Villanova University Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Kathleen

I'd have to say that, for the most part, the stereotype of our school is accurate. The majority of students are white. Many of them are rich. It is important, in my opinion, for any high school senior and his or her parents to understand that there will most likely be a "typical" student at any school you go to. At Villanova, the "typical" student is white and upper-middle class. It is also important to understand that the stereotype is not the rule. There are people of every race, religion, and economic class at Villanova, as with most other schools.

Charlie

Yes. Ask any administrator or faculty member why no Center for Jewish Studies exists, while a Center for Islamic Studies does.

Alexandra

To an overwhelming degree, this stereotype rings true. However, I'm not sure if that's necessarily unfortunate or not, or if one could really say its exclusively a Villanova stereotype, given the fact that these days most universities seem to be hurting for diversity. I definitely do think though, that Villanova has an explicitly wealthy culture - this can be seen just by scanning the outfits of students in the quad - you can definitely tell that the vast majority care a ton about their appearance... even for 8.30AM classes, few and far in between just roll out of bed and run out the door. Having said that, nobody's going to scoff at you for doing so. It's also worth saying that almost every girl is accessorized with a coach bag and a tan, and in the winter it isn't rare to see ridiculous splashes of burberry print dappled across rain boots and umbrellas. I suppose you could say it's Abercrombie catalogue meets Vogue. Personally, I think for the most-part, students live up to the Villanova 'clone' a little too well. Nevertheless, it's still completely easy to find your niche within the community, and while there seems to be a definite Villanova mold, it's not at all intimidating nor is it pressed upon you. I'd say for an affluent group of people, there aren't many of the pretentious narrow-minded kind (people are actually pretty well-rounded, and especially passionate about community service)... making it pretty easy for just about anyone to be thrown into the melting pot and have a great time - at the end of the day, everyone's still a college kid.

Toby

To some extent, but not the majority. I would say this is true to 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the time. I know many kids who got near perfect SAT scores and could have gotten into any school they wanted but chose Villanova. And there are a few kids that did not get into the top schools.

Ryan

not quite, it's easy to judge students at face value but then be totally surprised with the people that they really are... i've learned not to judge a book by its cover. politically, i'd say the campus is actually fairly evenly split these days. the students get more liberal and diversity improves each year, but the student body could get a lot more diverse in terms of the LGBT population, and students could be a lot more gay-friendly on the whole.

Nicole

Definitely not. There is a ton of stuff to do at Villanova so it is really fun. Students come from a variety of financial situations. Like everywhere some students are from very wealthy families while others students receive a ton of financial aid, but you regardless of you situation you will never feel ostracized.

Leslie

A large majority of the students are what you would consider "preppy" in the way they dress. However, I think many people misinterpret the classification of "preppy" as having a negative connotation. Where many college students prefer to be comfortable in class in sweat pants and slippers, I think most Villanova students attend class looking pulled together and professional. Which is appropriate for students at our age and seniors getting ready to enter the professional world. Looking at the demographics of students, yes we have a majority of "white" students. The new president has made a point of saying that he would like to make the student body more diverse in the coming years. The wealthy family stereotype is completely false. Students live at school with their parents for us to judge, and in an economy where most families are running on loans etc. many students are probably attending school with the knowledge that their future jobs will have to pay off education debt. Hot girls....obviously true. My brother in law informed me that 10 years earlier when he had applied to colleges, he and his high school buddies ranked their school options based on hot girls. Villanova was considered "A1."

Austin

oh, absolutely

Brendan

Villanova is somewhat preppy, but must less so than people think it is. It is easy to find people who are not preppy around here and it is tons of fun. There are plenty of activities on campus and Philadelphia is a half hour train ride away. There is also a very laid back idea of religion here. We definitely have some people who are quite religious, but it is a very accepting community and the religious aspects are only there if you seek them out, so it is not in your face.

Carolina

Mostly

Crystie

Not particularly. Although Villanova is a predominantly white school, we have our fair share of minorities represented in our student body. There are many organizations on campus for these students and they continue to grow as Villanova expands its range of students. One of my friends is the first Vietnamese student to come to Villanova. As for the way of dress, I would say it is very similar to other college campuses in that students first bring an array of styles to the campus, but after a while, everyone seems to mesh together and form the unique Villanova style. As for the Villanofun nickname, the safety is strict, but that is completely understandable in light of the Virginia Tech killings of last year. It is important to keep the students safe, but that is not to say that the students at Villanova do not have fun on the weekends. Some schools are "pack-up" schools, but most students stay at Villanova on the weekends. I know I only went home for doctor's appointments, and I would have rather stayed on campus, because the atmosphere is amazing.

Eric

yes

Courtney

Somewhat, but the students are not all stuck up and there could be more diversity i guess.

Erin

The campus is working on diversity. Also, a lot of the students come from modest family backgrounds and are very down to earth.

Trish

Villanova is diverse, but the majority is white. I haven't witnessed or personally experienced problems of diversity. Many students do present themselves in class with an image of belonging to a higher culture or social background.

Rachel

To a point- it can get expensive to go out to parties since you have to pay for cabs or train tickets to get to parties, but really it's as fun as you make it.

Peter

for the most part yes.

Brittany

No, not really.

