Virginia Commonwealth University Top Questions

It would have been awesome to know how important it is to join clubs and get involved with the school. I didn't join student organizations till last semester and they truely are a great way to meet people.

That I wasn't going to need my car. I come from a more rural community where one couldn't really "walk" anywhere one always needed to drive there and so I thought it was going to be the same here but it turns out that its not as everything is within walking distance and if not then there is plenty of public transportation to get you where you need to go without paying the outrageous parking subscriptions.

I wish I knew the campus was going to be this diverse. VCU is incredibly diverse; not just racially or ethnically, there are people here from all age groups, from all walks of life. Its mostly nice and exposes the students to different experiences that one might not find at other campus.

I wish I had known ahead of time that your GPA gets more resilient to change as you progress throughout the years. As a freshman, you can get caught up in new extracurricular activities, new friends, and parties, causing students to lose focus and not dedicate enough time to schoolwork. I partied more than I needed to freshman year, making my job much harder. After regaining focus by my sophomore year, my GPA rose but it was much harder than it had to be if I had only focused from the beginning.

I wish that I had known more about student debt and how loans work. In highschool there is a huge pressure to work really really hard to get into the best school possible. I'm sure that there are benifits to going to a top tier school, but those kids are going to graduate with so much student debt. Now that I am in college the pressure is to get the best return investment. This knowlege would have saved me a lot of stress about the future.

I wish i had more information on financial resources. As an out of state student and loosing financial resources from my family at the end of my freshman year, i wish there were more programs or waivers for students that dont meet the usual requirements posted on the school website.

Prior to coming to this school, I wish I had known more about graduation requirements, and the various hoops students have to jump for in order to earn financial aid. This school did a poor job of informing students on the ways that majors and minors work, and the advisors seem to know no more than the students do when it comes to complicated questions. Google offers more help than the advisors, truly.

I wish I had known more abour study abroad opportunities.

I wish I knew that I was allowed to hang up posters in my room using thumbtacks.

I wish I would have applied sooner.

I had all the information I needed, but join the honors college!!

I wish I had been given the full story about how my program works and had received personal accounts from previous students on what they were doing after graduation. Colleges like to play up their programs to sound like the best option you have. This does not mean that a program is bad, only that you need to do plenty of research to make sure it is right for you, especially if your program is small like mine.

I wish that I had learned the importance of scholarships

I wish I had known how to get tickets to basketball games.

I wish that I had known about all the opportunities to join the many student organziations on campus. When I started my first semester, of course I was adjusting to the college life, but I wish I could have been more immersed into the community. There is a SOVO fair every year to showcase the different organizations. I wish that the SOVO fair would have been advertised more to the freshmen who had no clue what it was for.

I wish I would have known about the healthier options that VCU offers for swipes/blocks in the dining plan. As a freshman, the minimum dining plan includes 200 blocks (with varying amounts of dining dollars) which can be used in the Shafer Dining Hall or for meal exchange in surrounding restaurants on campus. Few people actually go through all of those swipes in a semester and they don't run over to the next year. I thought I had to eat Pizza Hut, IHOP, and Raising Cane's everyday, but there's cost efficient healthier options too.

Before coming to school, I wish I had known how to fit scolarships into my schedule. I came in undecided, no scholarships , out of state, and my primary focus was to earn a 4.0. I did it! Now that I'm in my second semester, I've realized that good grades won't pay off if I put absolutley nothing towards paying for school. Very often I sit and attempt to work on scholarships. I find myself flustered, doubtful and constantly trying to apply to too many at once.

I honestly don't wish I had known anything more than I already had before coming to VCU. Part of figuring out how to go to school and live on my own was what made college so much fun for me, and if I needed any help, there were so many friends, faculty, and community members basically jumping up and down willing to help me out. Some students say they can't seem to find the help they need here, but I found the most welcoming presence when I came to VCU.

I wish that I had known the extent of the workload I would be exposed to and also that upperclassmen basically prey on freshman.

I wish I had realized how easy it is for a single class to bring down your gpa. Being in advanced classes through high school gave me a crutch of weighted credit but when I came to VCU it took me a long time to realize you can't be lazy and successful academically. I also wish I had learned to focus more than I had in high school. When you're on your own for the first time, it's easy to be preoccupied with your social life.

While the school for the most part was very similar to what I expected, I wish I had come to Richmond beforehand to at least get a feel for the city before attending school, just so that I would be better prepared for city life.

I wish I had known exactly what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to do Biology but now I like Chemistry. The reason why I did not choose chemistry at first is because everyone with Pre-medical or Pre-dental tracks chooose biolog. I wish I had known that chemistry is not as hard as everyone else says and that I should have followed what I loved. Also, I wish I knew about websites that have descriptions of the professors before signing up for their classes.

