<p>Article today in the Post. See WLU student experience.
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801333.html?sub%3DAR&sub=AR%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032801333.html?sub%3DAR&sub=AR</a></p>
<p>Wow, that article said a lot without saying anything at all or really making a point - except to say that it might be better to go to an elite public school like UVA than Harvard if the money works out, something that most people probably know.</p>
<p>As for the woman who went to W&L, if she's 33 now, that means that she graduated from W&L over 10 years ago. The school's changed quite a bit since then, to the chagrin of the many traditionalists around who want it to go back to the way it was then. Just look at the schools she was weighing W&L against, choosing Virginia Tech or Spelman over W&L today, unless there is a big monetary difference, is almost unthinkable.</p>
<p>I agree with you. When we visited the school this fall, we didn't see any Confederate flags flying. My child is extremely excited to be accepted and looking forward to the Admitted Students Open House. The WLU kids we met were so nice and welcoming to the prospectives.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, confederate flags, though much rarer now - still fly here. I don't like them, and many others don't like them either, but restricting them would be restricting freedom of speech. The "southern culture" still exists with some people here - they tend to end up at a couple of fraternities, so they're definitely not dominant or everpresent anymore.</p>
<p>Oh, and Accepted Students Day shuold be fun, many of us on the Student Recruitment Committee will be joining the accepted students for breakfast and lunch to answer any questions.</p>
<p>Hopefully we'll see you there!</p>
<p>My son is accepted a W&L, and we are signed up for the Accepted Students Day on 4/19. He is trying to decide between WashU, GA Tech, U Florida (Go Gators!), and also the U of Miami (3/4 scholarship). He has toured and visited them all except for W&L. Right now we are overwhelmed with the decision making -- and the only one he has ruled out is Tech. He is possibly pre-med...very scientific, but also very excited about history, classics, and philosophy. He could play football at WashU or W&L -- having a good background for D-3. He visited and loved WashU last December. We have 4 kids - he is the first - and the idea of spending close to $200,000 for the undergrad years is killing us. Miami looks pretty good to us right now, and he does love SCUBA, fishing, sailing, etc.</p>
<p>Jaxmo, we have an excellent pre-med program. Every single person with at least a 3.0 and some decent MCAT score (I forget exactly the number; I'm not pre-med myself) has gotten into med school in the past 10 or so years.</p>
<p>We also have great history, classics and philosophy departments (many of the History teachers are W&L alumni and have been teaching here for over 30 years). Although being pre-med requires a LOT of science-oriented classes, your son could indulge in the excellent liberal-arts programs W&L has to offer as well.</p>
<p>I understand exactly where you're coming from in terms of the financial system-- I'm the first of three kids, and we got no financial aid, while I could have gone to Rhodes for much less. My parents are definitely struggling to pay for it but they see it as a long-term investment that will pay off nicely.</p>
<p>As for football-- you probably know that the team had an amazing season this year, and we have some pretty good young talent that should keep the team going strong in the future. W&L sounds to be a pretty good fit; I look forward to possibly meeting you guys on Accepted Students day!</p>
<p>To elaborate on what Morgan said, 88% of pre-med students at W&L are accepted to one of their top 3 choices. Compare that to 33% nationwide.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. I read that stat on med school. S loves classics and history, but right now the major he declares is biomedical engineering. It's very difficult to see how W&L stacks up vs. the large research U. If he falls in love with it when we visit, he can come, but he will have zero money left for grad school. He knows this, so economic decisions will come into play. That's life.</p>