<p>oh my gosh... reading stuff like this.... i cannot wait for august. :) :)</p>
<p>i already feel at home here, and i've only been to campus twice.</p>
<p>impression from dc mom: we visited on warm day last october. entire student body was in the library, despite 75 degree weather. Student body "looked smart", as we walked around for tour. Son, did not notice. He only noticed great condition of dorms-except freshman dorms were too small. Did like dorm music facilitiies and upper classmen dorms.</p>
<p>Work load at W&M has a rep., according to students in our (dc/novirginia) area--who btw are used to working very hard in high school.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that no one was throwing a frisbee or lounging in the sunken gardens on a day in October where it was 75 degrees. Possibly you were there during midterms, which may have had an effect.</p>
<p>The upper class dorms are generally nicer than the freshmen dorms, IMO, but some of the freshmen dorms are fairly nice (yates, dupont). From your comment about "music facilities", I gather that you visited the newest dorm on campus (only like 3 years old), so you definitely saw the best there is to see there.</p>
<p>W&M does have a rep for workload, but in reality it is very manageable. Sometimes (or most of the time) the A's are just hard to come by.</p>
<p>I too, find it difficult to believe everyone was in the library. Daughter in her second year at W&M and we live about an hour from campus so always visiting, passing though. Even in extreme weather, hot or cold, you'll always find someone running on campus. I was quite surprised at the diversity of people and not just ethnicity. Everyone seems intelligent; with unique personalities. The jock, the nerd, the punk rocker, the fashion diva, the prep....all seem at home on campus and with one another. Daughter breezed through high school and was worried of the reputation of difficult classes. She's excelled in every class, has had time for an active social life, and club sports. Hoping D2 is accepted and just as content.</p>