Kamaro1

Frankly Shoebox, I don’t need--nor did I ask for--advice on how to deal with my D on this. I was venting for myself. My D was upset, then furious. My only reaction to her was “yeah, this is hosed, so what are you going to do about it.” I kept out of it. So, here’s an update that should thrill you. My D over the weekend decided HERSELF to push back and start making calls to try and remedy the situation (and yes, without any prompting, though I tend to think you won’t believe that). She has always been taught if you don’t like something, try to fix it, push back. She has seen her parents do this numerous times in her life (a recent event involved fighting the Medicare system and State of NJ for a grandparent). There‘s no way I‘m going to try and put lipstick on a pig for her, she’s made her decision. More power to her. At least is she ends up there, she can tell herself she tried. So, I’m looking forward to seeing her start pressing buttons. THAT, is something we should encourage of all students. And BTW, I believe that is one thing UVA probably encourages its students to do as well.

As for Herdeford itself, my use of the term HURTford comes from students who actually lived there. My D has two friends that went to UVA who were stuck there for a year and both hated it; one of them coined the name. SO, if you have a problem with how the dorm is portrayed and worry about her making a judgment based on one night, I suggest you talk with students who didn’t enjoy their experience there (BTW, I’m also sure some loved it) and passed it on. If the place is so great, then students would be dying to get in--but for some reason that just doesn‘t seem to be the case.

As for DB123, I think your saddle is riding a bit high on your own steed bud. Think you need to tell the whole story on WHY many students turn down ivy league and other privates to come to UVA. My D is instate. To her and many of her friends, UVA was a “high safety“ school. Many of them made it into Hopkins, Princeton, Cornell, etc. but when the financial aid package came from those schools, only then did they have a change in heart. They were forced to chose UVA because of prices around 50K (we‘re in an upper middle class area) that made the decision for them. That is a fact. And BTW, I'm sure there are kids in Maryland and elsewhere who were faced with the same decisions. As for GaTech and Vatech, in the engineering department (her major)--look at the holy rankings according to USNEWS and World Report, which many on these boards apparently hold as gospel (I, for one, thing they’re bunk). They outrank UVA there--especially GaTECH. But again, money was an issue (close to 35k year for GaTech as an OOS).

And BTW, I have no problem with my daughter being average. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. There are plenty of average kids at UVA, VaTech, GaTech, Maryland, Rutgers and the other state schools out there. If she is average, fine, but I would hope that she'll continue to fight for her rights (especially since she/we are paying 20+K a year). And finally, I don’t hate UVA--it’s a great state school, nothing more, nothing less. Nice campus, students, weather, etc.