University of Virginia
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50 free University of Virginia trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Thomas Jefferson counted the University of Virginia among the proudest achievements of his life, and he shaped nearly everything about it, from the courses to the brickwork. Two centuries on, his Academical Village in Charlottesville is still lived in by students and professors, and the place has gathered its own vocabulary, rituals and legends. This quiz covers the whole story: the founding and the famous buildings, the honor code and the societies that work in secret, the songs and nicknames heard on game days, and the Cavaliers' best and worst nights in basketball, football, baseball and soccer. It also takes in the writers, broadcasters, politicians, athletes and entrepreneurs who studied or taught here. It suits students, alumni and fans warming up for a reunion or a tailgate, and anyone hosting a quiz night with a few Virginia graduates in the room. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so the questions work on screen or read aloud.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Thomas Jefferson modeled the domed Rotunda at the University of Virginia on which ancient temple?
The Pantheon
The Pantheon in Rome set the proportions, but the Rotunda's dome is only half as wide. Jefferson is thought to have worked from a drawing in his copy of Palladio.
Q 02Which American writer studied languages at the University of Virginia in 1826 but left within a year, short of money?
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe lived at 13 West Range, a room still maintained by the Raven Society, a campus group named for his most famous poem.
Q 03Which No. 16 seed beat top-seeded UVA in 2018, the first such upset in the men's NCAA basketball tournament?
UMBC
UMBC won 74–54 after a first half tied at 21, ending a run of 135 straight defeats for No. 16 seeds against No. 1 seeds.
Q 04Which future Saturday Night Live head writer graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992 with a degree in drama?
Tina Fey
Tina Fey studied playwriting and acting in Charlottesville and won the university's Pettway Prize before she graduated.
Q 05University of Virginia fans are called Hoos, short for which nickname that grew out of a school rallying cry?
Wahoos
Wahoos comes from the cheer Wah-hoo-wah, and it was a student term well before local sportswriters began using it beside the official Cavaliers.
Q 06Which Union general did University of Virginia faculty persuade to spare the campus as his cavalry took Charlottesville?
George A. Custer
George A. Custer and his men camped on the Lawn and rode away four days later without bloodshed, so classes carried on until the fighting ended.
Q 07The Good Old Song, which University of Virginia fans sing after every football score, is set to which traditional tune?
Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne carries words that students made up more or less on the spot in 1893, and fans embrace and sway as they sing the first verse.
Q 08Which office did the University of Virginia lack for its first eight decades, until Edwin Alderman filled it in 1904?
President
President was a post Jefferson left out on purpose, sharing power between a rector and the Board of Visitors. Alderman then stayed 27 years, still the longest tenure.
Q 09Where did Thomas Jefferson insist on being named Father of the University of Virginia, with no word of his presidency?
On his gravestone
On his gravestone Jefferson allowed only three achievements: the Declaration of Independence, Virginia's statute for religious freedom and the university. The Louisiana Purchase is missing too.
Q 10Which website did University of Virginia roommates Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman found after graduating in 2005?
Reddit was not the first plan: fresh out of college, the pair pitched the Y Combinator accelerator a food-ordering app called MyMobileMenu.
Q 11Which secret group at UVA reveals its members only after death, with a wreath of black magnolias at the grave?
Seven Society
The Seven Society also gives money in sums full of its number, including a grant of $777,777.77 that pays for professors to teach their dream classes.
Q 12Which 7-foot-4 University of Virginia center won three straight Naismith Awards and went first in the 1983 NBA draft?
Ralph Sampson
Ralph Sampson was only the second player named national player of the year three times, after Bill Walton, and he grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Q 13Which team did UVA beat 85–77 in overtime in 2019 to win its first men's basketball national title?
Texas Tech
Q 21Which UVA defensive end, the second pick of the 2008 NFL draft, went on to win Super Bowls with two different teams?
Chris Long
Chris Long, son of Hall of Famer Howie, won titles in successive years with the Patriots and the Eagles, and he gave his entire 2017 salary to charity.
