UVA (Echols Scholar) vs. Vanderbilt

As Dean J said, I can only speak to the experience at UVA so keep that in mind. I did live in the scholars housing with Echols, Rodman, and Jefferson scholars. I personally loved it and had an amazing time there. By opting out, you definitely won’t go wrong but I have found that students in the Echols housing tend to be very close to the people living around them. Compared to my friends of other dorms, I am definitely more close with my hall; in fact, my best friends came from my hall and I was very fortunate to have such great friends at my start at a new school. I found absolutely no issues making friends outside the Echols community too because you can get involved in other groups around grounds and you’ll definitely make friends there too. Also, you’ll find that the Echols students living around you are interested in so many different groups around grounds so you’ll have friends to try new things out with because they definitely want to do those things too. Of course, this is likely very true for other housing at UVA but I can’t speak to that. The experience of living in Echols housing is so much fun and the people around you are so incredible that you’re motivated to do so much. I highly recommend staying in the scholars housing, it was a great experience.