Anonymous wrote:I have two college kids, one at vcu, and the other at a big more rural university. I do get more school police alerts for the non vcu kid. This past year vcu alerts have been more about flooding and protests versus murders. Most kids who go to vcu are very aware of their surroundings and act accordingly. Girls carry mace in fashionable colors, but rarely use it. My vcu kids says rowdies in the dorms and frat parties are more of an issue then the locals.

why don't you just name the other school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:appalachian state

We were just there; it seems like a great place to spend 4 years!

I've never known anyone who went there. PP, or anyone else familiar with Appalachian State, what did you like about it?

I have two college kids, one at vcu, and the other at a big more rural university. I do get more school police alerts for the non vcu kid. This past year vcu alerts have been more about flooding and protests versus murders. Most kids who go to vcu are very aware of their surroundings and act accordingly. Girls carry mace in fashionable colors, but rarely use it. My vcu kids says rowdies in the dorms and frat parties are more of an issue then the locals.

Some very good instate options have been mentioned (GMU, VCU, Old Dominion, Towson, UMBC, Salisbury)

A few other schools:

Fairleigh Dickinson - but about half of the students commute

College of Charleston

Coastal Carolina

These are privates:
DePaul / Drexel / Syracuse


These are some out-of-state schools that are very good options if they are affordable:

University of Indiana

Temple - not the greatest of neighborhoods but great alumni network

University of Arizona

University of Colorado

University of Iowa

University of Kansas

University of Minnesota

Would look at UNH - it’s not Harvard, but a decent state flagship with good programs in a nice area and not overshadowed by higher ranked nearby schools. Maine/Orono is more accessible (for admissions), although not as good and kind of in the middle of nowhere.

University of Iowa is a good school in a great little college town - lots of Chicagoans, and a center for creative writing and medicine, so not as corn-fed as east coasters might think. And a nice way to have a Big Ten experience without going to Michigan or Madison.

If you’re considering further afield, I’d look at U of Oregon, Arizona State (huge), and Colorado State Ft Collins. All have pretty high admissions rates and shouldn’t be unattainable for your son,

I personally think any of these are at least as strong as a lot of the DMV/PA schools others have proposed here.

Anonymous wrote:What about Florida Atlantic? Anyone know anyone who went there?

Yes, my cousin’s kids all went there. It’s instate for them and they were very artsy but weren’t very academic in high school. They graduated from Florida Atlantic on time and went on to grad school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to all the VCU commentators! Very helpful and you are much appreciated. Thanks in advance to any additional posters!

My PT went to VCU. She said it is a high crime area. I was like "you mean thefts and stuff?" She's like "no, drugs and murders." She wasn't kidding. My kid's college-parent-facebook group also speaks about VCU and CNU being schools where they are bad areas where living off campus would not be safe. So, VCU and CNU should be looked at carefully in person, not just virtual visits.

I think you need to different between VCU and CNU here. VCU is in the middle of Richmond and directly borders/adjoins a sketchy area. (Please note I am NOT saying VCU isn't safe - you just have to take some sensible precautions.) As for CNU, there are indeed some sketchy areas of Newport News, but CNU does NOT adjoin any of those areas and there's no reason a student would live there. In fact, there is a country club that borders part of the school.

CNU is not in a bad area of Newport News. Now, Old Dominion University on the other hand... Better look up that crime data and be aware!

East Tennessee State University.


Just a few hours past VT.

Anonymous wrote:appalachian state

We were just there; it seems like a great place to spend 4 years!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to all the VCU commentators! Very helpful and you are much appreciated. Thanks in advance to any additional posters!

My PT went to VCU. She said it is a high crime area. I was like "you mean thefts and stuff?" She's like "no, drugs and murders." She wasn't kidding. My kid's college-parent-facebook group also speaks about VCU and CNU being schools where they are bad areas where living off campus would not be safe. So, VCU and CNU should be looked at carefully in person, not just virtual visits.

Stop with the hysteria please. It’s not a “high crime” area - it’s an urban campus, that’s all. Obviously street smarts are required. So much pearl clutching!

If denial helps you sleep better at night...sure...

https://patch.com/virginia/richmond/crime-down-vcu-still-higher-other-schools

It's far higher crime rate thsn ither Va schools and 6th highest crime rate nationally for schools over 25,000 students. Way to over achieve.

You're confused. I'm the person who used the term "sketchy" but I am NOT the person who posted the link to the "patch" article. And my post specifically stated that VCU is NOT unsafe - I'd send my kid there because there are lots of advantages to being in a vibrant urban area. And maybe "sketchy" wasn't the best word to use, but no it wasn't

First, there’s nothing in that article about murder. Second, it says the University of Richmond has a higher crime rate, and that school is basically located in a leafy suburb and nowhere near a “sketchy” neighborhood. So how does VCU’s location factor into things, then? Oh, and I assume that when you say “sketchy” you are dog whistling, right?

You're confused. I'm the person who used the term "sketchy" but I am NOT the person who posted the link to the "patch" article. And my post specifically stated that VCU is NOT unsafe - I'd send my kid there if he wanted because there are lots of advantages to being in a vibrant urban area. And maybe "sketchy" wasn't the best word to use, but no it wasn't dog whistling and I didn't mean to imply that the whole campus is surrounded by dangerous areas. When we visited VCU, multiple current students told us it's best to avoid certain close by areas for off-campus housing which were rundown and/or deteriorating.

I'd also note that the FBI chart to which the patch article links shows that there were 18 instances of violent crime (rape, robbery and aggravated assault) at UVA in Charlottesville, which is only one less than the 19 instances of violent crime at VCU even though UVA has 6,000 less students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to all the VCU commentators! Very helpful and you are much appreciated. Thanks in advance to any additional posters!

