<p>Not talking about prestige, but instead just "the college feel", how the professors are, campus life, etc. Only thing that concerns me though is grade deflation at Princeton:P
I am interested in both colleges, and today, I heard through CC that the two are similar
I have yet to visit both, but I definitely plan to-In the meantime, any feedback would be great!
thanks!</p>
<p>It’s like WM, only much, much, much, much better. Nicer campus, better connections, significantly better atmosphere, intellectual, and elite.</p>
<p>^ Uh, no as usual.</p>
<p>I have never attended either, but I spend quite a bit of time vacationing in Williamsburg for the last 38+ years and I live not far from Princeton. We spend weekends walking around Princeton.</p>
<p>Both have nice amount of “green” and lawns. Both have a village feel with quaint restaurant options and a very walking friendly environment. With a car, both have large retail options nearby.</p>
<p>For UG, I find the W&M campus to be shorter to walk from dorm to class. Bikes are seen much more at W&M. </p>
<p>Princeton’s eating clubs appear to me to be much more of the social scene then greek life at W&M. W&M Greeks are often seen (students wearing letters, banners on housing), but parties are not seen to the average tourist/townsfolk.</p>
<p>I have had conversations with W &M faculty just by meeting on the public areas of the “old” school buildings, but I’ve never met a Princeton faculty member. This may be a reflection of “southern” hospitality vs. the friendliness of us PA/Jersey folks.</p>
<p>Princeton really likes their sports. </p>
<p>If you are OOS for W&M and have family income under $80k, Princeton will likely be a more affordable option. </p>
<p>My son loves W&M but we can’t afford it. My son is turned off by the eating clubs at Princeton. The only folks we know to ever get into Princeton have been athletes. For our region, my son does not see Princeton as a school a low level or non-athlete can be accepted. I don’t know how factually his view is, but thought I’d let you know his take. He is a rising high school junior at a NJ prep school (not one of the big name NJ boarding schools).</p>
<p>Of the kids we do know who have attended, I have never heard any complain of grade deflation.</p>
<p>We’ve been connected to W & M for the past decade, and I’ve heard a fair amount of complaining about grade deflation there (though the average undergrad GPA has recently risen to 3.26).</p>
<p>Re post 2 - obviously, Princeton is far more selective than W & M (9 percent acceptance rate versus 32 percent). And I have no doubt that Princeton’s name opens more doors initially. But having W & M on your resume doesn’t mean an automatic reject if the rest of the resume is impressive. W & M has well-established networks of alumni, in the DC area particularly. </p>
<p>If you can get into Princeton and have a family income that qualifies you for aid, you’ll certainly get a better deal there than at W & M. W & M’s primary weakness seems to be its inability to meet full need for OOS students - and they still cover some need through loans. Princeton doesn’t. If you’re OOS and have a family income in excess of Princeton’s cut-off, you might be better off at W & M. It’s still $12-15K less per year than Princeton. If your parents have other kids to educate, or are approaching retirement age, that $60K can really make a difference.</p>
<p>Just over 25 percent of the total student body at W & M is Greek. From our kids’ experiences, and what we’ve observed, sports are important at W & M too, including club sports and individual fitness (lots of runners as well as bikers, and the gym is always hopping). As for faculty, though I’m sure Princeton has bigger names, it’s W & M’s best feature, as far as we can see. My kids rave about their profs, who are always expert, available, and responsive, and who take their mentoring responsibilities very seriously.</p>
<p>If you can get into Princeton and the price is right - great choice. If you can’t, or can’t afford it, W & M would be an excellent option.</p>
<p>W&M is less pretentious and much better weather. More cla$$-diversity.</p>
<p>I can afford wm (instate) but not Princeton (financial aid limbo-on paper I look like I can afford it whereas the most I can afford is wm)
Do you think outside loans would be worth it for Princeton? I asked this because I (love) am interested in wm, and Princeton seems like a good school for me (I am not positive though) and I heard that it was like wm, so I decided to make this thread/post</p>
<p>Princeton has a great financial program. You shouldn’t have to resort to taking out loans if you go there.</p>
<p>William and Mary is also a great school, so pick whichever will make you happiest.</p>
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<p>I think you have a point, but I’d hardly call Princeton pretentious. If you consider the atmosphere at most Ivies, Princeton seems much more casual.</p>