Q 22Which UVA point guard, twice national player of the year, later coached South Carolina to NCAA titles?
Dawn Staley
Dawn Staley, the first in her family to go to college, left Virginia as its all-time leading scorer and its league's all-time leader in assists.
Q 23Which University of Virginia guard became NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017 despite being a second-round draft pick?
Malcolm Brogdon
Texas Tech was 12.9 seconds from the title when De'Andre Hunter's three-pointer tied the game, and an 11–0 Virginia run in overtime settled it.
Q 14Which future co-host of the Today show worked at The Cavalier Daily and lived on the Lawn at the University of Virginia?
Katie Couric
Katie Couric enrolled in 1975, graduated in 1979 with a degree in American Studies, and returned in 2012 to give the graduation speech.
Q 15Which celebrated New York architect redesigned the University of Virginia Rotunda after a fire gutted it in 1895?
Stanford White
Stanford White gave the building two floors instead of three, and his interior lasted until 1976, when it was torn out and Jefferson's design rebuilt.
Q 16Which type of garden wall did Jefferson use at the University of Virginia so thin brickwork could stand unsupported?
Serpentine
Serpentine walls draw their strength from their curves, and Jefferson did not invent them: he adapted a style from England, where it is known as the crinkle crankle wall.
Q 17Which Princeton graduate studied law at the University of Virginia in 1879 and later led America through World War I?
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson joined the Virginia Glee Club as a law student and led the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, but poor health forced him to leave before finishing the degree.
Q 18By tradition, students at the University of Virginia avoid the word campus and call the place what instead?
The Grounds
The Grounds is one of several local quirks of speech: there are no freshmen or seniors either, because students are known by their year, from first to fourth.
Q 19In which sport did University of Virginia men win NCAA titles in 2019 and 2021 under head coach Lars Tiffany?
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a Virginia stronghold: the men's first NCAA crown came back in 1972, and the women's team won national titles of its own in 1991, 1993 and 2004.
Q 20Which coach brought his father's pack line defense to UVA and won the 2019 men's basketball national championship?
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett stunned college basketball by retiring in October 2024, less than three weeks before the season opener, and Virginia's home court now carries his name.
Malcolm Brogdon, taken 36th by the Milwaukee Bucks, was the first second-round pick to win the award since 1965.
Q 24Which University of Virginia football ground, built in 1931, is the oldest active FBS venue in the state?
Scott Stadium
Scott Stadium is named for Frederic Scott, a donor who chaired the university's board, and it opened with room for 25,000 fans in place of old Lambeth Field.
Q 25Which Charlottesville act played the two-night grand opening of UVA's John Paul Jones Arena in 2006?
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band ended a tour with the two shows, in a building named for the father of donor Paul Tudor Jones and not, as many assume, for the naval hero.
Q 26Which Virginia plantation house shares a UNESCO World Heritage listing with UVA's Academical Village?
Monticello
Monticello, Jefferson's own home nearby, was listed together with the university in 1987, and he used to host Sunday dinners there for its professors and students.
Q 27Which Founding Father succeeded Jefferson in 1826 as rector of the University of Virginia's governing board?
James Madison
James Madison had been at the inaugural banquet in 1824, when the Marquis de Lafayette toasted Jefferson as the father of the university.
Q 28The University of Virginia was built on farmland once owned by which Revolutionary War veteran and future statesman?
James Monroe
James Monroe's former house and law office still stand on the hill that bears his name, where they now form part of a residential college.
Q 29The University of Virginia honor code, in force since 1842, binds students not to lie, cheat or do what else?
Steal
A promise not to steal completes a code that for 180 years expelled students for a single offense, until a 2022 student vote cut the penalty to a two-semester suspension.
Q 30UVA chose orange and navy blue in 1888 after a student waved which item a star athlete had brought back from Oxford?
A scarf
A scarf from a summer rowing trip to Oxford replaced the old grey and cardinal red, colors that had shown up badly on muddy fields.