Help Me Decide: Richmond vs. William & Mary

College Search & Selection
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I am having a difficult time deciding between the two schools I have been accepted to-- Richmond and William & Mary. I will most likely be studying business and I am OOS. The tuition is slightly less at W & M, but this does not matter for me. I will be visiting them in two weeks, and I understand that the “feel” is most important, but I would still like some opinions.

I came upon some discussions from around 2012 saying that most people would prefer W & M. However, in recent years, it seems that Richmond has been climbing in both reputation and ranking. Any opinions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks…

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Are you an international student?

You have to look WAY beyond reputation and ranking. What is your major? What are you looking for in a school? What drew you to these two schools to begin with?

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Having visited both, they feel very different. WM feels very academic and intellectual. Richmond feels more east coast prep school. Both campuses are beautiful, WM much older and embracing that while Richmond feels a bit more polished. Richmond is isolated by itself in a wooded location adjacent to a ritzy part of town, while WM is smack in the middle of Williamsburg and literally next door to Colonial Williamsburg. WM has much more available walkable off campus, while Richmond, due to its location separate from town, would require transportation to get off campus. But once off campus, there is more to do in Richmond than Williamsburg.

Richmond struck me as having a greater focus on business and they were very proud of their business school (and it was in a gorgeous, well appointed building).

Two really good choices here. If you are really looking at business, that may be your deciding factor between the two, so make sure you understand the advantages of each program when you are making your decision. Good luck!

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We just visited W&M and I know several Richmond grads, and I think the above description is accurate. W&M definitely gave off an academic/intellectual vibe, not pre-professional at all. Our tour guide group (when they do introductions) had more Peace Corps/TeachAmerica kids than anyone going into business. Not preppy, but not crunchy either. If you are interested in business or want a preppier, more pre-professional vibe, Richmond is your choice. If you want an “intellectual” LAC experience but at a bigger campus with bigger student body, W&M is the better choice.

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^^^Above posts are accurate and helpful. Both are beautiful schools with very strong academics. Both have quality business schools with world-class facilities. There is no significant difference in ranking or reputation, overall or for the business schools specifically. Both are mid-size national universities, with the cultural, aesthetic differences described above. Students have similarly strong academic backgrounds. I’d advise going with the one that feels right to you after your visits. Good luck!

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Agree with the feel very different piece! You really have to visit to more than likely one will feel better than the other because they are very different.

W&M is much more walkable it’s not even close.

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Richmond’s campus, although in a nice part of the suburbs, is more isolated in the woods. W&M is directly adjacent to and more integrated into Williamsburg. They are two of the prettiest campuses in the U.S. in my opinion. W&M is a public school, but if you dropped most people on the campus with no context, they’d likely think it is private.

The business schools are quite strong at both schools and both have excellent facilities. The business students predictably tend to be fairly pre-professional or liberal arts students trying to add to their resume.

Although they are historical football rivals and only an hour or so apart by car, I think they have somewhat different vibes (for lack of a better word). Although both are relatively small, W&M is about twice as large and has more graduate programs. The difference is enough to put W&M in the National Universities category and Richmond in the National Liberal Arts category in USNews, but they are both perhaps in a broad middle ground between the two. Both are comparatively very focused on undergraduate education quality, something you will not actually see from a lot of highly-ranked schools (that shall remain nameless from me).

W&M feels like it has a bit wider range of people (the pre-professional business and focused pre-med, but also people interested in Peace Corps, people who want to be academics, international relations, arts) than Richmond. On the flip side, Richmond has recently used its substantial endowment to attract students from lower income levels than attended in the past.

W&M has a longer history and was highly regarded before Richmond. It used to be substantially more selective, particularly out of state. (Richmond used to be evaluated in the USNews regional university category.) But I think it is very fair to say that Richmond has been on the rise.

Good luck.

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@STF4717 thanks for the questions. I am not an international student, and I do realize that I need to look beyond the ranking. I am the type of person who carefully analyzes every piece of quantitative data I can find, so I guess that’s why I look at the rankings. Anyway, I’m looking to major in something business but I’m not exactly sure.

As for everyone else who responded—thank you. It looks like I need to decide between a more pre-professional/ less walkable Richmond and a more academic/ walkable W & M.

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@GoodMin we visited W&M last week with our S19 and we all loved it. He’s a liberal arts type student. Won’t be a business major but undecided otherwise. Could be anything from biology to economics to English. He thought the school was just like the smaller LACs he’s looking at but with more kids. He’s really looking for mentorship from professors, chances to do research, and a walkable neighborhood. We took Richmond off of the list because it just seemed too preprofessional for him. W&M’s campus is gorgeous. Old Virginia architecture near a beautiful forest area. I think it just feels different than Richmond. I think it has a percentage of business school kids but also a large percentage of those who want a full liberal arts education. We are out of state but we met lots of kids from outside Virginia. 35 percent hail from outside the state.

