Decision time is hours away... questions!

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>In the hope of making this very difficult decision, I have a number of questions regarding campus life at William & Mary.</p>

<p>What realistically is the average size of a lower level class for undergraduates? </p>

<p>How many freshmen do they expect to attend in the fall? I heard the numbers will increase this year.</p>

<p>At what point can a student have a car on campus?</p>

<p>Besides the $3,000 for the summer research project, the ability to register early and the chance to live in a "special" dorm, are there additional perks for Monroe Scholars? Is it something that you would help you on a resume or graduate school application? </p>

<p>I counted 75 Monroe Scholars in the class of 2013 with 30 OOS. Is that about normal? </p>

<p>My son is worried about having too many students attending William & Mary from his high school and I would like to show him that many will not be from Northern Virginia.</p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>Admittedly, my experience was over 30 years ago, but 5 girls were admitted from my high school class. It was particularly nice seeing them around the first few months because they introduced me to people and vice versa so my world of friends opened up immediately. However, we ended up going our separate ways and really rarely saw each other, unless we sought each other out. </p>

<p>W&M is a great size - large enough that you don’t bump into the same people day after day, but small enough to be supportive and not overwhelming.</p>

3

<p>1) You will have a freshman seminar with 8-15 people. You will have lecture classes with 150 people. You will have regular classes with 15-30 people.</p>

<p>2) There is not more housing than there was last year, so the numbers have to be the same.</p>

<p>3) Junior year OR if they have a job off campus or other extenuating circumstances. Cars are not needed nor recommended in my opinion.</p>

<p>4) Monroe scholars probably have an easier time getting research jobs with professors and are looked upon highly by the administration. It would definitely go on a resume.</p>

<p>5) I’d guess so. Its the top 5% of incoming students.</p>

<p>6)NoVa is a big place with lots of students, but there are tons of students from 48 states and 40 something countries, so there will always be diverse perspectives.</p>

4

<p>My son is attending from NJ, he knows he will meet a lot of Virginians and is actually looking forward to it. His Boarding School had kids from all over the world and he felt he would have a similiar feel at W&M.</p>

<p>We also have a home in NC, so S says his 3 favorite states are now NJ, Va, and NC in no particular order!</p>

5

<p>My d is attending from new england as a monroe scholar. Everyone she met on campus stated how wonderful it was to be a monroe scholar – it is definitely an honor and worthy of a place on a resume/grad school application given that W&M only admits top performing students in the first place. Typically half of the monroe scholars are oos and I believe the number this year is 70 total, so 35 oos. I have to say my d was hesitant of the size too and was just looking at the small LACs because she wanted an intimate school experience. However, the bigger size of w&m meant that she had a lot more flexibility and selection in the classes she wanted to develop a curriculum that suited her goals. And if your son is a monroe scholar, more than likely he has AP or honors credits that will mean he can bypass many of the large intro classes.</p>

6

<p>I would say that most lower level undergraduate classes are in the 25-35 range?</p>

<p>You will take a freshmen seminar, which is limited to 15. The large intro classes, off the top of my head, are: Intro Bio, Intro Chem, Intro Psyc as a Natural Science, Intro Psyc as a Social Science, Intro Micro Econ, Intro Macro Econ, Art History, Roman Civ, Greek Civ… these classes all cover GERs.</p>

<p>the low level math classes are small. The low level history classes are small. Same with religion, government, foreign languages…</p>

<p>I don’t think there is going to be an increase in the number of students in the freshmen class (assuming the admissions committee got their yield right)</p>

<p>You can have a car your junior year, or earlier if you have a need for it (off campus job, volunteer work, etc). You don’t really need a car though… I had mine, but I only drove to the grocery store, and home on breaks, and to the airport when necessary (I did some significant weekend travel). I drove to the movies a couple times, but the buses run there as well, and they are free to students.</p>

<p>Monroe Scholar is a big honor. It would definitely go on your resume for first jobs and graduate school. There are some opportunities to apply for Monroe after freshmen year, so the group will be slightly bigger at graduation.</p>

<p>A lot of W&M students are from northern virginia. That said, NOVA is a fairly diverse area. I can tell you that 8 kids from my high school class went to W&M, and I never saw them except in passing. W&M is big enough that you don’t run into people all the time, but small enough that you will often run into various friends around campus. Honestly some of the kids from my high school, I saw less than 5 times in 4 years.</p>