<p>This is all a little disconcerting to our son and us. Having gone through a very smooth process at Dartmouth with our older child, we had expected W&M to be on top of things as well. It's been almost 2 months since the surveys were collected, all my son's high school friends received their housing assignments weeks ago from their prospective schools, orientation is less than a month away and still no information. And now this morning, he in unable to sign on to MyWM to check for updates? A message keeps popping up saying "You have too many requests" whatever that's supposed to mean.</p>
<p>Is this what registration is going to be like next week? Further, why all the animosity between the PC vs. Mac people that I have read about on other threads? None of this silliness exists at Dartmouth, and it does not make it any easier for a new student at W&M to decide what laptop to purchase.</p>
<p>Does anyone else feel that this is not the most impressive start to a new academic life? I truly hope the rest of the College is more organized and efficient that what we have seen to date. We really want to love W&M, and to know that our son is having a wonderful 4 years, both academically and socially.</p>
<p>^^I think the message means that MyWM has crashed from the volume of new students/parents trying to find out their roommates & dorms assignments. W&M probably needs to add more servers to accommodate registration next week, otherwise they will have the same problem.</p>
<p>I suspect that myWM is down because they’re trying to fix the software malfunction that has delayed the housing assignments. In the end, it really does not matter when you find out who your roommate is. I found out on the 15th of July last year and the timing did not affect my experience. In addition, this “animosity” that exists between Mac and PC users is found everywhere. it’s not just a W&M thing. </p>
<p>I get that you’re concerned about your son and his overall experience but tech issues do not reflect the college experience or the organization of W&M. They know what they’re doing.</p>
<p>I second pmk’s post, and would like to add: Chill out. It helps when an over-eager 18 year old has a patient parental influence in his/her life to fall back on. Perhaps Dartmouth had a little less summer sizzle. Who knows? If you decide to extrapolate, or encourage an attitude of impatience toward, a one-week delay in the distribution of housing assignments – nay, it’s not even a delay considering that the reslife site says “mid-to late July” – into a broader flaw in the institutional structure and organization of the school, you’re setting yourself, and more importantly your son, up for total disappointment over the next four years. </p>
<p>Also – “orientation is less than a month away and still no information.” The only variable that will change with the housing assignment is the specific (within a radius of about 3/4 of a mile…) building to which your son will report on the morning of Friday the 20th. Orientation schedules are already up.</p>
<p>Chill. There was a glitch in the housing assignment software that prevented them from going out. They’re working on it. It’s not like they knew this would happen.</p>
<p>And I’ve gotten that error before when trying to log in. The site will come back up later.</p>
<p>I understand that you are upset but there is no reason to be impatient. They had an unanticipated software glitch…</p>
<p>Most of the things we need to buy for a dorm isn’t specific to what room we are in. The major stuff, mini-fridge, microwave, bookshelf, etc. can wait. We still have 2-3 weeks.</p>
<p>FWIW, registration used to be a pain. MyWM used to bog down right when the registration window opened and some people got the shaft because the servers were overloaded. It has improved dramatically in the last 4 years and for the last 2 years I couldn’t notice any performance impact when everyone was hitting the server with registration requests all at once. They’re good about adding capacity where they need it, but you can’t always foresee this kind of thing, especially if it’s caused by a bug/glitch instead of high volume. This will pass, and you’ll probably find registration will be smoother.</p>
<p>Mac vs. PC animosity exists everywhere. At W&M there are important differences in service and support that students should be aware of in order to make an informed purchase. There are two different entities providing support now, which complicates things. But often times it’s hard to separate those (mostly) factual discussions from the opinions of which platform is better.</p>
<p>ok… I clicked on this thread expecting the situation to be something like W&M forgot to send your kid any stuff and it was like he wasn’t on the record as attending the school in the fall…</p>
<p>instead the thread is about a bug on banner (which I can tell you, is about 500 times better than the system Virginia Tech uses), and it appears to have been fixed within a few hours, during a period where nothing time sensitive is happening.</p>
