<p>Hey! So if anyone would be nice enough to answer, I had a couple questions about William and Mary...
What is the feel of the school? What is the typical student like? For example, are arts, or parties or athletics etc. particularly stressed?</p>
<p>How is the WM science program? I want to do pre-med. How much opportunity is there to do research etc? </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>big variety of students at W&M… intramural sports are big. A capella is big. Large percentages of the student body support the football and basketball teams. Lots of students involved in music and theater type activities. Huge amounts of volunteer work are done (hundreds of thousands of hours each year). You can generally find parties each weekend in the frats or from various student organizations. The frat parties are generally open, obviously the student organization parties are generally for the people in those groups. People are generally really nice and helpful.</p>
<p>there are a number of W&M students that are overly (IMO) stressed, but they bring it on themselves because they are involved in so much stuff and have such high standards. If you are trying to get a 4.0 or 3.9, yes, you will probably be stressed a lot. Depends on what you want to get out of college.</p>
<p>pre-med at W&M is very strong. Admissions to med school is very good. One of the big benefits of W&M’s focus on undergraduate education is that there are many undergrads (in many disciplines) doing research.</p>
<p>Just seconding what soccerguy said - there are lots of research opportunities for ‘science’, for example: [HHMI</a> at William & Mary](<a href=“http://web.wm.edu/hhmi/undergraduate_opportunities.html]HHMI”>http://web.wm.edu/hhmi/undergraduate_opportunities.html)</p>
<p>There’s a pre-med core curriculum which covers core requirements of the AAMC (<a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/</a>) that also prepares you to take the MCAT: </p>
<p>[William</a> & Mary - Pre-Med, Pre-Vet, Pre-Dentist, and Pre-Pharmacy Program](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/advising/preprofessional/premed/index.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/advising/preprofessional/premed/index.php)</p>
<p>Of course, pre-med students, by their very nature, tend to be stressed, so not sure what to tell you there… :)</p>
<p>Oh, and I agree, W&M’s med school admissions stats are quite good, certainly well above the national average, and on-par with Ivy’s. </p>
<p>You don’t have to major in chem / bio (and there’s a lot of evidence that it’s actually a disadvantage to do so) for med school admission, but you do have to keep a roadmap in mind - here’s one: </p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/download/175214/data/timeline.pdf[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/download/175214/data/timeline.pdf</a></p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>It has an affluent, Caucasian student body with lots of well-dressed girls. There are more girls than boys in attendance. Most students live on campus and most have cars. About one-third are from out-of-state. The library is usually filled with studying students. There is very little to do in Williamsburg although it has a Target, a Best Buy, and the usual chain restaurants. Low percentage of Pell Grant recipients. No hippies. No one seems poor. These are the smart, scrubbed, well-dressed kids in high school who studied round the clock for their AP exams, as opposed to the smart kids in high school with quirky interests and wrinkled clothes. JMHO, of course.</p>
<p>Well, MHO differs quite a bit from that of mom4college. I know W&M well, with 2 children who have attended/are attending, and numerous visits over the past decade. “Quirky” might be a bit of a stretch compared to an Oberlin or a Bard, but W & M students are a good deal more diverse, and less “well-scrubbed,” than post #4 suggests.</p>
<p>Affluent? It’s a public school. A considerable number of the bright kids there are in-state (65 percent), and many attend for financial reasons, because they can get a top-tier education at an affordable price. W & M’s endowment is the lowest of any top 50-ranked US News, and its inability to meet the full need of all but the neediest students is its one serious weakness, imo. This is not the same thing as having an “affluent” student body.</p>
