Walking anywhere on campus during the first week of classes is always startling.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a local or someone fresh from a small town. Many people’s reactions this year are pretty much the same; There are so many people, and it didn’t feel this crowded last year.
That’s because it wasn’t. The statistics show more than 31,000 students are enrolled at VCU this year. How many of those 31,000 actually come onto the Monroe Park Campus, I’m not sure, but this is a record number for both the school and the state.
However, with all the positive attention the school receives come some challenges, most obviously, spatial ones. Anyone familiar with VCU’s expansion plan is aware of our building sprawl throughout the Fan and downtown. We’re working on new classrooms and new housing, but how many students can we really accommodate? For all the new freshmen and transfer faces we see on campus, there are more students who are on waiting lists because of housing issues. Two years ago, students from housing overflow were put at the Radisson; last year it was Comfort Inn. If we can’t put these kids somewhere, we shouldn’t take them.
And apart from housing, what about the quality of life on campus? The University Student Commons is always a busy spot, but when you’ve got to be across campus for class in fi ve minutes, it’s become much easier to cut around outside. This is an exaggeration, but think about the Initech birthday party scene in “Office Space.” Milton passes pieces of cake around until there is nothing left for him. If we don’t watch out, that might happen to us. You can get the biggest sheet cake at Costco, but how many people will get a piece?
I’m only saying this because I like it here, and I want other people to like it, too. But even with our spatial, housing and student population issues, things could be worse. If you don’t believe me, see if the following numbers can put things in perspective.
Remember SATs? I prefer not to. Heck, I’m just glad I took them before they added the mandatory essay portion. A recent College Board release states that SAT scores are a little lower than those of previous years because more high school students are taking the test. The College Board says this is a good thing. (There’s probably a complicated statistical explanation as to why this is good, but let’s take their word for it.) According to VCU’s undergraduate admissions Web site, last year’s freshman class averaged 1089 on the SAT, while the middle 50 percent scored an average of 980 to 1180. This isn’t too bad, since it basically supports the College Board’s finding.
While it feels like VCU admits more students than it has room for, the truth is the school rejects at least three times the number of acceptances. The undergraduate admissions Web site also says VCU admitted more than 3,500 fi rst-time freshmen for the fall 2006 school year. That number might sound like a lot, but VCU received more than 13,000 freshman applications that same year. Factor in all the transfer students, and imagine the lines at Shafer and the bookstore. Yikes.
Until things are seriously sorted out, it’s probably best to just take the slice of cake that gets passed along to us. After all, a little cake is better than none.