If you like that geographic area and size of school, have you looked at Wake Forest, Elon, Davidson, American U or Catholic U?
UNC-CH is harder to get into than UVA. Per state rules they can only accept 18% OOS.
James Madison has an honors college, and as an undergraduate focused comprehensive university has many opportunities for undergraduate student research.
VCU is an urban campus, so it would be important to visit to make sure it is the kind of environment she is looking for, since more of he other schools you mention seem to be more traditional college campuses/ towns.
In VA, based on what you have mentioned, I suggest she may want to apply to UVA, JMU, Washington & Lee, U Richmond, and look at Tech, VCU, George Mason, and CNU to see if the educational and camps environment are what she is looking for.
Just talking here among our family and son who is applying to UVa, Va Tech, UNC-CH as well as others OOS. To answer your question for ranking…in our eyes we would say JMU is above MW and VCU. In this area it is definitely considered harder to get in to/more prestigious. Like the above mentioned, if she liked WM’s campus, she probably won’t like VCU. It’s a much more urban school in the more downtown area of Richmond, not like UR in the affluent manicured outskirts. Totally different feel. Yes, still apply to UVa, you never know. I would say also that when my daughter was applying many people told us that MW was a good fall back for those that liked the feel of W&M, but were not accepted there. There are not a lot of kids from CA at JMU, WM or VCU as they are more regional schools, and I think it would be great for her to be at any of them. I doubt Richmond as many either. My daughter was going to apply there too, but got into W&M so did not. She loved the campus, people seemed friendly, but I’d also say it kind of has that “rich kid” feel that the public schools here really don’t (except maybe UVa). I’m excited for her. I know she’s disappointed right now, but Virginia just has so many great options and I know she’ll find her perfect it.
@kkmabo Thank you, I so appreciate everyone’s help. I don’t think my daughter could get into UVA or WL as she didn’t get into W&M. Probably same w/UR but it’s the only 1 with a ED still available. She would really like it but don’t want to get her hopes up. I don’t think she’d like VCU. I hope she can get in JMU, I think that is her best shot and trying to transfer to W&M. She really wants to study abroad and MW seems to have amazing programs for that so its a consideration. W& M was her dream & she’s just shattered. I read it’s easier to transfer there do maybe after a yr she can do that.
@londondad Thanks, She can’t get into WF and maybe not Davidson but I think she might try. Elon is smaller than her HS and she isn’t really interested in the others. She is a History/Art History double major.
@1S1Dforcollege. Yes, I saw that, it’s a long shot but she loved it when we visited & we have a fee waiver so will give it a shot. Very unlikely however, sigh.
@KatMT Thank you, I didn’t know JM had an honors college, will check it out! AThanks for your suggestions!
JMU has an honors college https://www.jmu.edu/honors/, strong programs in history and art history, and strong study abroad opportunities… https://www.jmu.edu/international/, including honors specific study abroad options, and a competitive scholarship to fund honors project research in the summer between junior and senior year. One of my advisees was awarded this scholarship, and here is a video of her experience linked from the Honors Community page https://vimeo.com/142650414
There are service learning opportunities https://www.jmu.edu/csl/ including alternative spring break programs http://www.jmu.edu/abp/. JMU also has a strong record with Teach for America and the Peace Corps.
The campus is much larger than W & M, and I think the student vibe overall is slightly different, but if she is admitted and decides to attend she could look into one of the learning living communities, which would allow her to also live with a smaller cohort… http://www.jmu.edu/orl/housing/rlc.shtml I have worked with students who have lived in the Arts, Madison International, Honors, and Roop Teacher Education Living Learning Communities, and they have had positive experiences.
JMU may or may not be a school she will connect to, but I post all of this to make it easier to find the info about JMU, and also to highlight than many schools have programs like these. It is disappointing to fall in love with a school and have it not work out. Spending some time looking at the opportunities at other schools might help ease the pain a little bit.
I teach at James Madison, and am happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful.
@cloudysmom, keep in mind that Richmond has only around 500 more students than Gettysburg, so she might find it too small as well.
Richmond has a great reputation in New York. Most people in New York who haven’t done any research on colleges probably haven’t heard of it, but those who have, know that it’s a great school. It’s in a really nice area too. I’m not sure how much there is to do for the students, but as an adult, I loved it when we visited.
I think Gettysburg College would be a good safety/match for someone who likes History like your D. That is, if she is interested in PA
@citimama9 and @WalknOnEggShells thank you both, yes, UR is small for her but it’s in her preferred area and easy to get to from our house, Gettysburg is much farther away and we couldn’t see her as much. Also the town of Gettysburg didn’t seem to have a ton to do although she did like the school on our tour. UR just seems too hard to get into but it still has an ED2 and it’s such a great school that if she got in, it would be binding but it’s fine, she would go. I think she wants to transfer, if possible, to W& M for her 2nd yr, if she can get in.
