Virginia Commonwealth University

Look, I didn't expect the most challenging coursework at VCU, but I also expected a semblance of academia. They'll wow you with their talk about exciting basketball and facility upgrades, but VCU needs to seriously work on the basic pillar of being a university: academics. I transferred into VCU from Northern Virginia Community College and I depressingly learned more at that school than I did at VCU. Also, the professors at the undergraduate level lack the professionalism and teaching prowess that you'd expect of a university employee (which is especially annoying considering the cost of an education these days); most of mine didn't even have PhDs.

Also, the social scene is terrible if you're not a hipster (which seem to make up the majority of the school). And while I'm fairly liberal myself, I'm still open-minded to other point of views. God help you if you have conservative leanings 'cause these hipsters that claim to be open-minded will rain down their wrath on you like there's no tomorrow.All in all, I'm highly disappointed at VCU.

1st Year Female -- Class 2016

Social Life: A, Education Quality: F

Well, I am an older, life-long student who was looking to finish up an Accounting degree. Previously, I had attended eight or so other schools without any problems...only good experiences for the most part. I had received my BA from the College of William & Mary, my MA from James Madison University, and had taken classes at schools from Florida International University to West Virginia State University. So...I was already well experienced with the university lifestyle prior to attending VCU. My first impressions of VCU were that it was like a city college, a place where older people could go and change their careers. No frills, just a generic, practical degree. I knew beforehand that the school had about the lowest reputation of any 4-year school in the state of Virginia (excepting Radford University, which I know nothing about...except that it is a rural school). I attended VCU for only one academic year. The first thing I noticed at the school was that it let anyone in, was filled with lackluster students who admitted that all they wanted were C's, an administration that was only concerned with making money, and a faculty that did nothing but read from textbook publisher Powerpoint slides. Every other day you get emails about on-campus crime. Parts of Richmond are beautiful, but it really is a mostly dead town (especially around the Monroe Park campus) full of homeless/unemployed ghetto folks who routinely commit petty thefts and strong-armed robberies. My real problems started with a Professor named Jon Hill. All this spring semester he would call me derogatory names, joking with his in-class assistants, etc, and just be a general immature arsehole. I thought ignoring this might work, but I was wrong. As usual, I was making an 'A' in the class...and then, on the night of the mid-term (evening class 7-9:40), I turned in my answer sheet and accidentally took the question sheet home. I immediately informed the professor via email what had happened, but (without any benefit of the doubt) he filed an honor code violation against me for "cheating." Later, in emails to the Department Chair, he admitted that his accusation was a mere test to see how I would respond. However, after he filed his fraudulent complaint, Mr. Hill and the administration proceeded in every way possible to ruin my name. I filed complaint after complaint against Hill for harassment. The end result? I get kicked out of the school for "harassment." Even though the administrators knew what he did, they allowed his harassment to continue, ignored my complaints, and then got rid of me rather than deal with their own problem faculty member (probably because his wife is a financial officer at Altria and helps the school get funding from that company). A major issue with this school is that it gives people degrees so that they can then work at the school...there have even been scandals in the past where the school has been found to be selling degrees. As with any large organization, it only cares about money, will do anything to avoid responsibility for its actions, and will try to destroy you rather than admit fault. Save your money and go to JMU, W&M, or just about any other school in Virginia. As they say, outside of Richmond, no one cares about VCU. Even in Richmond, they prefer UofR students to VCU slackers. If you need specifics...email me...I would like to help you avoid a costly mistake.

1st Year Male -- Class 2013

Campus Maintenance: B, Education Quality: F