<p>Relax and enjoy. Your son will have a great time at W&M. As I understand, W&M has done everything that they said they would do for your son, in the time frame that they said it would get done.</p>
<p>PS there is only animosity because PCs are terrible. Just kidding. Maybe.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear you’re experiencing some frustration. Hopefully you’ve been able to log on to myWM and find your student’s housing assignment. Because W&M’s Orientation occurs all at once rather than during random dates throughout the summer, it’s likely why we can send out housing assignments a bit later. W&M is generally very organized and thorough and works hard to make sure your student has a great experience here…just wait until freshmen move in day when tons of current students help you move in…you’ll see.</p>
<p>Having lived in New Hampshire for 8 years, I can assure you that your son will be content in January when he is taking a walk down D.O.G. street and everyone in Hanover NH is negotiating a foot or two of snow As for the orientation, I found it to be very professionally handled when I was there a few years ago.</p>
<p>Tribe1693,
Let’s hope the W&M sibling does as well as his Dartmouth brother, who after loving his 4 years in Hanover, had not 1, not 2 but 3 job offers in NYC. Ninety days after graduating from Dartmouth, he is earning more money than I did 3 years into the practice of law! Somehow, a little snow did nothing to detract from his experience…hoping that I can say the same thing 4 years from now about heat and humidity.</p>
<p>For all of you convinced that I have somehow been unfair to W&M in my comments a week ago, I assure you that my family wants very much to embrace this school and support it the way we did our sons’ high school and Dartmouth. Perhaps, the differences that I have seen since attending Accepted Students Day in April stem from the fact that W&M is a public college, created and operated for Virginians. We live 1000 miles away, and have always educated our sons at private schools, so we have a different prospective from the majority of W&M families.</p>
<p>In less that 3 weeks, we will be delighted to move our youngest into his dorm and have only high expectations for his time at W&M.</p>
<p>Just adding my thoughts, as the parent of 2 children who have attended W & M (one a 2005 grad, one a rising junior) and one who attended a selective private university (Vandy alum 2009). I don’t think you’ll find that W & M falls short on much - we never have. It’s a very well-run place, not at all like the vision some may have of a huge State U with enormous classes, enormous lines waiting for every service, and boondoggles at every turn. Registration and bursar’s offices at W & M are especially efficient.</p>
<p>Differences I did note between Vanderbilt and W & M: there was more money put into facilities and grounds at Vanderbilt. (Although even here, W & M does admirably well, especially considering the financial squeeze it’s under.) Career services were better developed at Vanderbilt - but W & M has identified this as a pressing need and is addressing it with additional resources and energy this year… And that’s really about it. I think W & M’s health center services compare favorably even to Vanderbilt’s (wish our experiences with three kids had left us ignorant on this score :rolleyes:). Faculty at these top private/public schools seemed, in my secondhand viewpoint, equally committed to undergrad teaching and available to students.</p>
<p>OP, you seem to place a premium on efficiency, so I’ll add a hint about move-in day. Parking is tough, so I would either: arrive 30-45 minutes early in order to find a great spot, unload the car onto the grass or sidewalk, leave one person with the stuff, and move the car; or come at 10:30 AM, when most people have done the above. If you arrive on the dot of move-in time, you’ll be behind a zillion people, and not many places look efficient from that perspective. :)</p>
<p>^^We tried to get in line early but were turned away by campus police who had the road in front of Dupont closed until 8:00, so we hung out at W&M Hall for a while. We were near the front of the line and the cars behind us stretched as far as we could see. After d’s freshman year it was much better because students move in over the space of several days. Also, if you’re worried about putting stuff on the ground, bring a tarp because you will have to unload quickly, probably onto the grass, and move your car. (And, pray for good weather.)</p>
<p>frazled1, our son’s decision came down to W&M and Vandy, he’s always been in private schools so I thought he might be better off at Vanderbilt, but for a lot of reasons W&M is the right choice for him, btw we are out of state too runsmanstl.</p>
As for the orientation, I found it to be very professionally handled when I was there a few years ago.</p>