<p>on Mary Washington.......</p>
<p>Since the only thread in this forum was started in 2005 :) it might be interesting to read about some new opinions on what people perceive to be Mary Washington's strengths, weaknesses, etc. My daughter is looking at schools in Virginia that have a strong liberal arts bend and UMW is on her radar. She said the word at her high school is UMW is a suitcase school. I know that used to be the rumor, but is that accurate today? She is interested in the Historic Preservation program particularly, so if anyone has info on that area, it would be great to learn more about that as well. Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>Ah! there you go…learned something new today…Thanks pamom59- that helps tremendously!</p>
<p>you’re very welcome! We are visiting UMW next week and I’ll be sure to ask the “suitcase” question. We are from OOS so don’t know much about the school. My DH is a UVA alum and he recalled UMW as being the “sister school” to UVA and that the girls there were smart. This info is very old given that he graduated in the 70’s. It looks very pretty on the website!</p>
<p>we are also looking into St. Mary’s College of Maryland which is not too far from there. Has that one hit your daughter’s radar, or are you definitely staying in-state?</p>
<p>I visited both schools, St Mary’s of MD and Mary Washington some years ago, and both impressed me greatly. My son was not comfortable with the female tradition of MW, something that was an issue to him for any of the former all female schools, and he also felt that the school was just too All Virginia with few out of staters. He felt that there were too many clumps of kids who knew each other, and he would be an outlier. This is an issue at many state schools or any school that has a large regional representation but he felt that MW particularly showed this since it is a small school. </p>
<p>St Mary’s was a lovely school and son felt he could go there. He did apply but ended up preferring schools with more name recognition. </p>
<p>That’s really what it came down to in the end, is the name recognition in our area, among his peers and people he knew. That’s something that 's an issue with my other kids as well.</p>
<p>just curious what you meant by the “female tradition” made him uncomfortable? Do you mean just the fact that it used to be a girls school?</p>
<p>I currently have a daughter at UMW and it is not a suitcase school. She rarely comes home for a weekend because she “has a life” and something is always going on that makes her want to be there. </p>
<p>She has had roommates from NoVA, Colorado, Connecticut and Minnesota. I don’t know what the out of state percentages are but it’s not hard to find students from other parts of the country.</p>
<p>I think the strength of the school is the academics. D has loved her classes and her professors have been great. They have been interesting and seem to really care if she has a question or concern. She has always been able to get into classes she wants to take. The campus is beautiful, especially in the spring.</p>
<p>The down side is dealing with any Office of _____ (fill in the blank). Just as people have expressed frustrations with Admissions, there are frustrations with FinAid, Housing, etc. Every single one of them, every single time I’ve had reason to contact them. I have been told this is the norm for any university these days so maybe I’m just spoiled by LAC’s that are more user friendly. I have high hopes that the new president can make some changes and that these attitudes can be improved.</p>
<p>zoeydoggie, I just had my d read your post; thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. It is so helpful to hear about opinions on these questions from students (or parents of students) who are currently there or have recently attended. Reputations on some things do change. Another example is with George Mason. We had always heard that it, too, had many students who go home on weekends, but the more area kids I talk to that go there, the more I think that situation is changing as well. </p>
<p>pamom59, she is just getting started thinking about schools as she is still a sophomore. Many of her cross country/track friends are upperclassmen, and they are talking about acceptances, visits, etc. so I think she is way ahead of my older son in terms of her actually being involved with the thought of where she wants to go, what she wants to do, etc. (but then maybe it is just a girl thing to plan ahead! :)) </p>
<p>We are so lucky to have such great choices here in our state; it will take a good merit scholarship or two to reduce OOS costs to equal what she can get here at our Va universities. Seeing the competitiveness and chances of obtaining those coveted OOS scholarships, I am thinking that she will end up going somewhere here. There haven’t been too many kids from her HS to go to UMW, so it would be up to her to make new friends and acquaintances, just as she would if she were to go OOS. She definitely wants to visit and find out more for herself in the next year. </p>
<p>Thanks again for all of the input!</p>
<p>My daughter has been accepted as an honors admit and plans to attend UMW. From what I understand there are not a lot of kids that go home on the weekends. Also, we live near GMU and it is not a “suitcase” school at all. It was when I was there in the late 70’s! Also, a big plus for us is the very active Campus Ministry program at UMW.</p>
<p>jean, I hope you will be able to find time to post next year when your daughter is there and can give her perspective and opinions on her first year. My d would love to become involved in the Campus Ministry program as well 
I hope your daughter has a wonderful end of her high school experience and loves college at UMW!</p>