Hey! Congratulate Me, Too! (A College Thread)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, I didn’t want to take away from BigKahunaBurger’s thread, so I thought I would start a new one to announce my college choice. And here goes. Next year, unless I get off of the waiting list at Northwestern (fat chance), I will be attending the fine school of…

**UNIVERSITY [COLOR=blue]OF VIRGINIA[/COLOR] **

And, like BigKahunaBurger, I have just a few rational points to throw out there. First of all, a big-time thank you to everybody who offered advice in the “College: the Final Decision” thread. IT was a close race between BC and UVA, and one of the biggest pieces of advice I got in that thread was to visit. I’d already been to BC, and time constraints kept me from being able to get out there again, but UVA was fair game, so visit I did.

First off, the campus is absolutely…completely…totally…gorgeous. Serpentine walls, rotundas, lawns, oh my! It was a nice 80 degrees both days that I was there, which made it wonderful.
Also, UVA has one of the best English departments in the country. This is a big thing for someone like me who wants to major in, you guessed it, English. Or at least something English/writing related.
One of the big things I looked at when I was there was theatre. I didn’t know anything about theatre at UVA, but since I want to do it in college it’s big on my list of priorities. I got down there, and was surprised to find that they really do have a great program going. They even have a theatre group called the “First Year Players,” which puts on two performances a year and is made up completely of first year students. This is good, considering that I want to get involved almost right off the bat.
And lastly, one of the other things I wasn’t sure about were the frats. I’m not a big frat person, or at least don’t think I am, and UVA can seem pretty frat dominated from the outside. But even though about 30 percent of the population is Greek, they really didn’t seem to overpower the social scene too much, and that’s something that I like.

So, UVA it is. I’m glad to be done, or at least done enough where I can sit back and wait for final word from Northwestern.

Wahoowa!

2

Hey, congrats! IMHO, you’ve made the right choice. Of course, I could be slightly biased–after all, I’ve spent the past four years of my life here at UVA.

We do have a gorgeous campus although people’ll look at you funny if you call it a campus while you’re here; we call it “grounds”. You’ll get used to the lingo pretty quickly. Our english department is supposed to be pretty good, and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with them while I’ve been here. Frats seem like they dominate the social scene, but if you put any effort into looking for other places to party, you’ll find a million. FYP is a great group along those lines, and they put on some damn fine productions.

If you’re interested in journalism, you need to get involved with our fine newspaper, The Cavalier Daily. There is no real journalism department, so that’s pretty much your only choice.

Anyway, congrats again. Feel free to contact me if there’s anything you want to know; my IM name’s in my profile.

Wahoowa!

3

Good job, UVa sounds like a good fit. Plus, you can go to the “Where did you go to college” thread and say UVA Class of '06. Now that we know where we’re going to college, it’s time to slack.

d+r before screech-owl comes to yell at me for saying that.

4

UVa’s a fine place - I picked up one of my degrees there, probly had some of the same perfessers as ultrafilter. Had a roomie who got his PhD in English at UVa, very good department.

Hey ultrafilter - when I was there, there were actually three student newspapers: the Cavalier Daily (of course), the University Journal, which published 3 issues a week, and was IMO just as good as the CD, and a weekly whose name I’ve forgotten. Is the Cavalier Daily now the only game in town?

5

Jester, make sure you go see the hypnotist when you’re down there. I saw part of one of his performances a few years back and I was crying I was laughing so hard.

6

“Theatre”? As in: “I didn’t know anything about theatre at UVA”. Sheesh kid, this college you’re going to? Is it in some metric country or something? Or England? Maybe it’s in England. No? UVA is in the United States? Huh. And you still say “theatre”. Huh.

(Stupid snot-nosed babies go off to college and get all hoity-toity on us… grumble, grumble…)

Oh yeah, good job on the college thing. Have fun. Study hard. All that.
-Rue.

7

Congratulations. I adore UVA. I think you’ll really get a lot out of being at a place with that much history, and the honor system is a huge plus.

Sniffle. Okay, now I miss Charlottesville. sob

8

Neato torpedo for you! That part of Virginia is beautiful, and friends of mine who attended UVA speak highly of it. Good luck to ya!

9

Wow, I had no idea there were so many ex-UVA students here.

