Toured both pre Covid. Charlottesville had a weird vibe that D picked up on. The idea of secret societies at UVA was a little unsettling.
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William and Mary has them too I think? My daughter was accepted today also. Oos. We have not visited but have watched many YouTube video tours. Waitlisted to UVA.
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Not like UVA. Painted symbols outside of buildings all over campus. That the tour guide could only vaguely describe to outsiders. Nothing like that was ever mentioned on the W&M tour. We did the tours on back to back days in the summer of 2019. Congrats to your daughter.
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Thanks for the info, maybe my daughter won’t take that UVA waitlist after all!!
SO happy for your son!!!
Daughter waitlisted and declined waitlist. Crazy how you just never know. 4.7W, 1400 SAT, strong extracurriculars. Accepted VT and Penn State for business so will likely attend either of those.
Congrats all!
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Great choices for you.
ACCEPTED!!! OOS, 30 ACT, 3.85 GPA … still very shocked!!! can’t believe it 
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Ironically-my d21 loved the whole concept of the secret societies at UVA. She was so intrigued by it all.
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Son accepted and is super excited!
-OOS, 33 ACT, 96 GPA. 8 APs and honors classes
-4 year, 3 season athlete and competes in 2 of the sports outside of school (but not award winning level- will do club level in college)
-interesting but not extraordinary ECs
-wrote the optional essay
-had an unofficial visit and toured with family friend who goes there, but did email admissions to tell them we went.
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FYI, they are philanthropic “secret” societies, FWIW.
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Still creeped my D out. Particularly coming off the events in Charlottesville.
W&M doesn’t have secret societies unless they are so secret that absolutely no one knows anything about them! (I’m an alum and have a D there now.) I would say it’s an egalitarian place.
I love Charlottesville, and my best friend from high school went to UVA—they are both terrific schools and vibrant communities. I liked the smaller feel of W&M, and the more relaxed and less prominent Greek system. Also, W&M has a lot of kids who lean introverted and prioritize school, but who also jump in and get involved in all kinds of activities. It’s a nice balance.
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Are you sure about that? It sure looks like they do. Do a search on it. The key is “secret”.
who knows?
UVA has over 30 of these societies, and most are not actually secret—they like people to know they exist behind the scenes for those special enough to be tapped. There are still “secret” societies being founded every year at UVA, and they are active on campus in that students hear about them, know about them, and some aspire to be in one.
I had no idea that there were any at W&M despite being an alum with two sisters who are also alums, etc. I googled it, and you are technically right. Apparently W&M had a few secret societies that were founded in the 17 and 1800’s, which eventually ceased to exist. One is now a normal academic honor society. A few apparently got restored, but I see no sign of them on campus. I guess one gave umbrellas to admissions for rainy day tours in 2003.
In my experience, and those of my D and her friends, there’s no sense at W&M that there is something secret and big/important going on that isn’t out in the open.
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Agree. It’s not a big thing at all, if it even exists, at W&M.
From the W&M website: wm.edu/style/secret.php
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Yes, I knew I read this somewhere. To my point, it is a secret society which means the only way of knowing it’s true existence is in fact if it wasn’t secret. I find it quite fascinating.