CowtownKid

I visited Virginia and am interested in studying family as well. I was impressed by the department. The professors with whom I spoke (Wilcox, Pugh and Roksa) were both engaging and seemed genuinely interested in my research. And the grad students were incredible: down-to-earth, intelligent and passionate about their areas of research. The one drawback for me--and the reason I will not be attending--was the lack of quantitative training. I would say that if you are interested in theory work or qualitative study of gender and family issues, Virginia would be a great program. If your orientation to research is more quantitative or demographic, you might find better training in other programs. Still, even if you decide you want the additional quantitative training, it seems that the professors will help you to make it work--i.e., by creating an individualized curriculum from Statistics and Psychology courses.