to my UVa orientation last week and on the way back visiting W&M, I am SO glad I chose UVa. They are two totally different worlds. W&M seemed boring, and honestly its "sunken gardens" is a JOKE compared to the lawn at UVa. Everything seemed much better layed out at UVa and the campus (or "grounds") at UVa just didn't seem depressing like it did at W&M. Sure my view is biased, but those were my thoughts after visiting both.</p>
<p>Cav302, yup, UVa the great papermill of Va. </p>
<p>Hmm, I recall hearing that all the UVa frats keep copies of their papers and tests. That's exactly what I'd call a 'papermill;' no original thoughts, just revise and regurgitate and p/u your degree. </p>
<p>Quite an efficient system.</p>
<p>Spyderman24, you need a uva reject subforum, so you can conduct your mindless "revenge" bashing elsewhere.</p>
<p>If you will get there early enough on a Friday, check out "Friday's After Five" on the downtown mall. Free concert with a beautiful view of Brown's Mountain. </p>
<p>I'd also go to the Blueridge Parkway. Charlottesville really can't be beat if you like the outdoors. </p>
<p>The downtown mall is safe enough to go to at night. Just stick to where there are enough people walking around to stay safe, and don't venture East past the downtown mall.</p>
<p>danielbess</p>
<p>please explain why the "sunken gardens" (why the quotes???) is so much worse than "the lawn." They are grass areas with buildings around them. Would it shock you to know that they were both designed by the same person???</p>
<p>why did you visit W&M on the way back from UVA in the summer when you have already decided that you are attending UVA??? This doesn't make any sense to me. You're creating unnecessary vehicle pollution.</p>
<p>Ah, I completely forgot about this thread once I went to Virginia. Thanks for all the responses, though!</p>
<p>Well, we ended up PLANNING on going to W&M, but missed everything due to traffic. We talked to an assistant admissions counselor who made me absolutely hate the school. I'm kind of glad I got to see the environment because I definitely would not want to go there for four years :P.</p>
<p>So now UVA is the only Virginia school on my list... Yay?</p>
<p>It sounds like a great place to be, though, and I can't wait until I get to go down again - probably next summer.</p>
<p>W&M sunkens gardens are sooo beautiful and the governor's palace, oh gosh, such an amazing architecture, one of the oldest academic buildings in the US. The lawn is also beautiful, some people find W&M more attractive than UVA and the other way, so let it go people!</p>
<p>Ah, but WMrocks, if we did not have the lawn-vs-sunken gardens discussion, then this thread would be completely in the summer doldrums. ;-)</p>
<p>Only two more weeks until move-in (or move-out as we see it here on the homestead!).</p>
<p>Are you in Charlottesville now? It must be pretty quiet.</p>
<p>I'm sooooo excited for move in day!!!!! I'm gonna live in Dillard, you? Charlottesville is great with no students, you can really appreciate UVA's beauty. And no, I'm not there right now, but I will!</p>
<p>c-ville is pretty slow in the summer though. i will be glad when all the rest of the students return, i've been here working and taking classes all summer and am ready for fall semester to start.</p>
<p>I'm curious what the sunken gardens look like(never heard of them) could anyone post links to some pics of them, thanks.</p>
<p>Check out the virtual walk of the Sunken Gardens. It's not quite as visually impressive as the Lawn but still a very nice and picturesque place to be.</p>
<p>soccerguy315</p>
<p>Look at this:
<a href="http://www.cs.virginia.edu/%7Ejaw2u/walks/wm/old_c/images/DA09.large.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~jaw2u/walks/wm/old_c/images/DA09.large.jpg</a></p>
<p>It looks like a freakin Rec soccer field. "They are grass areas with buildings around them." Except for the fact that the "sunken garden" has a forest blocking the buildings from view. And they were not designed by the same person. Thomas Jefferson only attended W&M; he did not design the "sunken garden" while he was there. Get your facts straight.</p>
<p>We (my friend and I--both attending UVa in the fall) stopped off at Williamsburg on the way home because I64 runs straight through it, and we have friends who are going to W&M this fall. We just wanted to make sure that UVa was the right decision. And it certainly was.</p>
<p>Geez, relax danielbess. It doesn't have a 'forest'. It has a line of trees. As someone who has attended both schools I think W&M deserves a little more credit as one of the most attractive campuses in the country.</p>
<p>Heh. Feeding the dragon... The "sunken gardens" are the centerpiece of W&M's campus. They are not really "gardens" at all, but a grass quadrangle, a bit barren. Trees separate the lawn from the building facades (even the Wren Building is behind a stand of trees). For that reason, the sunken lawn at W&M loses some of it's flavor as a college "place", and becomes, well, another recreational soccer field.</p>
<p>Jefferson integrated The Lawn with the building facades--the Pavillions--and with the collonades. It all focuses the eye on the rotunda. In this, we have Jefferson's philosophy: the library is the center of the Unversity, not the chapel--a radical idea for 1819. For UVA, it creates a real "place".</p>
<p>Now, don't get me started on the uselessness of rotundas. They are unique because they are rare. They are rare because they serve no function--nobody has figured out a way to use this architectural form. They force the underlying structure into a circular floor plan, which is one of the least functional floor plans. And, today, the Rotunda is nothing more than UVA's "pretty face". Classes, research, learning, lectures all take place, generally, elsewhere--out of view of Jefferson's "masterpiece". </p>
<p>WMrocks, I am a student of neither university. My oldest son is a 3rd year at UVA. I'm just helping you southerners while away the lazy August weeks before we all get busy with stuff...</p>