Question about VA state schools....

[Anonymous]

We would like to keep our kids in state due to tuition costs. However, it seems like many of the state schools are in small town/rural settings. Are they pretty conservative places? My oldest--a DD-- is a very liberal, free-spirit type, and I'm wondering if she'll fit in at places like UVA, VT, or JMU.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I went to JMU and loved it and there were lots of all different types there. Any big university will have a diverse crowd.

I think VCU attracts a little more of the artsy crunchy crowd then the other state schools, as does William and Mary (but that school is too much of a pressure cooker IMO).

I think once she tours a bunch of different schools she will have a feel for where she would be happiest.

[Anonymous]

Interesting question. I would not say that a small town necessarily makes a school conservative. Plenty of very liberal colleges are in small towns.

However, I might not understand what you mean by the term "conservative"? Do you mean politically or socially or ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would like to keep our kids in state due to tuition costs. However, it seems like many of the state schools are in small town/rural settings. Are they pretty conservative places? My oldest--a DD-- is a very liberal, free-spirit type, and I'm wondering if she'll fit in at places like UVA, VT, or JMU.

Thoughts?

If you look at voting records, there are blue circles that surround the three Universities you mention. Plus, I found it helpful to go to a university that was considered conservative, it was big so that there were still enough liberals, but it made me question and affirm my beliefs.

[Anonymous]

I went to VT for Grad School and found it very conservative.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

C'ville is about as liberal of a town as you can get. I love it there. If only UVA wasn't so rapey.

[Anonymous]

C'ville is about as liberal of a town as you can get.

I don't think you've been to many other towns then. Maybe it's liberal for VA, but not for a lot of other states.

[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

That is definitely true for GMU's econ department. It is funded by Koch Industries. They are frequently tapped for the "conservative" view on NPR and other media.

[Anonymous]

I actually struggle with this for my kids, both of whom were crunchy. We both wanted them to go to UVA. Both ended up in SLACs in the northeast with tons of aid and are happy there. If your kid can get into UVA, they are likely to be able to pull decent money from a place like Tufts or Smith.

[Anonymous]

I actually struggle with this for my kids, both of whom were crunchy. We both wanted them to go to UVA. Both ended up in SLACs in the northeast with tons of aid and are happy there. If your kid can get into UVA, they are likely to be able to pull decent money from a place like Tufts or Smith.

+100 We struggled too. Kid is at a northeastern SLAC too. Aid mattered.

[Anonymous]

If she can get into places like UVA, VT, or JMU, my guess is, she'll make do.

She'll have to. You have stated you want to pay instate.

We sent ours out-of-state.

[Anonymous]

Would go out of state for that environment. Plenty of options in NE.

[Anonymous]

We looked at electoral maps for areas of the country we weren't familiar with. Looked at presidential '08 election specifically. Even within conservative states, there were some surprise "matches" where the county was surprisingly more liberal. This worked, in part, since all U's our kids considered were large and would be a major influence on the area.

So, to answer your question, UVA passed our test. VT passed (which surprised us). Don't remember re JMU.

Nevertheless in the end, our kids chose (more liberal) out-of-state and are very happy.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't feel safe sending kids/girls to UVA.