<p>I've received the Robert E. Lee scholarship (full tuition, room and board, and fees = $48000 scholarship out of total estimated $52,000 cost) at Washington and Lee (W&L) University. I'm am trying to weigh this with attending the University of Virginia (UVA).</p>
<p>Washington and Lee Pros:
1. full scholarship-->saves parents' money, allows them to help pay for graduate school (I plan on attending Law or Business), and is a small positive for graduate school admissions
2. small liberal arts-->small classes (80% classes have < 25 students) --> developing closer relationships with professors, potentially having a more interactive learning experience, and receiving good recommendations
3. I am interested in business. W&L has only accredited business school in top liberal arts colleges. Developing relationships is important in business. Business is applicable to any field I may pursue in the future. Small classes and small school allows development of relationships.
a. W&L Williams Investment Society- invests > $1 million. I really want to continue learning about investment. I'm currently secretary of school investment club (invests ~ 1k)
b. W&L Mock Convention is cited as one the best undergraduate convention experiences. I love government and politics.
c. Trimester system with 6 week spring term lets students start early at internships. Starting in spring allows interns to do real work before summer crowd comes in and fetching-the-coffee work starts.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee Cons:
1. I am Asian American. I attend a school that is composed of ~ 1/3 Asian students. Most of my friends are Asian American. I don't know how well I will adapt to W&L, where Asian American make up ~ 7% of population according to BusinessWeek. Perhaps attending W&L will be an experience that will better prepare me for the real world.
2. Less prestige compared to UVA. I had not heard of this school before I found its scholarship competition.
3. Does it offer as challenging an academic experience as UVA? I plan to take many challenging courses, no matter which school I enroll at.
4. W&L has a substantial Greek presence. I do not want to feel the pressure of joining a fraternity b/c 80% of the guys do, but I don't want to be left out of the party scene either.
5. During my visit to W&L for the scholarship competition, I didn't feel at home. I have no basis of comparison. I have not visited other schools during the school year, but I did visit UVA during the UVA-USC football game, when there were a lot of plastic red cups scattered throughout the beautiful campus. I know I should visit UVA again while school was in session before making my decision.</p>
<p>University of Virginia Pros:
1. Big state school--> lots of opportunities
2. More Asian Americans- 11.4%--> closer to the percentage that I am used to
3. Fairly inexpensive (a little less than $20,000 with financial aid)
4. Theoretically (because there are more people and more girls at UVA), I would meet more girls. I'm not a player, but I am looking for a relationship.
5. Prestigious school. Arguably one the best public universities. Great alumni network for placement into graduate schools.</p>
<p>University of Virginia Cons:
1. Still have to pay money.
2. 100 people from my school will probably attend UVA. I like my friends, but I would rather have a fresh start. B/c so many people from my school attend UVA as their fall back choice, it is assumed that they were not accepted by their top pick--> saying that you will be attending UVA usually gets awkward responses such as "cool" or "nice."</p>
<p>I'm sorry this post is so long. It needed specifics. </p>
<p>definitely go with w&l. it is definitely on the rise & should be among the top few liberal arts schools in a few years the acceptance rate this year and last was 17% b/c of the johnson (down from 27ish% the year before) & it should only become more selective as the ratings and its reputation go up. don’t worry about the prestige of w&l.
Also, I know a couple of people who go there who are in a very diverse sorority. The whole campus may not be extremely diverse, but you can find your niche</p>
<p>This is a no-brainer. Go to W&L. A friend of mine received a full-scholarship – Johnson – to W&L and is considering turning down Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton, if she gets in to them, to go to W&L. </p>
<p>What did you decide? My S may be deliberating between a possible scholarship at W&L and not much help at other, less prestigious schools. It’s about weighing the smaller-size-more-rural-than-he-wants vs. a top-notch education.</p>
<p>Our son hopes to be in the same situation as that of collegeyikes, having applied for the Johnson @ W&L and to UVa. We are convinced that he can receive a “top-notch education” @ either, and while UVa may be “more prestigious” in general, I doubt that is the case if a student is attending W&L on a full ride Johnson. According to payscale.com the “Starting Median Salary/Mid-Career Median Salary” for W&L is $51,800/$104,000; UVa $52,200/$97,200. Of all the colleges we visited, UVa was our son’s favorite, but he will accept the Johnson if offered @ his 2nd.</p>
<p>Hi Tres, Happy New Year & hope all is going well. UVa’s Jefferson is their full ride merit and has a strong emphasis on community service. Our S’s non-academic time was spent pitching and @ chess.</p>
<p>When will you hear from Yale re aid? When we visited UPenn, we were informed that they meet 100% of need with grants. I thought all the Ivys had replaced loans with grants.</p>
<p>thanks, you too! i should have heard already from yale, but we submitted some of our documents late, so i’m not certain when my package will arrive. hopefully by the end of january/early february. i’m hoping you’re right about the grants. :)</p>
<p>just hoping for some word about the johnson! maybe it’ll be a week or so?</p>
<p>Last I heard, they were aiming to send invitations out on the 25th. Let me know when you get yours and I will do the same. If the financial aid is enough from Yale, will you still show for the Johnson?</p>
<p>yep (probably, as long as you’re OkieSon and not OkieDad–parents can’t come, correct?)! good luck. hopefully this will turn out better than my other scholarship competition application.</p>
<p>What? So, I looked, and you are right: “Parents are not encouraged to accompany their students to campus.” Interesting. So you will have to say hi to the 6’, thin , pale (chess) kid from OK. What was the other application and what went wrong?</p>
<p>it was for the biggest scholarship at university of alabama, University Fellows. i haven’t heard about semifinalist standing. i think i was eliminated. oh well.</p>
<p>BTW, as a rule i don’t tell people i recognize from this site that i know who they are. i’m afraid of the awkwardness admitting this could cause…</p>
<p>I work at a state supported university; bigger is not better, necessarily.</p>
<p>If you are looking for more than the “college experience” and looking for the life-long learning experience and life-long, lasting relationships you should most definitely attend Washington & Lee. You may not realize the value of your decision for decades to come but W&L, philosophically, has it right.</p>