My PT went to VCU. She said it is a high crime area. I was like "you mean thefts and stuff?" She's like "no, drugs and murders." She wasn't kidding. My kid's college-parent-facebook group also speaks about VCU and CNU being schools where they are bad areas where living off campus would not be safe. So, VCU and CNU should be looked at carefully in person, not just virtual visits.

Stop with the hysteria please. It’s not a “high crime” area - it’s an urban campus, that’s all. Obviously street smarts are required. So much pearl clutching!

If denial helps you sleep better at night...sure...

https://patch.com/virginia/richmond/crime-down-vcu-still-higher-other-schools

It's far higher crime rate thsn ither Va schools and 6th highest crime rate nationally for schools over 25,000 students. Way to over achieve.

First, there’s nothing in that article about murder. Second, it says the University of Richmond has a higher crime rate, and that school is basically located in a leafy suburb and nowhere near a “sketchy” neighborhood. So how does VCU’s location factor into things, then? Oh, and I assume that when you say “sketchy” you are dog whistling, right?

I went looking for more recent crime statistics than the link above and wound up on the campus police department’s website. The thoroughness of the resources on this page impressed me: https://police.vcu.edu/sexual_violence/victim_witness_program.html. I haven’t looked for this information at other schools, so maybe they are all like this, but as the parent of a daughter, I will be checking from here on out as she considers schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you to all the VCU commentators! Very helpful and you are much appreciated. Thanks in advance to any additional posters!

My PT went to VCU. She said it is a high crime area. I was like "you mean thefts and stuff?" She's like "no, drugs and murders." She wasn't kidding. My kid's college-parent-facebook group also speaks about VCU and CNU being schools where they are bad areas where living off campus would not be safe. So, VCU and CNU should be looked at carefully in person, not just virtual visits.

Stop with the hysteria please. It’s not a “high crime” area - it’s an urban campus, that’s all. Obviously street smarts are required. So much pearl clutching!

If denial helps you sleep better at night...sure...

https://patch.com/virginia/richmond/crime-down-vcu-still-higher-other-schools

It's far higher crime rate thsn ither Va schools and 6th highest crime rate nationally for schools over 25,000 students. Way to over achieve.

First, there’s nothing in that article about murder. Second, it says the University of Richmond has a higher crime rate, and that school is basically located in a leafy suburb and nowhere near a “sketchy” neighborhood. So how does VCU’s location factor into things, then? Oh, and I assume that when you say “sketchy” you are dog whistling, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, you speak with authority based on an experience you didn't have, and judge me based on an experience you didn't have (and based on a wayward inference of what I shared). Fine to share, but don't play the arbiter of all. Not cool.

Well, again, your example of lack of crossover made no sense when talking about diversity. It doesn’t surprise me at all that different programs and different majors held their classes in different buildings! That’s what every university does.

OK, so you can't read either. Not what I said. At all. The example I referenced was of 2 programs in potential crossover areas of perfroming arts in the same building, but the departments/programs had almost no crossover and courses (like many in various schools at VCU) were limited which amplified the segregation by major because non majors often could not participate in classes or productions or ensembles. But, keep on insisting you know better about the school that you didn't attend or the intentions of someone you don't know or whatever.

That’s not the “crossover” that the parent of the current VCU student was talking about, and it has nothing to do with diversity. You went in a completely opposite and irrelevant direction. In any event, sure, programs at VCU limit class enrollment in some instances to students in the major. Newsflash: that happen everywhere and has NOTHING to do with diversity.

Now I’m truly done with you. JFC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dc goes to vcu. Kid is very low key, not a big party person, and has found vcu an easy place to be. Only thing noticed, is that it is extremely diverse, but not a lot of cross over between the groups, which was a little disappointing to my kid.

I went to grad school at vcu and lived in Richmond after that and would say the lack of crossover is true of vcu and Richmond overall. I think part of the issue within vcu is separation of schools. Non majors are limited in ability to participate in other schools/depts' classes, productions/ensembles, etc.

Again, I disagree based on my kid’s experience. In fact, you really have to work pretty hard to “stick with your own kind” in a school with no majority. I’d look inward and not outward if I were you. The school might not be the problem.

Excuse me? Why the personal slam? I'm just relaying my observations about the way the university is structured and how that affected crossover between programs (eg. music and theatre shared a building but had little crossover. Both sets of students would have benefitted from more exposure to the other). The lack of crossover in the city, I noticed in my side hustle as a cab driver. This was several years, so things could have changed. I had respect for your perspective until that last comment.

We must have a different understanding of “diversity” I guess. I wasn’t talking about diversity of majors and programs. I was talking about diversity of actual people.

These are actual people. An apology for poor inference and gross judgment would be good. Even if it was about racial diversity, to assume someone chooses to "stick with their own kind" and essentially play into racial bias just because they shared their experience is really poor form. Why the need for judgment here? So petty.

Oh stop trying to pick a fight. We were talking about diversity of people, and you started talking about majors. You made no sense.

I’m done with you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, you speak with authority based on an experience you didn't have, and judge me based on an experience you didn't have (and based on a wayward inference of what I shared). Fine to share, but don't play the arbiter of all. Not cool.

Well, again, your example of lack of crossover made no sense when talking about diversity. It doesn’t surprise me at all that different programs and different majors held their classes in different buildings! That’s what every university does.

OK, so you can't read either. Not what I said. At all. The example I referenced was of 2 programs in potential crossover areas of perfroming arts in the same building, but the departments/programs had almost no crossover and courses (like many in various schools at VCU) were limited which amplified the segregation by major because non majors often could not participate in classes or productions or ensembles. But, keep on insisting you know better about the school that you didn't attend or the intentions of someone you don't know or whatever.