University of Richmond Top Questions

If I could change one thing about Richmond it would be the availability of food. The dining hall closes at 8pm everyday and doesn't open on the weekends until 10:30 am. Then the other "dine late" places are often closed on the weekends or during the late afternoon and so it's very difficult to find food, especially later at night. I say that if the gym is open until midnight that the dining hall should be open until midnight. It just doesn't make sense to me that the gym is open four hours longer then the dining hall! The biggest recent controversy on campus was about chalk in the Forum. Some students had drawn on chalk in the Forum, an area supposedly designed for students to express their opinions and be heard. However, the administration freaked out when they saw the chalk and had maintenance clean it away right away for fear that people might see it (oh the horrors!)and then sentenced the perpetrators to a couple hours of work with maintenance to make up for all the trouble they caused. Students were really upset about this and a secret "Chalkers League" formed and began chalking the campus in the middle of the night. Finally, our President told maintenance not to clean the chalk up anymore so now was have a colorful and expressive Forum! The best thing about Richmond is the Professors and the students. As a freshman I didn't expect to be offered opportunities for research or to develop such close and friendly relationships with my Professors. However, I have already been offered numerous opportunities for further research and even presenting my research to the Richmond community. Additionally, the Professors really do care about the students and they ask their opinions and keep the structure of the classes open for student discussion and input. I think this give and take between students and professors is really wonderful because it makes learning so much more interactive and personal and motivates the both the professors and students to continually improve and strive for the best because neither one wants to disappoint the other and they both want to help each other out. There isn't a lot of school pride here at Richmond which was a big disappointment for me. I think people are proud to say they go to Richmond, but they don't actively support it here and hardly anyone goes to athletic events which are really sad. I think we could definitely benefit from some more school pride! The city of Richmond itself is a great city. It is a car town, however, so it's really hard to get around if you don't bring your car here or have friends with cars. Richmond has great restaurants, malls, and small boutiques as well as museums, historical landmarks, concerts, dance performances, and seasonal fairs. Additionally, the city is a great place to volunteer and it isn't too expensive for students. If people don't want to go into the historical city itself Broad Street is about a five minute drive from campus and it has just about anything you could be looking for at reasonable prices. I think it's nice to go off campus every once in a while because UR can be a bubble and if you're here too long without venturing outside you tend to miss out on big world news and to forget that the rest of the world doesn't all look the same.

The best thing about Richmond? I feel like the degree(s) I'll graduate with will mean something and help me achieve my career goals in the long run. That's probably the main reason I chose the school and the main reason I'll end up staying here and not transferring. When people hear that I go to Richmond, the first thing they usually say is "Oh, that's a really good school, isn't it?" followed by "Isn't it really expensive?" Richmond is known for those two things: being prestigious and being expensive/rich. Richmond has great academics. But if I could change just one thing, it would be the way Richmond spends its money. A universal truth on campus is that the college has a ton of money, but most of us students don't feel like we are on the beneficial end of Richmond's spending policies. The administration puts too much emphasis on the aesthetic appeal of the campus and not enough emphasis on student well-being. I am on financial aid, and I also applied for several non-Richmond merit-based scholarships. I received one, and Richmond promptly took the money I received from the scholarship away from the grant I was receiving from the school, rather than from my loans or the money I was putting towards school. They used the money I got on my own merit and by my own hard work to reduce the financial aid they were giving me! I was outraged and insulted, and after waiting on hold with the financial aid office and many conversations/arguments with the staff there, they agreed to reduce the amount of my scholarship from my work-study instead of the grant. It was a compromise I could live with, but that experience left me slightly bitter against the administration. My feelings on this matter have been echoed by many other students I have talked to, who also feel that Richmond's funds are not always being spent in the students' best interests. The most recent controversy on campus was that of student expression using chalk in the forum, a brick-sidewalk area in between the dining hall and the student commons. A student was punished with community service for chalking the area with colorful designs, talking to other students, and encouraging others to draw and express themselves one warm Tuesday a few weeks ago. This incited indignation and resentment throughout the student body, as protests and Facebook groups supporting student expression sprang up almost overnight. After a battle with the administration over our rights of expression, we the students finally won out, and now the forum is full of colorful and inspirational designs and messages. This situation represents how students here at Richmond are tired of the university administration ignoring student concerns. It also brings up the issues of community and school pride here at Richmond. This controversy was an event that sparked more student cooperation and school spirit than some basketball games do. In fact, Richmond seems sadly lacking in school pride and spirit. The idea of community is severely limited here, and the fact that it takes an attack on student freedom like chalk in the forum to bring students together is a sad commentary on life here at Richmond.

