The University of Virginia is a hoped-for college destination for Lara Jean and the school Josh enters through early admission. Though the story provides no campus description, the university matters as a point where education, family memory, and the prospect of change in the neighborhood meet.

A prospective destination

Lara Jean tells Daddy that the University of Virginia has a Korean language program and says she plans to take Korean if she gets in. Her interest follows a family dinner at which Daddy recalls learning about Korean food from Lara Jean’s mother on their first date, and regrets that his daughters did not continue Korean school. The university’s program therefore represents a concrete opportunity for Lara Jean to pursue a language her father associates with their mother and their family history.

Josh’s early admission

The University of Virginia is also the college Josh gets into early. He tells Lara Jean in a grocery-store cereal aisle, and she responds by shrieking, embracing him, and jumping up and down with him. Josh says his parents are delighted that his admission means they will not have to pay out-of-state tuition; he adds that they have not fought in days. His news brings academic success into the scene alongside a temporary easing of tension at home.

Neighborhood ties and change

Josh credits Margot with helping him study and asks Lara Jean to tell her about his admission because he feels unable to call her himself. Lara Jean agrees, then reflects that Josh will soon be going to college and will no longer be her neighbor as before. Their friendship has been distant for months, but knowing he lived next door had still mattered to her. She asks whether, once Margot has had time and given the all-clear, he will come over for dinner again; Josh smiles and agrees. In this way, the university is not only a future school but also the immediate cause of Lara Jean imagining a changed neighborhood and seeking to restore an old household connection.