I wish I would have known, that Virginia Commonwealth University Music program wasn't for me.

I wish I had known how easy it was to apply myself. Sucess is easily attained by the hard working. In highschool, I did not try extremely hard in school, and I was content with being part of the ordinary. Now I know, it is easy to stand out if you just focus on the goals you set, and strive for excellence. Also, I would have applied for more scholarships earlier, and also gotten a job at a yonger age.

How to drive: especially as an art major, a car would have been really useful.

I wish I would have seen the whole campus, it's a busy place and city.

The transition was a little bit of both. The transition from high school classes to college classes was a bit difficult. While it was easy for me to maintain my responsibility for my attendance in classes, it’s quite strenuous to think that failing one exam would have a tremendous impact on my overall grade. However, upholding my grades from high school to college has been an easy task. With my successful study habits from high school it has been easy to prepare for exams in college.

How many people in Richmond and VCU smoke. It can be difficult to breathe at times.

The major I truly wanted-I had to repeat or take new classes due to changing majors.

The one thing I really wish I would have known before coming to this school is to not invest in the largest meal plan available to students. I spent way too much money on "swipes" and "dining dollars" (VCU's way of ensuring students have food to eat), and actually found myself trying to get rid of them before the semester was over. I am positive that next semester, my sophmore year, I will not invest in a meal plan, but instead will use my own money to pay for food that is cheaper and healthy.

Deadlines are NOT suggestions. I wish I knew to take them more seriously because I would have saved myself a large amount of hassle, financially and time wise.

Before attending Virginia Commonwealth University, I wish I would have known how to better utilize my time to study for class. In high school my classes were hard but not like how hard they are now in college. In high school it was a lot easier to sort of get away with not studying or doing the reading for my classes, and still ending up with a decent grade. When I got to college, I struggled to learn how to better use my time to study and prepare for my classes so that I could get the grades I wanted.

I wish I had known how expensive life as a college art student is. I have heard about it, seen it in movies, etc. but never experience it. I know things in life are expensive out of college due to financial situations at home, but I never considered just how expensive it would be when studying to be an art major. No one prepared me for the amount of supplies I would need to buy on an almost day to day basis!

I wish i had known to join more clubs so I could become more social.

I wish I would have know that college is a little harder than high school and requires more study time and time out of the classroom. I wish I would have known that classes are a lot bigger and it is your responsibility to keep up on the work and attend classes. The professor does not keep up on all the students as well.

I wish I had known that being a student at this University, I was going to have little help from the faculty. My freshman year, I lived at home with my parents, and I felt as though VCU focused mostly on the students living in the dorms and made sure they were taken care of, but did not give the same treatment towards the students living off-campus.

Honestly, I am very satisfied with my school and haven't found anything I wanted to change about it yet. The learning environment there is very good. They offer great courses and wonderful professors who teach them. One thing that I really love about VCU is that it is very diverse. Lots of students from other countries and religions attend VCU. And whenever you need help or need t o inquire about something, there is always someone to help you whether it's through phone for face to face.

I wish I had known that the high school workload and the college workload are incomparable. With the exception of a few AP classes, high school work, homework, and exams in no way predisposed me to the amount of effort and attention that is required for college classes. Thankfully, I was able to adapt quickly before the more difficult, major-specific classes began.

I wish I would have known that there would be tons of free time and you should never put off homework because there are fun things happening around you.

I wish if i knew that they have the worst financial aid counselors.

That no financial help is available for out of state students!

I wish I had known all the scholarships I could apply for, wish I had better idea of what major I wanted to study.

I think that I am comfortable with what a knew up until I came to school, because the things that I wasn't aware of were taught to me as I went along.

It is safer than people say it is

I wish I would've know the tuition was going to go up so much each year

It would have been nice to know that on-campus housing after freshmen year was hard to obtain unless in a special program with the school.

Coming to VCU I wish I knew that transfer students get treated differently than non transfer students. I also wish I knew that it would be harder to make friends coming in as a transfer student rather than making the friends during freshman year. It's a hard transition coming from a two year school now attending a four year institution. I knew it was not going to be easy but I wish I would of found more people that I have things in common with.

That money is not just rewarded with receiving good grades. In order to continue with your education one has to dig deep for scholarshps. It is not wise to depend on academic or financial aid advisors alone, because your best interest may not always be at heart.

I wish I had known about all the different clubs and when they met. There is just so much to do at VCU. However, I did not know about them until much later, or I did not know when or where they met at. I would have loved to have been active member earlier on in the school year.

I wish I had talked to someone that had gone to college and told me the real pressure that was on you . I thought that college was going to be a peice of cake I didn't have to study for test in high school so I thought it was going to be the same way in college. I had to learnt he hard way but it was worth correcting my mistakes on my own.