<p>From what I could gather during move-in last year, the best time to get yourself over to UVA is whenever the housing website tells you to (which I think is August 21st this year). First-years can obviously arrive later (e.g. a day later) but it’ll likely be much more confusing and burdensome since all the check-in stuff will have been cleared out (on move-in day it’s all conveniently located and there are a bunch of helpers everywhere) and you’re going to have to go out of your way to secure the keys to your dorm and whatever else one needs/does on move-in day. Arriving the day dorms open would simply save you a lot of time, hassle, and confusion.</p>
<p>Hotel rooms fill up fast for the night before 1st year move in. If you can’t get a Cville room, try Waynesboro, which is about 20 minutes to the west off I-64.</p>
<p>How would you rank the difficulty of the courses? I’m intending on pursuing pre-med so I know I will have a lot of science classes to worry about. But generally how hard is it to maintain a 3.5+ GPA? Also, how rigorous are the science classes offered at UVA? I’ve maintained an above 4.0 GPA throughout high school, got a 2080 on my SATs, and am an IB Diploma candidate. What type of work ethics would you need to have to be able to succeed at a competitive college like UVA?</p>
<p>Can’t really speak for science classes (since I haven’t actually taken any… unless Psych counts, which is arguable), but as for the rest (i.e. various humanities), I’d say that it very much depends on what kind of work ethic you already have. Maintaining a 3.5+ GPA is not particularly difficult, but it does take work. I think one of my suite-mates summed up the first-year academic experience nicely when she half-jokingly exclaimed, “Studying?! Why have I never experienced this before!?” Some people got through HS (and yes, even excelled) with what would be by UVA standards minimal work, while as others (perhaps in more competitive high schools) actually built their studying skills prior to UVA and didn’t really have to adjust. Regardless of which of the two types you may be, the good thing is that if you’re admitted to UVA, you’re most likely smart enough to adapt to the workload and learn some studying skills. </p>
<p>I realize that the above is fairly vague in terms of an answer to your question, but I hope my main point has gotten through, which is that you probably don’t need to worry so much in the end.</p>
<p>The following entertaining quote was supposedly from ESPN (ESPN Magazine?).</p>
<p>Just about every other school in Virginia likes to bash UVa kids for being pretentious and snobs. In other words, they get called out for thinking theyre better than everyone else. </p>
<p>Well, if you went to the school in Virginia with the most stringent admissions requirements, best overall athletic program, most beautiful campus and coeds, most successful and famous alumni, the most storied social scene, was founded by Thomas Jefferson, and all that happened to be in what was voted the #1 city to live in America, well youd think you were the **** too.</p>
<p>In answer to questions about how tough courses are, please remember one thing:</p>
<p>Many professors will try to shock you into working hard, as part of your first assignment. They will make the first test extra hard or grade your first written assignment extra hard. Their goal is to shock you into realizing that you are not in high school anymore, and that much more will be demanded of you, and you can’t coast to an A like you may have done in high school.</p>
<p>How competitive is it for spots on the club teams, particularly lacrosse (both boys and girls)? If its very competitive, is there an active intramural program?</p>
<p>Parentsupport:</p>
<p>My son has the same question. Since the ACC lacrosse team is so great, I imagine the club lacrosse team would be difficult to get onto - because many very good players would not make the ACC team. Apparently, there is not an intramural lacrosse team - at least it wasn’t mentioned on their intramural website. Many colleges don’t offer intramural lacrosse because of the amount of equipment needed.</p>
<p>Charlie: That is what I suspected the situation was. I was hoping there’d at least be an active intramural league.</p>
<p>Here’s contact info for the women’s club lacrosse team: [Women’s</a> Club Lax at UVA](<a href=“http://www.student.virginia.edu/ladylax/contact.html]Women’s”>http://www.student.virginia.edu/ladylax/contact.html)</p>
<p>The contact for the men’s club team [in</a> @UVa](<a href=“http://atuva.student.virginia.edu/organization/mensclublacrosse/about]in”>http://atuva.student.virginia.edu/organization/mensclublacrosse/about) is Tom Law, tsl5e {at} virginia {dot} edu. That might be out of date, though. I’d contact the club sports coordinator with questions. </p>
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<p>Something that often gets overlooked by students before coming to UVa is our student self-governance. I know it’s talked about, but I don’t think admissions reps or tour guides emphasize enough how important it is. A few motivated students, by talking to Im-Rec Sports and applying for money from the Student Activities Fund, could almost certainly get an intramural lacrosse league started here.</p>
<p>Student Self-governance is a major part of our information sessions. :)</p>
<p>We can’t really talk about Honor or CIOs without mentioning that.</p>
<p>Parentsupport asked about lacrosse.</p>
<p>I just read that students in Arts and Sciences are allowed to take two “Lifetime Physical Activity” classes for credit towards their degree. Each is worth one credit. Most sports are offered, including lacrosse. It is mainly a course on learning skills, usually taught by a grad student. It is pass fail. </p>
<p>That seems like a good way to help avoid the freshman 15 in the first semester - to take a credit fitness class that they have to show up for. It is pass fail.</p>
<p>Hi, thank you for providing all this useful information to us class of 2015-ers! You guys are great.</p>
<p>I just have a question about AP credits. On the college of arts and sciences website, they listed an area requirement of 12 credits in natural science and math and that an AP Chem score of 4 or 5 gives you 6 credits earned for Chem 1410 or 1420. </p>
<p>Does this mean that if I use my AP Chem score, I will not have to take any more science courses to fulfill the area requirement and will then have 6 credits left to take in math? Or, does this only mean that I can skip out of Chem 1410/1420 and move onto a more difficult course, with 12 credits still needing to be completed? In other words, can I use AP credits to fulfill area requirements?</p>
<p>It means that you have met 6 of the 12 credits for that area requirement. You may still take a 3 credit science course (just not the one your credit fulfills) and/or a math (math, stats, certain econ courses) to fulfill the 6 remaining credits you need.</p>
<p>About AP credits, note that some departments may have restrictions on what AP credits can count towards your particular major.</p>
<p>Also, make sure you are looking at a recent list of AP credit for your college. College Arts and Sciences for incoming students now requires a 5 for US History, World History and Econ.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks charlieschm and woosah! That really clears things up.</p>
<p>Haha ok, I have another question that is a tad more specific. I am planning on studying German at UVA and was looking at the Lou’s Unofficial Class Schedule list for some more info. It says that the prerequisite for German 202 is 101, 102 or equivalent. Does this mean that I only need to take German 102 before enrolling in German 202? Or do I still have to take 101 AND 102 before 202?</p>
<p>I’m only asking this, because I intend to be pre-comm next year, and one of the requirements for McIntire is to have a foreign language up to the 202 level. So, can I potentially finish this requirement in one year, if I take German??</p>
<p>Much appreciated!</p>
<p>For info on German Placement and fulfilling CLAS foreign language requirement look here:[Foreign</a> Language Placement Index — Undergraduate, College of Arts & Sciences, U.Va.](<a href=“http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/college/requirements/competency/language_placement_index.html#german]Foreign”>http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/college/requirements/competency/language_placement_index.html#german) and here: [url=<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/german/coll-coursess11.php]Germanic”>http://www.virginia.edu/german/coll-coursess11.php]Germanic</a> Languages & Literatures at the University of Virginia<a href=“especially%20description%20of%20GERM%201020”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>Dean J, didn’t mean to imply you guys skip over self-governance… I just don’t think students can really understand how important a part of the culture it is until they get here.</p>
<p>No worries, Systems! You’re right…even with the talk we give, it’s hard to understand the impact of student self-governance until you get here. :)</p>