Brown/Princeton or UVA full ride?

jkiwmom
Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:30:40 +0000

My son is an Art Scholar at UVa and I just want you to know that they are starting to pour money into their arts dept. The architecture school is well known, but they just recently built a new theater and started the Art Scholar program last year with a multi-million dollar donation from Steven Colbert and his wife Evelyn (she’s an alum). It’s essentially in the midst of growing and they have recruited some of the most talented musicians, artists, thespians, and dancers, to expand further. He has worked with some extremely talented faculty this fall and I cannot say enough good things about the foundation courses. He has yet to take more advanced conceptual art courses, but so far they are way beyond his expectations. The art faculty is top notch. He’s had experiences at RISD summer programs, so can compare the two somewhat.

In terms of the student body, it’s much less preppy than it used to be. The student body is mixed. You have your frat/sorority types, but there are also some hipsters (like my son), geeks, intellectuals, artsy types, etc… It’s’ a state U., so you really have a wider variety of students than it’s reputation will have you believe. My son lives in t-shirts, jeans, army coat, and I would say jeans are more popular than anything else in terms of what guys are wearing. There are a lot of girls wearing pajama pants around the campus right now too, lol! Not sure where that fad is coming from nor the rain boots on bright sunny days? As I said, there is a huge mix of students. My son has not felt that racism or homephobia is an issue at all. Very much the opposite actually.

Since you are interested in International Relations, you should consider living in the IRC housing. It’s a close knit community of students that are passionate about IR, but students also choose to live there just because it’s not so mainstream.

Ironically, Brown Residential College is another option for housing and has a very similar feel to Brown U. The students are artsy, guirky, and is a very non-preppy subculture within the main campus. It’s also nicely located in the heart of the campus. It’s easiest to be accepted to Brown Res. as a first-year, so don’t miss the deadline if you plan to attend UVa. Think you would really like the students that live within Brown Res. at UVa.

I wouldn’t pass up the offer from UVa, and you have all kinds of internships available in DC for your summers. Just my thoughts.