page_title: Virginia Commonwealth University
section_title: Athletics Rivals
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia Commonwealth University / Athletics / Athletics Rivals
caption_attribution_description: English: West Side Rowdies spelling out VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH! The East Side is home to most of the Rowdies.
context_page_description: Virginia Commonwealth University is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia General Assembly merged MCV with the Richmond Professional Institute, founded in 1917, to create Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2018, more than 31,000 students pursue 217 degree and certificate programs through VCU's 11 schools and three colleges. The VCU Health System supports the university's health care education, research, and patient care mission.
  VCU had a record $310 million in sponsored research funding in the fiscal year 2019 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". A broad array of university-approved centers and institutes of excellence, involving faculty from multiple disciplines in public policy, biotechnology and health care discoveries, supports the university's research mission. Twenty-eight graduate and first-professional programs are ranked by U.S. News & World Report as among the best in the country.
context_section_description: VCU's main rival is Old Dominion University. The "VCU-ODU basketball rivalry" is often regarded as the best college basketball rivalry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Rams' intra-city rivalry with University of Richmond ("Black & Blue Classic"), is bound to heat up now that the two schools are playing in the same conference again for the first time since 2001.
caption: Rowdy Rams (far back) spelling out "VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH!"
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