Life at the University of Richmond

When our son started to express an interest in the University of Richmond, we were more than willing to add the Virginia school to our list of "must see" schools on our family college tour. Founded in 1830, we learned that the University of Richmond is the second oldest private university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The only other thing that we really knew about the University of Richmond before heading off to see it was that the name adopted for use by all the athletic teams wasn't the "Eagles" or the "Bulldogs". It is the "Spiders". Certainly this was not a great turn on but the rest of what we saw and learned about the University of Richmond was.

Incredible Campus
Though we saw five schools in all, in our trip south to see schools and not one of them was even marginally unattractive, we were glad that we saved our visit to the University of Richmond until last. Seeing it any sooner would have spoiled us for all the others. The campus of the University of Richmond is simply spectacular . We all raved about it all the way back to Massachusetts and for good reason.

The focal point of the campus is a very large, very scenic,man made lake that divides the campus. Almost one half of the dorms and one half of the classroom buildings are located on either side of the water . Most of the buildings are of a common red brick. The campus itself is spread over a full 350 acres with a very rural look and feel and setting that is framed beautifully by trees.

Not only is the campus itself beautiful, but it's location puts students exactly where they want to be. Even though the campus seems almost serene in its isolation, students quickly learn that they are incredibly near a great, college friendly mall and the city area of Richmond itself is only a five minute drive. Even the nation's capital is within travel range on the weekend. Try as you might you would really be hard pressed to come up with anything distasteful about the grounds or the location of the University of Richmond.

Studies Students know that, as with many things. you can't tell a college by its cover or its grounds either. Fortunately what the University of Richmond has to offer aesthetically is duplicated by what it offers scholastically. Just a little research revealed that the University of Richmond is a nationally ranked liberal arts university. The academic offerings at the University of Richmond are broken down between three major schools within the university system. There is the School of Arts and Sciences, The Robins School of Business and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.

The track record for graduates coming out of the Robins School is exceptional and the Jepson School is a first of its kind program in the country offering aclasses built around a leadership center. For a relatively small college of approximately 3,000 students, Richmond has much of which it can be justly proud.

A unique aspect of learning at Richmond is called the "Richmond Quest". Every other year the university sponsors a competition among students to come up with a question which the entire student body will study and reflect on during a full year's time. Special courses and workshops are planned around the question and quality guest speakers are brought in by the University to address the issue. The student responsible for the selected question receives a year of free tuition, so competition and interest is considerable. The major benefit however is that for a full year members of the University share in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding around a single question .

Beyond the Books. The impression one gets about the University of Richmond from admission officers is certainly that this is a school for academically motivated young men and women. Application should not be considered unless you are a serious student with serious academic goals and a willingness to work to achieve them. But as we visited the campus and talked to some undergrads it became obvious that while this is a quality school that doesn't mean that it is entirely one sided and without social outlets.

To the contrary we learned that the University provides its students with a real buffet of possible clubs and organizations from which to choose, in all 275. There are clubs to meet almost every interest. What seems to grab the attention of many "spiders" is the service options that many different organizations include among their annual activities. It is estimated, in fact, that approximately two-thirds of the student body gets involved in some kind of service during the school year.

Even though it is a small school, the University of Richmond encourages diversity in its student body. Those attending Richmond will find students from 47 states and more than 30 foreign countries. This cross section provides not only a chance to broaden one's horizons but a chance to make life long friends from all over the world.

The University of Virginia surprisingly has managed to qualify to participate in intercollegiate sports at the Division 1 level. While it is among the smallest of the Division 1 schools it is very competitive in the Atlantic 10 Conference of which it is a member. Students going to the University of Richmond have plenty of chances to see top notch sports competition during their four years at Richmond.

When push came to shove, our son decided to attend a school closer to home. But of the schools we saw on our southern tour of college campuses the University of Richmond is the one school that we all still remember and continue to recommend to anyone who will listen.