<p>My son loves W&L but is concerned about the student size of 1800 and the school being too small. Do you end up knowing everyone? How is the social life? Is a school with 2800 students a big difference from a social scene? How do students from New England fit in? Does W&L have overnight visits in the fall prior to applying ED?</p>
<p>I do not think that 2000 kids is too small of a school. That is enough kids to have a VERY active social life, and also enough to provide every type of school related activity (athletics, social, musical…). I would not worry about the size of the student body. Your son is going to end up with a core group of 10 - 15 friends no matter where he goes to school. </p>
<p>In fact, the social scene at W&L is known to be very, very active. Much bigger risk of your son having trouble with time management (due to social options) than of his not having enough to do.</p>
<p>A separate question might be - Is Lexington big enough? It is a small college town. If your son is looking for an urban environment, he is in the wrong place. Lexington is charming, but not if you are looking for a social life that is not connected to the college.</p>
<p>Being from New England is not a factor.</p>
<p>Overnight visits are offered and can be scheduled through the admissions office.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response and information. I don’t think the issue is Lexington and Colgate is also at the top of his list and Hamilton is smaller and in a very rural area! He thinks or has heard that Colgate has more diversity in terms of type of students (social-economic, geographical, ethnic, etc) - W&L has reputation of being all very wealthy kids! Is that true? </p>
<p>His HS has only 440 with the senior class of 110, and wants bigger and thinks 2800 at Colgate is big difference to W&L. Any suggestions on getting him comfortable with the size issue? Is a fall visit the best before ED deadlines?</p>
<p>I have an older daughter who was interested in Colgate a few years ago, and I have one currently attending W&L. Having visited both schools, I don’t think there’s an appreciable experiential difference in terms of the greater number of students at Colgate. In other words, Colgate does have more students, but it did not feel like a larger community, with the exception of their athletic programs competing at a higher level. </p>
<p>Things I noted in common is that the student bodies these schools strike me as equally energetic and athletic - there is a high participation in various sports activities around campus. the student bodies at both are also made up of very intelligent, fun-loving kids with the ol’ “work hard play hard” mentality. Both also strike me as having a very strong social culture with very similar dynamics. Also, as noted, both located in rural areas, although I would definitely give Lexington the nod in terms of having more of a thriving community around the immediate campus area. Lexington also enjoys a more moderate climate. We left VA to visit Colgate in April and were completely unprepared to be greeted by snow flurries and almost freezing temperatures - Yikes! </p>
<p>As far as diversity, Colgate gets a nod in that area, but honestly, if that’s an important factor for you, I don’t think the distinction between the two schools is large enough to be meaningful; both seem to struggle with similar recruitment issues where diversity is concerned, IMO. </p>
<p>Another note about school size - and I have mentioned this a number of times on these boards – my D at W&L was one of those who didn’t even want to apply to school that small. She was very opposed to it. She originally had her eyes set on places like UVA, Wake Forest, Duke, etc. However, after a visit she decided she would at least apply. Later, she really took a closer look at the benefits of going to smaller place, got to know some of the people, etc, etc, and ultimately decided to attend. Loves it! Since then she has always maintained that, at least academically speaking, she could not imagine why anyone would want to go to a larger school. It’s not true for everyone, of course, but for many, the actual experience of being there is quite different from what is imagined beforehand. </p>
<p>Just like my daughter, I think you guys definitely need to do a thorough visit in order to resolve some of your concerns.</p>
<p>Very helpful - makes sense</p>