<p>Also, financial aid at Princeton is one of the best in the country. It all comes down to what you want to do and which programs you are looking at.</p>
<p>Okay, to rephrase my FA situation, I do not qualify for aid. Trust me.</p>
<p>Princeton is an ivy league with solid undergrad/grad curricula, top facilities, great town, good financial aid, & prestige. Princeton is the only ivy that lacks a grad school in a profession such as law, dental, med. It does boast of nobel laureates & it has long gotten my vote as the nation’s prettiest campus. William & mary is what we call a public ivy. It is a mostly competitive state school with a prestigious reputation, also a fine campus. A public ivy is essentially a state school-usually the state’s flagship–that has a highly competitive academic standard to get in. Some of these public ivies were part of our founding colleges & simply became incorporated under state control vs staying private. 2 of the nation’s early founding colleges are public ivies: William & mary & rutgers.</p>
<p>It struck me at first as an odd question, but now that you mention it the two campuses DO feel similar to me. Intensely collegiate, dripping with ancient, brick, colonial, upscale, dazzling charm, with an adjacent ambience that makes you just want to spend an afternoon wandering across the town. Princeton is, well, Princeton, but to me, W&M is the most special public university in America - small, private-feeling, and remarkably selective for a state school. I’m going to say that W&M is a very fine Toyota to Princeton’s Lexus.</p>
<p>“A public ivy is essentially a state school-usually the state’s flagship” Va has two schools in the top of USnews and THE top two publics on the Forbes list. The only state with two school on the original Richard Moll Public ivy list (depending on your views about UC). I kind of wanted to attend WM. I got in, but the stubborn man paying the bills made an executive decision. Oh well, I’m enjoying that other VA public ivy.</p>
<p>Anyway, I would not say that WM is without pretentiousness. At the day for admitted<br>
students, they very much tried to let the name sell itself; there was no trying to convince you about it, especially compared to my other choices (Wake Forest tries really hard to make you like them, like an orphan-puppy-dog-kind-of-school). Also WM has a bit of a jealous streak. Any time I told anyone that I was choosing between WM and UVa, they started acting really odd, kinda defensive kinda insecure; and not just once, it happened all day with several students and adults. All schools have their quirks.</p>
<p>I did not apply to Princeton, but I did visit and I have a friend from NoVa who got into both. He said that he preferred the campus and atmosphere at WM. It’s the kind of place that feel like “home.” You have to visit to understand. He is going to Princeton. He and his parents decided that the networking and academics were worth the price. They are like you, in that they don’t qualify for aid, but are not rich. They won’t struggle to pay, but it will hurt.</p>
<p>W&M is like Princeton but without the world-class academics, beautiful gothic architecture, top-notch student body, boundless research opportunities, superb undergraduate focus and strong connections to the best companies in the country. But yeah other than that stuff. W&M is a lot like Princeton.</p>
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Got an axe to grind? Is being #31 in Nat’l Universities (by one measure) not world class? I guess having the oldest academic building in the US and one of the finest examples of Flemish Bond architecture doesn’t count. [Wren</a> Building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Building]Wren”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Building) etc…</p>
<p>If you are instate for William and Mary ,like it, and can get in , you are very lucky. Princeton may be an option if you like it, are lucky and get in and can afford it. We are very lucky in Virginia to have such great public options. You say you do not qualify for aid so your instate schools would probably be your best bet.</p>
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<p>Especially the part about undergrad focus, considering that WM is 5th on the “Best undergrad teaching” rankings by USNews(Princeton is tied for 2nd). I mean and the part about top notch students, considering that more WM bachelors go on to do PhD’s than Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Columbia or Georgetown, as cited from Washington Monthly(Princeton is 7 and WM is 14). Sarcasm</p>
<p>But seriously, those are some impressive statistics for both schools. But WM is cheaper, more diverse, has a decent law school and business school and has the legacy of being to second oldest university in America.</p>