What’s UVA like is the social scene good? What’s the town like and does Greek life control a lot of the party scene? How are the sports and tailgates? Overall is it a good school and how does it compare to UGA and Syracuse. (Political Science major)
I’ll let younger people answer about the social aspects.
UVa’s politics dept. is excellent, but it was not always easy to get into the classes you wanted. An alternative major is the UVa Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. It offers much smaller class sizes, much easier ability to get the classes you want, and some more practical classes. You apply in your second year to Batten, and admissions have become more competitive recently.
UVa also has substantial course offerings in international relations. It helps to be within a reasonable drive of DC, as far as getting guest speakers, etc.
Syracuse has an excellent reputation for public administration, but I have no first hand knowledge of the program.
I assume Cville is a much less depressing place during the winter than Syracuse. By February and March, most people are REALLY ready for spring, as opposed to more winter.
Thank you I’ll definitely think about the batten option
The majority of UVA students don’t belong to a Greek org. There are over 900 student organizations here, so there is always something going on. If you want to make Greek life a big part of your college experience, you most certainly can, but if you have no interest, there are plenty of other things to do!
With respect to your academic interests, there are several options to consider. The popularity of courses changes constantly and I don’t think that should be a factor at this very early stage.
[Government[/url]
[url=<a href=“http://politics.virginia.edu/foreign-affairs-requirements/%5DForeign”>http://politics.virginia.edu/foreign-affairs-requirements/]Foreign Affairs](http://politics.virginia.edu/government-requirements/)
[Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law](http://ppl.virginia.edu/)
[Political and Social Thought](https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/pst/)
[Batten[/url]
You might also be interested in the [url=<a href=“http://millercenter.org/%5DMiller”>http://millercenter.org/]Miller Center](http://batten.virginia.edu/) and the [Center for Politics](http://www.centerforpolitics.org/). Since it’s a campaign year, Professor Larry Sabato’s [Crystal Ball](Sabato's Crystal Ball – Sabato's Crystal Ball) blog is especially interesting. His team has an uncanny level of accuracy when it comes to predicting elections.
Thank u!