Virginia Commonwealth University

Shafer has a pest problem, and it wasn't uncommon for me to find hair in my food. Everything is great during family weekend and orientation, but after that it all goes downhill.

The student body is pretty friendly and a lot of them are easy to talk to. They come from all over the place and are interesting. There are some students that have their priorities a little backwards...but that's almost any college.

It's pretty difficult to rate the faculty because some teachers are great! Unfortunately, there are some who will make you hate even thinking about the class. Some professors will lose your work, talk down to the students, and only read from PowerPoints with very little engagement or explanation. In some classes, the coursework is just four months of busywork and not at all challenging, these classes are usually intro-courses to fulfill your non-major requirements.

The social life is pretty fun. There is always something to do, but you have to be very careful because Richmond at night can get pretty dangerous and safety doesn't seem like much of a priority to VCU. I have had friends held at gunpoint and one attacked by a group of men right on campus. They focus a lot of energy on noise violations from parties though.

I've heard before that VCU grades exceptionally hard (and they do) and for one reason- to fail students. After all how can VCU build a multi million dollar gym without a healthy earning of tuition per year?

Not only will you get a scenic view of homeless people when you walk to class but you'll also have to shell out $330+ to park, that or pay to park elsewhere, which will cost you well over $100 a month.

Classes are either in a new state of the art building or they're in a decrepit dump that looks like an old middle school.

Maybe VCU is simply an art school, but not all of us have ambitions of being the number one sculptor in the US and shooting up heroin.

If you have any analytical thought or interest in STEM work, run, run.