<p>Yup, Swem is usually full of studying students. Revelation! Many college libraries are. And mom4college might be surprised at how many of them are wearing wrinkled clothes. I don’t know how she was able to determine that “These are the smart, scrubbed, well-dressed kids in high school who studied round the clock for their AP exams, as opposed to the smart kids in high school with quirky interests and wrinkled clothes.” I had a kid graduate from Vanderbilt, and I’d never even make that kind of sweeping statement about Vandy, let alone W & M. </p>
<p>I can’t find the figures in a quick search, but I don’t buy the statement about W & M students that “most have cars.” My d, a senior, has one, and she’s one of the few people in her circle who does. She is the designated errand person for her ECs because most of the other participants do NOT have cars. Freshmen and sophomores are not allowed to have cars unless special permission is granted (usually for an off-campus job). Parking is tight, as it is on every campus.</p>
<p>For the OP - you ask about the typical student. You will find well-scrubbed pluggers there, as well as quirky, wrinkled people. Maybe a current student or recent grad will chime in with a bit more about twamps (Typical William And Mary Person[s]).</p>
<p>Meant to add this earlier - as to the student body being “Caucasian” - according to the moist recent common data set - <a href=“http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1011_part_b.pdf[/url]”>http://iae.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_1011_part_b.pdf</a> - in the current student body of 5898 (of which 1000 are described as “race/ethnicity unknown”) there are 447 Hispanic students, 407 African-Americans, 429 Asians, 135 students of 2 or more races, 37 Native Americans/Alaskans, and 8 Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students. Sounds like a considerable amount of racial and ethnic diversity to me.</p>
<p>:o I meant most recent common data set, not moist recent. I hesitate to imagine what that might mean.</p>
<p>My D just graduated and her experience and my observations are much closer to frazzled’s than mom4college’s. She’s definitely “quirky” and fit in well at William and Mary. Her friends were very diverse in every sense of the word; the only ones with cars were a couple of guys who lived off campus and her roommate who needed one for student teaching. The “uniform” was clearly jeans and hoodies, although we would see sorority sisters dressed up on weekend nights. There was more than enough to do on and off campus for someone who was both a serious student and interested in social and service activities–and didn’t really have much interest in sports or arts, which also have their following in the student body.</p>
<p>there is affluent and then there is affluent. W&M has a large population of students from northern virginia, which is home to some of the richest counties in the country. That said, you would never mistake these students as coming from the extremely well off portions of NYC, NJ, Connecticut, California, etc</p>
<p>IMO W&M students are down to earth, and as I said, very welcoming and nice. I’m slightly curious to hear how mom4college would describe the UVA student body, after seeing her description of W&M.</p>
<p>I really like William & Mary, and I think that accusations about all the students being in Swem are slightly true. But, I mean really, isn’t that what college should be about?? An education. Anyway, I’m applying Early Decision, and this might contrast with my previous statement, but I would like to know what there is to do around Williamsburg? Everyone says that it’s boring. My sister goes to UVa and Charlottesville is incredibly fun and ‘alive’ at night. Is the W&M Campus just a quiet place to study or are there parties and fun stuff to do like at UVa. Because my sister going there I’ve had the opportunity to spend weekend up there with her, but I have never had that chance at W&m though I have visited the campus going on three times now but only during the day and summer. I would appreciate if a current student would let me know about this. Thanks!! :)</p>
<p>If jeans and t-shirts counts as well dressed, then W&M students are very well dressed!</p>
<p>gotribe - I am not a current student but will give it a go for you.</p>
<p>There are 3 popular bars right across the street from campus. That is generally the extent of the bar scene. The fraternities are getting brand new buildings: [William</a> & Mary -*Site for new fraternity housing announced](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2011/site-for-new-fraternity-housing-announced.php]William”>Site for new fraternity housing announced | William & Mary) and their parties are generally open to all students, unlike from what I’ve heard about UVA. You can drink “out” thursday - sunday if you want to, though Sunday is generally filled with Mug Night at one of the bars near campus, so it’s 21+.</p>
