Virginia Commonwealth University

Date: Feb 08 2011
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
When I chose VCU as my school, I was expecting to go to a very "cool" university. Unfortunately, I have found that "cool" is not how I would describe VCU. Being in an urban setting, VCU should be a place of culture and discovery. The truth is, the school is dominated by the NOVA (Northern Virginia) stereotype: unfriendly, stuck up kids from generally high-income families. From my experience with other students here, it seems that nearly everyone lives for heavy drinking, sex, and drama (even amongst the males). I have met few students who wish to have anything resembling an intellectual discussion. Small acts of kindness are rare; It's always a (pleasant) surprise when someone in front of me holds the door so I don't have to reopen it. There are many low-quality professors, but I haven't yet had one who deserves the disrespect that he/she gets from the students. The city of Richmond disappoints in so many ways. The service at almost any business in Richmond is terrible; even the people working at McDonald's can't do their jobs right. All attempts at communication with people working at these places are met with condescending looks. These people don't care at all about just doing their job and doing it well. Unfortunately, VCU is full of these lazy workers. This attitude has influenced most of the front desk workers (who are also students) in Brandt/Rhoads Hall.

Now, please don't think all the negative things I have to say represent everyone and everything here, because they certainly don't. There are kind people, but they are greatly outnumbered. I have made some really great friends here, including a few NOVA kids. Richmond does have a nice downtown, and Carytown is a really cool area. Unfortunately, VCU students simply can't afford to enjoy much of what these parts of the city have to offer.

I've lived in southwest Virginia since fourth grade, and the people there are completely different from the people at and around VCU. I'm hoping to transfer to Virginia Tech soon; Tech is a better overall school and in a much kinder part of the world. Does this rule out a future for me in a big city? No. I've been to many major cities, including ones in Europe. There are some truly amazing cities out there. I'm just not happy at VCU and in Richmond.

So if you're expecting to enjoy VCU because of its setting and campus, with hope that the school has a certain coolness to it, you may be disappointed. Depending on who you are, you may enjoy VCU more than I have.

VCU does have plans to completely move this campus forward, and hopefully Richmond is going to do the same. Although this, in my opinion, isn't an ideal place to be, it may very well change dramatically in the coming years, and I wish this school and city the best.