<p>I wasn’t going to consider Washington and Lee until one of my friends told me he was looking there so I just looked it up. My sister did a summer program there a couple years ago too. All of the other places I had been looking at had been big colleges, 5,000+. I thought I wanted to go someplace big, but W&L seemed like someplace I would really like, even though it is just a little more than half the size of my high school.</p>
<p>I just have a couple questions.
How rural is the Lexington area? I was little when I was there before and don’t really remember and I do plan to visit at some point, but how far is the nearest decent sized city? Do you ever feel out in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<li><p>Do you ever feel like it is too small? This is a concern I have. I kind of like the anonymity of a big school, but I think I would also like knowing a bunch of people. And it isn’t like I would know everyone there. But I know some kids that go to other small colleges that say it’s ridiculous how much gossiping happens.</p></li>
<li><p>How is the history/poli sci type stuff? I think I’ll end up majoring in one of those en route to law school. Is W&L a good place to go to get into law?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the sports scene like? One of the reasons I want a big school is for big time athletics. I’m a really big sports fan and I want a school where the culture is to go to the games. I don’t really care if the teams wins or not, just that there’s spirit.</p></li>
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<p>I was really surprised at how much I liked W&L, but after reading that decisions thread, I’m not so sure I’ll definitely get in seeing how many got waitlisted even though I have what I thought was an impressive resume…:-/</p>
<p>Hi, I’m not a student there, but I was there for three days for the Johnson competition and won so there is a good chance I’ll be there next year, and I know the school pretty well now.</p>
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<li><p>It is very rural. The greek system makes up for it a bit, the kids seem like they have great times, but it definitely is rural and I never heard anything about anyone going to a nearby city. This is what I like least about the school.</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone seems to be really friendly (but I’m from NY which is the polar opposite so maybe I’m biased), and that’s great. On the downside, a freshman I met there complained about the fact that gossip runs rampant. </p></li>
<li><p>It is superb. This is the school’s specialty.</p></li>
<li><p>Division 3. I got the impression that school spirit was great, but you must remeber how small it is. It’s not going to be like going to a Penn State football game.</p></li>
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<p>see im honestly a little worried about the sports. i feel like its a stupid thing to base my decision on, and im not entirely basing it on that, but ive been to several big time D1 football games in several stadiums (PSU included) and that something i love. theres a smaller D1 school in my town in eastern PA that has about 5,000 but the school spirit there isnt so good, and when i go there i cant help but think thats something i dont want. there are more people that go to my high schools games than theirs.</p>
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<li><p>Lexington is the county seat of Rockbridge County. It is “small town”, not rural, not suburban, not urban. There is a good town and gown relationship between W&L. VMI, and Lexington. Charlottesville and Roanoke are each about 60 minutes away albeit in different directions.</p></li>
<li><p>My kiddo’s high school was also larger than W&L. She liked the fact that W&L was small as there are no huge lecture-hall classes. She hasn’t mentioned the gossip so if there is any, it doesn’t bother her. That being said, when she was a prospective, we were introduced to a senior who knew with whom my daughter was overnighting even before we mentioned it.</p></li>
<li><p>Politics is considered to be one of W&L’s fortes. Lots of students there who work on the Hill after graduation. </p></li>
<li><p>It’s D3 but students do have tailgates and attend the games. Students also are very supportive of the other intercollegiate sports as well.</p></li>
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<p>I can only address 1, 2, & 4, but here goes:</p>
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<li><p>Yes, Lexington’s small. sometimes it feels really small (after Freshman year, esp). However, students often leave town for the weekend, or even the night (I just got back from Roanoke with my friends). Students also often go visit friends/friends of friends in UVA, Tech, W&M, etc. If you feel like leaving, you can probably find someone to leave with, if you want to stay, there’s stuff to do in Lex, too.</p></li>
<li><p>There is gossip, but there will always be gossip. One of the things I like about the school is that when I go home and someone says, “Oh, W&L, do you know ______?” I almost always at least know the name, usually know something about them (the Greek system is actually really useful here, as I can just shorthand into, “Oh yeah, she’s an XYZ, I love them.”) This year’s freshman class seems more gossipy than usual, but that may be in part that there have been certain websites encouraging gossip.</p></li>
<li><p>Sports are not really big here (most people leave the football games at halftime), but there are some pretty hardcore fans. The nice thing is that the games are free. If you’re hankering to watch something more meaty, you can always head down to VMI and watch their football, which always draws a big crowd.</p></li>
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<p>My host talked to me about the gossip thing… she said that some girls party way too much so they get gossiped about but I don’t think I have to worry about that!
When she pointed the party girls out to me… yeeeeesh!</p>