A room in the Academical Village with Grounds as a front yard and some of the most interesting people you'll ever meet as neighbors; no, it's not living on the Lawn -- it's living on the Range.
The Range is located around the outside of the Gardens of the Lawn and is a distinguished housing option for graduate students. Selections are made based on academic performance and life experience, as well as resumes and essays submitted by applicants, said Tom Bryan, Graduate Arts & Sciences student and vice chair for budget of the Range Commission's Executive Committee.
"We have a lot to do, and we are grad students, but the sense is you should be giving back if you're going to live here," Bryan said.
The Range offers a unique living experience where graduate students enrolled in different programs can socialize and learn from one another, said Gavin Reddick, Graduate Arts & Sciences student and chair of the committee.
"Nowhere else would you get an opportunity to interact with people from Darden, the Law School, the Medical School, Education," Reddick said. "As a graduate student, your experience is fairly insular. You [usually] socialize with people in your school, but it's refreshing to just be able to talk to someone who has nothing to do with your discipline."
Adam Dean, Graduate Arts & Science student and vice chair for Grounds, said his undergraduate school, the University of California - Los Angeles, played a role in his decision to live on the Range.
"I looked at it as a good way to meet people and be involved in the U.Va. community," Dean said. "Obviously I was far away from people I knew, and I wanted an environment where I could meet people very quickly."
Dean's strategy has worked -- he said he has met some of his best friends living on the Range.
"I think it's pretty great for graduate students, because a lot of times you get very cloistered in your academic discipline," Dean said. "So it's really refreshing to get to know people, for example, in the Law School, in the business school, in Medicine."
Graduate Arts & Sciences student Britt Johnson said she views the Range as comprised of many smaller communities.
"We have tailgates before football games, I socialize with my immediate neighbor, but I don't get the sense of any solid community," Johnson said. "I see little pockets of communities."
Another plus to living on the Range is the proximity to classrooms on Grounds, particularly for graduate students who are still taking classes.
"Especially for the first two years when I was taking classes for credit, it was good to leave five minutes before classes" and still make it on time, Johnson said.
Bryan said simply living near other people enriches his graduate experience.
"As a graduate student working on a Ph.D., there's not a lot of time to interact, but here, if you're working, you have people next door," Bryan said. "Even if you're just sitting outside and someone walks by and you talk, it's a great break. It's anything but lonely."
Yet, sometimes all of the action can get a little tiring, according to some residents. They said they hear undergraduates traipsing back and forth from Grounds to the Corner Friday and Saturday.
"Some people who have had a little too much to drink walk by our rooms and try to take various things," Dean said.
Bryan said he runs into the same sort of problems. In his opinion, however, it's what Jefferson intended.
"Sometimes you get drunk people grabbing pieces of your firewood and throwing it, but it's part of the color of the place," Bryan said. "The whole point of Jefferson's Academical Village is students [of all ages] living together ... If you look at it that way, it's not a problem."
The hustle and bustle of University life can become bothersome, particularly for residents who live on the West Range, according to Johnson.
"Especially since I live on the West side, there are buses going by and lots of people," Johnson said. "It's interesting being in the middle of things, but it can get old at times."
Like Lawn rooms, Range rooms share common bathrooms, and West Range residents' walk to the bathroom can be more public than East Range residents' walks.
"I'm not particularly overly modest, but there's this Gardens club where often older, important-looking people [meet], and then there's me, walking by in my pink bathrobe," Johnson said.
Bryan said though the outdoor bathrooms are not as terrible as many people believe, they are disconcerting to prospective residents, especially females.
"People think, 'Oh, you have to go outside to use the bathroom,'" Bryan said. "It's inconvenient at times, but you have a sink in the room, so that doesn't make it quite as bad. We had to work hard to reach close to a 50/50 parry [for gender] because girls are a bit more put off from the outdoor bathroom."
Johnson agreed.
"It's a major issue as to whether I will live there again," Johnson said. "It's one of those comforts of home things."
Dean said he is also currently deciding whether to live on the Range next year.
"One thing I wanted to do was get a dog, and I can't do that here," Dean said.
Overall, Dean said he has enjoyed his year living on the Range.
"I do think I'm more connected" to the University, Dean said. "The best example would be on football weekends when a lot of grad students aren't connected with University sports, I hold a tailgate for all of my friends in the History department and the Range. It allows me to bring them into U.Va. football ... Without living on the Range, I wouldn't have become involved."
Johnson said not only has living on the Range opened her eyes to other graduate students and programs but to undergraduates as well.
"It makes me feel more aware" of the undergraduate community, Johnson said. "I had no sense of what undergraduates were like, especially coming from a small liberal arts college. I had no sense of what undergraduates did in a large university."
One aspect of the Range Bryan said he would change is trying to raise awareness among students about the possibility of living there.
"It's become a bit of a problem at the University, this [undergraduate] Lawn envy," Bryan said. "So many undergraduates are fixated on getting a Lawn room ... They should really think about coming back in a year or two as a grad student and give the Range a shot."
Because of its history and community, among other aspects, Bryan said the Range is worth a second look.
"It's one of the best-kept secrets at U.Va.," he said.
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