I am not one, but I do live in Charlottesville right now. So, welcome Jester, and feel free to ask about anything!

(This is cool, because ultra is leaving, so now there will still be an awesome Doper in my midst.)

10

[hijack]
ultrafilter - what are your plans for next year?

Grad school in math, I’m hoping. You’re definitely PhD material, if you’re interested in going that direction. :slight_smile:
[/hijack]

11

Nah, I’m putting off grad school for a few years. I need a break from school. I have a job lined up (as to where…I’ll tell you guys later). But I definitely want to go for a PhD in math at some point. I’m thinking that I’ll be ready to go for it in about four years.

As for the newspapers at UVA, the University Journal no longer exists and The Declaration is going strong. The only problem is that the CD doesn’t allow its staff to work on other newspapers while they’re working on the CD (a horrible, horrible policy if I ever saw one), and it’s the most serious newspaper; that’s why I recommended it.

12

To you and all other students who are going to college next year for the first time:

GET THOSE DEPOSITS IN! May 1 is the deadline nationwide. Many colleges are lenient and may let your deposit slide in even if it’s postmarked after May 1, but you never know. It’s the final gateway for a college to control enrollment if they find that they have a larger-than-expected class coming in. They can choose to slam the door and not accept your deposit on the technicality that you sent it after May 1. Do NOT let this happen to you.

If you can’t send the deposit, go through the procedure for a waiver. Same deadline applies and do this sooner rather than later!!!

13

Congratulations Jester!! And good-luck to you :slight_smile:

14

Congratulations, sweetheart!

I have every confidence that you are going to make me VERY proud, just as you always have.

And when you win the Pulitzer Prize, we expect to be thanked appropriately…something along the lines of “and I would like to thank all my Doper friends, who helped me to see things I would have otherwise missed. Who helped me to expand my mind and dream big things.”

Um…well, maybe that isn’t such a good idea after all. :slight_smile:

Much Love,

Cheri

15

I note that “uva” is Latin for “grape.”

Make of this information what you will.

16

Yowza! Sorry that I’m so late getting back to this thread, but I though that I should take the time to thank everybody for all the kind words. So, here goes…

ultrafilter: I guess you’re graduating after this year, then? Nuts. I would have liked to have gotten to know you and whatnot, but thanks for all the advice. The Cav Daily is definitely up there on the “things I want to get involved in” list, but one thing is for sure: it’s a really frikkin’ long list. And I didn’t know that they don’t let you work for other papers if you work there, but I suppose it does make sense if it’s a daily paper.

Big Kahuna Burger: Thanks! But where, pre tell, is this college thread, so that I can go in and state my rank and serial number properly?

Firefly: One of your degrees there? Geez. Color me appropriately impressed. What was the one that you got at UVA in?

’punha: Is the hypnotist a constant show there, or a touring act that just stopped at UVA? It sounds interesting.

Rue: “Theatre” is only the beginning. I drink sodas with my pinkie out, too, and drive on the left side of the road. Sure, it’s dangerous, but most people get out of my way. They’re all just uncultured peons, anyway.

Cranky: Sorry to get you all nostalgic. But maybe once I’m down there I can try to get some old Doper alumni together and get to know em. You’d be more than welcome. Course, that would require organizational skills, which I admittedly don’t got. And no worries about the deposit, it’s already in the mail.

FairyChatMom: “Neato torpedo”? I need to use that more. Thanks for the expression!

HerMajestyLorna: I’m not sure that I’ll be able to maintain the “awesome” part of that statement, but I’ll at least be in your midst, and it’d be an honor to get to meet you!

dreamer: Thanks!

Scotti: Pullitzer Prize? Eek! Talk about pressure. But I’ll do my best to make you proud, cuz you’re the best Scottmom in the entire history of the world! And I’ll certainly try to keep in touch when I’m there! Though I might rethink that message…

matt: “uva,” eh? Well, it I was good at puns, I might be able to do something funny with that. But I’m not, so I’ll con-seed to you on that one. Though I’m grapeful for the information.
:smiley:

17

Well, I still have a few friends in Charlottesville, so if I’m coming down, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Tom DeLuca is a traveling hypnotist who does a show every fall. I’ve been every year, and it’s definitely worth your time to go see him.