University of Virginia-Main Campus Top Questions

Again, one distinct aspect of the University of Virginia is the wide range of experiences you can have, depending on the academic choices you make. For me, in a small, specialized major, most of the professors know me, there is a great deal of competition, students get together to chat about classwork, and sometimes we meet the professors for dinner or coffee. However, many of my friends are in some of the bigger programs, like pre-med, pre-law, business and political science. In these types of programs, it is harder to stand out, the competition is incredibly fierce, and the class sizes are huge! My most unique class was a graduate class in Theories of Language. It was held in one of the professor's homes on the Lawn. There were about 6-7 of us, and we often sat around the table discussing language, linguistics, and philosophy. The professor would sometimes order food, so it was a great experience! I also enjoyed the many opportunities to have independent studies with professors. I took one in Tunisian Arabic in which I most often met the professor for coffee while we chatted in Arabic. I am currently taking an independent study in Pragmatics with a philosophy professor. We sometimes take his humongous dog for a walk around Grounds while discussing what I have been reading.

I somewhat answered this question in my previous answer. I am in the school of nursing at UVa and pretty much most professors get to know you by name. Almost all of the students can walk through the halls at the nursing school and have their professors say hi to them. And what is really nice is that most of the professors truly care about their students. If there is a family emergency or problem they make sure to check up on the student and provide emotional support as appropriate. Also, several of the students in our class shaved their head for St. Baldrick's (a fundraiser for kids cancer research) and one of our professors came to the event! It is great how involved the faculty are with their students. And they are more than helpful when it comes to getting jobs. We have had mock interviews, a list of contacts at hospitals and several tips about applying. As for more personal academics, students definitely have to work hard at the school. Typically I spend 10-30 hours a week outside of class doing work. Honestly, it varies by semester, the classes you are taking, and what time in the semester it is. As a nursing student, spring semester third year and fall semester fourth year are very busy. The workload is quite ambitious and there is a lot to do. But it is nice because most of your friends are also doing the same work and you have people to empathize with you. Most of the work includes one large paper per school year (there will also be several mini papers as well), studying for tests, and reading (for select classes). Also, nursing students are required to do what is called "prep" before each clinical experience. At first this can take students up to 10 hours to complete. However, as time goes on and you get more proficient it can take as little as 2 hours. Another nice thing about the academics at the school of nursing is that students are not competitive with one another, but rather they are helpful. All of the time students will share notes if another misses a class, answer questions when studying for exams, create study guides together, etc. We work together as a team and it makes for a great community within our class.

Academics at UVA are, not surprisingly, very rigorous and challenging. But that being said, you get out of your classes exactly what you put into them. Professors make themselves accessible with their office hours, you can take classes of virtually any size in virtually any subject or topic area, and students do take their work seriously. We offer a special program called "Take Your Professor to Lunch" where--surprise, surprise--you take your professor to lunch, but the catch is that the University will pay for it. Majority of the professors here are extremely personable and VERY knowledgable in their respective areas. What I like most is the fact that they a.) strive to find innovative and engaging ways to make you learn the material, versus just memorizing it and b.) genuinely care about fostering a relationship with their students beyond a merely academic basis. It's common to find review sessions at professor's homes or pizza shops, and I can honestly say that every faculty member I've taken the time to get to know, has more than reciprocated those feelings. You'll find that the student-faculty relationship here is one that can be extremely beneficial, if you are willing to make it so.

The academics at the University of Virginia are top of the line. UVa is consistently rated as one of the top public universities in the United States year in and year out. Moreover, the different schools (Engineering, Commerce, Medical) are always rated high as well and are extremely competitive to get in to. Classes and schedules at UVa vary according to one's major. Engineering students usually have most of their schedules and courses strictly outlines while the liberal arts degrees have a little more rang to choose their own classes. The professors at UVa are really nice and friendly. They are also extremely competent in the respective fields. With the amount of students at UVa it is up to the students to make an effort to get to know their teachers. However, it is not hard to get to know them. They have specific office hours for students to visit, and if they cannot be reached during that time they will usually accomodate the students to meet at another time. As a foreign affairs major I generally have two types of classes: lectures and discussions. A lecture class is the main class taught by the professor with around 200-300 students in that class, and lectures usually meet twice to three times a week. With the lectures one will also have a discussion class. The discussion class meets once a week with a teaching assistant (TA) from the lecture class. Here the class is usually around 20 students so participation is a lot more involved. Discussions are a great opportunity to ask questions about the lectures and readings that one does in the course.

