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.