Hello everyone,
I am a rising senior from NC looking at applying to UVA this year. I know this question may have been asked before, but what makes UVA stand out from other top public schools in the country?
Thanks in advance!
You have no idea why you’re applying there?
I am looking at pre-med, and I know UVA has a strong program. But I just want to know what does it offer that other top schools don’t.
UVA already knows what it offers compared to other schools. It wants to know why YOU want to go there.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/1829237-whats-it-like-on-grounds.html
Cville is a great cosmopolitan town, without the stress and high costs of larger cities.
The grounds are absolutely beautiful.
The Corner is full of interesting businesses, next to the U.
Most of the professors are great.
If you are not eligible for much UVa financial aid, I’m not sure I’d recommend a NC resident picking UVa over UNC-CH, if there is a $120,000 price difference.
I agree with charliesch.
UVA is a good school and I would pick it over 99% of the schools out there but it lags behind in academics behind other top public’s by a large margin.
If your a NC resident, I would take Chapel Hill in a heart beat. The academics there are top 20 in almost every category and the education costs virtually nothing compared to other top schools. I personally wouldn’t apply to any other top public’s other than Berkeley and save the other applications for ivies and select top privates.
This is like telling a girl you are interested in her because you like her house.
UVa provides a really high quality undergrad education. Some of the other famous public universities put a higher percentage of their resources into grad education and do not provide as high quality an undergrad experience. The grad programs of most of the other famous public universities are much larger on average than UVa’s grad programs (other than law). You can go on the portions of this site for some universities and find many complaints about how some undergrads are treated.
UVa students often have difficulty registering for all of the classes they desire first year, but it is extremely rare to not be able to register for every class you want as a 3rd or 4th year, because you receive preference.
I was not inferring that UNC-CH was better than UVa. I was saying that there were in the same ballpark for academic quality and student experience for most fields. Therefore, if a student was paying much more for out of state UVa than in-state UNC-CH, it would be a questionable decision. Both UVa and UNC-CH provide substantial need-based aid. In any case, the state of NC still provides high numbers of UVa students each year.
@ryanallen Wait, I am sorry to say this, but I thought the academics at UVA was good? I saw it make the top 25…
Have a good day!
@therealdeal21 we are from NC and my son applied to UVa and not to UNC because he wanted to study chemical engineering. He’s now a third year in SEAS. Regarding financial aid and NC in-state tuition, my son was also admitted to NC State for engineering and the financial aid was better than UVa offered but not by a significant amount. My son preferred the more rural campus and smaller engineering program that UVa offered. Plus, he’s a huge Thomas Jefferson fan 
Yes, that is a big difference that UNC-CH does not offer engineering, except for bio-med that is done through another university.
@ryanallen Where are you getting the data for your statement that UVA falls way behind the other top public schools? In every ranking I have ever seen UVA is in the top 3 Publics in the Country.
@anthonytheboy UVA and UNC often switch rankings from year to year as number 1 in the country for public schools. However, as people have pointed out, for the extra money it is not worth it compared to staying in state (NC).
@TV4caster Oh, okay. Thanks!
Have a good day!