College similar to William and Mary

I have recently been looking into William and Mary but I have realized that school is just too competitive. I like the small town feel but I don’t think I could ever be admitted. I have about a 3.9 with a 1220 SAT score. I’m also pretty involved with my schools sports. Does anyone have other additional schools?

Miami (ohio), Wake Forest, u of New Hampshire, U of Maine, u of Georgia,

Middlebury and Swarthmore is similar (but in the same level of competitiveness). Perhaps Lewis & Clark and Hobart&William Smith College would appeal to you?

William and Mary is a state school. Are you from Virginia? Middlebury and Swarthmore are much harder to get into than W&M, especially if you’re Virginian. Look at Sewanee and Skidmore. Good luck.

Gettysburg. Smaller school but similiar historic town.

I would recommend Gettysburg, Bucknell, Franklin and Marshall, Elon, Siena or the College of NJ.

UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston. Fellow Southeastern publics that are in the same athletic conference (CAA) as W&M.

UNC-CH, URichmond.

Have you looked at Furman? The area may be a bit Red for your liking, but it seems to get high ratings for academics and quality of life.

@merc81, unless the OP is an NC resident, UNC wouldn’t be easier to get in to than W&M. Richmond wouldn’t be either.

@PurpleTitan : Judging by the students who attend, W&M is among the most selective schools in the country. The OP has not identified a state of residence. Then considering this as a non-factor, this is how the three schools would compare by standardized scoring when compared to all schools nationally:

  1. W&M
  2. URichmond
  3. UNC-CH

As importantly, the OP’s SAT score is currently within the middle range for Richmond and UNC-CH, but not for W&M.

(Sources: “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” Business Insider; USNWR.)

@merc81, yes, but the difficulty of entering UNC as a freshman differs dramatically for in-state vs. OOS (due to NC capping OOS freshman enrollment; I believe to 18% of the entering class or so), so average stats aren’t very helpful as a guide if the OP isn’t an NC resident. 52% of NC residents are admitted. 19% of OOS applicants at UNC.

When looking at admission difficulty to UNC, state of residence has to be considered a major factor regardless of whether it has been stated or not.

Besides UNC being very competitive for OOS acceptance due to the cap, they also get many more OOS applicants than they do in-state. I think I remember reading that out of 35,000 applications, about 10,000 come from in-state.

Right, large numbers of applicants don’t undermine the selectivity point, they just prove the point.