The process of choosing a college can be daunting, but nothing feels better than finding a place to call home. Villanova University was the right mixture of all ingredients I considered essential. I’m moving almost 3,000 miles away from my neighborhood of eighteen years; San Francisco to Philly seems worlds apart, but here’s why I’m #GoingNova.
Spirit is immediately palpable on Villanova’s campus. Sure, they constantly lead the NCAA in basketball, but students love to sport Villanova gear all year long. Kids at Villanova love to let you know what school they attend. School sweatshirts and shirts in arrays of blue and white spot the campus and classrooms. You can’t help but want to join in the wildcat wear. Villanova hosts two different days for admitted students – one in the winter and one in the spring. At both events, Villanova students line all entrances to the school and sing cheers and chants. They smile and yell until every potential student and family has arrived. The band gives a warm welcome inside the pavilion, playing Villanova fight songs as well as some of Kanye West’s greatest hits. With the Nova Nation atmosphere alive and well on campus, students and teachers are happy to say they work at, play for, attend, and represent Villanova University. It’s a team you want to be a part of.
In college, I really was looking for a campus that was close to a big city but far enough away to still be in its own bubble. Villanova is about a half hour away from Philadelphia, and there is a rail that runs right next to campus to make it more than easy to go back and forth in one day. Villanova is in suburban Pennsylvania, surrounded by cute homes and cute towns that welcome any Nova Nationer. But the idea of never being too far from a big city really excited me as well; weekends have the potential to be filled with concerts, sporting events, shopping, and exploring. Having grown up just twenty minutes from San Francisco, Villanova’s not-too-far-but-not-too-close campus felt just right for me.
Villanova is a mid-size school, with an undergrad population of about 6,500. The average class size is 26, with a number that decreases as you get older. Teachers know your name in class; this helps when you’re going to need extra help on a certain subject or maybe an extra day to finish a project. The student body population is just big enough that you can see a new face every time you walk to class, but small enough that you can always see a familiar face as well.
Villanova sits at the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic states. Pennsylvania experiences summer, autumn, winter, and spring. I wanted to see all four of these seasons in actions after living eighteen years of my life in Northern California along the Pacific coast. Cherry Blossom trees bloom pink in the spring, snow buries the Villanova ground in the winter, and autumn sees the changing of leaves from a summer green to every tone of orange, yellow, and red.
Villanova embraces its Catholic roots. By no means do you feel out of place if you aren’t religious, but you can’t help but feel drawn to the services that Villanova encourages. They have the largest student-run day of service in the country. During the celebration of St. Thomas of Villanova Day, more than 5,000 students, staff members, and Villanova families work in partnership with communities and organizations in the greater Philadelphia area. This one special school holiday sets aside 24 hours of giving that goes beyond the school walls. Villanova strives to cultivate students who are passionate about making the world a better place, and the Augustinian ideals that the school was founded upon gives a model for teachers and students to follow academically, intellectually, and socially. There are also service trips during weekends and long breaks, and they are easily affordable so that any student can have the opportunity to give back.
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