Hello! So I’m from Pittsburgh PA, and William and Mary is one of my final choices at this point (also considering Richmond, Case Western, and, to a slightly lesser extent, Franklin & Marshall). I think I’m leaning towards William and Mary, but I have some concerns about the atmosphere there. You hear all kinds of things about the extremely high pressure, grade deflation, etc. at the school. I get that any good college will be stressful at times, but it seems like the reputation is that W&M goes overboard. I definitely care about my academics, work hard, and did well in high school, but I’m generally pretty laid-back. Because of this, I worry that the “vibe” at W&M wouldn’t be for me and that I’d be unhappy there.
So for any current/former students or family members, do you have any thoughts on this? I guess my final questions would be the following:
Are the vast major of students there very high-maintenance/intense? Not sure I’d fit in too well with this type of student body.
Is spending hours and hours in the library, leaving little time for relaxing or being with friends, the only way to do well at W&M (academically speaking)?
Is the stress level often overwhelming?
Are there good support systems in place for students who are struggling either academically or emotionally, and are professors often willing and happy to help?
Again, I realize that any good school will be very challenging and at times stressful, and I’m not looking to cruise by with easy As. But at the same time I don’t think I’d do very well academically, socially, etc. in an extremely high-pressure environment.
Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated!!
PS: If it makes any difference, I will probably end up majoring in Econ, Government, or some other social science.
IMO:
If you go to W&M with the idea that you must get a 3.9 or you are a failure, you will not have fun. W&M is full of students that were in the top 10% at their high school (just like other top schools), and obviously only 10% of W&M students can be in the top 10% when they graduate. There are literally some kids that will get a C on an essay and be completely distraught and break down in tears. W&M has a lot of students that haven’t ever faced academic adversity, so it can be a big change for them when they are no longer best of the best.
If you go to W&M wanting to learn and not really worried about whether you are going to get an A- or a B+, or an A or a B, then you will have an awesome time and learn tons.
There are definitely some kids that “live” in Swem (the library), and seem to take it as a point of pride. In contrast, I spent basically no time in the library. W&M students are smart and inquisitive and they want to do well… not sure I would describe them as “intense”… there are always study groups to join and people in freshmen dorms will study together for exams in the standard intro classes like chem / bio / econ / etc.
The professors at W&M are ALWAYS willing to work with students outside of class for extra help. There are also peer tutoring resources, etc. I always found my fellow classmates willing to discuss anything from the classes.
I honestly believe that people that are super stressed do it to themselves (or they are wired that way). Not just in college, but you will encounter people later in life in a professional environment that do not do well at all under pressure.
@soccerguy315 Thanks a ton, that really helps! I definitely don’t have a “4.0 or bust” type mentality, so this is pretty encouraging. But would you say the grade deflation is noticeable? So if you want to have a solid GPA (and by that I guess I mean mid-3-ish), do you have to work yourself to death, or will there be sufficient time for relaxing or hanging around with friends?
And I agree with your last point as well, but do you think there are a disproportionately large number of people like this at W&M, or is the student body pretty diverse in this regard?
My only concern is that I feel like the “pressure-cooker” reputation has to have come from somewhere.
I think the average graduating GPA is around 3.3 (quick google: as of summer 2013, the average undergraduate GPA was 3.28), so 3.4 would be slightly above average, while 3.6 would be further (more A-'s than B+'s). There will be tons of time to hang with friends.
15 credits is 15 hours of class a week (in general… obviously there are some exceptions like science labs). You are not in class for 8 hours a day like in high school most of the time. Even if you spend 5 hours a day outside of class (which, honestly I would consider a lot, but there are definitely kids that do that and more!), you still have your evenings free every night of the week.
The W&M student body is very diverse, but you are absolutely right that schools get a reputation for a reason. W&M attracts intellectual students that pride themselves in being successful at academics and taking those academics seriously. They want to do well and they expect themselves to do well… so if they don’t do as well as they wanted, they double down on their efforts. Do I think that W&M attracts students that stress more than Harvard / MIT / Princeton? Not really. Do I think they stress more about academics than at UVA? Perhaps. Or maybe UVA just has the larger greek / sports / etc culture that you identify with UVA that W&M does not have. W&M is a public school, but it has more in common with smaller liberal arts colleges. While most of the top state schools have the “State U” vibe, W&M does not.
You will also find that W&M students are generally successful outside of academics, and do a lot outside the classroom as well. The W&M student body does hundreds of thousands (literally) hours of volunteer work each year. W&M also places many alums into the peace corps and teach for america. These kids are passionate and dedicated, and sometimes they can bite off more than some might recommend.
Hey @NickP96 ,
I’m a generally pretty laid-back type of guy and my friends are too, but that may be because like-minded people attract and you’ll likely make friends with people similar to you. Personally, I have found that you have much more free time in college than in high school and it is just a matter of how you choose to spend it. I usually have time to be active in the school and plenty of time to goof off. My favorite way to procrastinate is to walk around the dorm and socialize with people I know. You can have a mix of people that can have some really deep personal and/or intellectual conversations with you, and that’s something I really appreciate about the school.
In my opinion, college is all about making choices. There are some people that like the library and there are others that never set foot there. It’s a matter of personal preference. Personally I happen to like the library but that may also be because my dorm room has yet to install massage chairs and hand me hot chocolate on command. However if you are spending all your time in there you are doing college wrong. There’s so much other things to do that if you are spending all your time there you’re not experiencing everything the college has to offer. I like to take weekend hikes into the mountains, go to shows and sports events, and do all sorts of crazy stuff with my friends. This hasn’t prevented me from getting good grades.
So far my grades in college have actually been better than my ones in high school. I think part of the reason is that you are at the helm for the first time and control what and how you learn. As long as you use common sense when planning your schedule (ie. know your strengths and weaknesses) and use your resources (ie. rate my professor) you should be more than fine. On that note, I have had some very positive experiences with the government and social science professors that I have had, so it is definitely a strong point of the school. If I have time later, I will make another post about the plethora of really cool things you can do in that direction. I’m acting as a research assistant over the summer after just my first year.
On the point about stress, I happen to agree with soccerguy that if any exists much of is more internal than external. I don’t think WM is more stressful than any other rigorous college, but it does attract students that are very self-driven and passionate. Sometimes this means biting off more than they can chew. Often the people who are the most stressed are the ones who take 18 credits a semester (the maximum), are in leadership positions of multiple organizations, and/or have never experienced failure. There are multiple resources to support students such as the professors, the writing center, tutorzone or the counseling center, ra’s, and the haven for more emotional needs. I’ve used many of these resources and there is no shame in doing so, but many don’t take the first step to reach out. Also the vast majority of students are cooperative rather than competitive so you will have plenty of other people going through the same thing along your side.
If I were to leave you with one piece of advice it would be to get to know your professors. At William and Mary you have the chance to have close contact with your professors as early as your freshman year. All my professors this past semester knew my name, which won’t be the case at every school. They can be an incredible resource as a mentor or just someone to talk to about opportunities (ie. research) on campus. Don’t be afraid to ask for extensions on assignments either. My professors have been more than accommodating because they understand that you have more than their class going on in your life. I have even gone out to lunch with two of them.
Congrats again on choosing WM! If you have any more questions don’t hesitate to contact me.