DO NOT GO TO W&M - Advice from a Graduating Senior

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
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<p>“Hit a nerve” where? You didn’t hurt my feelings by pointing out that I’ve been around CC a long time, nor even by saying that I have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the discussion. You are hardly the first newcomer to grouse about longtime posters with high post counts. (My accomplishments in this area are comparatively modest; there are posters with upwards of 40,000 posts). </p>

<p>Just a thought: CC would be a lesser resource if all its members were disgruntled students, readers who are willing to accept their assertions without question, and people with low post counts.</p>

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<p>I have gone to WM for the past 4 years. As you mentioned in a previous post, you had a child graduate almost a decade ago and a second a few years ago. You’re “out of the loop” to say the least. </p>

<p>I am not going to continue to argue with some loon who spends their free time on a college forum (regardless if they have posted 4,000 or 40,000 times). </p>

<p>People are welcome to take my advice or leave it. It makes no difference to me. </p>

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<p>

Good decision. I won’t, either.</p>

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<p>I know this thread ended a few months ago, but can anyone (preferably someone who recently attended W&M) comment on how the school would compare to others with a similar caliber? I’m transferring from a California community college and W&M looks really nice to me. I’m looking into UNC, Purdue, Emory, Wake Forest, University of Richmond… If anyone can comment on how these compare, I’d really appreciate it. </p>

<p>I am unfortunately unable to visit the schools before attending. I plan to major in business and I am perfectly comfortable with a lack of school “activities” but I would like the surrounding area to be somewhat inviting and visually appealing. </p>

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<p>I’m currently a freshman at the college. Absolutely love it, and I’m livid reading OP’s posts. Hit me up with any questions you have, I looked at a fairly similar set of schools as you.</p>

<p>It’s not nearly as hard as OP claims, I’m taking a mix of intro courses and upper level courses. All my professors curve, minus one (But it’s a writing based test where all the grades are essays, so a curve wouldn’t really work). If you need help, they are always available, even outside of their office hours. Plenty invite kids to dinner at their house or do group study sort of things. They truly do care.</p>

<p>Activity wise, there are a ton of activities. I’m currently in the pep band, on the frisbee team, and write for the school paper. I also got a job on campus very easily. Despite this, I actually have a ton of free time. We don’t study as much as OP claims. THere’s an activity fair at the start of the year, and we boast over 400 clubs and organizations. </p>

<p>We also have some more community wide events. There’s an event called Campus Golf, where the campus is essentially turned into a giant mini golf course and people dress up in costumes and go wild. Football games are also fun, we can usually get a pretty solid student section and we have a good team.</p>

<p>The campus is absolutely gorgeous, probably the nicest of all the schools I visited. The area has it’s charm. There’s 3 parts you can walk to right off campus. A large residential area, where plenty of students live, a downtown area with a few bars and restauraunts, and Colonial Williamsburg. CW is a touristy area, but there’s some great stuff there too that students love. Apple cider runs in the winter, a huge Farmer’s Market on the weekends (That sometimes even offers discounts to students/has special William and Mary days), fancier restauraunts, a movie theatre, and a lot of upscale shops. Williamsburg is one of the safest areas in the country, the town is mostly students, tourists, and older retired people. In terms of visually appealing CW is hard to beat. </p>

<p>There’s excellent public transport that takes you to many other areas, like Busch Gardens Theme Park, New Town Shops (A created community with some nice restaraunts/bars and a few more specialized shops), mini golf, or the massive outlet mall - just to name a few. Williamsburg may not be the quintessential college town, but in the end it’s still very nice.</p>

<p>Also, there’s a bigger party scene than people give it credit for. There’s a decent Greek scene, with nice on campus houses and plenty of off campus houses. Even as a non Greek dude I can usually get into parties, they tend to be fairly open. We also have blowout, which is where students get drunk and skip class on the last day of the semester. I’m a freshman as I said, so I haven’t experienced it yet, but Winter Blowout is this Friday. It’s not gonna be a crazy big party school, but it’s there if it’s your scene.</p>

<p>I’m loving it here and so are all my friends. We have a 96% retention rate and over 90% graduate. Those who hate WM are in the minority. As I said, let me know if you have any other questions.</p>

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<p>Thanks TDenverFan, that really helps. I like the charm that W&M has. Frankly there are only two things that concern me. The first is that I cannot apply directly to the business school as a transfer, I have to apply to W&M and then into the business school, and I would be accepted or rejected in the summer, which is pretty risky if I don’t get in since other schools will want to know my decision by then. The second is that it isn’t ranked very highly (for business it’s like 30) and the school is really small so not a lot of people know about it. </p>

<p>Did you visit Purdue, Wake Forest, University of Richmond, or University of Maryland? I’d be interested to see your thoughts on them and how they compare. Thanks for the help!</p>

