University of Virginia Visit Report by theviolinist

Visit Activities:

Campus Tour: Yes - I didn't go on the official campus tour, but my host gave me a tour of the lawn/rotunda/libraries. Weather was awful when I was there, but even in the rain the campus was impressive!

Classroom Visit: Yes - I sat in on 5 classes - the Italian history prof., the cinema prof., and the Russian prof. were especially good. Lower-level language classes can be a bit assembly-line-ish, though.

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Campus:

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The students were all really welcoming and were constantly telling me they hoped I would come to UVA and how much they loved it there.

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The hall-style "old dorms" (as opposed to the suite-style "new dorms") were, well, on the older side (but pretty decently kept up).

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Everyone in the dorm I stayed in kept their doors unlocked when they were gone, often with their computers still inside - think that says a lot. Outside doors to the dorms need a swipe card to enter.

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Off-Campus:

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There's a really nice college-town area right off campus called the Corner, with little restaurants and shops and stuff.

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Charlottesville is way more than just Route 29-Bus. Check out the oldtown - when I went, there was a violinist just hanging around and playing for people eating outside of a restaurant - charming!

Campus Visit Notes for University of Virginia

Visit Description:

My student host was wonderful - she was as excited to host me as I was to visit. What's cool about UVA is that everyone is so excited about the school that they all want to host students and lead tour guides - in fact, trying out to be a tour guide is very competitive! While leadership positions seem to be very competitive, classes seem to be rigorous but reasonable, and personally the students are very laid back and friendly. UVA seems to have a bad rap for "pretentiousness," but I thought the vast majority of the students were quite unpretentious actually. I really recommend visiting - at first, I thought of UVA as more of a backup school, but experiencing it for a couple days really changed my mind, and it's one of my top choices now.

Little note about the food...everyone was apologizing about how bad it supposedly was, but I thought that actually, it was mostly pretty good, except for the vegetarian menu, so if vegetarian food is important to you, might want to keep that in mind.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

Try to stay overnight if you possibly can - you'll get the best feel. If you can't, there are tons of hotels in town - check out the Red Carpet Inn; they have cool medieval-style decor.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

Wow - awesome food is all over the place in Charlottesville for really low prices (okay, I'm from northern VA where everything's expensive, but still).

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

The bus service is really good, and mostly free.