I live in the area of UACP. I'm sure their website explains the accreditation question better than I can.
The surrounding area is basically a varying level of nowhere and 'bout an hour to somewhere. The actual school is relocated to the Garden area about 15-20 minutes from Grundy Va. (I mention it because it was originally in Grundy and everybody keeps referring to it as being in Grundy) Grundy has the usual fast food joints and a dinky movie theater, bowling, and .. . ..... well thats Grundy. 😉 They are building a Wal-mart I believe.
If you hit the major intersection in Grundy and hook a left you will end up on the KY/VA border. This will take you to Pikeville KY in a bit over an hour. I personally don't care for this area although some people do like to travel there.
A right hand turn will lead you into the Bradshaw area of West Virginia and to the best of my knowledge leads nowhere exciting within an hours drive.
The opposite direction (the way you will probably arrive to the school) leads back to the Richlands/Claypool Hill area.
They have about the same stuff as Grundy with the addition of a Wal-mart. (Civilization is based on Wal-mart right?) It's about a 20-30 minute drive (assuming you are accustomed to the 4 lane over the mountains style of driving anyway) to get to this area. There are 2 small malls in this area. Neither of which are overly impressive. 1 in Richlands that is struggling and 1 in Claypool Hill attached to a Super Kmart with a small movie theater and a fairly decent clothing store.
At Claypool hill there is a fairly important intersection (again, you will probably go through this area on your way to the school) where Rt. 19 and Rt. 460 merge. At this intersection if you hang a right onto 19 your headed to Lebanon Va, (pretty similar to Grundy/Richlands for the most part) and if your a bit patient the Tri-Cities area (Johnson City, Bristol, and Kingsport). From the school to Bristol is about an hour and a half drive on an average day. It takes about 20 more minutes to either of the other 2 cities. East Tennessee State University is located in Johnson City (there is a pharmacy school there now as well, just FWIW)
The cities that make up the Tri-Cities area are much larger than any of the previously mentioned towns. If memory serves Johnson City is somewhere around 75,000 in population. Long story short, if you want to go to a decently equipped mall you will end up at 1 of these three cities. Good restaurants, activities, etc. etc.
If you fly in you will most likely land at Tri-Cities Reg. Airport. This is located between Johnson City and Bristol.
As far as nightlife.... well I am 30 and married so it's been awhile, but when I was younger a night out partying meant at least Bristol with a Designated Driver being a MUST since you would be driving over an hour to get back home or a hotel room.
There are a few random bars (notice I did not say clubs) around Grundy/Richlands but you should probably just avoid those or at least ask around about them before you decide to pop in. Don't misunderstand, most are harmless but I have been in a few of them and even I felt out of place. I have lived here a good portion of my life remember.
Okay now if you go the other way at the 460/19 intersection you will go past Tazewell Va. (move along, nothing to see here) and end up in Bluefield WV in, wait for it..... 'bout an hour. There is a fair mall here and some restaurants. A few more miles up the road is Princeton WV. Quite a few restaurants, not much else from what I remember. There are a few clubs you can have a lot of fun at but they are rougher in my opinion so it's sort of a have fun, but pay attention kind of area to me.
If you get really brave and decide you like mountain roads you can shoot over to Marion VA, or Saltville VA. There is nothing there of any consequence but the ride there will be memorable. Especially if you got on the road to the college and went "Holy Crap! What drunk designed this road?" Just a note on the roads, they are not bad. The roads are fine they just have curves. Some of you (a lot it seems) have not been blessed in your life to have driven on anything aside from straight boring roads. The roads will grow on you and you will miss them when you leave if you like driving for anything more than "Oh, I need to go buy milk."
Just in general stuff:
The area is full of friendly honest hardworking people whom you can mostly trust. If you have never spent any real time in the mountains and like nature you will fall in love with the area.
Don't be in a hurry to get somewhere because you can guarantee the person in front of you won't be.
Dont speed through the towns. Its dangerous of course but beyond that its pretty easy to get nailed with a Town of such and such souvenir. I always think this should be obvious but for some reason it doesnt seem to click with people from larger areas. Yeah the town probably has at most 3-4 cops and maybe 2 on a duty at one time but think about it. The town limits (their jurisdiction) is probably only 10-20 square miles with 1 or 2 main roads going through it. Think you might pass a cop?
Thats about all I can think of.
Visit Scenic Honaker VA! Redbud Capital of the World. (no kidding! Try to contain your excitement LOL) Its about a 30 minute drive from UACP. There is nothing of any real interest there but it is a pretty drive.