I agree with the posters above that you will see the differences as soon as you visit. Everyone at W&M was warm and friendly and that, matched with the academic rigor, is a good match for him. There’s a real community feeling there. He sat in on a class (it was about 25 kids big) and the professor was so welcoming. He knew everyone’s name in the class and the discussion wasn’t lively even at 9:00am.

Good luck with your decision!

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S was admitted to both last yr. We visited both and the descriptions throughout the thread are spot on. I only add to the conversation to reiterate a previous comment: both are heavily focused on the undergraduate experience; education, socialization, etc. That is much more LAC like than university. Personally I think that’s great as you’ll be in small classes (smaller at Richmond) taught by excellent professors (not TAs). Many classes will be discussion based so there is ample opportunity for professor / student interaction.

Feel will be a big thing as they do feel quote different.

Best of luck in your decision.

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W&M has a huge pre-professional group of students, and it ranks quite high in the number of students it sends off to law and med school each year. I’m not as familiar with the business school. I’m a bit partial to W&M, although it ultimately is not the school my son chose it was among my favorites. Good luck.

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I just looked it up. 220 business majors for each class so that’s about 15% of the student body at WIlliam and Mary.

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THIS is the kind of thread I come to CC hoping to find. A good and interesting question being asked followed by answers from people who have some working knowledge and are genuinely attempting to help. We stayed on topic and hopefully provided some valuable insight. OP even thanked us! Well done all! :slight_smile:

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These are peers, but they’re different. Check out majors and courses offered, maybe look at the faculty teaching those courses, look at class sizes, look at campus maps (how far are dorms from classes?), look at academic calendars. Then visit them and listen to your gut.

Richmond is technically a LAC, but it offers Business and is on the large (populous) side for an elite LAC.

William & Mary is technically a university with some of the feel of a LAC.

The U is called “College” and the LAC is called “University”. That’s cool.

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@GoodMIN, please let us know what you think after you visit! I will possibly be interested in these two schools for my daughter in a few years. I don’t think you can go wrong with either school (in terms of your future career). You are in the enviable position to choose the school that will make you feel happiest. As a nuts-and-bolts aside, I have read posts from U Richmond students mentioning that the school does have a free shuttle bus that runs frequently and continuously (maybe every 15 minutes or half hour?) to nearby shops in the neighborhood as well as downtown, making its location less isolating.

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W&M and UR actually have nearly identical stats for percentages of graduates who head to grad/professional programs. From my own personal experience, plenty of my UR kids’ friends have jobs and are not all heading to grad/law/med school.

Post graduation outcomes info for UR: https://careerservices.richmond.edu/post-graduation-data/index.html

Data from 2015, indicates that 1 year out Approx. 25% of UR graduates are in post graduate/professional school, and 6% are applying.

Post graduatiion outcomes info.William and Mary:
http://career.wm.edu/CFM/OutcomesIndex.cfm
Data from 2016 is quite similar to UR, about 25% of grads,are in graduate/professional school and about 4 % are applying.

UR is also definitely not in the woods. It is in an upscale suburban area, but only 10 -15 minutes from downtown Richmond. The campus is fairly large compared to the number of students (350 acres, approx. 3,000 undergrads), and it does have wooded areas, a large pond, nice open spaces, and beautiful, well maintained buildings and facilities. The Richmond guarantee is also a nice perk, with every student granted a $4k stipend for research or a summer nternship. 70% of UR students study abroad, with many choices avaiilable

I have a UR grad who is in a biomedical sciences PhD program, and a soon to be UR grad who will moving to Boston for a new job in a few months. Both kids had great experiences at UR, and were able to get downtown or to shopping areas easily, using a combination of the campus shuttles, rides from friends, and lyft.

We have really enjoyed our many visits to Richmond. It is known for being an artsy, foodie city, with lots of historic sites, museums, parks, and outdoor activities. Another plus is its easy access to Amtrak and the Northeast corridor. The Staples Mill stop is several miles from campus.

One of my Ds really liked and was also accepted to W&M. I feel that the 2 schools actually have quite a lot in common, with slight differences in size, location, available majors. Both are excellent choices with fabulous academic programs. Hopefully your visits will help you discern which school feels right for you. Ask lots of questions, chat with students and professors. Check out the dorms, try the dining hall food, and explore the area off campus. Colonial Williamsburg is really fun. The Carytown area near UR is also a nice place to stroll and get a bite to eat.

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“UR is definitely not in the woods.” Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall much that is an easy walk (e.g. just across the street) from campus. In that sense, I recall it being a bit like the Duke campus.