The University of Virginia

Date: Jul 28 2012
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
UVA definitely has the good, as well as the bad. The campus ("grounds") is beautiful, and the surrounding city of Charlottesville always has something going on. Greek life is a huge part of the social scene, at least for me, and that also adds to weekend events. UVA also just completed the "south lawn" project, which houses a new building for the government department, and most of my classes are there. This is a much prettier and newer building than New Cabell, which is currently being renovated. It's basically falling apart, so hopefully it will be done soon.

The classes are okay - it probably depends on which classes you take, but a lot of mine are very large (think a few hundred people) that break up into smaller discussion sections with a TA. How you do in a class really depends on the TA you get; if you get a bad one, you are totally screwed. Some of them don't speak English and don't know how to teach, and going to the professor isn't too helpful. If you need help with a specific problem, the TA is expected to help you, whereas the professor is there to discuss larger problems or ideas. My friend is in the Engineering school, and I'm told their office hours are different, but I haven't been too impressed as far as the government department goes.

Overall, I really do love UVA, but the classes haven't exactly been what I expected, and my GPA definitely shows it. I was expecting more exciting and interesting topics and lectures, and for the most part, they are just extremely boring and I don't want to go to class most of the time.