Help me compare VA. schools - UVA, W&M and UR

College Search & Selection
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@dragonmom3, our D visited both twice. attended classes at both, & spent an overnight at Wake with a friend-of-a-friend. Accepted at both. Felt UR had a much more mid-Atlantic/NE vibe and gave the edge to the city of Richmond in terms of fun things for college kids to do, internships, & access to DC. Winston-Salem, while smaller, has a strong arts scene.

Didn’t attend either as she got more $ elsewhere, but we enjoyed our visits to both and felt she would have done well at either school. Both seemed to hit the sweet spot in terms of size, larger than a LAC but much smaller than a large university.

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For anyone still possible reading this - we paid the deposit at University of Richmond and it’s all set! Aid was good but not great but doable, will just have to really tighten things & try and get more business. It’s been a long road from William and Mary, and a twist I did not see coming as I had never even heard of Univ of RIchmond before but it seems a better fit for her than any of the others. Surprised she got in but thrilled and excited for her future! Hope she loves it and unless something unexpected happens, she is feeling she can do 4 yrs here & not worry about transferring, which is what we wanted. I have learned a ton about these schools in VA so if anyone reading this is in the same boat I am happy to help!

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Congratulations! I’m sure that she will love UR. Good luck!!

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Thank you!!

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I have been following this thread for a while and have been feeling the pain that Cloudysmom has been enduring.
My Son is OOS (NJ) loves history and has dreamed of attending W&M since he was a young boy. We visit Williamsburg every year.
He applied early decision to W&M and was deferred. At the time he only applied to W&M and UVA (early action). He was denied at UVA. He was devastated at being deferred then denied.
We finally convinced him to apply to other schools. We are still in limbo waiting to hear.
I am so happy you had good news. Hoping some will come our way soon. The stress has been unbearable.
He did apply to CNU, Universiity of Richmond and JMU, Stevens Institute and Berklee School of Music in Boston. He had an audition at Berklee last month. He was planning on business degree at W&M with a minor in music. He has been an intern at a financial firm the past year and loved it.

We visited UR in November and while he is still praying for W&M he was really taken with UR.

His cousin went to UR and has raved about it for years.

We come from a very small town (1 mile square). Our high school serves 7 towns in our county.
He has all AP classes and has had almost all
A’s as well as extracurricular activities. He is the drum line captain in the HS band. He scored at 1390 on his SAT’s. He had a great essay and two letters of recommendation.
Please let me know what you this his chances are.
Say a prayer for us.

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@Squan66 I’m so glad you posted. The stress is unbearable, isn’t it? I had no idea college application process would be this stressful, none! My D was and is an excellent student and I didn’t realize it would be so competitive! The scores, gpa’s, xc’s, leadership, jobs, etc, wow! Ok, rant over!

He seems to be in a better position than my D was for W&M. She will have 8 AP’s when she graduates, got a 1280 SAT which is lower for OOS. Her 29 ACT was better, esp as she got a 34 & 35 on reading & writing. When she fell in love w/ W& M, we didn’t realize how tight OOS is, 65% must be IS. Looking back, I see most who were accepted ED OOS has very high ACT scores, 34 & up. The lower scores people posted were IS. They kept saying how holistic they are but I think the scores were more important than they stressed during our visits. Her scores fell in the middle 50% when she applied, the lower end but she was still in there. I think she only sent ACT & SAT history subject score 750. When she was denied, not even deferred, they encouraged us to call to see why so we did. They said she had some exceptional components & asked if she’d consider transferring. They really harped on her ACT score, said she had to get it higher. Said they saw that her ACT reading & writing were high but that they go off the composite. They didn’t have access to her essays so couldn’t discuss those. We were left feeling it was more score focused than we’d been led to believe.

So, in contrast, UR. Glad your son likes that as it seems he might have a better shot there. From what I have obsessively read, lol, they do seem to prefer kids who are well rounded, have a variety of interests. My D used her HS to try out different interests, she took architecture, biomedical science, astronomy, an interesting mix. Interestingly, my D was NOT even in the middle 50% score wise here! We thought her chances were not great. The common data said UR places most emphasis on rigor of classes & Gpa, then scores. W&M listed scores as most important. D had 3.6 uw gpa & 4.3 w.

I think her diversity of classes, rigor & weighted gpa along with her essay got her in. She had an amazing spider essay. When they accepted her they said a little about why & mentioned her writing talent. I think they are truly a holistic school. Also, private so no 65% IS rule helped too!. I pray your S gets into W&M, please, please post back & let me know what happens!

I still feel twinges of pain when I think about it & I know my D does as well. So much to love about W& M, hard to let that dream go. I honestly feel though that UR is a better fit for her. Its student body is certainly more diverse, it has a much better study abroad program as well & there is much more to do in Richmond, free school shuttles too! Hard to compete in your heart with Colonial Williamsburg & the Wren bldg I know…

Also, we needed aid, W& M only gives up to 25% of tuition to OOS students. UR meets 100% need. Not sure your situation but something to consider. Sorry this is so long!

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@Squan66 Also, Boston is a great city! My D was born there. I lived there from age 19-23, then ages 31-42, a wonderful city & hard to beat Berkeley, your S must be quite talented!

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Thanks for understanding. We are so stressed.

He is a very talented musician. He plays multiple instruments but understands there isn’t a lot of money in music.

We are aware of the 25% rule for W&M and while we aren’t thrilled about the expense we will make this happen for him if he is admitted.

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@Squan66 Berklee is great. My son attends but based on other schools your son applied to, not sure it would be the place for him. If music isn’t his passion but only a hobby, he may not be happy there.

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Thanks. The problem is music is his passion… he just understands it would be difficult to make the kind of money he needs to live on in our area with a music degree. He is hoping to minor in music at the other colleges.
Still keeping our fingers crossed for William and Mary and University of Richmond.
Already got accepted at JMU and CNU.

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D just got her acceptance at Jmu tonight, even though we w/drew her application per ED rules. I called Richmond today about something else & they led me to believe RD results were coming out monday. Mailed I assume as they notify via mail. Hopefully you will hear soon & can get passed all this stress!

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Thanks for the update on the Richmond acceptance letters. My son was accepted at both JMU and CNU but we are still hoping for UR or W&M.

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UR is a great choice – we are going to look at it over spring break for my D, who is a junior. Very prestigious school in this area and great reputation.

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Thanks @klbmom18 we are still learning about it but so far very happy! FYI UR is starting EA next yr which will make RD much more competitive but if your D is interested, might increase her chances!

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Thanks!