Virginia Tech or Virginia Commonwealth University

GoOakland
Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:28:14 +0000

As a kid who has lived in Richmond for all of my life I pretty much know as much, but probably more, about richmond than anyone here. However, I am going to VT. So, my thoughts:

-As stated VT has outstanding food. Princeton review ranks them as 1 in the nation. Nuff said. So food goes hands down to VT.

-Dorms are hit or miss at VT. Chuy explained it. So maybe this one goes to VCU.

-VCU has an unparalled med program. I have many people in my church here who, from the west coast, turned down the likes of Kentucky, Michigan-ann arbor, U of Florida, and U of Utah all for VCU. Many of these guys go on to own there own practices and some even millionares. VCU and MCV are increasingly working together to pump out some of the best work on the east coast. If you are doing ANYTHING medically related you should choose VCU.

-Alternatively, I think VT has got every other major on lockdown. With the exception of the artistic majors VT pretty much squashes VCU academically IMO in other majors. Especially engineering (which is why I chose VT). VCU is building all sorts of new stuff for engineering but they are simply a brand spanking new program (ABET accredited in '04) which naturally has limited national appeal yet.

-VT campus and VCU campus TOTALLY different! Classic city vs country argument. I personally hate cities (horrible traffic, conrete everywhere you look, smaller living/working environments, loud, and simply a faster lifestyle) so VT appeals more to me. Now Richmond in particular… 10 years ago I would have NEVER reccomended the city. I don’t remember exactly when but Richmond was the murder capital of the nation. Unless you were ON the campus (not even across the street) or were in richville it was pretty much thugville. Now I am glad to say that many of the rougher parts of the city are changing. Theres a lot of renovating and building going on. I think VCU has a lot to do with it. The old richmond culture is slowly dying. You still need to remember your dos and donts or you can get really messed up though. You know the typical ‘no late night walks’ kind of thing. I still personally hate richmond. Maybe its because I remember what it was like years ago or maybe because I hate cities in general. Maybe both. But either way, as a local, I still don’t like Richmond. I’ve seen a lot of what Richmond has to offer: I would venture to say Richmond is the most historic city in the nation(confederate capital and major colonial landmark), we have the james river you can swing/kyac/canoe/swim in, bars/clubs, quality museums like tredegar iron works and the holocaust, big buisnesses, centrally located for all of VAs offerrings like the mountains and beach and D.C., and Saint Johns Church where Patrick Henry gave his speech. There’s plenty Richmond can offer someone but I STILL don’t like it… My take on Richmond.