<p>The actual teaching skills of professors at a school like Stanford or Berkeley might not be better in lower level undergraduate classes than what you’d find at UVA, but the experience of learning from and working with top people in any field is surely realized in upper level classes. The fact remains that there are several schools in the US that are head and shoulders above UVA in terms of academic prowess. </p>
<p>And no, the average UVA student does not compare well with the average student at Harvard or MIT. While UVA has some students of that caliber, the majority are not.</p>