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Bright
The thing about ODU is that it is a very simple-minded place filled mostly with simple-minded students who love their simple-mindedness. There is no sophistication, no social integration (even with the many people of many races and places, etc.), and nothing stimulating at all.

And ODU will always be like this, no matter how many new dorms or sports complexes they build, no matter how much they tout their permanently broken Maglev train or their losing-streak football team, and no matter how much they cover up the reports of on-campus violent crime from prospective students and parents. Why?

Because ODU and Norfolk/Hampton Roads are overall undesirable places to be for most people. Norfolk is a military installation, a port, and a cesspool of a city that also happens to have a university (ODU) that is designed more around convenience than around meaningful life experience. That defeats the point of going to college.

Having been a resident of the Richmond area since my sophomore year in high school, I've also found that the atmosphere of Norfolk/ODU is significantly more hostile than really any place in Va. that I've been to. People here generally hate their lives (this isn't as true of the college students) and this becomes apparent when you deal with, for example, the bitter and rude administration. Whoever said on this site that "the administration is full of red tape" is not exaggerating one bit. The administration will make you wait forever and jump through all sorts of hoops for no reason other than that they are too incompetent to know how to do their jobs (which really aren't very difficult). Seriously, they need to fire everyone in Rollins Hall and hire people who can actually count, do their job properly, treat the customer with courtesy and respect, and get things done in a timely and efficient manner. But it probably won't happen.

Most of the minority of intelligent and/or deep people here are usually either very boring or needlessly cut-throat and hostile. It's really unfortunate. I've found a small handful who are intelligent, neither boring nor hostile, and are good friends of mine- but they are very much the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, the professors try to be as nice and as challenging as they can be, but then you get some who are mean (even to the diligent students) or incompetent or both.ODU's academics are semi-challenging, but why go here when you can go to nearly any other university that has challenging academics, a good/safe community and high-quality student life (none of which ODU has and none of which it will never have) while paying basically the same price that you pay to go to ODU?
Useful Schoolwork: B, Education Quality: F
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Sep 23 2009 1st Year Male -- Class 2011  
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Quite Bright
I transferred into the Arts and Letters Dept to get my teaching license and BA so i could teach elementary school. It is like jumping through hoops on fire to get through the program. and just FYI- you do not get your teaching license with your bachelor's degree. you must complete a different program (either the teacher licensure program or the master's program) and get accepted into that program upon completing your bachelor's degree. i was so disappointed that my friends who graduated from other universities in the state with their B.A. got to graduate with a license to teach. i have to pay MORE money and jump through MORE hoops to become a teacher. it is just a ridiculous situation... not to mention all of my classes this year were only offered at night and i am a morning person to the max. education classes always fill up quickly because they dont have enough professors to teach them. The advisors are not very helpful when it comes to "advising" either. make sure you keep up with the classes you need to complete for your program because you want to sign up for them ASAP. i go to odu because it is the closest university in the area, not because i think its great.
Faculty Accessibility: A+, Perceived Campus Safety: D
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Sep 21 2009 2nd Year Female -- Class 2009  
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Bright
If you are not a part of the military, a part of any minority (that is not meant to be a racist or sexist comment), or a part of any of ODU's clubs, the ODU community won't hesitate to subtly make it known to you that you are not welcome here- and no matter how hard you try to concentrate on your schoolwork, it is difficult to ignore. Now don't get me wrong...I have no problem with the military, minorities or clubs...but the strong "you're either one of us, or we don't know you" attitude among most of ODU's organizations and makes this school considerably difficult to feel a part of. And that's a hard thing to deal with, because there's nothing to do in Norfolk (unless you want to put yourself in a lot of danger), and VA Beach gets old fast. If you can go to a different college, then go to a different college...ODU left an overall bad taste in my mouth, but my parents wouldn't allow me to transfer (something which they and I still disagree about to this very day) because it "would have required too much time and effort". And it sucked hearing from friends of mine who attended other universities that they were having a great experience, while mine was rather crappy. I just graduated, so I guess what's done is done, and all I can do now is live with it and warn other prospective students to avoid ODU. The positive reviews on this site look as though they were put together by ODU's higher-up fatcats or whoever it is they hire to promote the university...or, whoever mindlessly buys into it.
Collaboration/Competitive: C+, Useful Schoolwork: F
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Jun 01 2009 4th Year Male -- Class 2009  
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