It is hard to come up with just one thing that is best about Richmond - we have great people, a beautiful campus, and challenging classes but generally good professors. The size has its pros and cons because we are definitely smaller than typical but it creates a very homey atmosphere. The smallness can be bad a times, however, because news travels fast in such a small setting and reputations stick. Richmond as a city is a great college town; there is always so much to do and everything is within 15 minutes. One of the few bad things about Richmond is the lack of school spirit. Its gradually being noted as a problem though so hopefully it will change.

The biggest complaint I have about Richmond is that it's so expensive! Sometimes I wonder whether the education here is actually worth the value. As far as the size of the school, it feels a little too small. Everyone eats in the same dining hall at pretty much the same time every night, so it is impossible to avoid anyone. Relationships are also more awkward because rumors tend to spread, especially among students of the same class. On the positive side, the campus is beautiful, and it's pretty spread out for such a small student population.

As much as I complain about it, I love Richmond. My favorite thing about it is the small community feeling. i love to feel like I know everybody, or most of everybody, and I get that feeling here. When I tell people I go to Richmond (especially people from home), their knee-jerk reaction is to ask me where it is. [I hope you have the same stunned reaction that I usually have.] I probably spend equal amounts of time in my room as I do in Jepson Hall. I have three classes in Jepson, and I'm usually in one of the Comp Sci labs doing some sort of work for a good portion of the rest of my time. But I do love my bed...so I make sure to spend a lot of time there, too. Right now, the huge controversy is about drawing on the Forum with chalk (which I support by the way). Which I guess is good in a way. That means we don't really have any other huge problems to deal with. I don't think there's a lot of school pride in general. I'm not quite sure why it just doesn't exist...but I don't feel that the general population of the school has pride. I think the unusual thing about Richmond is the coordinate college system. I have never heard of a system quite like it before.

Richmond has a beautiful campus and an excellent small class size. Richmond also has a large endowment so financial aid packages are wonderful if you are in need. I would lower the percentage of greek life, or at least the campus obsession with it. The school is very small so if you get in fights expect news to travel. It can also be harder to get new groups of friends. However, the small size of the school does create a sense of community on campus. You can rarely walk around campus without seeing at least one person you know. There is not a lot of school pride at Richmond. People are more interested in getting piss drunk, trying to get laid and then not remembering anything the next day...People don't really show up much for sporting events. When they do (at least for football), they get dressed up. People dress in sundresses and button down shirts with slacks for the homecoming game.

Best thing: The science research is all undergrad so I don't have to fight for research positions. One Thing I'd change: The fact that everyone is exactly the same at this school. Size: Just right Reactions when I say I go to Richmond: In NY, "is that a state school?" In VA, "Oh I heard you have shoe shiners in your classes and the walls are covered in money and you are pampered beyond belief there." Where I spend most of my time: Gottwald (the science center, or my room) Not a college town at all. Richmond's administration needs to get the sticks out of their ass'. They don't listen to the student body and they basically know that the only thing we have going for us is our perfect prestine campus. So to maintain the campus they put metal bars up with American Holly bushes so that we only walk on the perfectly bricked pathways. Biggest controversy: The fact that some kid got five hours of community service for chalking the forum. Don't worry we are not allowed to chalk the forum at any point in time. School Pride? that's all I have to say. We are called the spiders... as a result I think we have identity issues. *shrugs* I don't know we're just really confused people. It's like the CT/NJ rich kids who want to go south for the pastels and annoying stupid toolish girls. Unforgetable moment: Going to Toad's Place at the same time as The Wu Tang Clan and then having the worst service ever and being really creeped out by the people that show up to Wu Tang concerts. So much craziness. Most frequent complaints: That nobody cares about anything on this campus. I came from a school that didn't have school pride but that was because we were all trying to save the world! These people are just fucking lazy.

When I first arrived at UR as a wide-eyed freshman, my initial impression was: "Wow! It's just like summer camp - but I get to stay here all year long!" Nearly two years later, I've been slightly disillusioned by the intensity of academia, but still hold the same general impression of Richmond as a welcoming home away from home. Richmond may be somewhat of a "bubble," after all, but this can be a good thing in many ways. The fact that the majority of students live on campus lends to a great feeling of community, and also means that there's nothing holding you back from fully engaging yourself in all the enriching opportunities of college life. No, the city of Richmond isn't the hippest place around, and the weather here is completely bi-polar (yes, it has been known to snow here one day and be 80 degrees the next), but I've come to really appreciate the campus and the area as "my own," and I've found the school to be an incredibly supportive environment both personally and academically. Personally, I like the size of the school; my classes are small and especially in the courses within my majors, I generally know about half the class from the first day of the term. Walking to class you'll always recognize a friendly face, and although you'll always recognize lots of people around campus, the effect isn't stifling - there's always plenty more students to get to know.