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<p>I’ve visited Purdue with daughter #1 who was looking for engineering. Daughter #2 at W&M. Purdue is huge and it’s really in out in a very rural area. And as far as campus charm, Perdue cannot compare to W&M. Almost a third of kids go home for the weekend. Meaning that since you don’t live within driving distance you may find weekends lonely. Engineering programs seemed top notch and rolling admissions meant you could get in early and be set. But classes were very large and there was a lot of use of TAs in the engineering program. There is a collaborative Midwest feel and kids seemed happy. But the size difference and personal attention by professors you get at W&M make it a very different experience. Not better or worse, just different. </p>

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<p>I have 2 daughters attending the University of Richmond and they both like the school and are doing well, both are science majors. The campus is very pretty and in a nice suburban area, but not too far from downtown Richmond. DD1 is a junior and she has had a great experience so far, small classes and great professors, will be studying abroad in at University of St. Andrews this spring semester. Our family has really enjoyed spending time in the greater Richmond area, lots of great restaurants, historic sights, the James river, Maymont Park in the city. UR’s business school is excellent and highly regarded. Another plug for UR, they recently announced that they will be offering all students the opportunity to do paid research internships: <a href=“UR to fund summer internship for all undergrads”>http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/ur-to-fund-summer-internship-for-all-undergrads/article_3a6f547e-f8d8-51fd-a636-79372bf9c7d8.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>DD2 is a freshman and liking UR so far too. She also applied to W&M and we really liked the campus, also a terrific location with lots of historical sites, though not as close to a major city like UR. She also applied to Wake Forest, also a very nice campus, on the outskirts of Winston-Salem, a medium sized city. W&M is generally very expensive for OOS, don’t know whether that is a consideration.</p>

<p>WFU and W&M are both slightly larger than UR, but with a similar feel on campus and similar academics.</p>

<p>Both girls spent some time on the University of Maryland College Park campus during Odyssey of the Mind competitions in high school. It is much bigger than the other schools you are considering and hard to compare. Nice campus for a large state school, a lot of highly ranked programs, generally expensive for OOS.</p>

<p>DD2 also applied to UNC Chapel Hill, also a fairly large school. Beautiful campus, the town of Chapel Hill is a lovely college town and the surrounding area is pretty. Hard to get in from OOS as a freshman, don’t know about transfers.</p>

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<p>AMG407, I visited Richmond, and have seen UMD and Wake (But never officially visited either). </p>

<p>Richmond is the same as WM, that you can’t apply directly to the business school and have to apply later. Also, while some rankings have UR’s business school ranked ahead of WM’s, as an overall institution WM is ranked much higher, and has a better brand name recognition.</p>

<p>Also, Business week has Mason as the 22nd best undergraduate business school in the country, up 5 spots from last year. While Wake and UR are ranked ahead of it, it’s not like it’s a bad school by any means. And applying to Mason is very straightforward, they take all the applicants, and take the top few hunderd basedd soley off GPA. As long as you’re doing well you’d be fine to get in. I know it might appear small, but WM isn’t a big school, and it’s bigger than Richmond’s business school and about the same size as Wake’s. (Maryland’s is significantly bigger, but Maryland is a much bigger school). It’s also cheaper than UR/WF, even paying out of state tuition.</p>

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<p>AMG407: I have also visited Richmond as well as Wake Forest; both of those schools had a similar “vibe” to me. UR’s business school seemed very impressive during my visit.</p>

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<p>W&M may be impossible top get into from OOS as a transfer, the UVA state school community college compact guarantees acceptance to anyone with qualifying GPA from any community college in the state ( Please not W&M qualifying GPA is 3.5, UVA 3.4 - goes to show you the quality of applicants)</p>

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<p>I wish my state had a school like W&M as a public option. This school was on my son’s list and the only thing I did not like about it was that we’d be paying such a high OOS premium if he should go there. Students we saw there, students we met, all seemed to love the school. I don’t expect everyone to like any school, and I am sorry OP did not like his experience there. i would not have picked my college for myself, had I known better, also. not a big deal thing. Many of us pick schools that are not good matches. Some make the best of it, some the worst. Most get by and chalk it up as just one of those things in life. </p>

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<p>I wonder if WMstudent14 is having difficulty getting a job after graduation, or is concerned about her GPA for grad school, and so she has sour grapes . again, its more important what you study in school than where you go.</p>

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<p>@proudfather, the OP stated in a subsequent post:

This is a fairly common theme on the individual school boards - a brand-new poster who is also an unhappy/disgruntled student dumping all over a specific school. When any student can’t come up with a single positive thing to say about their school, or when, whatever the student’s situation, his/her problems are entirely the school’s fault, it’s harder to take those complaints seriously.</p>

<p>I still think this was a valuable thread for prospective students, and I would agree with the OP that, if you think college should be more about partying than studying, or if you expect a high GPA simply for enrolling, W&M isn’t the school for you.</p>

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<p>frazzled1 – i dont see too many kids (especially seniors) posting on this site that their school choice sucked. also, the fact she got a job through family connections is interesting. how many of these other kids, who were deliberately bumped down in grade average by a vicious system, had such connections when they gradtuated? I wonder what the job placement rate is for this school.</p>

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<p>Please use old threads for reference only. The OP hasn’t been on the website since June! Start a new thread if you’d like.</p>