University of Richmond Top Questions

UR has the most beautiful campus of any college any where. The faculty is top notch. Ration is 1:8. You are not a number.

Way too small. Your stuck on campus, and every weekend you will do the same thing with the same people. It gets very old and boring fast. The week is brutal. In order to have any semblance of a good GPA, you will have to be in the library for hours at a time, daily.

The first thing that comes to mind about UR is that is it a small, private school. I think there are only around 3,000 undergraduates. For me, personally, that was one of the reasons I chose UR; I love the smaller size. I love the familiarity of the campus, and how you're always guaranteed to see friendly faces you know wherever you go. And it isn't TOO small; after all it is not like a high school. UR is also a very academically challenging school, and is also very very selective in choosing people to attend. Therefore one thing one immediately knows about all the students is, whether they are athletes, musicians, or huge partyers, everyone is really smart and knows the importance of working hard to succeed. The classes are difficult, especially since they are taught by very knowledgable teachers ( I have yet to have one without a doctorate degree). However people quickly learn that if you work hard, of course you can play hard too! There's tons of school pride, and I really love the school. Another nice thing is that UR is only about 10 minutes away from downtown Richmond, so although it has that small-town secluded campus feel, it certainly isn't in the middle of nowhere.

I think the most pertinent question any student applying to college should ask is, "How does the administration treat it's students? What privileges are students afforded and what is taken away?" Richmond's administration has created an undeniably nice living environment in the form of a beautiful campus, spacious dorms, good facilities and a new gym. However, they seem to know we have it very nice and feel entitled to tweaking it however they like these days. A case in point is the university commons building, called the Pier. It houses student activities, student government, the on campus bar&grill, etc. From what I understand it used to have ping pong tables in it as well. In recent days the administration has been transforming the place. They are making way for a new Career Development Center office at the expense of student government space. The office of Common Grounds, the community service office, is located in the THC. The room that used to have ping pong tables in it is now simply a study lounge seldom utilized by students anymore. The administration is "improving" the commons willy nilly to suit its own agenda. So it is also with fraternities at Richmond. The Greek system enjoys dominance over the majority of the social scene at Richmond, with over 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of men and near 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of women participating. This system, which the administration considers very risky in terms of liability, comes with certain conditions. One of the biggest myths propogated by the school in tour groups is that the fraternities are not on campus. Yet, they own all our land and most of the lodges (which are a joke in and of themselves - they are literally just a place to party and have frat meetings, no residence allowed) are all leased to the fraternities. The administration holds this over our heads to get their way with the fraternities, i.e. limit their activities. That said, we do enjoy an enormously privileged life. Q school for the business students is a great example, a free event just before the start of the school year where the school puts you up in a hotel and teaches you business skills for a few days. And anybody can come to Richmond thanks to the school's guarantee to meet 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of demonstrated financial need.

URichmond also has a lot of great FREE resources such as academic skill center (free tutoring), Center for Civic Engagement, Career Development Center, and much more. Our university also has numerous of opportunities to obtain a leadership position whether as a teaching assistant or officer in an extracurricular organization. Since I am a chemistry major, I am required to perform a certain amount of research. Undergraduate student are actually performing hands on hardcore research. Some school only let graduate student research while undergraduate student merely observe. By the way, there are no graduate student teaching any classes, only professors. Dorms are bigger than huge schools such as Pennsylvania State. Biggest controversy: Switching our point system from credits to units to imitate ivy league schools without consulting students' opinions. I hope the system doesn't screw our science majors over, since an organic chemistry class with lab is worth the same amount of units as a Basic of Acting class.

If I could change anything about Richmond it would be to have a more involved campus and more activities on campus during the weekends. I really wish that students showed more school spirit or went to the events that are brought to campus. Also, I feel like the school clears out on weekends and there really is not a whole lot to do during the day if you stay on campus. Most weekends, because I didn't have a car, I was really bored during the day because I felt like there was nothing offered to do on campus. However I love the small size of Richmond's campus and the variety of things to get involved in despite the samll size. The administration to my knowledge, is really involved in what goes on on the campus which is attributed to the small size of our student body. When I tell people I go to Richmond back home, no one really knows anything about the school and they think I go to UVa. Anyone who has heard of the school though always comments on the beatiful campus immediately (which was actually one of the deciding factors for me as I tried to pick the right school for me) and the challening academic schedule. I've heard Richmond referred to as one of the "Ivies of the South"

The bes thing about Richmond is how small everything is. It's a lot easier to make connections with people when you constantly see them, rather than at a bigger state school where you're just a number. The biggest problem with Richmond is Alison Bartel Keller--she exists to crush dreams and ruin fun: picture a middle-aged, female Idi Amin without the cool military garb.

The best thing about Richmond is that you feel safe. You're nestled in a suburb so you don't have to worry about city traffic or a lot of crime. Then again, this aspect is also Richmond's downfall. You are so secluded, it's almost as if you're stuck on the campus. Since the majority of students do not own cars on campus (even though you're allowed to bring one no matter what year you are) University of Richmond is often called "The Richmond Bubble" to current students. It is very hard to get off campus, so this small school becomes your world. Carytown, the little village of shops and restaurants, is nearby, and the school also has a shuttle that runs for students from the University to carytown, ukrops, or short pump (the mall area)--but they also fail to disclose the details it only runs during specific, small frames of time and the shuttle itself only seats twelve people.

The school itself consists of a beautiful campus with many top-notch amenities for a school its size. It also has a gigantic endowment totalling just over a billion annual dollars, so you know that everything will be maintained well. Richmond has a Division I athletic program, but a lot of sporting events are sort of under the radar. As a result, athletes tend to be pretty down to earth and not at all full of themselves.

richmond is a great school if you're looking for a real community. because the school is located in a wealthy and residential area of richmond, the campus really is the hub of activity. i spend a lot of my time when i'm hanging out on campus in my dorm because my friends lived on my hall. the library is great but don't expect to get much studying done on the non-quiet floors. it's open 24-hours, so a lot of people gather there to chat. it is really comfortable and the quiet sections are great for getting work done. recently on campus we had a racial incident in the theater, when a doll whose face had been painted black was strung from a noose. the entire campus rallied after the incident, which really showed me that the act was that of an individual and not a group. apropos to school pride, i really only go to the games where i know people on the team: women's lacrosse, club soccer, etc. the football games are off-campus but hopefully they're building a stadium on campus, which will make it easier to get to games. my biggest issue with richmond at the moment is the fact that they don't do blocked housing, so my housing situation next year is not great. i'm suiting with three of my good friends, but all of our other friends are in different dorms, which is hard.