Completely Honest

Introduction
The most overwhelming thing about U of R is definitely the price! When you look at this school, don't let their claims of having a great finacial aid program fool you. They automatically give $10,000 to each student, dropping the price to a mere $30,000 per year. They claim to have scholarships, but unless you are a genius or black, then you will not qualify. One good scholarship that is open to everyone and makes the school affordable is the Army ROTC scholarship. It lowers the price to about $6,000 per year, but then you're committed to the Army for all of college plus 8 years.

On a higher note, U of R is a great school for people interested in just about any academic major. The classes are engaging, the professors know their stuff, and it truly is a very beautiful campus. Other things that the school has to offer is a very great selection of technological devices, (does that make sense?). Virtually the whole campus is wireless, a brand new gym and rec facility is currently being built, and our science center is amazing. The science center has all of the newest, shiniest technology available to colleges, and if you are thinking about being a bio or chem major, definitely check out Richmond.

Campus Life and Social Life
Ok, the campus social life...one of our slogans is "we pregame harder than you party" (maybe don't tell your parents this when visiting). It's true, we have some pretty good parties. The frat houses are open just about every weekend, and they always have themed dance parties. It is really one of the highlights of the weekend. Other parties include the apartment parties. These are fun if you actually know the person who owns the apartment, but it can be a little awkward if you don't know anyone and just show up to drink their beer. One nice thing about the Richmnod parties is that the beer is free; at schools like UVA, they make you pay money for beer.

On the off chance that you don't drink...there's not much to do after 11. The Cellar, a restaraunt on campus, has live bands every Friday starting at 9, but after that, there's not much for the non drinking crowd to do besides sit in and watch movies.

Of course, there is more to college than just drinking. Richmond also offers intermural sports which go over pretty well. A lot of the students actually play the sports, a few of which include: soccer, rugby, volleyball, and then a few random ones like dodgeball and horseshoes.

As far as clubs go, I'd say that a lot of students are in clubs, but the majority of them don't really do anything. One club however that is very active and pretty popular, is the Richmond Rowdies (of which I am a member). We go to every home basketball wearing our matching shirts, and we sit up front in the bleachers and yell and cheer for the team as loudly as possible. It's a lot of fun, and really builds school spirit.

Now, one more thing about RIchmond is that it IS a bubble. Unless you have a car, don't plan on going off-campus much. If you DO have a car, still don't plan on going off campus much. I have a car, and the only time I use it is so that my friends and I can go out to dinner on the weekends. Really, you get so busy with class, the gym, and homework, that there is rarely time during the week to just go "drive around."

So bottom line about the Richmond social life..."we party as hard as we study." I think this quote says a lot about RIcmond. All of the students work very hard, and are very concerned with grades and academics. However when the weekend rolls around, we certainly know how to have a good time. Advertisement
Academics
Like any school, the academics has its ups and downs. Overall, the quality of education here is excellent. Except for one, I have never had a class that has not challenged me, or made me work my ass off. The classes are great, and for the most part, the professors really know what they are talking about.

One class that I do have some beef with is the freshman seminar class, known as CORE. They have goals down on paper about what you are supossed to get out of this class. The goals have failed, and this is definitly a waste of 6 credit hours. In defense of the school, it is a great idea, and maybe if CORE was only a semester long it would go over better. However, the class is 5 semesters long, and I really do not feel that it is helping me academically. One of the major problems with CORE is that it is taught by faculty from all different departments. They have had a crash course in teaching CORE, but none of them went to college to teach this class. Many of the professors do not understand the texts themselves, and forced to use sources such as Sparknotes and Cliffs Notes in order to teach us. I went to my professor's office once, and guess what was on the computer? Sparknotes for Nietzche, the next day's assignment.

So CORE sucks, but through it you do meet some neat people, and you are definitely thankful when it's over. CORE aside, the classes are great, and I don't know that you get $160,000 worth of education over the course of your four years, but it is definitely quality teaching.

Student Body
PREPS! Watch out for those kids; the girls who wear two polo shirts to class with both the collars popped, a skirt, pearls, and a $400 purse. Or the guys who wear the typical Lacoste popped collar, the Abercrombie patchwork-grandmother lookin' pants, and some expensive looking boat shoes. For the rest of the community population (that is to say, the minority of us) jeans and a sweatshirt is fine. You really don't see too many people wearing sweats, and you almost never see pajama pants. The quality of clothing here is pretty high. But that makes sense, the majority of the kids here have money. You see your typical fake-tan and anorexic looking girls, but you also see normal people walking around too. Hardly anyone here is from Virginia, in fact most people are from New Jersey. So chances are, if you're from the Northeast, you'll meet a lot of kids from your area. If you're like me, from Virginia Beach, don't count on knowing or meeting random people from nearby.

Everything I have just typed sounds a little negative, but I mean it all in the best possible way. I love UR, and the people really do give it spice. You'll find your group of friends, and once you do, y'all can just sit around and make fun of the people who tuck their sweatpants into their Uggs, while wearing pearls. (Yes, those people do exist!).

In Closing...
Overall, Richmond is a great school. I'm not sure if it's worth the $40,000 per year, but that's up to you to decide. Personally, I'm here on a scholarship and am paying $6,000 per year, (and it is defintely worth that!) It's a great school, but if you're not really gung-ho about it, maybe save yourself the money and go somewhere cheaper, I'm sure you will meet fun and exciting people where ever you go!