Andy Woodall

B.S. in Social Work, George Mason University
M.A. in Social Work, University of Maryland

Why SU?: SU means opportunity. It means a chance to develop who you are as a person and who you want to be. It means success. We take a vested interest in helping each student succeed and that starts in the Office of Admissions by providing you with a genuine picture of what SU might mean to you.

What makes SU special to you: SU exudes a friendly atmosphere that is seen both in the classroom and when you are walking around campus. It’s an amazing place to work and an even better place to be a student.

My favorite place in Winchester is the downtown walking mall. It is a pretty great mixture of the history of Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley and the revitalized future of the area.

My advice: Don’t create a perception of a college based on someone else’s opinion—Be it magazines, friends, alumni, family, they all have their own lenses from which they are creating their opinions. Their way of seeing something will probably drastically differ from yours. Go out and visit colleges early in the process (like during the 2nd half of your junior year) to start to understand what is or is not important to you when selecting your college. Every college is going to tell you in their glossy brochures or flashy websites how they are the best. It’s difficult to really know the truth until you visit and start asking lots of questions.