The best thing about UVa? Where to I start?!
Let me start by first saying that I came to UVa for financial reasons only, initially. My parents wanted me to get an excellent education but did not want to put a second mortgage on the house to do it, which I guess is understandable. I went to UVa because going to Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, or MIT was not financially feasible. You'd be surprised how many students were in the same boat. I didn't think I'd end up liking UVa as much as I do now.
UVa makes a strong effort to compete with the best-of-the-best. I don't think that we've stopped building a new building since the 1980s. The administration's efforts have paid off; we're considered the number two best public university in the United States by US News and World Report.
Our sense of community is something that I haven't seen at any other university. At any other top university, students compete to be the best in their class, creating this agressive and cutthroat environment. At UVa, our friendships supercede the extracurricular. It's not by any means uncommon to go to the library with a bunch of friends and do homework together. Even if your group of friends isn't in your major, going to the library and studying or doing homework together is still popular. Either way, pizza is typically ordered and delivered directly to the library. Many of our libraries are open until 2am or 24-hours on weekdays, providing a study space whenever students need it.
When I tell someone I go to UVa, especially when out-of-state, it typically yields an impressed expression. It's difficult to get in to our school, so you must be pretty smart if you're just attending UVa.
I have a love-hate relationship with Charlottesville.
The love part is that they do try to accommodate students' hours. Many businesses are open until 2am, especially restaurants, grocery stores, and student-oriented retail stores. The location of businesses is key, too; the farthest I ever need to travel from grounds is to Best Buy, which is only a mile or so away. Bus lines are set up by the Charlottesville Transit System around students. We have our own Trolley line designed for first-year students so they can visit the downtown historic district, which has a variety of restaurants and shops. The town itself is set in a beautiful backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and any landscaping around the City is pristine. For those who love to hike or ski, we have plenty of opportunities nearby for that. Charlottesville has it's own airport, Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO), which has daily departures to major hubs on the East Coast and in the Midwest. The airport is in a brand-new building, too. Word of advice: take a door-to-door shuttle service and not a cab from the airport. Cabs can cost upwards of $40 one-way to or from the airport because it's located twenty minutes from grounds.
Charlottesville is irritating in a few aspects, too. If you're like me (I'm from the Northern Virginia area), you'll be a little irritated by the isolation of Charlottesville. Outside of the City of Charlottesville and the County of Alblemarle, there's trees, trees, and more trees. We have a few nightclubs, here, too, but they're visited by almost exclusively graduate students because it costs money to get in -- money that often undergraduates don't have. Because the City is incredibly old by American standards, the roads around the University are extremely inefficient. It can take up to fifteen minutes to get past the Emmet Street/Ivy Road/University Avenue intersection during rush hour. First-years are not allowed to drive cars except under special circumstances approved by the Department Parking and Transportation of UVa. They claim that bus routes solve this dilemma, but carrying a pack of Deer Park bottles in addition to all your other groceries on the bus isn't exactly easy. It's illegal for first-years to operate cars in Albemarle County, but I don't know how they can enforce that unless the first-year actually says he's a UVa student to the police officer. Some first-years have parked off-grounds on the street and drive their cars only when they need to, usually to back to their hometown.
UVa's administration is very receptive to student concerns. It's not impossible to see a dean if you have a concern. Many of the University committees have student members so they can keep an even perspective of the student body. Student self-governance is strictly enforced at UVa: there are no "advisors" or faculty position in any of the UVa student clubs or groups. Many people wonder if this causes more problems than benefits, but I've never heard of a student group "getting out of hand" before. Like I said before, if you were admitted to UVa to begin with, you're already considered both smart and mature.
School pride is ABUNDANT at UVa. Any student car you see (heck, any car you see in Charlottesville) has about five UVa bumper stickers and window decals. Student pride is extremely strong, and everyone's happy to be a Wahoo.
The biggest experience I'll ever remember is when I went out on one balmy night with a bunch of friends. We didn't do anything in particular. We ate at Little John's (a popular deli on the Corner), made our way to Starbucks, then sat at the Rotunda and watched people streak. A little weird, yeah, but streaking the Lawn at the Rotunda is a tradition of UVa; I know very few alumni who haven't done it at least once.
The quality of on-grounds housing has always been a big complaint. Many buildings are old and most first-year housing is without air conditioning. I know that UVa has addressed this by launching a huge housing revamping project. It will include replacing most of the first-year dormitories and remodeling older upperclassmen apartments. Of course, living on-grounds isn't always the best financial decision either. The cost of a dorm is often very close to that of an apartment off-grounds, and many people choose the former because of the convenience of always having access to your room (UVa closes dorms during Christmas Break) and not needing to move in and out at the beginning and end of every semester. Those who are lucky enough to get a newer dorm, however, are usually very happy where they live.
We have a few "commerical student housing developments" that have recently taken off, like the Woodlands of Charlottesville. The people who I know that live there seem to like the relaxed atmosphere, but it's a little farther away than most apartments. A few administrators said that because of these other housing developments, the push for revamping on-grounds housing hasn't been as strong.