So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Virginia?

A part of the southern United States, Virginia was one of the original thirteen colonies. Since it has been the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents, including George Washington, Tomas Jefferson, and Woodrow Wilson, it is often referred to as the "Mother of Presidents." It is sometimes also called the "Mother of States" due to the fact that portions of the original Virginia territories have since become Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, and parts of Ohio. Virginia is bordered to the north by West Virginia and Maryland, to the east by Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by North Carolina and Tennessee, and to the west by Kentucky.

The landscape of Virginia varies from the low-lying, coastal areas to high mountain peaks. Within the state can be found pristine beaches, valleys with rolling hills, and tall, rocky mountains. The elevation within the state ranges from 0 feet above sea level along the coast to a height of 5,729 feet at Mount Rogers peak. While there are a number of National Park Service units within Virginia, the state only has one national park, the Shenandoah National Park.

With the wide range in elevations throughout Virginia, the climate in different areas of the state is often very different from place to place. Most notably is the fact that, while the mountains often experience significant snowfall in the winter, the section of the state south of Northern Virginia hasn't had over one foot of snow from a single storm for over a decade.

At times, severe weather can affect Virginia. While the coastal areas of Virginia are somewhat susceptible to hurricane strikes, it is rare for a major hurricane to impact the region. Most of the time, hurricanes that enter the state have been weakened by striking ground further south, thus mainly just causing torrential rain to fall across the state. The thunderstorm activity of the state averages around 30-50 days per year bringing with them only about two tornadoes annually.

The population of Virginia, as of 2006, was estimated to be 7,642,884. Included in this figure are about 940,899 residents, or 8.14% of the population, who were born outside of the U.S. Only approximately 99,104 people living in the state currently were born in a different state. Virginia is also known to have the largest Vietnamese population on the east coast, comprised of slightly over 99,000 residents.

Politically, Virginia has tended to lean toward the Republican Party. In recent times, however, the Democratic Party has been gaining strength, leading to a more balanced political atmosphere. Virginia voters have voted for the Republican candidate in the last ten presidential elections. On the other hand, Democrats have been lessening the majority that Republicans have held in the state legislature in the past few years. In addition to this, during the 2006 midterm election, one of the state's U.S. Senate seats went to a Democrat, assuring the Democratic Party a majority in the U.S. Senate.

The religious affiliation of the majority of Virginia residents is that of Christianity. This faith makes up 84% of the population, with 69% belonging to one of the various Protestant faiths and 14% being Roman Catholic. The largest single denomination within Virginia is actually Baptist, with 30% of the total population following this belief system. Only 12% of Virginia's citizenry say they are non-religious.

Virginia's personal income tax is divided into five income brackets. They range from 3% to 5.75%. The official state sales and use tax rate is 4.5% on most items but only 1.5% on food. Local authorities, however, can levy additional percentages to this, bringing the rate up to 5% on most purchases and 2.5% on food.

There are a number of colleges and universities within the state of Virginia to decide between if you wish to attend a school here. These educational institutions include such places as:

• Virginia State University

• The University of Virginia

• The College of William & Mary

• The Virginia Military Institute

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Virginia".

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