@kkmabo What’s James Madison for someone who is OOS? Do many kids from VA go home on the weekends? Is it harder to get into a sorority if you don’t know people from your hometown/high school? Thx and @KatMT too
Elon has thousands of students so it’s unlikely that it’s smaller than her HS unless her high school has 6ooo or more students. And disregard what I wrote about Gettysburg. I wrote about it before seeing that she already nixed it. And then I now just saw that you responded. LOL
@citimama9 Lol, no problem, I just appreciate your response. Her HS has 4,000 kids and I thought when I read about Elon there was less than that but maybe I’m getting mixed up, hard to keep all this straight!
^ I think that she has a good shot at UR. Make sure she does a great job on the Spider essay! Also, would she consider a Gap Year if she does not get into UR and reapply next year to W&M?
@londondad. Thanks, what makes you think she has a good shot at UR.? I hope ur right! No, Indont think she wants a gap year, she
@cloudysmom Again, I am not an expert, but I recall that when we were at UR, they really stressed their holistic admissions evaluations. By comparison, I have found that many state schools really do focus on SAT/ACT as a first cut. Also, I generally think it is too easy to fall into a trap where if DS does not get into school A, then he definitely won’t get into school B etc etc. That often is not the case. Just from reading lots of threads here, I have read about kids getting into a few Ivies, UChicago, etc and then getting rejected from schools 10 or 20 places further down the list. Much of that result stems from school’s different holistic evaluations, looking for kids that fit the ethos, etc.
Further, W&M is a tough school for girls to get into as many girls prefer W&M to UVA. Lastly, I think that a number of top private schools are not happy with the College Board and ACT given all the recent screwups with new exams, cheating scandals, etc., so if the test scores are the weakest part of the application, many schools may look to deemphasise SATs if the rest of the application is stellar. Anyway, good luck.
@londondad. I didn’t realize all of that but thank you for bringing it to my attention, makes sense & hope you’re right!
LAC’s like Richmond prize geographic diversity. I would wager that it is easier to get into UR than if she was applying from the Mid-Atlantic area.
“many girls prefer W & M to UVa.” Not necessarily. Many girls also really like UVa. I am in Virginia, and if anything it is that fewer boys are interested in W & M. Neither of my sons would apply, although it is such a wonderful school. They preferred the bigger schools like UVa and Virginia Tech. In the common data set for 2015-16 for W & M, 5547 men applied (2264 were admitted), and 9405 women applied (2889 admitted). For UVa, 14,070 men applied (4278 admitted), and 15, 870 women applied (4908 admitted). W & M has 6301 undergraduates, UVa has 16,736 and has many more seats to fill. Good luck !
My daughter is applying to UVA, W&M, and V Tech from northern VA. At her school, UVA is the clear first choice, with W&M second, though the people who do like Tech really, really like it and are excited to go. About half the class applies to JMU, and many end up going there. The other VA state schools fall behind those in interest and desirability.
I can understand that after seeing your daughter cry about W&M for days you don’t want her to risk facing another rejection, but if she really would like going to UVA or W&L it makes sense to apply to at least one of them. If she likes Tech or JMU (or both), she would have a very good chance at those if she’s in the range of stats for UVA or W&M. And other Virginia state schools (I’d suggest UMW or Christopher Newport) seem very, very likely as backups.
I also wonder if applying ED2 to UR is a good idea if she might want to transfer to W&M after a year. With ED, and with a good school like UR, she should probably be more committed than that. It might be better for her to take her best shot at everything RD now and go with the best option she gets. If it turns out to be a Virginia state school that’s not UVA, she might be able to transfer to W&M or UVA after one or two years if she does extremely well and has a reason for the transfer. Of course, by that time, she might not want to.
JMU is very popular here as well and is known for happy students that really like their school. The friend (a W & M legacy) of one son actually turned down W & M for JMU-just liked the vibe at JMU better. I agree that for most people in Virginia, the top four schools in desirability would probably be UVa, W & M, Virginia Tech, and JMU. At my kid’s school in souheastern Virginia, UVa and Virginia Tech were both more popular than W & M, but the closer proximity to W & M may be a factor ( in terms of VT over W & M)… University of Richmond is private so does not get the same interest here as the state schools. But it is a beautiful campus.
Are there instate schools your daughter is considering? Hopefully, your daughter will find a school she likes and may not even want to transfer! Sorry about the denial from W & M.