Days on the Lawn Starts in Old Cabell Tomorrow!

We usually start Days on the Lawn outside at the Rotunda, but we're going to move the opening session to the rain location, Old Cabell Hall. Old Cabell faces the Rotunda, on the other end of the Lawn.  As always, student volunteers will be waiting at the parking garage to direct you.

Those of you who are already in town are going to experience a DOTL unlike any I can remember...one with snow on the ground!

Please be safe! If your roads aren't ready for travel in the morning, consider joining us on a different day. 

Psst...it's snowing

Charlottesville hit a high of about 62 degrees this afternoon and now it's snowing. I added a few pictures to the slide show.

Weather was supposed to be a weekend topic...we'll get back to the admission talk tomorrow.

This is what winter looks like at UVa

It snowed on Tuesday for the first time this academic year. I stepped outside to take a few pictures so you'd see what can close down local grade schools. Classes are rarely canceled at UVa (it has only happened twice in recent years), which is understandable when this is what is on the ground.

The snow usually melts by the end of the day, then freezes overnight and that's when getting around becomes a little more difficult.

Those of you from warmer climates should think about getting some boots and winter gear this year in preparation for college.

Happy Halloween!

We've just returned from the trick-or-treat event on The Lawn. The crowd seemed much larger than in past years, which might be due to the beautiful weather today (it's about 65 degrees out).

Have a happy Halloween and a great weekend, everyone!

Note: CavDog only "endured" his mane and the attention that came with it for 15 minutes.

A tip for being a happy Hoo

A warm, dry Hoo is a happy Hoo!

When I went off to college, oh so many years ago, my mother forced me to bring a few things I was convinced I wouldn't need. One of those things was an umbrella. At that point in my life, carrying an umbrella was not very cool. For that matter, wearing hats, gloves, boots, or anything that hinted that one was less-than-invincible was not cool.

The reality is that coming to school without these things makes you look a bit silly. You're going to be walking quite a bit. It's going to rain, snow, get windy, and get cold here. You'll need hats, gloves, scarves, boots, good coat, a rain jacket, and an umbrella. I'm mentioning this now because next summer, when you're getting ready for college, you might have some trouble getting all this together if you're from a warmer climate where one doesn't need such accoutrements or simply don't use them under the guise of looking "cool".

I know this isn't admission related, but seeing the poor guy in the picture above inspired me.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jefferson!

Jefferson's birthday was absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, the weather isn't going to hold for Scholar's Day tomorrow. Be sure to bundle up!

Days on The Lawn, vol. 2

The second Days on The Lawn brought large crowds and gorgeous weather to UVa (it hit 82 degrees yesterday!). Many of you came by to say hello, which made my day! It was so good to finally meet some of the people on the other "end" of this blog.

I hope everyone who attended enjoyed their visit!

CavDog was exhausted by the time he got home from DOTL.

It's 70 degrees in Charlottesville (a notification update)

The flip flops, shorts, and t-shirts are out and the admission deans are stuck inside reading your applications. I sometimes wonder if weather affects admission decisions...we could study it, but I don't think we have the time...

Last year, February 1st was the first day I was asked why decisions weren't out yet. This year, the question didn't come until three whole days later!

We're currently about half way through the first round of reading. During the first round, each application gets read by at least two different deans. It will probably take about three more weeks to finish this round. When that's done, we'll start double checking our decisions, reviewing students for the Echols, Rodman, and College Science Scholars programs, and getting those lovely "likely letters" ready. I promise you that I'll update you when those things start happening. For now, use the side navigation to look at posts made a year ago to familiarize yourself with the pace of things.

Notification will not be made early, as far as I can tell at this point. April 1st is the big day.

Gratuitous CavDog shot

The return of the weekend topic

I started writing about non-admission topics on the weekends last year and thought I'd return to doing that. It's nice to get away from the admission talk for a little bit and I think it also helps some students who might want to ask questions about life in Charlottesville.

I'll start things off with a correction. One of my topics last year was the weather. I confidently wrote that we didn't close UVa for snow. Well, looking back, I found a day or two in 2003 when classes were canceled (but the school stayed open). This past week, classes after 4 PM were canceled because of another storm. Now, that didn't really affect a large number of undergrads, but it's worth mentioning. Mea culpa.

Our "storm" this week brought about three inches of snow to Charlottesville. It was nice to get a taste of winter, but it was also nice to see it melt away within a day or two.

Despite it being his first time seeing snow, CavDog was unimpressed by the falling flakes.

Weekend topic: weather?!?

I wanted to continue the sports talk in light of what's happening at the NCAA tournament, but I thought weather might be something interesting to address. Weather's usually a lame topic of conversation, but it's actually a fairly common question posed by our visitors. They want to know how much snow we get, how hot or cold it gets, if we close school, and so on.

Being a northerner, I find winter here pretty uneventful. Charlottesville gets some snow each year, but getting more than a dusting seems rare. A few inches is a major event here. People still talk about the blizzard that dumped a few feet of snow about 15 years ago. As for temperatures, we have four defined seasons in Cville. Winter can be cold, but I don't remember single digit temperatures in the last few years. In fact, we had quite a few spring-like days in the middle of winter.

If you're coming from the deep south or southwest, you'll want to get a good winter jacket, hats, scarves, gloves/mittens, and some boots before you come to school. Every year there are a few students who think a North Face fleece will get them through the winter. You need something a little more substantial than that. You don't need monster boots, as the snow doesn't get too high here, but you'll need something to come between your foot and the cold ground for those walks to class.

In case you were wondering, UVa doesn't have snow days. Sorry, kids.