There are a bunch of different classes with varying class sizes. The language classes that I have been in, varied from 5 to 25. The Psychology classes are always huge (up to 300) unless you're in one of the concentrated classes (around 60). I've really enjoyed the USEM and COLA classes which are a nice break from the major courses that you have to take. Some professors are more accessible than others but from my experience, they've always been available if you send them an email prior to meeting up. My language professors have been absolutely amazing. They have been really helpful and not only have helped me in my Spanish studies but were ready to answer any questions that I had in general.

The academics at UVA are top notch. When I came to college I was worried about having massive classes with hundreds of people in them and was quite intimidated. But, for the most part my classes have no more than 120 people in them. In fact many of my classes are rather small and personable. Either way the professors at UVA are great. They are passionate about their subject, effective teachers, and always try and get the students to participate during class. The professors also are always available for help outside of class, which I find invaluable since most professors are more than willing to help you out. Classes at UVA tend to be challenging and a lot of work and the students there are very competitive and work extremely hard. I feel that the combination of talented professors, challenging coursework, and competitive classmates provides an excellent learning experience and prepares you for a tough job market after graduation.

The academics at UVA are top notch. When I came to college I was worried about having massive classes with hundreds of people in them and was quite intimidated. But, for the most part my classes have no more than 120 people in them. In fact many of my classes are rather small and personable. Either way the professors at UVA are great. They are passionate about their subject, effective teachers, and always try and get the students to participate during class. The professors also are always available for help outside of class, which I find invaluable since most professors are more than willing to help you out. Classes at UVA tend to be challenging and a lot of work and the students there are very competitive and work extremely hard. I feel that the combination of talented professors, challenging coursework, and competitive classmates provides an excellent learning experience and prepares you for a tough job market after graduation.

The academics at UVA are top notch. When I came to college I was worried about having massive classes with hundreds of people in them and was quite intimidated. But, for the most part my classes have no more than 120 people in them. In fact many of my classes are rather small and personable. Either way the professors at UVA are great. They are passionate about their subject, effective teachers, and always try and get the students to participate during class. The professors also are always available for help outside of class, which I find invaluable since most professors are more than willing to help you out. Classes at UVA tend to be challenging and a lot of work and the students there are very competitive and work extremely hard. I feel that the combination of talented professors, challenging coursework, and competitive classmates provides an excellent learning experience and prepares you for a tough job market after graduation.

The academics at UVA are top notch. When I came to college I was worried about having massive classes with hundreds of people in them and was quite intimidated. But, for the most part my classes have no more than 120 people in them. In fact many of my classes are rather small and personable. Either way the professors at UVA are great. They are passionate about their subject, effective teachers, and always try and get the students to participate during class. The professors also are always available for help outside of class, which I find invaluable since most professors are more than willing to help you out. Classes at UVA tend to be challenging and a lot of work and the students there are very competitive and work extremely hard. I feel that the combination of talented professors, challenging coursework, and competitive classmates provides an excellent learning experience and prepares you for a tough job market after graduation.

The academics at UVA are challenging. Once you fall behind, it is hard to catch up. Due to this reason, it is important to keep up with your daily readings and assignments. Most professors will not know their students names unless if you visit their office hours. This past semester all of my professors knew my name as I took advantage of their office hours to ask additional questions or clarify something I did not understand in class lecture. My favorite class was my Biology class as the professor did visual demonstrations to help me understand the topics. In big lectures such as Chemistry and Biology class participation is common through the use of the Iclickers. The students are very competitive and even on regular weekdays the Clemons library is full. Many students even come to the library after 12 am to study. The most unique class I have taken is my ENWR class as I got to write papers on environmental and aesthetics. My best paper that was also submitted for a scholarship prize was on Dubai's architecture. This is one of the requirement classes in the College of Arts and Sciences at UVA. I thought this class was useful as it strengthened my writing skills for other classes in which I may need to write long papers.