<p>Student groups of all kinds (young dems, IR club, club sports, music groups, etc) also throw parties, but they are generally more closed. There are parties every weekend in the on campus apartments and houses that are close.</p>
<p>There are also non-drinking things to do. AMP is a student group that gets a huge amount of money from the school to bring various acts to campus <a href=“http://web.wm.edu/amp/[/url]”>http://web.wm.edu/amp/</a> . There is usually 1 big concert a semester. There are outlet malls, mini golf, gokarts, and busch gardens. There are sports events. There are theater productions. There are a cappella concerts every wednesday night. There are symphony orchestra and wind symphony concerts.</p>
<p>W&M is more contained than UVA, in that more things happen on campus. The party scene is definitely bigger at UVA, but as I said, you can drink Thursday - Sunday with lots of people at W&M if you want to. Keep in mind that UVA also has a much bigger student population, and Charlottesville is bigger than Williamsburg, so that does have an impact. W&M has a “study” school reputation and UVA has a “party” school reputation (comparably; not like some of the SEC schools or Texas or Wisconsin, obviously) for a reason.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at W&M, and I absolutely LOVE it. I was honestly surprised when I arrived in August to find that many of the stereotypes were untrue. On week nights, Swem is crowded-- but largely because no one can get anything done in the dorms when surrounded by 200 of your closest friends. The work is difficult, but not impossibe, and I am enjoying the challenge. Diversity is a stereotype that I have found to be proven accurate; I graduated from a high school that was 50% ethinic minorities, and W&M is certainly much more caucasion. However, I do not find this to be a bad thing-- there are many international students and dual citizens. The way my friends and I have classified W&M is “50% hard-core nerd” and “50% normal-but-smart”. Whichever catagory you identify more with, you can find legions of friends. Many out of staters are affluent, but then again you have to be to afford $45,000 tuition without substantial aid. W&M has much more of a party scene than people realize-- my dorm, Barret Hall, is nearly empty on weekend nights. However, if the frats aren’t your scene, there are plenty of other activites to do and friends willing to participate in them.
I applied ED and I have no regrets at all. W&M is a fantastic school–last week we had a petting zoo in the Sunken Garden to relieve midterm stress! It is quirky, smart, personal, and challenging. I’ve found exactly what I was looking for here.</p>
<p>Hey thanks everyone! Sounds awesome. I hope I get in, and I can’t wait!</p>
<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I stand by my original impression – mostly white, many girls, mostly affluent. </p>
<p>This is a demographic – I am sure someone here can supply the average family income of W&M students. The low Pell Grant per centage is a clue.</p>
<p>And yes, whoever said it, lots of Northern VA kids.</p>
<p>It might be the perfect school for you, so if you are interested, visit.</p>
<p>William and Mary is awesome! As with any other school, you’ll get back just as much as you put into it. I’m currently a freshman and loving it. There’s lots of diversity if you know where to look; the international relations club is filled with lots of interesting people. I also highly recommend applying to the Sharpe Community Scholars Program. It lets you integrate the stuff you learn in your freshman seminars with community service; I’d definitely recommend checking it out. Also, get yourself an interesting job! There’s lots of opportunities for internships even for freshmen; I’m currently helping out with State Senator John Miller’s reelection campaign. As Sky said, most of the stereotypes are inherently untrue and there’s lots of random fun that comes your way even if you’re not a frat/sorority type of person. The professors are awesome too. Just make sure you use Rate My Professors like hell. If you have any more questions or concerns, feel free to pm me!</p>
<p>Btw, Sky, if you’re who I think you are, then we probably know each other haha :)</p>
<p>Hello Tribe!!
