Your Turn: Letters to the Editor

Why I came to VCU

If you ask a student why they came to VCU, there’s a good chance they won’t know what you’re talking about. That’s because most students don’t go to VCU. But ask a VCU student why they’re here, and expect to hear how they weren’t accepted to any other colleges. Maybe it’s because they didn’t do much (voluntary) community service, or maybe it’s because they began their sentences with “but” in high school English.

I came for the great educational experience VCU offers. I also came for the thrill of Richmond. This university endures plenty of abuse from its students and staff, but it has my support, my loyalty and my major. My only concern about VCU was the overcrowding, but I quickly saw that this was a solvable problem.

VCU is one of America’s great universities, in one of America’s great cities. Richmond has the ninth most murders per capita in the country. It may not be number one, but it’s still top ten, crushing other college towns like Princeton, Berkeley and Amherst. Richmond’s homicide rate has international standing, far ahead of Europe’s foundering crime statistics. Even the great metropolis of London, which at one time could produce such prolific murderers as Jack the Ripper, can only muster 2.4 murders per 100,000. This is woefully inferior to Richmond’s 35.8 per 100,000.

One can hail the academic accomplishments of European cities all they want, but Richmond will still be more dangerous. There are several advantages to this.

Virginia Commonwealth University is expanding rapidly, and classes are getting crowded. Regularly sought-out overrides are nuisances for professors and an obstruction to the educational process. A little thinning out of the student body would improve VCU’s academic quality without any additional facilities or faculty, as well as give real hands-on experience to medical students at the university’s MCV Campus.

Barring other variables, with VCU enrolling nearly 30,000 students, we can expect only about 10.7 students will be murdered, or 10 murders and a severe maiming. This could open up an entire class, though only 15% of classes have less than 10 students. Federal funding through the Americans with Disabilities Act will ensure adequate facilities will be available in the new class for that one maimed student. Though these factors are not accounted for in the university’s budget, I believe they can significantly alleviate problems of overcrowding and served as an incentive for me to come here.

Though VCU itself formed only 37 years ago, they already offer courses about the university itself. VCU 101 and VCU 102 are part of the “college success program” which, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to do with the success of the college, but that of the program itself. I was fortunate enough to land a spot in the 8 a.m. VCU 102 class, where I and my classmates have an opportunity to learn skills we might have missed in high school, such as homework, note-taking and learning to write “my classmates and I” instead of “I and my classmates.”

I am taking my VCU 102 class very seriously, and I intend to major in VCU-ology. I could make great contributions to the understanding of VCU as one of the world’s best-trained VCU-ologists. Of course, the University of Richmond has a better VCU studies program, but I couldn’t resist coming to learn at a place that has fascinated me since childhood.

Virginia Commonwealth University prepares students well for the rigors they must face in real life. Gunshots and police sirens merely blend in with an urban symphony after a semester in the Fan. The hassles of arbitration and redundancy are mere chores after mastering VCU’s academic advising program. The scavenger hunt for where the lecture really is will prepare you for those days where “they just had to move the office.” Located in the prosperous city of Richmond, VCU has been preparing Virginia’s third and fourth best students for decades. That’s why over 40% of freshmen decide to graduate from VCU.

I always knew that after attending VCU, I’d be ready for anything – that’s why I came to VCU.

Sincerely,

John Hewitt