She’s a very liberal, very studious white girl from the midwest who’s interested in swimming and not at all interested in Greek life or partying in general. From what I’ve read so far, I’m not sure she would fit in well there. What do you think?
It’s a liberal arts school in rural Virginia. Definitely more conservative than most, but if anyone tells you that liberals aren’t welcome or it’s too conservative, they’re lying. Everyone on any end of the political spectrum is tolerated and respected. Greek life is a big part of student culture, but not the only part by any means. As far as the studiousness goes: good. It’s a tough school full of extremely smart individuals; it’s one of the top liberal arts schools in the country. Visit the school, get a feel for the area, see what your daughter likes. But do not mark it off your list just because some people say it’s conservative or it’s too focused on greek and party culture. It’s not.
I agree with @Brovak My son is a senior swimmer who is double majoring. He is in a fraternity, but has friends - including one of his housemates - who are not. I would characterize the study body as overall social liberal and fiscally conservative. My son is quite liberal and has no issues with the political climate on campus. There are substance free dorm halls and theme houses that offer a good alternative to greek life and housing. My advice is to go visit. If your daughter is a strong swimmer and a great student she might love W&L. Please feel free to PM me for any additional information.
Thanks to both of you for your replies. W & L is not a school I was at all familiar with until she started getting mail from them. She’s not sure she wants to go to school that far away, but might apply and see what happens. Thanks for your insight.
W&L is a great school. Hubby went there many years ago and is my D18s top choice. Hope she gets in.
Academics are rigorous. If your D is swimming, she won’t have much time to party, so it’s good that she is not particularly interested. My moderate-to-liberal D never felt unwelcome, although since politics is not her passion, she wasn’t looking for heavy involvement in that arena.
I agree with @Brovak and @NCSwimmom. My daughter is a freshman and is playing a varsity sport. So far, she loves W&L. She is very liberal. Many people warned us that W&L was too conservative and too Greek. She is so happy she didn’t listen to them. She said there are more conservative than liberal students, but she has definitely met other liberal students and has not found any issues in this area.
My daughter was ambivalent about Greek life when she was visiting colleges. Now that she is there, she does plan on rushing. My initial impression is that Greek is different at W&L. I call it Greek Lite. They don’t require recommendations. Parties are open to anyone. Students have friends who are in other sororities or are not Greek at all. It doesn’t seem as time consuming as at other places.
Your daughter should definitely visit, attend a class and see what she thinks. My daughter has found the academics to be excellent, the student body to be intellectual and very friendly and the class sizes to be amazingly small. She loves the discussion based format of classes.
Good Luck!
I echo the above. My son is a freshman, an athlete, and very liberal. He is also loving W&L. Although he plans to join a fraternity and is not adverse to partying, he spends a lot of time studying and has several good friends who party very little, if at all. The athletes in particular are limited as to how much they can party, so your daughter is more likely to find like-minded friends in that area. With roughly a quarter of the student body participating in varsity sports, it’s not a small group. My son was concerned about the conservative reputation of the school, but has found plenty of people who share his viewpoints. Even those that don’t are more likely to debate issues in a productive way than provoke angry exchanges which is exactly what I would hope for in a college experience.
Also, fwiw, in the VA governor’s race last night, 2/3 of the votes coming out of Lexington were for the Democtatic candidate.
Ditto all the positive responses. My liberal freshman daughter is right at home. She did join a sorority and it is SOO laid back, it is hard to believe. It was nothing like my experience at a big, state school.
@HSM1417, however, the Dem governor is a graduate of VMI, the other college in Lexington and many townies have ties to VMI, though I’m sure that’s not the only reason.
That said, Lexington the town is a nice, moderate, small town. You do see a business flying a huge confederate flag right outside town on rt 11 (was there last week), but this is Virginia where you’d see tons of homage to the Confederacy – the surrounding Rockbridge county is demographically just like most rural Virginia (red). I’d say Lexington itself is better than some other small college towns I’ve visited. In 1989, I lived in Lexington during my high school senior year, a few blocks from W&L. The prevailing opinion about W&L being a frat, conservative school was the direct impression I got living there (a total of 5 years including VMI) – the Republican lawn signs and stickers, parties on the frat and sorority houses at nights, sperries and vineyard vines shorts, etc. Keep in mind that this is an outsider observation from a different time (and to balance that, I had high school friends whose parents were W&L professors and they were moderates)
Good to hear the feedback from parents on this thread. It’s worth nothing that all of them indicated that their child was either going to pledge or in a frat/sorority.
In 1989, I lived in Lexington during my high school senior year, a few blocks from W&L. The prevailing opinion about W&L being a frat, conservative school was the direct impression I got living there (a total of 5 years including VMI) – the Republican lawn signs and stickers, parties on the frat and sorority houses at nights…—lopalo
There were no sorority houses in that time period. It was a very conservative student body, with a much more liberal faculty base.
The best way to know if your daughter will be a good fit for Washington and Lee is for her to visit the college and spend the night in the halls.
Thanks, all. She decided she wanted to stick closer to home, so she didn’t end up applying.