University of Richmond thoughts

[Anonymous]

If you are considering UR - you need to get the real story on the social environment at UR from someone in the know. Everything is off campus. Parties run by small group of non-official frats and sororities. Need to be in with the “it” crowd or it can be tough. These typically are the coolest of cool kids at their respective high schools. You will be judged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are considering UR - you need to get the real story on the social environment at UR from someone in the know. Everything is off campus. Parties run by small group of non-official frats and sororities. Need to be in with the “it” crowd or it can be tough. These typically are the coolest of cool kids at their respective high schools. You will be judged.

Nice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are considering UR - you need to get the real story on the social environment at UR from someone in the know. Everything is off campus. Parties run by small group of non-official frats and sororities. Need to be in with the “it” crowd or it can be tough. These typically are the coolest of cool kids at their respective high schools. You will be judged.

This is happening at many private universities. Duke banned greek and it still exists but off campus... this is not unique to Richmond. The greek rush process is biased toward 'popular, wealthy and cool kids at both flagship and elite schools as well. Stop the hate toward Richmond. (We have friends there having a great experience).

[Anonymous]

Overrated
Don’t buy the hype

[Anonymous]

I really appreciate these anecdotes on Richmond. The academics seems great - but the social scene sounds a lot like SMU. Great school but may not be for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really appreciate these anecdotes on Richmond. The academics seems great - but the social scene sounds a lot like SMU. Great school but may not be for everyone.

^seem

[Anonymous]

Lol-the social scene is nothing like SMU. Clearly, you have not visited either school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: I have no ties whatsoever to U Richmond. Not sure what is going on with the strange comments. it’s a beautiful school that is very popular with the private school set.

Have you ever toured the campus? It’s striking. It feels like the Truman Show. Something is off.

+1

Because it attracts well-groomed kids who dress well?

DP. I know what the PP means. It’s not how the kids look or dress, it’s just the overall vibe of the place. It feels like if a gum wrapper fell out of your pocket, someone would jump out of the bushes with a dustpan and take care of it within seconds. I get the same feeling at Wake Forest. This is a huge plus to many, but for some , the hyper attention to order and neatness is slightly unsettling.

I’m a Wake Alum, and I have mixed feelings. Amazing education. Not great fit on the social scene. U Richmond reminded me of everything I disliked about awake, without the redeeming features.

Agree with the people who keep saying St. Olaf for this kid. It’s really a great place for the kid Op describes. It was my Dc’s second choice— and Oberlin, Kenyon, Grinnell, Macalaster, W&M and Pitt were also on the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, some high school haters have taken over this thread, right? Because grown adults surely are not this immature.

They are parents of kids who didn't get in.

I kinda doubt it. NOVA posters make up a decent percentage of this board. It would be unusual to send a BA Resident who could get into WM or UVA to Richmond. I’m sure it happens for reasons, but in general, why pay for Richmond in the same state if UVA/WM is on the table?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It always strikes me as funny when DCUM thinks “rich kids school” is an insult. I gotta think these are the same posters who complain their straight A student can’t get a job out of college. The value of networking totally dismissed by people who spend their life posting online.

It’s a risky plan to encourage a middle class kid to cozy up to rich kids for four years in hopes it might get them a job. Some of those rich kids will take the trustafarian route and bum around for a few years after graduation. Many of them will take low paying passion jobs funded by their parents.

Sure, but the pre-professional "rich kid" schools attract a lot of on-campus recruiting and willing internship sponsors. They also provide a lot of career services support.

Those are the most immediate "networking" benefits when it comes to getting a first job out of school. It's not about "cozying up" to rich kids or their parents. It's about the loyal school alumni out in the world, the pipeline companies and organizations that tend to hire from the school, and the career services department that will actively help non-wealthy students access those opportunities.

So-called "rich kid schools" have A LOT to offer, especially if you can afford them via scholarships and merit aid.

I think your last sentence is the key point. Some people just want to write off schools like this, but they can offer very attractive aid packages for a range of people, so they should not be discounted.

Perhaps. I would think employers would prefer hard working middle and upper middle class kids at state flagships, but to each their own.

To make real money you have to go to business/law/med school. That is where I think Richmond falls a bit short of its peer schools. They are not a heavy hitter when it comes to grad school placement. Think Richmond Law and not UVA.

Agree. Just didn’t feel time like a super serious academic school. Kids at W&M seemed for more serious about their studies. But perhaps I misread the vibe.

You did not, at least for WM. Can’t speak to IR, so I won’t.

[Anonymous]

Super WASPy LAC
Reminds me of Bucknell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are schools in the 30-50 US News that I think are actually top 20 LAC (eg, Kenyon, #45). And there are top 25 ranked schools (eg, Richmond, # 22) that I’m not sure crack the top 50. Rankings are off.

The new USNWR rankings methodology is awful. So much Pell Grant, so no undergrad education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disclaimer: I have no ties whatsoever to U Richmond. Not sure what is going on with the strange comments. it’s a beautiful school that is very popular with the private school set.

Have you ever toured the campus? It’s striking. It feels like the Truman Show. Something is off.

+1

Because it attracts well-groomed kids who dress well?

DP. I know what the PP means. It’s not how the kids look or dress, it’s just the overall vibe of the place. It feels like if a gum wrapper fell out of your pocket, someone would jump out of the bushes with a dustpan and take care of it within seconds. I get the same feeling at Wake Forest. This is a huge plus to many, but for some , the hyper attention to order and neatness is slightly unsettling.

I’m a Wake Alum, and I have mixed feelings. Amazing education. Not great fit on the social scene. U Richmond reminded me of everything I disliked about awake, without the redeeming features.

Agree with the people who keep saying St. Olaf for this kid. It’s really a great place for the kid Op describes. It was my Dc’s second choice— and Oberlin, Kenyon, Grinnell, Macalaster, W&M and Pitt were also on the table.

Regarding a comparison to Wake Forest, when standardized scoring submission was more widely expected than it is today, Richmond's student profile placed it slightly higher than Wake Forest by this measure:

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also highly doubt that UR is close to being a top academic school.

If you have read Dante's "Inferno," "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" in Italian, as my relative did at Richmond, then maybe you would have thrived at Richmond academically. If not, then perhaps I'm not that interested in such an opinion as that which you offered here.

And my add at WM is reading Tolstoy in Russian. Because they are a Russian major. If your relative is reading them in Italian, they majored in Italian (or it’s a native language). Reading cannon literature in the native language is a bare minimum expectation to major in a foreign language, not a unique and special marker of intellectual superiority.

If you want to impress me with reading cannon literature in the original language, we can discuss St. John’s (which I would have loved for one of my kids, but they said no way). Getting through that curriculum is impressive. An Italian major/natove who can read Italian— every single college with a competent foreign language program (sorry WVU- RIP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are schools in the 30-50 US News that I think are actually top 20 LAC (eg, Kenyon, #45). And there are top 25 ranked schools (eg, Richmond, # 22) that I’m not sure crack the top 50. Rankings are off.

The new USNWR rankings methodology is awful. So much Pell Grant, so no undergrad education?

Agree current methodology isn’t great. But US news has ranked UR top ~30 liberal arts colleges since 2009.