Last weekend, we conducted college visit #5, the big show. For native Virginians, The University of Virginia is held in high regard. It was established by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 and part of the campus is a UNESCO world heritage site. Everyone speaks of UVA’s prestige. Even my hairdresser, although she terms it a bit differently. “UVA – snob school,” she informed me.
I had been to Charlottesville before, when my Dad was at the UVA medical center, but this was my first walk about the campus (UVA refers to the campus as “the grounds”). The grounds are filled with old Virginia red brick and white column buildings, giant magnolia trees, and a large lawn where (rumor has it) long ago the students used to ride horses and fire off pistols.
The feeling of being in a historic location is evident and the realization that buildings and dorms are really old is all around. The building where our information session took place had fire hose connections on the walls. There were marble and stone floors and large murals on the walls leading to one of the libraries. The libraries give students access to 5 million books. UVA is a storage site for the Library of Congress and has the reserve copy of the Declaration of Independence. I was going to post pictures of the library wall murals until I realized, as with paintings from the Greeks and Italians, most people in the murals lacked clothing.
Although the murals were a tad scandalous, UVA students are only allowed to behave in a scandalous manner if they are members of the secret society of imps. Imps dress up in devil costumes and cause trouble. While watching the Tour de France on television, I have occasionally seen a guy dressed in a devil costume running next to a bike rider. I now wonder if he was a student from UVA. I can’t quite fathom how the parent of an imp would explain their child’s collegiate experience. “I’m so proud of my son. He attends the prestigious University of Virginia dressed in a devil costume.”
UVA has many fraternities, sororities, and secret societies which our tour guide attempted to explain by telling us the following, “Here are the symbols of three secret societies. I don’t know who is in them. You can only find out when the member graduates or dies. They occasionally donate money. I don’t know what else they do. Any questions?”
“Why are there still secret societies in the year 2012?” I thought. For some reason, “I’m in, you’re out” still draws a crowd. UVA students, whether in or out, are all required to operate with morals. The students must sign a pledge to adhere to the honor system. They commit to not lie, cheat or steal.
Getting accepted into UVA is quite difficult: 23,000 students apply; 7,000 students are offered admission; 3,200 students are accepted. Over 70% of students admitted are in the top 10% of their high school class and the mid range of those students’ test scores are SAT 1900 – 2200 and ACT 29 -33. Students are encouraged to submit 2 letters of recommendation and discouraged from submitting 32 letters of recommendation. (An applicant did this.) Students are further encouraged to attend a school with a set numeric grading system and to avoid attending a school with a sun – star – moon grading profile. (I did not make that up.)
The prospective student must also submit an essay of 500 words or less on their future hopes or on a topic meaningful to them. The topics can be as broad as “giving back to your community” and “the best pen to buy.” I figure the first essay was written by someone going into a major containing the word “policy” in it and the second essay was written by a guy applying to the business school. The majority of our tour guides had majors with “policy” in the title. Nothing so simple as biology, math, or English was mentioned.
For those privileged few who gain acceptance, their work has just begun. They now enter their “personal road to discovery.” The competition does not stop when you enter UVA, it accelerates. Students compete for being accepted into a certain major, for the opportunity to study abroad, for summer internships, and for the privilege of spending a semester at sea traveling the world with a group of fellow students and professors.
One of the students who briefed us had spent a summer internship in South America researching greenhouses in which to grow sustainable food for impoverished areas. Then, she spent a semester studying reefs and volcanoes in New Zealand through the study abroad program. She was currently living in the heritage site dorms. She talked fondly of her African drumming class. She listed accomplishment after accomplishment, opportunity after opportunity. She was, of course, majoring in something with “Policy” in the title. Most definitely, she was driven.
UVA is certainly the school for students with a tremendous drive to succeed. The opportunities and experiences are unparalleled. This was the first college visit where I heard prospective students ask if they could double major. Unfortunately for them, double majoring was discouraged by the current students. They emphasized how difficult it was to complete a double major within 4 years. All students are required to graduate UVA in 4 years, no extensions. “Student self governance” was the phrase of the day. I suppose it has more of a positive ring to it than, “Pick yourself up by your bootstraps!”
One negative thing about UVA is the housing. The dorms are old and crummy with shower rooms and toilets at the end of halls. We were told we could not go inside the dorms for safety reasons, but I suspect the more likely reason was because most parents would not want their children living in buildings resembling old barracks. (This did not concern Dale and I. We both thought, “Lived in worse.”) There was only one thing modern about the dorms. Students can choose their roommate via facebook.
New high tech dorms are being built at UVA. When they are complete, the dryer will text the student when his clothes are dry.
Dale, Josiah, and I have more college visits to make before our search is complete. Next on the list is a college even older than UVA: William and Mary. It is so old, Thomas Jefferson attended it as a student.
Yes, it’s true. Wherever we go in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson is somewhere nearby.