Parker

no

Jaimie

well I think that there is some truth to them but a majority of the students at Villanova are genuinely nice people and very into community service. I think Novafest this past weekend definitely proved the "Villanofun" nickname wrong.

martha

there is as much diversity as you want to make there be. you can go to any college in the united states and hang out with people exactly like you, or you can go to a college and meet people who are not like you - but on the whole, the people at villanova are all somewhat similar. it is not a huge house party school but that doesnt stop it from being incredibly fun, you just have to know the rigth places to go

Courtney

ummmm... for a large portion of the student body yes. Even for many students who wouldn't naturally fall inot these stereotypes, it seems as though they try to become them.

Anna

is predominatly white middle to upper class

Andrew

For the most part, yes.

Maria

Actually, there are kids of many different races and from all over the world in my classes. They speak English and their native languages. Yes, there is a majority of white students but these students are from far and wide. Everyone comes into Villanova as an individual. No one can or wants to gang up on anyone or take sides with anyone. Everyone gets along at Villanova because we are all so different and unique and have a mutual understanding of this. About the sports and partying, Villanova does care a lot about sports, but students never place sports ahead of academics nor does Villanova itself. It costs way too much money to party and shrug off school work. Everyone I know at Villanova takes work very seriously because we all have a goal to do something grand with our lives, something much bigger than sports and parties. Whereas there will always be more parties and sports games to go to anytime in life, Villanova is a once in a lifetime opportunity and this is understood by pretty much everyone here. As for drinking, I don't know because I don't live on campus (I am a commuter) and am not a drinker myself. But from what I see on facebook (a website with profiles of many students from Villanova) it looks like a lot of students like to drink. I would advise other students to make wise decisions about school and not to drink, especially if they are under 21. Despite the drinking, students still manage to do well because they put work ahead of partying as I said before.

Courtney

While the majority of Villanova students are white there is still a great amount of diversity as students come from all over including tons of overseas locations. We have students from Iraq, Bangladesh, England, Singapore, Puerto Rico, and so many more random countries and places. The people that call Villanova Villa-no-fun are obviously the people that either don't go here or are bitter that they didn't get in. There is so much to do on weekends and there are so many colleges in the area that if you can't find something here you can somewhere close by. The girls at nova are not your typical sweatpants everyday college students, in the spring and fall its dresses everyday and our new student gym is one of the most popular places on campus because overall Villanovans look good.

Gretchen

Sometimes, but I have found that Villanova has way more diversity than I had thought I would encounter.

Austin

Mostly.

Mark

VillaNo Fun is completely wrong-if you dont get involved and make an effort, maybe this could be true, but I havnt had to try hard to have an amazing time so far. VanillaNova-Villanova does have a high white population, but they are starting to integrate more diversity into campus. And also, minorities dont have a hard time of fitting in usually.

Stephen

While a great many students fit this profile, if one explores the campus you can find many different people with varied interests and styles. It just takes a little effort.

Chris

For some

Joe

Yes

josh

Sometimes not all the time though

mike

yes

Brett

To some degree. I am not bashing on anyone but we do have your stereotypical student here a Nova. However there are a lot of people who are very down to earth and not from rich families.

Dana

somewhat

Tate

-there's always something fun going on, even though you may have to look a little harder than most places to find it. -There are all types of people at nova. -No everyone is wealthy.

Rachel

for the most part

Molly

This can be said of any college...everyone is capable, and everyone strives to look and do their best. That's natural. As for the wealth, it's college...everyone is cheap, you just be smart about how to spend your money.

Rory

The "Villa no fun" nickname is definitely 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} wrong. "Vanilla nova" is about 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} wrong. A fairly large portion of Villanova students are from rich, white sub-urbs. (Most of them are from Jersey) The whole J Crew and Abercrombie thing is fairly true. The typical student here finds most of their clothes in one of the two stores. Villanova is definitely not as conservative as I heard it was. This year, we had Michelle Obama, Barak Obama's wife, come and give a speech. Tatyana Ali also gave a speech supporting Obama. We also had Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton's daughter, give a speech. Villanova is definitely more democratic than it is perceived to be.

Jill

Most of the time no

Amy

I think they are accurate but not to the extreme that most people think. Villanova is not a good school for partying and its students are not very diverse.

Ann

On some level, there's a huge contingent of Villanova kids who fit into this stereotype, but not everyone does. There are tons of service trips and opportunities on campus, which the majority of students participate in, and while people do focus in on careers and assume they'll be loaded sometime later in life, they do work hard and try to give back at the same time.

Morgan

To a certain extent yes, but great deal of peace a justice activity on campus which makes the student body more aware of their surroundings then they were from their upbringing.

bill

no. there are so many different types of people here. the student community is very friendly and we have great school spirit.

Brett

to some extent-there are a lot of kids here who come from very wealthy families, and the population is mostly caucasian. however, the students here are not stuck up at all.

Jess

Many of the students at Villanova are well-off but not all, and the stereotype that we cant do a lot to have fun here is true, at least on campus. we can never have any parties on campus, even if we're 21.

Katie

They certainly don't describe everyone but it isn't difficult to understand why we get such stereotypes

Chris

The first two yes. Villanova is a basketball school, and is predominantly white. However, though there are some stuck up rich kids at Villanova, I don't think there are any more than at any other school. There are tons of your average joes, getting financial aide and scholarships to attend and are grateful as hell for it.

meg

Yes, for the most part I think they are. There is definitely a certain way people are perceived here because of the way they show off their money through clothes, bags, etc. The people you know really does matter when it comes to getting involved on campus.