I have visited William and Mary, and so far it is my #1 school. I love the campus and the people I met there were very nice, but everyone I know is warning me that William and Mary is going to be too hard, and it will be no fun. I am okay with working hard and studying, but I also want to be able to let loose and have lots of fun with different activities and parties.
Based on your comments it looks like you are comfortable with that type of school. If you said you have to be in a buzzing metropolis, I’d say apply to NYU or similar schools.
The following doesn’t directly answer your question, but are indicators of student satisfaction. William and Mary has one of the highest graduation rates of any public university, and I believe it has the highest alumni contribution rate of any public university. I’ve seen it ranked high on “happiest student” ratings, although you should probably take those with a grain of salt.
I recall seeing a survey in a Virginia newspaper on the amount of time W&M students spent studying, and the answer was about the same as UVA and W&L.
I’m not at W&M quite yet, but I have a friend that goes there and believe me when I say that if you want to party sometimes, there is definitely a scene for that. Of course, she’s in a sorority, so that might change things a bit, but y’know. I snooped a bit and looked at your other thread, and in case you were worried at all about Greek life at W&M - from what I’ve seen and heard, there’s not really any pressure to go Greek (~1/3 of girls do and ~1/4 of guys do, fwiw), but if you do decide to, it’s a lot more affordable than it is at UVA and at most private schools, and while there are parties, I don’t really think that the usual sorority girl/frat boy archetype is very prominent. It’s definitely not like most other schools in the south, lol.