University of Richmond

The University of Richmond is an in-state college in Lara Jean’s application list and, after the University of Virginia rejects her, one of the schools that admits her. Its role is defined less by a developed campus life than by the choices surrounding it: it is a viable nearby alternative, yet Lara Jean’s hopes remain attached to other versions of home and future.

Place in Lara Jean’s College Plans

Lara Jean initially names the University of Virginia as her expected destination, a school she has measured other colleges against and associated with being close to home. Her counselor, Mrs. Duvall, advises her not to apply early so the admissions office can consider her senior-year midyear grades. Lara Jean ultimately applies to five schools: the University of Virginia, William & Mary, the University of Richmond, James Madison University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Richmond and James Madison share third place in her ranking, behind her first choice and William & Mary, and both are described as about an hour from home.

The list reflects a balance between familiar proximity and keeping another possibility open. Lara Jean applies to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at Mrs. Duvall’s urging, as her one out-of-state option; the four Virginia schools represent the in-state future she had chiefly imagined. Richmond therefore enters the story as part of a practical set of choices, not as a college Lara Jean describes in detail or singles out as her preferred destination.

Admission and the Rejection from UVA

When Lara Jean tells Mrs. Duvall that the University of Virginia has rejected her, the counselor is surprised. She considers Lara Jean’s application strong and says she had expected at least a wait-list decision, while noting that the university received several thousand more applications than in previous years. Mrs. Duvall encourages her to look ahead to decisions from William & Mary and other schools, including Richmond and James Madison.

By the end of that week, Lara Jean has been admitted to Richmond and James Madison. She is happy about both acceptances, but the news does not displace her attachment to William & Mary. The contrast matters: admission gives her concrete alternatives after the rejection, while her attention remains fixed on the school where she can picture herself living.

An Alternative, Not a Settled Destination

Lara Jean imagines attending William & Mary, studying hard, and transferring to the University of Virginia after a year so that everything can become as she had planned. Her hope turns the acceptances into a temporary bridge in a story she still expects to resolve at UVA. Richmond is among the schools that make a future beyond the rejection possible, but the narrative does not say that she enrolls there or develops a plan to attend it.

That limited but consequential place gives Richmond a quiet function in the college-admissions arc. It stands for the difference between having options and feeling ready to choose among them: Lara Jean can be glad of an acceptance while still measuring her future against the homebound expectation she has carried for years.