<p>Will do Cathy, and I do appreciate all you do for us here on the forum!</p>
<p>Checked the Amtrak and bus schedules. That is not going to happen. Leave Norfolk at 9am on the Amtrak, ride to Richmond, change trains at 5pm, arrive in Columbia at 1 am the next morning. Bus was just as bad</p>
<p>Airplane is $415 and there are direct flights. How far is the airport from USC?</p>
<p>airport is 10-15 minutes away.there's no direct public transportation but there are cabs right outside the baggage claim area.
can you use US Airways and consider maybe not a direct flight?it might be there's something cheaper</p>
<p>i took a quick look using Norfolk and Columbia on US Air if he changes planes in Charlotte I saw fares for $88 each way I used a mid April random date.
S changes in Charlotte all the time,after that its a quick 45 minute hop to Columbia</p>
<p>wow, I would say that is a slightly lower fare! Expedia sure didn't show that one.</p>
<p>look directly at US Airways website if you are willing to let him change planes.they have the most flights into Columbia.</p>
<p>Definitely will do that. They are by far the biggest airline out of Norfolk.</p>
<p>D just called me to tell me that she had just heard that USC is over-committed for 2007-2008 freshman class! I guess this confirms other reports that they had shut off admissions earlier than they had planned.</p>
<p>Apparently their growing reputation has made them a highly desirable place with more people committing and sending in deposits than they had planned for. She knows of one instance where a HS friend of one of her USC friends was told that she was admitted but couldn't begin taking classes until spring semester.</p>
<p>I guess all that mail everyone complains about has paid off!</p>
<p>cheapest I saw on USAirways site was $184 each way, probably because it is less than two weeks out.</p>
<p>some go from Norfolk to Columbia by way of Philadelphia! Talk about going out of the way.</p>
<p>eadad wrote:</p>
<p>"was admitted but couldn't begin taking classes until spring semester."</p>
<p>Hoping that isn't being applied too much - but I have heard the same thing from a friend who is a school teacher in SC who stated: "a couple of kids he knows" also have a Spring start. One would certainly hope it doesn't affect scholarship students - but it is definitely something to ask while I'm there next week. Could you imagine being told about this after May 1 deadline?</p>
<p>D also got a full ride at Gonzaga (Spokane) last week, which has sweetened the pot somewhat for other options if this "over-booking" at USC becomes a problem. It probably will come down to a April 30 decision for us. </p>
<p>Well my $184 RT from Seattle - Charlotte don't seem too bad - and was the reason we passed on Scholar's Weekend to keep our flights next week.</p>
<p>The over commitment is part a sign of growing desire to attend specific universities. But it is also a sign of the bubble in college class sizes from the baby boom echo. Georgia Tech had to put three people in two person rooms last year in the fall. It was not a plesant experience for freshmen. Clemson has received over 2,000 more applications this year than last year, a similar percent increase to that USC has seen. Early cut offs are becoming more common. Read into all of this what you wish. It should all peak in the next year or two, at least according to some national news reports. Where ever one is serious about attending, it would be good to pay the fee early.</p>
<p>Thanks Browse - all good issues to address on our visit. It definitely helps to have made your mind up early. But it would be hoped any delayed admissions, or 3 person rooms, would be handled by a formal notice already sent out. As I said, it would be sort of underhanded to tell those who commit to be later told they missed the "15 April" cut-off and they will have to wait until Spring to attend classes. I could see those who sent in their housing deposit at the last moment be given left-overs, but not be told they will have to double-up. As long as it it a formal announcement, that's all I ask. The U. of Wash opened up their housing reservations yesterday at 4pm - with the warning that they will be overbooked and some students may have to find off-campus housing.</p>
<p>I am guessing that OOS scholarship students will not be impacted by the Spring semester start issue. With all the effort that USC is putting into attracting top OOS students it would be a serious step backwards, even though it is not in their control.</p>
<p>UNC had a similar problem a few years ago with more maticulating than they had rooms for due to some dorm renovations that were going on and had to do the triple thing as well. The next year they reserved dorm space for every incoming freshman just to be safe, despite the fact that some do commute and some live in an off campus private dorm. This caused the rising sophomores who didn't re-up for their exisiting rooms to end up in less desirable dorms and was quite a mess.</p>
<p>One has to hope that it isn't due to students accepting and sending in deposits when they aren't completely committed to attending and causing someone who really wants to attend to opt for another school due to the situation that is presenting itself. Hopefully it will all sort out long before May 1.</p>
<p>I'm guessing that those students were given the information in their original admission letters, e.g., 'congratulations, we are pleased to inform you, blah, blah,....for Spring 2008'. I seriously doubt that students who have been unconditionally admitted for Fall 2007 will be deferred to Spring 2008 just because they did not send a deposit quick enough.</p>
<p>It's one thing to have a space issue as far as housing goes, but quite another to have the issue for actual acceptances/classes.</p>
<p>Yep, admitted for "Fall 2007 semester".</p>
<p>Anyone out there been told of any changes to their admission status?</p>
<p>Good. Still, another box to tick off while in the Capitol City next week.</p>
<p>Namtrag, </p>
