<p>Jennee:
Are you going to give Maryland's public honors college a shot..St. Mary's has a very strong student body a lot like the students you will meet at Wm and Mary...and you look to me like a very likely admit....Like Wm and Mary...St. Mary's offers classrooms where teachers actually know you well and sponsor your graduate school applications...good internships there too.</p>
<p>And bluejay...I feel your pain about when your D was waitlisted at Wm and Mary even with her competitive stats...They are swamped with out of state high test score applicants but can't let more than 30% in. I applied from Delaware thirty years ago and was salutatorian...waitlisted. My parents were Virginians and we had a military life...we somehow thought that we would be considered Virginians--naive! My GC was not informed about the more stringent requirements for OOS kids, but then he was a graduate of (gulp) Bob Jones University and he didn't have much of an accurate take on realities of college admissions. I am sure your D is happy in another fine school...</p>
<p>Agree with others that W&M and Tufts are very different. If interested in some other very good schools check out Richmond or Holy Cross, Bucknell. Holy Cross is 1 hour from Boston and offers good financial aid and limited merit aid. Also like Tufts, Holy Cross has very good pre-med.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the help and advice. I really appreciate you spending time reading my post and responding. I will definitely look further into Mary Washington.</p>
<p>Faline2,
Thanks for your kind words. But our story did have a happy ending. Our daughter was waitlisted at Tufts, Vassar, and W & M. After sending a deposit to another fine university in Virginia she was offered a spot at W & M. She is estatic to be a freshmen there now.</p>
<p>Yeah for bluejay's D...in one of her favorite colleges, and what a wonderful, authentic place Wm and Mary is..fabulous faculty with a great work ethic. They will prepare her for anything...
Jennee: I seriously think you should prepare an application to Wm and Mary. You never know, but you should make the effort there and at Tufts. My S also took advantage of the "interviews by trained seniors" which were offered last year in Wmsburg as an evaluative factor in the application. He did an overnight there and attended three classes and also wrote thank yous to every teacher and student who spent a few minutes with him...If Wm and Mary remains as a top favorite, you should still pursue it as a Reach application. Maybe there is something in your application that is unique...is there a particular match between your study goals and their academic offerings...Be specific about where you might contribute on campus. Just make sure to "spread the love" and give your match colleges this sort of attention. That way, you will be admitted to a school where you know you can be happy. You could also consider applying to great Liberal Arts Colleges far away from Maryland where you might add a geographical diversity note. Your scores and grades are very fine and will only be assets to colleges, so find a way to "stand out" in your essays and your goals. Spring will bring an open door to something excellent for you if you "attach to your match" schools and submit creative positive applications to Reach schools as well.</p>