Help! I have to decide whether to go to Penn, where I got almost no financial aid but can manage with some debt, or UVa, where I’d pay in-state tuition and be an Echols Scholar. I am interested in Environmental Studies but am not positive that’s what I’ll do, and I like both schools a lot. Other than the cost advantage, what are the reasons I should choose UVa? Thanks!
Think about what you could do with the difference in price - you could put a large downpayment down on a house or get a graduate degree. Without debt, you can also pick a first job that you will really enjoy, instead of having to pick a job that can pay off the debt.
Also, at UVa, you will be much closer to huge outdoor spaces for research or for you own enjoyment, including the Shenandoah National Park.
UVa Envi Studies Research Facilities:
" Departmental facilities include boats, a machine and electronics shop, environmental chambers, analytical chemistry laboratories with extensive instrumentation, greenhouse facilities, state-of-the-art computers including a computational hydrology laboratory, GIS facility, NAFAX and FAA weather information, and GOES-Tap satellite receiver. Departmental field facilities include the Pace/Steger teaching/research site. Major interdisciplinary research initiatives with off-site research stations includes the Virginia Coast Reserve/Long-Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER) studies of marsh and barrier island ecosystems on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Blandy Experimental Farm and the Orland E. White Arboretum are the focus of ecological research near Front Royal, VA. The Program of Interdisciplinary Research in Contaminant Hydrogeology (PIRCH), which includes EVSC and Engineering faculty and students, conducts research on hydrogeochemical and microbial processes in the subsurface. The Shenandoah Watershed Study (SWAS) investigates catchment biogeochemical and hydrological processes in the Blue Ridge region. An active research group focuses on the study of global environmental change. "
Thanks so much Charliesch - it sounds like you have done some of these things and are a likely Envi Studies major: what do you like most (and least) about it? Are you an Echols Scholar? Has it made a difference to your experience at UVa? You’ve already given me such great detailed info., so if you don’t want to take the time to answer, no worries, but I went to Days on the Lawn and didn’t meet anyone in Envi Studies, so I’m trying to scope it out. Does anyone every combine it with Public Policy?
I took some envi science classes when I was a UVa undergrad. I then went to Penn for grad school. My son is a recent UVa grad. in public policy. I wasn’t Echols, but it does have nice benefits.
30 years ago, UVa was much less pretentious and more sociable than U. Penn. However, UVa was a little too isolated and insular for my tastes. At Penn, I loved living in a major city and loved hanging out with international grad students. Since that time, Charlottesville has become much more cosmopolitan, with many more international students… The area around U. Penn has also greatly improved.