Tyler is joining us on the blog today to share his perspective on the University of Richmond!

While he’s discussing Richmond in particular, this is useful for anyone applying anywhere. pay attention to the characteristics that kept Tyler happy this year in the midst of what could have been a much worse situation, and consider asking related questions at interviews and visits (see the very end for a few ideas!).

Keep reading to learn about his freshman year, and if you do want to learn even more about Richmond in particular, check out our profile - a sneak peek of the dozens of college profiles available in our Membership Vault!

Hello everyone! It’s Tyler, and today I wanted to share my thoughts about why University of Richmond was the best college fit for me, even amidst a global pandemic. I will be discussing why I believe that the University of Richmond can support and satisfy all career paths, why they handled COVID-19 so well, and how the school is helping me pursue my ultimate career path with all of my unique interests.

Student and Career Support

One of the first and most exciting aspects of University of Richmond that I encountered during my freshman year was the faculty and staff’s commitment to making sure that my University of Richmond experience was exactly what was promised during the application process - even though the world was in a very different place!

The first thing I noticed was how outgoing the professors were and how willing they were to walk around the room, or talk with you on Zoom, looking to help students and work with them to understand the material being presented. Every single professor I had this year was enthusiastic about getting to know what made each of their students unique and special. For example, my first year seminar professor would stay back after class and encourage students to go up and ask questions about assignments, or even just chit chat.

In addition, the professors at University of Richmond were very much invested in the mental health of the students they were teaching, and would ask students halfway through the semester if they needed more time on particularly challenging topics or assignments, or even give us a day off to catch our breaths. This level of support, on top of making every student feel known and cared for, is what made every class I have had so far at Richmond truly special.

Career Services and Charting a Path to the Future at Richmond

At the beginning of the first semester, every student at Richmond was assigned an academic advisor to help tailor students’ curriculum to their respective interests and passions. I simply had no idea just how much this academic support, as well as the friendship I made with my academic advisor, would help me throughout this truly bizarre year.

The first months of my freshman year were exciting and new, meeting friends and getting to know my roommate, as well as acclimating to all of the COVID guidelines and procedures. However, as time passed, I noticed there was a problem with one of my classes.

I had signed up for an Intermediate Intensive Spanish course to fulfill my language requirement, and soon decided that I had no business being in it - my Spanish language skills were not advanced enough. I needed help, was struggling to keep up, and could sense that I was falling behind. I decided to get back in touch with my academic advisor, which ended up being the single most valuable decision of my freshman year of college.

I assumed that my advisor would tell me to drop the class and take an easier level of Spanish, but that’s not what happened at all. Instead, we formulated a plan during our meeting as to how I could focus more of my time on Spanish over other less intensive classes. She also showed me how to search for one of the many on-campus tutors that Richmond has available, so that I would have this extra resource.

This meeting not only allowed me to develop an actionable plan to later succeed in this Spanish class, but my advisor cleared my head of worry and doubt, and was able to give me the confidence I needed to finish the semester strong. In a school environment, I have never had someone more invested in my personal success and well-being than she was.

In addition to helping me with this challenge I had in Spanish, my advisor also spent hours over the semester meeting with me about my interests and getting to know me on a personal level in order to help me chart my career path. As a student, I am interested in entrepreneurship, science, and leadership studies, and hope to blend the three in some form at Richmond.

Although this seems like a rather odd combination of interests, at Richmond this is just another one of the many combinations of interests that they will work into a unique curriculum for you. My advisor showed me the robotics projects and classes available, and explained what I needed to know in order to double major and minor in anything I wanted! I could major in Leadership Studies and Business, and minor in Computer Science and Art History if that is what I wanted to do!

The endless possibilities of classes to take and paths to go down at Richmond make it the perfect place for anybody who wants to dive into new and interesting fields, and who wants to discover new and exciting passions.

