<p>Hi,
I've been accepted to W&M for fall 2005 (transferring out of Lehigh U.). I've wanted to go there (almost) my whole life; got waitlisted out of high school. I'm still waiting on financial aid to accept (not expecting to get as much aid as here--the only reason I'm here is b/c the aid is phenomenal), but I had a few other questions for people already attending W&M/other admits for this fall.</p>
<p>1) I'm an English major: can anyone tell me anything about the department? How are the class offerings? Is it difficult for sophomores to get classes they want? Any highly recommended courses/professors?</p>
<p>2) Is anyone doing the teaching certification program? Care to give me some info. on it?</p>
<p>3) What about housing? If (big if) I get any sort of choice, where's the best places to live? I've been on three tours and only once seen a room (and that was three years ago)--what are they generally like (almost anything's gotta be better than the 10x6 foot hole they shoved me in here)? What's the availability of/demand for singles?</p>
<p>4) Any extracurriculars that are highly recommended? As an English major, I'm interested in things like newspapers, literary magazines, etc. I also play flute, so bands and such, and I heard a capella is popular? </p>
<p>Any other general advice would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>Hey there...I was accepted as a transfer for Fall '05 also (I'll be a sophomore). I am still waiting to hear back from one other school before I decide whether I am going to go. </p>
<p>Anyway, I just visited WM in March and my tour guide was an English major and she seemed like she loved it. She talked about her close relationship with her advisor and how she is going to Cornell for grad school next year. I know tour guides can tend to gloss things over, but I am almost certain that WM has a very good reputation for English. You should look at this website:
<a href="http://sin.wm.edu%5B/url%5D">http://sin.wm.edu</a>
It has professor ratings so you can see what the English professors are like. If you want to know about class offerings, I would suggest downloading the course catalog from WM's website or going to the English department's website. As far as course offerings in general, I now go to university 3 times the size of WM, but it seems like WM offers a lot more courses per semester that interest me. Granted, I am not an English major, but it seems like they have good course offerings overall. However, a few students have told me that because of the budget cutbacks from the state, there has been somewhat of a reduction in the number of higher level classes offered. </p>
<p>I don't know about the teaching certification program, but again, you could probably find info about it in the course catalog.</p>
<p>As far as housing, I think it varies widely.</p>
<p>If Tufts doesn't come through with any financial aid for me (I'm in the process of appealing their first decision), I'll be going to William and Mary as well. I'm going to visit this comng Monday. I have been quite impressed with the admissions office and people there. They return my phone calls promptly, arranged for a tour/chat (I'm visiting during finals week, and they don't normally give tours), and are extremely friendly. Plus, I e-mailed a random student, and she's very willing to house me for the night. I'm liking them so far!</p>
<p>some quick responses to your questions
(1) english--
department is quirky, but intelligent. fairly small, i think. houses many things (like linguistics). I've only taken one course, well, actually, it was a literary and cultural studies course--thought provoking but had a strange affection for 19th century America.
Other people tell me there experiences have been good, and I know one person who came hear to major in it, if that's any help . . .
Google "Wm course catalog" to see offerings, a bit small for a small school . . .</p>
<p>i would email a professor with more specific questions, I'm sure 95% would happily respond to your query, if you give them enough time</p>
<p>(2) no idea about teaching certification, sorry, we do have a graduate school for education, which probably makes WM surprisingly strong in teaching
(3) housing . . . you will likely not get a choice, since school is fairly tough on transfers . . . most dorms fine, there are better ones, but why get your hopes up? if you can, avoid dillard--very nice, but very off campus
<a href="http://www.wm.edu/reslife/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wm.edu/reslife/</a>
click on residence halls in upper left corner</p>
<p>(4) newspapers kinda exist here, not especially loved or scorned
a capella is huge here . . . i think we hosted college national championships, but I was otherwise delayed so I didn't see them. . . sometimes there are unique activities, like the middle eastern music ensemble that you might want to check out
only band is semi-official pep band, though you can take music courses, get a music major . . .</p>
<p>As far as housing is concerned, if you do get a choice, I can pretty much run down the accepted rankings for upperclass housing for you:</p>
<p>1) Byran Complex (Camm, Dawson, Stith, Bryan, Madison)
2) Old Dominion
3) Landrum
4) Chandler
5) Randolph Complex (Giles, Cabell, Preston, Harrison, Page, Nicholas, Pleasants) - though Preston just kind of burned down
6) Reves
7) Hunt
8) Brown
9) Frat Complex (Units B, K, L, M)
10) Dillard Complex (Hughes, Munford)</p>
<p>Of course, your mileage will vary depending on how close you'd like to be to classes, frats, the Caf, athletics, etc. But that's how I would rank them.</p>
<p>Hopefully you will be on campus. You can also stick the Ludwell Apartments in there somewhere (off-campus College owned housing), I'm not sure where. They're pretty nice.</p>