Question about VA state schools....

[Anonymous]

^ weird

[Anonymous]

My DS thought UVa felt too preppy and VT too military with the cadets on campus. He loved W&M. There was a transgender tour guide. That's where he's going. We didn't visit JMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS thought UVa felt too preppy and VT too military with the cadets on campus. He loved W&M. There was a transgender tour guide. That's where he's going. We didn't visit JMU.

Good decision. Probably the best of three.

[Anonymous]

Back when I was in school (15 years ago) WM was very open and accepting. Much more scholarly, liberal lean and very open to alternative lifestyles. Even within the fraternities.

Lived awhile in Cville while significant other was in grad school, got a very different vibe from that campus. Great school, but not great to be different. JMU seemed a pretty happy place, nice people who were probably too busy partying to care what anyone else was doing. VT is in Appalachia, but it's big enough that kids can find their own.

[Anonymous]

UVa felt too preppy/fratty for my DS. He didn't like VT - too military looking and huge. W&M interested him, but he preferred (and chose) JMU. The students there were all so friendly and warm, and there were all types so he knew he'd find "his people". He had a terrific four years there and is now in grad school in another state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back when I was in school (15 years ago) WM was very open and accepting. Much more scholarly, liberal lean and very open to alternative lifestyles. Even within the fraternities.

Lived awhile in Cville while significant other was in grad school, got a very different vibe from that campus. Great school, but not great to be different. JMU seemed a pretty happy place, nice people who were probably too busy partying to care what anyone else was doing. VT is in Appalachia, but it's big enough that kids can find their own.

My DD chose W&M. We looked at JMU and UVa as well; but she really loves the History program. Sort of a living history laboratory in Williamsburg...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, are you from Virginia? I am from another state and I find that none of the VA state schools are as liberal as the ones from my home state---small town or not. There is just a more "traditional" culture here. But, as another poster stated, you can probably find a range of students at these schools.

Did you ever read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I always wondered why he left UVA to go to Carnegie Mellon. He never stated it, but I surmise that his ideas were too "different" for UVA. He just seems like the kind of professor a school should try to keep. They lost another good professor to a previous attorney general's attempts to get rid of climate science (Ken Cuccinelli). These are the kinds of things that make me wonder about UVA (among others).

http://www.roanoke.com/news/former-uva-climate-scientist-awarded-damages-in-foia-case/article_dbf259e4-dc70-5962-81f3-be4483cbff5f.html

I think it's odd that you would judge an entire university by the movement of one professor (the article BTW says he is at Penn). Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private. Even tenured professors want to move on if they get a better salary, an endowed chair, promise of better labs, grant money, etc. We toured UVA and DS didn't like the whole Greek thing and the spiel from Admissions that day was very liberal. They do have a Gender and Sexuality studies major.

[Anonymous]

There are so many different groups of people at these schools. Your child will find a place to fit in easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP, are you from Virginia? I am from another state and I find that none of the VA state schools are as liberal as the ones from my home state---small town or not. There is just a more "traditional" culture here. But, as another poster stated, you can probably find a range of students at these schools.

Did you ever read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I always wondered why he left UVA to go to Carnegie Mellon. He never stated it, but I surmise that his ideas were too "different" for UVA. He just seems like the kind of professor a school should try to keep. They lost another good professor to a previous attorney general's attempts to get rid of climate science (Ken Cuccinelli). These are the kinds of things that make me wonder about UVA (among others).

http://www.roanoke.com/news/former-uva-climate-scientist-awarded-damages-in-foia-case/article_dbf259e4-dc70-5962-81f3-be4483cbff5f.html

I think it's odd that you would judge an entire university by the movement of one professor (the article BTW says he is at Penn). Anyhow, everyone knows that State University Professors are paid less than private. Even tenured professors want to move on if they get a better salary, an endowed chair, promise of better labs, grant money, etc. We toured UVA and DS didn't like the whole Greek thing and the spiel from Admissions that day was very liberal. They do have a Gender and Sexuality studies major.

Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Is is no longer there or anywhere as he passed away in 2008. I am surprised you have not heard of him.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the great responses! It's good to keep in mind that scholarship money from an out-of-state school might be a good alternative.

And yes, to the PP who asked, I am from another state originally, and it is more liberal than VA is overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many different groups of people at these schools. Your child will find a place to fit in easily.

+1
These schools are all large enough to have many different kinds of kids, which is what my DC liked. He didn't want to be boxed into a stereotype that he might have found at a smaller SLAC.

[Anonymous]

ODU, Go Big Blue!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, are you from Virginia? I am from another state and I find that none of the VA state schools are as liberal as the ones from my home state---small town or not. There is just a more "traditional" culture here. But, as another poster stated, you can probably find a range of students at these schools.

Did you ever read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I always wondered why he left UVA to go to Carnegie Mellon. He never stated it, but I surmise that his ideas were too "different" for UVA. He just seems like the kind of professor a school should try to keep. They lost another good professor to a previous attorney general's attempts to get rid of climate science (Ken Cuccinelli). These are the kinds of things that make me wonder about UVA (among others).

http://www.roanoke.com/news/former-uva-climate-scientist-awarded-damages-in-foia-case/article_dbf259e4-dc70-5962-81f3-be4483cbff5f.html

Wonder about what? That it's a millimeter less liberal than other places?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, are you from Virginia? I am from another state and I find that none of the VA state schools are as liberal as the ones from my home state---small town or not. There is just a more "traditional" culture here. But, as another poster stated, you can probably find a range of students at these schools.

Did you ever read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I always wondered why he left UVA to go to Carnegie Mellon. He never stated it, but I surmise that his ideas were too "different" for UVA. He just seems like the kind of professor a school should try to keep. They lost another good professor to a previous attorney general's attempts to get rid of climate science (Ken Cuccinelli). These are the kinds of things that make me wonder about UVA (among others).

http://www.roanoke.com/news/former-uva-climate-scientist-awarded-damages-in-foia-case/article_dbf259e4-dc70-5962-81f3-be4483cbff5f.html

I was actually at UVA in the CS graduate program when Pausch was there. It had nothing to do with how "different" his ideas were and a lot more to do with CMU being one of the finest institution for computer science research in the world. UVA is good, CMU is at a completely different level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, are you from Virginia? I am from another state and I find that none of the VA state schools are as liberal as the ones from my home state---small town or not. There is just a more "traditional" culture here. But, as another poster stated, you can probably find a range of students at these schools.

Did you ever read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I always wondered why he left UVA to go to Carnegie Mellon. He never stated it, but I surmise that his ideas were too "different" for UVA. He just seems like the kind of professor a school should try to keep. They lost another good professor to a previous attorney general's attempts to get rid of climate science (Ken Cuccinelli). These are the kinds of things that make me wonder about UVA (among others).

http://www.roanoke.com/news/former-uva-climate-scientist-awarded-damages-in-foia-case/article_dbf259e4-dc70-5962-81f3-be4483cbff5f.html

In addition from the article you linked: "The institute filed FOIA requests with UVa and sued when those emails were denied or not delivered, even after the institute put up a deposit to pay for the records as requested by UVa."

So, crazy anti climate change politician demands email, UVA refuses to give them even when sued and brought to court. How does this paint UVA in a bad light?