How Richmond Handled COVID-!9

So, I know what is on everyone’s mind right now. You’re most likely saying to yourself, “Yeah Tyler, all this sounds wonderful, but does it really matter if you are spending the whole semester in your room or in quarantine?” This is a valid question, but Richmond, in my opinion, did a superb job of handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lot of schools in Virginia, as well as across the country, decided that they would only have classes online and have students be confined to their rooms for the majority of their experience at school. While this seemed like the safest option, what schools did not realize was the willingness for their students to break the rules. The whole semester long, I would hear my friends talking about how they would sneak out and break the rules, because the rules were too harsh and restrictive on new freshman. More restraints on students and their freedom on campus tended to breed more rule-breaking and inevitably, more cases of COVID on their college campuses. (Note from Colleen: we heard many, many reports of the same!).

However, this is not what Richmond had in mind. Yes, we could not eat together in the dining hall or gather in large places as a community, but we could have people in our rooms to socialize, and bond freely with our dorm-mates. What Richmond did so well was finding a perfect middle ground. They realized the inevitability of rule-breaking due to excessive restrictions, and allowed students reasonable social opportunities that would limit the number of people to a safe amount while allowing for the students to have somewhat of a normal college experience.

From what I can remember, the most cases we had on campus at a single time was 30, which is considerably less than other schools around the country. I am not saying that the school year wasn’t difficult and that COVID did not put a damper on my college experience, because it definitely did. What I am saying is that Richmond tried their best to preserve the mental health of their student body through socializing at a safe and respectable level, which ultimately made my experience much more bearable during such a difficult and frustrating year.

In Conclusion

I think most college students this year would agree with the statement that going to school, feeling motivated and making friends was very hard. I was lucky because I was able to make some great friends in the form of my hall-mates and my roommate, however, not every student was as lucky as me, and I realize that. No school in the country knew the best way to combat this pandemic, and everyone was simply trying to do their best with what they thought would keep their students and faculty safe.

However, despite all of the hardships faced this year, the University of Richmond did their best to maintain the happiness and mental health of their student population, while continuing their engaging and captivating education through attentive professors and caring faculty members.

The University of Richmond is a special place, and although I have yet to see its full potential in the presence of a normal school year, from what I experienced so far, I can already tell you that Richmond will continue to inspire me to chart my own path and push me to become a greater version of myself. I cannot wait to see what the next three years have in store for me at the University of Richmond!

key takeaways

Juniors may want to reflect on Tyler’s experience and whether it prompts questions of their own for the schools on their list - whether Richmond is in that group or not! We always recommend that students prepare 3-5 questions to ask during admissions interviews or high school visits, so this is a great time to jot some notes down.

Here are a few potential questions that relate to the topics he mentioned:

How did your institution handle academic instruction and student life during the Covid-19 pandemic? OR In your opinion, what were the best and worst decisions your institution made during the Covid-19 pandemic? This question would not be appropriate for an alumni interview, but could be great for an interview held by an upperclassman or admissions officer. While Covid will likely be long gone by the time rising seniors arrive on campus in Fall 2022, the answer may provide insight on the school’s priorities in the midst of a crisis - or perhaps on an ongoing basis!
What is the role of an academic advisor at your institution? How often do academic advisors meet with students? Do students meet with their advisor one-on-one or in small groups? It always baffles me that many medium-to-large schools do not provide one-on-one advising; instead, they have small groups of students meeting with their advisor at once. This is generally not a fact that is advertised to prospective students, so make sure to ask! The answers to these questions will give you an idea of what to expect in terms of individualized attention.
Your institution claims that students can easily double-major or double-minor, but how exactly would that work? Would I have to stay for five years in order to do this? Would someone help me put my schedule together to make sure that I am approaching my course planning in as efficient of a manner as possible? As someone who is working with a number of graduating seniors on their freshman year course registration, I can promise you that this can be a challenge at most schools. There’s a lot to consider, and if it feels easy, you probably aren’t doing it right. So wouldn’t it be great to have help?