This is the official discussion thread for Villanova Class of 2030 RD applicants. Ask your questions and connect with fellow applicants.
First post.
I had no idea there is a satellite campus bussing kids back and forth for next year. Anyone else bothered by this? So glad daughter didn’t ED1 or 2.
Yes, I saw that — I think freshmen live on the main campus and sophomores live on the new satellite campus. Other than graduate nursing, I am not sure what other classes/programs are located there.
We did the zoom parent to parent thing a few weeks back and they talked about it. Said sophomores will all be housed there first to get a feel how the whole bussing thing will be and they will readjust as time goes on. They must have said something on the tour or somewhere we just don’t remember it.
$90k per year to be guinea pigs isn’t really appetizing. My daughter wrote it off immediately. I was just wondering if anyone else was surprised by this. I know they are kind of locked in and if they want to grow they have no choice but to do something like this but I think their enrollment is going to take a major hit in the coming few years.
This is not new news. They have purchased two local campuses, Cabrini (2 miles away) in 2024 and Rosemont (1 mile away) in 2025. Now that the new dorms and other facilities on Cabrini are ready, the school is expanding AND for the first time ever they are now able to offer students 4 years of guaranteed housing. Students and parents have wanted this for years. This year they admitted hundreds more freshmen this year. It’s been in their strategic plan and presentations for two years now. Odd that you consider this “guinea pigs” - I don’t get that at all. And I definitely don’t see enrollment declining. I think using it as a sophomore campus is just right. Keep the freshmen on South and Main. Give the upperclassmen priority. The sophomores will have a new domain just for them, similar to how the juniors dominate West Campus housing.
I do agree that Cabrini (2 miles) is further away from the main campus than ideal but my child has already had sports practices there this past year - with NO shuttle - and it’s worked ok. Once they have 800+ students living there (next year) and academic buildings, dining halls, gyms, etc. it’s going to be fine. I don’t know when the Rosemont campus is scheduled to open, but that location is great IMO. It’s a mile in the other direction and closer to all the places the students like to hang out anyway. Plus the existing shuttle already goes that way, though I’m sure they will expand it. Most of the seniors (and a fair number of juniors) already choose to live off campus in the Rosemont area so that part of the campus will be closer for them anyway.
We toured last year, and I agree that there was no mention of the new campuses. Doesn’t matter for us in any event bc my D got waitlisted for nursing and chose not to stay on the waitlist. Good luck wherever your child ends up!
Ok, glad it wasn’t just us then. The tour was great but definitely they need have the tour continue to the other campuses. Beautiful main campus but to not display a side of the school that will clearly affect students lives is off putting. At least they need to discuss it in depth so kids know what they will be expecting in a QOL issue. If it’s a top choice for a kid or they have an older sibling attending then I’m sure the bussing to and from a campus is well known but they clearly were making sure it wasn’t a talking point on the tour. It’s was our first tour and we were diligently taking notes. The parent to parent zoom also made it seem like the sophomores are the test case going forward. They definitely were dancing around the topic and didn’t answer any questions about it.
Well, saves me big dollars as the school she chose is half the price of Villanova. Too bad because it was initially one of my top choices. Not that the parent opinion matters too much.. 
I agree it’s not new news but if you don’t follow the school news closely you wouldn’t know. That appears to be by design as they know many kids will cross the school off their list.
I’m sure they will work out the kinks after the first few years. Good for HS freshman now when their time comes.
Good luck to all..
I’m surprised by the two people above who said it wasn’t mentioned in their campus visits. My D24 visited twice in spring 2024 and it was mentioned both times. This year when two different girls from our HS visited (on different dates) it was also mentioned, as well as at a presentation on Junior Preview a couple of weeks ago. In all three of those cases parents/friends of mine who attended asked me about it specifically. So not sure what’s going on if it’s being mentioned in some presentations and not others, but I don’t think it’s hidden at all from people who are looking at the school. At Junior preview day they gave tours of Cabrini campus too, so not really hidden. 
We did the junior preview day and zero mention of the satellite campuses. Not only that no parent asked simple questions about it. Not on our tour or in the pre-tour presentation. Of the 50 or so slide show pictures not one had satellite campus on it. I even asked the tour kid how much of the campus we aren’t seeing and he said just over where the athletic center is and some dorms that are scattered about.
Everyone’s experience is different I guess. After the parent to parent zoom we feel deceived. The school can take that as constructive criticism and adjust their marketing or scoff at us for not knowing. I imagine the latter won’t score them points for future candidates. It will be mentioned in a no thanks letter to the school that all kids should submit as a courtesy for being apart of the entire process.
You’re going to write a “no thanks” letter?! Never heard of such a thing.
Yes , sadly common courtesy doesn’t exist anymore to help those on the waitlist.
Everyone should inform schools they are declining offers and why.