<p>One of the questions is whether you want to go to college in a major metropolitan area or a town of 100,000 people surrounded by countryside, and with a huge National Park 30 minute away. I think you will find Cville is a less stressful and less expensive place to live, which makes it easier to concentrate on college life. </p>
<p>If you want to spend a weekend in DC, it is not hard to catch a ride back and forth from a student, or to take AMTRAK or a bus. DC has become a really spectacular and lively city. </p>
<p>I went to undergrad at UVa and then to grad school in a big city. I thought that was a nice balance of experiences.</p>
<p>You might also look at the types of required classes at both colleges. Some Catholic universities have a number of religious-based course requirements that don’t apply at a public university. That can be a plus or a negative for you depending upon your perspective. At a different Catholic university, I heard complaints that those course requirements limited choices during the first year.</p>
<p>The biggest downside of UVa is the large intro classes in many fields (with smaller discussion and lab sections of course led by grad students). Some smaller first year classes (such as many math and language classes) are taught by grad students, which can be great or not so great depending on who you get.</p>