As a Father of an ED applicant whose patiently waiting, I find mom4college posts rather degrading! Whats the point in mentioning the status of Pell Grants and Ethnicity unless there is some kind of hidden agenda?! Heres my take on W&M. Its a small, but smart school that can easily be compared to an Ivy or top private such as Duke. The fact that it is small was a plus in our decision to apply there. As for it being primarily Caucasian, what school isnt if its not an HBCU? And Im not saying that in a deragatory way, just stating a fact! </p>
<p>The school has less than 6,000 students, theres gonna be a higher percentage of one race vice another, so Ethnicity % is a non-factor IMHO. I found W&M to be very diverse (more than expected) as 4 out of 6 of our tour guides were not Caucasian on our first visit, and during her overnight visit, neither of her student guides were Caucasian. Maybe it was the luck of the draw those days, but walking around Campus, I saw a friendly diverse campus. As for quirkiness, my D as is as quirky as it gets! But she is also as friendly and helpful as well, willing to help anyone at anytime. We also live NoVa, and we’re not “affluent” by far! Due to my military service (Im retired now), my daughter has had to attend 3 different high schools while keeping her grades on par to be able to even apply to a school such as W&M. From the 4 times that we’ve been down to W&M, I’ve always noticed the students in a “relaxed” state of Jeans,Shorts,Hoodies,Flops…etc, and yes they had wrinkles in their clothes too!</p>
<p>As a Father, I like the fact that Williamsburg is Historic and small as well. Its a fact that large cities have more crime and if you add a major university to it, more things happen in and around campus that you want to keep students away from. If someone wants to party harder they can always go a little further down 64 to ODU,NSU and Hampton. But W&M is not a party school and I’m sure that those who go there know this going in and its not a deterent. But of course there are parties and other aspects of college @ W&M just on a smaller level. </p>
<p>I can honestly say that of all the colleges we’ve visited, W&M fits her personality, socially and academically. Hopefully she’ll be part of the Tribe very soon. :)</p>
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<p>This isn’t how percentages work. The fact that there are fewer students at William & Mary than, say, Virginia Tech doesn’t mean that the overall percentage of students of color should or will be lower; it just means that the raw number of students of color will be lower.</p>
<p>With that said, there is definitely reason to criticize William & Mary for lack of racial diversity. The U.S. Census puts African Americans at 12.1% of the population, but African Americans make up only 7.2% of the student body at William & Mary. Likewise, Hispanics constitute almost 15% of the population, but make up a paltry 5.7% of the student body at William & Mary. </p>
<p>That’s not to say that race is the only factor that should be considered in terms of diversity–there are certainly many other considerations. But, having attended William & Mary, mom4college’s post may be “degrading” but they’re not necessarily off the mark. Nearly two-thirds of the student body is white (and this doesn’t account for 16% who didn’t specify race on their applications–the numbers would probably be even higher if they had), and a large chunk of these kids are from Northern Virginia.</p>
<p>Stats from: [The</a> College of William & Mary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_william_and_mary]The”>College of William & Mary - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Edit: I’d also like to say that, despite this criticism of W&M, I’m still very glad that I went there, and I had a good experience. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t reasons to criticize the college, though. No organization is perfect, and W&M certainly isn’t. For instance, I can’t imagine the hell it would be to attend W&M if I were confined to a wheelchair. Travel around campus would be a nightmare.</p>
<p>wmwunderkind,
I do understand how percentages work. But unless you purposely make everything even across the board, you will always have a higher % of something (in this case races) over another no matter what the total is. Again, theres nothing wrong with that unless the numbers are being gained unfairly (discrimination), which I don’t believe is the case. With W&M being as selective as they are, it’s hard to say why the numbers are the way they are. Could it be that many other races don’t apply to W&M like they do to other schools?</p>
<p>Another point that I disagreed with was the notion of NoVa students being affluent. NoVa is densly populated with great schools with and having the #1 academic HS in the country. I’m sure if Hampton Roads or the Richmond area was as dense the numbers would even out in that category. I am also aware of the problems of W&M and by no means am I naive to think other wise. But IMO, the problems there are minute to many others including my Alma Mater.</p>
<p>So I will ask for an honest opinion in how you would make your school more diverse without lowering standards. Would you raise the admission limit or admit more alter the demographics of the selection process?</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, the academic achievement of these racial groups as a whole, is not the same.</p>