How is W&M's grad school placement?

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

Does anyone have any insight on W&M’s grad school placement, specifically within the humanities? I’m also wondering if W&M has an edge in grad school admissions over UVA because W&M is more liberal arts and undergrad focused. However, I am not sure if this matters.

2

There is a government website out there that actually tracks Doctorates earned by Baccalaureate institution. You’ll have to figure out how to pull the data you want, but here is the link:

https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/webcaspar/TableBuilder#anchorAdd

I think you can enter by field. I think William & Mary is pretty high in graduates earning Doctorates, both in sciences and humanities, particularly for a state school. That is a different question from “placement”, though because it is probably more indicative of chosen career path. For some reason, I think LAC colleges tend to produce more graduates earning Doctorates on a per capita basis. UVA College of Arts and Sciences, which enrolls the most undergraduates, is pretty much analogous to William & Mary (other than B-school and Education programs).

3

Outstanding!

4

If I remember right, we have the highest percentage of students going on to get Phd’s of any public university. Based on my own personal experience, we’re highly respected by grad schools. We have a grad schools fair where schools come in and you can learn about them. I talked to an admissions counselor at a top 5 MPP program, and she told me that with my GPA (which at that time was on the lower end for this school) I would definitely get in and if I had even average GRE scores I would likely receive a hefty scholarship. She said “We have a sliding scale for schools and William & Mary is one of far favorites because we know the quality of academics here is so strong”

5

Both W&M and UVa have excellent grad school placement. A student choosing between those schools would not need to make a decision based on that factor.

W&M now has a number of one-year masters degree programs for W&M students, which I find quite interesting. The students take certain classes as undergrads that will also count toward the masters. I don’t know if UVa has anything similar.

6

I think W&M is #1 overall among public universities for percentage of graduates going on to get PhDs and #3 for STEM PhDs.