Student Experience

‘Days on the Lawn’ Welcomes Undecided Students to UVA

April 1, 2024 • By Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu

Rotunda with prospective students seated in front of UVA marching band

The Cavalier Marching Band hyped the crowd at Days on the Lawn. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

Monday morning’s foggy skies couldn’t dull the energy on the Lawn, where hundreds of accepted, but as-yet-undecided students and their families gathered for the first of the University of Virginia’s four Days on the Lawn events for the Class of 2028.

The arrival of the Cavalier Marching Band dialed the school spirit up to 11.

“Let me paint a picture for you,” Elliot Tackitt, UVA’s director of bands said to the crowd.

“You’ve not only been accepted to the University of Virginia, but you’ve decided to come here in the fall,” he said. “It’s Aug. 31. It’s the first game.

“Summer is behind you. A great football season is in front of you. The Cavalier Marching Band runs out of the tunnel onto the field for our pregame show. We’re in a block and you hear the first thing the Cavalier Marching Band plays in public all season. This is what you hear. Let’s start with ‘Virginia Swing!’” he said. With that, the crowd joined in, clapping joyously.

Days on the Lawn is designed for accepted students who have not yet decided where they will go to college.

Barrett Motter was an outlier. The Farmville resident was accepted in UVA’s binding early decision cycle, but came out anyway. Why? “I figured I could learn more about the next four years,” he said as his parents, Lynnea and Charlie, smiled.

“He’s also using this opportunity to meet up with some potential roommates,” his mom added.

Trombone player stands in a row of fellow band members

About a quarter of the band performed Monday morning. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

Sarah Graham and her mother, Ameka Lee, drove to Charlottesville from Hampton on Sunday. Graham said she loves UVA. “I love the history behind it,” she said. “The community was really nice, and it just kind of represented all that I wanted to see in a college.”

“We’re incredibly grateful that you have carved out time from your busy days and busy lives to join us today,” Dean of Admission Greg Roberts said in welcoming remarks from a stage in front of the Rotunda.

“I wish you the best as you move forward this spring and make some college decisions,” he said. “Selfishly, we hope that you come here; you’d be great fits for UVA and that’s why we offered you admission. But … we want you to make the best decision for yourselves.”

Students stand with family members smiling

Attendees were all smiles. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

Dean of Students Cedric Rucker told the admitted students that UVA looks forward “to your freshness. The freshness of perspective, the freshness of energy that you will bring to this institution that will allow you to continue to evolve that excites us greatly.”

“You will continue to grow while you are here,” he said. “You will find opportunities in all sorts of endeavors. Your mind, heart, body and spirit will blossom at this very special place.”

Greg Roberts and Cedric Rucker welcome students

Dean of Admission Greg Roberts and Dean of Students Cedric Rucker welcomed everyone to Days on the Lawn. (Photo by Emily Faith Morgan, University Communications)

UVA will host three more Days on the Lawn open house events on April 5, 13 and 19, with events from 8 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. Interested students and their families are encouraged to register by logging into their MyUVA Application Portal.

On April 19, UVA will host Spring Blast, an open house designed to highlight Hispanic and Latinx student experiences at the University, and Spring Fling, which highlights Black and African American student experiences at UVA. The schedules for both events mirror Days on the Lawn.