<p>Judging by what you have said about your son, I feel that william and mary would be an ideal choice for him. I am a junior at the college and have found my time here to be more rewarding than any other time in my life. As a graduate of the school, I am sure you do not need to be told any further of the institution's aesthetic beauty nor its reputation. Although it is always amusing to see the expression on people's faces when they ask me which college I attend and I tell them William and Mary, the reputation which has been fostered by the college cannot adequately explain the impression that is made upon the individuals who make the decision to attend here. Your misgivings about your son attending wm are warranted. I would be lying if I told you classes here are a walk in the park. You cannot get by here without studying or attending class (unless your happen to be an absolute genius). Unlike other schools, most classes here hand out "blue books" for exams. Instead of multiple choice, fill in the blank, or true/false, one must know his subject matter and prove that he knows it by writing an essay or two on one segment of the entire range of information he has studied. Granted, students at other institutions would tremble at the thought of this examination method. Term papers are graded meticulously. Do not be discouraged by this. I have managed to earn a 3.67 gpa through hard work and determination. After observing the transition of HS Seniors to college, I can tell you flat out that biggest determining factor of whether they will succeed is their maturity. Your son sounds like someone who is responsible and prepared to make his classes a priority if he comes here. If this is the case, he is ready to attend William and Mary. It is to my understanding that you are concerned over the issue of his major. First of all, most kids change their idea of what major they wish to pursue once, if not two times during their undergraduate education. I initially wanted to major in Journalism until I realized History was what I wanted to major in. Now, I am preparing for the LSAT and plan on attending law school after my senior year. If you had told me I would plan on attending law school four years ago, I would not have taken you seriously. The fact of the matter is that once in college, your son will be exposed to areas he never was in high school. If he is in fact interested in Math, I have a friend who is a mathematics major and is very impressed by that department here. At WM, the professors are first class. It is hard to find such distinguished professors at schools such as USC. Many are national authorities in their fields, receiving their PhD’s from the likes of Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Columbia etc. Additionally, consider the current acceptance percentages of William and Mary graduates into graduate programs. They are well above the national average. Students with at least a "B" (3.0) average enjoy an 80% to 85% acceptance rate to law school and those with a B+ (3.3) 70-75% to Med school. I am sure you already know that we are ranked 31st nationally whereas USC is 120th. We are ranked 2nd amongst all public schools by the Wall Street Journal in terms of quality and cost and 3rd in the nation by Kiplinger's list of the schools with the best values in higher education. Businesses have a habit of visiting William and Mary and Tufts more than virtually every other college on the east coast to recruit students for various positions. Graduate schools recognize that at William and Mary, we do not have grade inflation. Grades here are representative of how an individual actually performed in his or her class. In my opinion, the system here prepares students for any challenge they may face in life. My success here has enabled me to imagine possibilities for my future that I never would have considered had I attended another institution. Ultimately, your son needs to go where he feels happy. Before making the decision to send him to USC, consider the position I was in coming out of high school. During high school, I was an above average student (top 15% of class). However, I had not matured to the point where I made school as much of a priority as I should have. I was a soccer player who wanted to play for a division 1 program. I considered Coastal Carolina in South Carolina as it was near the beach and had a good team. As I look back, that would have been the biggest mistake of my life. Who has even heard of Coastal Carolina anyway? The coach was not willing to give me scholarship money and I was in a bind. My father didn't want to pay out of state tuition and needless to say, I was in the dumps. I did not apply to WM even though my mom was an alum. However, life was not over. I attended a junior college and decided that it was time to make the most of my academics. As you can assume, I decided to transfer to wm. I applied to the University of South Carolina and could have participated in the honors college there, but chose wm instead. At face-value your son undoubtedly is facing a difficult decision. From my perspective, it is easier than it seems. William and Mary is something that will stick with your son for the rest of his life. As a graduate of the institution, his name will be forever associated with the college of william and mary by his friends, family, and acquaintances. Beyond that - the education he gains here, the friends and professors he meets, and the experience he gains from becoming involved in an atmosphere where "community" is strongly emphasized will influence him in a way alternative schools will not. Your son has been given a unique and rare opportunity by gaining acceptance here. I am confident he can succeed at WM and believe it is an opportunity he would later regret passing up if he were to choose USC instead. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>I will have to apologize for a statistical mistake, USC is ranked 112th rather than 120th.</p>
<p>Hell, by your reckoning tribe, your future is just as f--ked as a Gamecock.
Afterall WM isn't an Ivy - or even a Duke, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, CalTech. If your theory is true, WM grads will be picking up scraps too - after all those other schools fills up all the good grad/med/law schools - or highest paying jobs.</p>
<p>Using rankings may make you feel more confident in your "LSAT" status tribe, but it all comes down to what you make of where you are, whether it's where you go to college or life. I wonder how many USC grads will be admitted to Harvard/Yale/Princeton Law schools instead of you tribe? I guarantee you there will be some. Darla Moore, for example, graduated from USC and did very well. The Business School named after her at USC has an International Business Program that is ranked #1. So what, think the Sauds or Chinese are gonna go "Wow, lets just give them the deal - they graduated from a top-ranked school" as they are flipping through U.S. News and World Report. </p>
<p>You want to talk up the accolades of WM, go do it on their site - better yet go post your "34th" ranking on the forums for any of the schools I mentioned above they should get a good chuckle. </p>
<p>But you do a great disservice to any and all who are glad, and honored, to pursue their higher education as a Gamecock. And your condescending post is a bit snobbish and shows a distinct lack of class. After all, how would you feel if an Eli posted on WM's site with a negative comparison of WM to Yale. </p>
<p>I got up on my soapbox tribe because I assume you wanted to make an ass out of yourself publicly, instead of sending namtrag a PM. </p>
<p>Get a grip tribe, then get some class.</p>
<p>Tribe - I downloaded the vitae's in alphabetical order of Profs in the mathematics department down through the letter M. PHDs came from (in random order) - MIT (2), Carnegie Mellon, Univ. of Chicago, Trinity College, Cambridge, UC - Berkeley, UC - San Diego, Harvard, Univ. of Newcastle, California Institute of Technology, UT Austin, Iowa, Illinois, et. al.</p>