The following reviews are the views of students or alumni at this school and are unrelated to the school data and other editorial content on usnews.com. These reviews neither reflect nor impact a school's position within the Best Colleges rankings.
I feel that Richmond is a very good school when it comes to it's academics. The classes are small and intimate, perfect for individual attention from professors. The classes are rigorous and there is room to groom one's potential in thier own personal academic interests. However, despite these advantages I am transferring from Richmond at the end of this year. Despite these great academic advantages I find the college atmosphere at Richmond absolutely without any school pride or spirit. From every level whether it be the activities the RA organization puts together to the variety of sporting events seems to be approached with a sense of disinterest and apathy from the student body. Few people ever show up to anything and even if they do there is never any excitement. The administration constantly yet futilely tries to engage it's own student body year after year with little sucess. The problem seems to even self perpetuate itself. Students are aware of thier own apathy towards thier school and completely give up on attending anything. Instead they find refuge behind closed doors partying and drinking, which the administration turns a blind eye to, because otherwise the students of Richmond really would have nothing else to do. Now of course on any campus you will find a few groups or individuals whom truely are proud of thier school and display it colorfully. But at Richmond this is by the far the minority.
Chris Freshman
The best thing about Richmond is the campus, especially the lake because it adds a lot of scenery. The size of the school is alright, but in my opinion kind of small, most people here like that though. Another nice thing is the location. It is located in the suburbs but is right on the edge of the city so you won't have to be stuck in the middle of nowhere like most colleges in Virginia. If you are into lots of school spirit for sports teams don't bother coming here because the students care too much about themselves to worry about the sports teams, which is a shame.
The Realist Freshman
UNIVERSITY OF RACISM IN THE PAST YEAR, WE HAVE HAD BLACK FACE, A BLACK DOLL HUNG FROM A NOOSE, AND ANTI SEMITIC COMMENTS SANCTIONED BY THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER. UR PRETENDS TO BE DIVERSE BUT USES THE SAME MINORITIES ON ALL OF ITS LITERATURE. MOST MINORITIES I KNOW HATE IT AND WANT TO TRANSFER BUT DON'T BECAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL AID. ONE OF MY FRIENDS WAS CALLED A *** DURING HER FIRST YEAR AT UR. I HATED THE MAJORITY OF MY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE DUE TO SIMILAR EXPERIENCES LIKE THIS.
Alum who hated UR Alum
The first thing that comes to mind about UR is that is it a small, private school. I think there are only around 3,000 undergraduates. For me, personally, that was one of the reasons I chose UR; I love the smaller size. I love the familiarity of the campus, and how you're always guaranteed to see friendly faces you know wherever you go. And it isn't TOO small; after all it is not like a high school. UR is also a very academically challenging school, and is also very very selective in choosing people to attend. Therefore one thing one immediately knows about all the students is, whether they are athletes, musicians, or huge partyers, everyone is really smart and knows the importance of working hard to succeed. The classes are difficult, especially since they are taught by very knowledgable teachers ( I have yet to have one without a doctorate degree). However people quickly learn that if you work hard, of course you can play hard too! There's tons of school pride, and I really love the school. Another nice thing is that UR is only about 10 minutes away from downtown Richmond, so although it has that small-town secluded campus feel, it certainly isn't in the middle of nowhere.
Emily Sophomore
When I first arrived at UR as a wide-eyed freshman, my initial impression was: "Wow! It's just like summer camp - but I get to stay here all year long!" Nearly two years later, I've been slightly disillusioned by the intensity of academia, but still hold the same general impression of Richmond as a welcoming home away from home. Richmond may be somewhat of a "bubble," after all, but this can be a good thing in many ways. The fact that the majority of students live on campus lends to a great feeling of community, and also means that there's nothing holding you back from fully engaging yourself in all the enriching opportunities of college life. No, the city of Richmond isn't the hippest place around, and the weather here is completely bi-polar (yes, it has been known to snow here one day and be 80 degrees the next), but I've come to really appreciate the campus and the area as "my own," and I've found the school to be an incredibly supportive environment both personally and academically. Personally, I like the size of the school; my classes are small and especially in the courses within my majors, I generally know about half the class from the first day of the term. Walking to class you'll always recognize a friendly face, and although you'll always recognize lots of people around campus, the effect isn't stifling - there's always plenty more students to get to know.
Becky Sophomore
This school has a lot of money. Sometimes we put it to good use, and sometimes we donÕt. Brand new waffle irons in the shape of our school mascot? Is that really necessary? Spiders are gross, anyway. New washers and dryers that e-mail us when the cycle is finished? Maybe a bit superfluous (although they are environmentally friendly, which is nice). But on the flip side, our very considerable endowment gives us access to some pretty sweet academic opportunities. Ira Glass, host of This American Life recently came to campus for a performance and met with a class afterwards for a Q&A session. The English department is bringing writer Rick Moody, author of the novel Garden State that inspired the movie directed by Zach Braff, to campus for a reading. Last year David Sedaris came. Our International Education program is also extremely activeÑthis year Newsweek named us the ÒHottest College for International StudiesÓ (the IE office was so excited, they posted the signs everywhere, it was kind of cute). Kids from Richmond study all over the world, and if you want to go somewhere where we donÕt already have a program established, you can apply for a grant that will allow you to study there. Science students also have plenty of opportunities to get involved in research as undergraduates alongside professors at a graduate level. My general impression is that if there is something you want to do at Richmond, be it an academic endeavor, research project, or some sort of extra curricular club, the school has the money to fund it, you just have to be a little creative in terms of how to access it. One of my least favorite things about Richmond is the isolated campus. ItÕs a very scenic atmosphere, very scholarly with all the gothic architecture and such, but sometimes I feel like IÕm living on a big playground (or in the ÒRichmond BubbleÓ, as some of us affectionately call it) and all I want is to be in a real city with real people and real jobs. Unfortunately itÕs nearly impossible to escape if you donÕt have your own car. And donÕt count on the Spider Shuttle to give you access to the world at large, because it will cancel its route without telling you on a rainy day when youÕve been standing outside waiting for it for fifteen minutes. I have, however, gotten pretty good at riding the city bus, which has a stop on campus. It takes me where I need to go in a relatively timely fashion. What is the one thing I would change at the University of Richmond? Hands down, I would hire a new publicist. Every time the letters ÒuÓ and ÒrÓ can be used to replace the word ÒyourÓ or Òyou areÓ in some sort of slogan, they jump all over it. This little pun has given birth to a few too many bulletin board headings, in my opinion: UR Heard, UR Remembered, Dine with yoUR professor, the list goes on. It isnÕt funny anymore.
Anonymous Sophomore
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