Ranking Virginia Colleges? (Richmond, Lynchburg, Charlottesville: best city, transfer, law school)

[AdumaU]

I'm not from here, and I know about all the ranking publications out there, just wanted to get the local's opinion about the schools here. How would you rank them? I know UVA is #1 hands down, but which universities would round out the top 5?

[Megadell]

UVA
Virginia Tech
Williiam and Mary
VCU
George Mason

IMO. That's not in any particular order. It really all depends on what you want to major in. UVA is unique in that it has almost any major you could want.

I wouldn't say UVA winds hands down. I mean, in some regards yea, but if you want to major in the hard sciences, Tech is obviously the better choice, it ranks higher in everything for the hard sciences.

VCU is nice but god do I hate Richmond VA. It's not really a city. It's actively works to keep away any kind of night life, forcing you to travel far, very far for one. Plus it's full of bums.

George Mason is essentially a commuter school. People go to class, they leave. Would be a problem if it weren't 20 mins from DC which has all the partying you could want, far, far more than Richmond.

William and Mary I don't know pretty much anything about.

I hear Charlottesville is amazing though.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Megadell

UVA
Virginia Tech
Williiam and Mary
VCU
George Mason.

VCU ahead of JMU? I don't think so, unless in art or doing drugs.

The answer depends on what you intend to study and whether graduate of undergraduate. If just on prestige, I'd put W&M ahead of Tech. However, if you're in engineering, Tech would be at the top, ahead of UVA.

[Megadell]

That was just my opinion. Vcu has more majors and is in a better location. Not the biggest or best city but still the state capital.

And tech is Much more known now, though not necessarily for good things. I heard they've got amazing food their though.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by Megadell

UVA
Virginia Tech
Williiam and Mary
VCU
George Mason

IMO. That's not in any particular order. It really all depends on what you want to major in. UVA is unique in that it has almost any major you could want.

I wouldn't say UVA winds hands down. I mean, in some regards yea, but if you want to major in the hard sciences, Tech is obviously the better choice, it ranks higher in everything for the hard sciences.

VCU is nice but god do I hate Richmond VA. It's not really a city. It's actively works to keep away any kind of night life, forcing you to travel far, very far for one. Plus it's full of bums.

George Mason is essentially a commuter school. People go to class, they leave. Would be a problem if it weren't 20 mins from DC which has all the partying you could want, far, far more than Richmond.

William and Mary I don't know pretty much anything about.

I hear Charlottesville is amazing though.

I would put Mary Washington University (formerly college) above GMU.

[Carlingtonian]

VCU has a very well-respected medical school. (It was formerly named Medical College of Virginia.) And Mason has a top-tier law school. I think those lend some prestige even to their undergrad programs.

[AdumaU]

Not sure what I'm going to do, but I'd like to move out of VA eventually. I'm not going to major in something useless (art, philosophy, etc). Let's say rank them according to national prestige and overall academic reputation since I'd like to move out of VA. Thanks!

[Megadell]

What does that have to do with anything?

Only degrees from certain schools transfer out of state? What exactly is the thought process behind this thread?

[LynchburgLover]

UVA/W&M

JMU/VT/UMW

VCU/Radford/Longwood/CNU

ODU/community colleges

Probably forgetting some but that's how I thnk of them.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by LynchburgLover

UVA/W&M

JMU/VT/UMW

VCU/Radford/Longwood/CNU

ODU/community colleges

Probably forgetting some but that's how I thnk of them.

I'm about where you are on your thinking however, I would put VT a notch above JMU and UMW. I think it's harder to get into VT over those two colleges.