<p>I live in Virginia, and I know there's already a UVA vs. Mich thread but my circumstances are a little bit different. I was offered a 20k scholarship at Michigan, so affordability isn't a huge factor. I want to major in government, IR, or chemistry. All three schools have good political science and chemistry programs (although W&M's IR program is supposedly the best of the 3 by far). I've visited all the campuses, and I really like them in different ways. Michigan is bigger, but very nice with plenty of stuff to do; UVA is medium sized and I love the walkability; William and Mary is the coziest, with an awesome historical background. I'm leaning towards William and Mary, but anyone have any suggestions/comments? Any help is appreciated.</p>
<p>I got into both UVA and W&M but I chose UVA because I think I would enjoy it more than W&M (sports, social life, facilities, Libraries, mountain climbing, organization are all a knoch up in my opinion), but that’s just me</p>
<p>Hmmm Ivykid I don’t worship rankings… I just think UVA is an excellent school. Many on the Michigan board seem to to think it’s just an over rated, mediocre school and I disagree. They seem to be really bitter that UVA is a few spots ahead on a meaningless list. With that said, I think for my majors, all three colleges will be good, but I’m trying to imagine myself living at each one for four years, and I think W&M seems good for me.</p>
<p>You trust a “world’s ranking” that places Rutgers above world-renowned McGill. LOLz, haha, you need a serious reality check ivykid.</p>
<p>Once again, magazines are in the business of selling magazines. Read the methodologies and see if you agree with what they consider the most important factors. Also realize that many adjust the percentages in the methodology each year to ensure shuffling in the rankings, which will sell more magazines.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone should take rankings as gospel.</p>
<p>You can’t lose with U of M, UVA, or W&M. And for college, the reputation of the school tends to override the perceived quality of any particular academic field at that school and given that most freshmen change their intended fields of study (I wasn’t, but I know many from my college days), this is a good thing.</p>
<p>don’t chose your school based on rankings, consider other aspects of college life, imagening yourself at each school is a good start</p>
<p>William and Mary seems like the best fit for me, and I know academic rankings are of little use. The thing is, I feel that I have the ability to end up at graduate school (whether it’s a top graduate school or not depends on how hard I work) after attending any of these colleges. I think after the admitted students’ day at William and Mary and a visit to Ann Arbor, I’ll probably make my decision. (live in Charlottesville so I visited the UVA campus several times)</p>
<p>Watch out if you go to W&M…they are pretty hard graders–not necessarily a good thing if you’re looking to go to a top graduate school. I went to both W&M and UVA and while I learned the same information surrounded by peers who were equally smart, I felt like at UVA I was rewarded for my effort (much more so than at W&M).</p>
<p>ahhhh I keep hearing this… I’m pretty nervous about that, which is the only thing keeping me from choosing W&M for sure. Everyone tells me it’s not that hard to make a B but getting an A is very tough. The students just say you get whatever you put into it… which to me means if I study my butt off every day I have a chance at an A. That’s why I’m worried about the campus life and having time for fun.</p>
<p>Worst Case scenario, I hate it and transfer to UVA after my first year.</p>
<p>I am in my second year at William and Mary. You can do well at William and Mary and still have plenty of fun, trust me. There are some hard graders at W&M, but I think that can be said for any school. There are also easy graders. I would say the sciences are the hardest classes I have taken, and though they do require more work, I did well and had a life outside of the classroom. Some students aced the science classes and were busy with other campus activities. I have to say I heard the same things about W&M before I came, and it made me very nervous as well. I just wanted to say that you can do well at William and Mary and not spend your life in the library.</p>
<p>Be excited about your choice and what feels right for you. Education is what you make of it and so is your college choice. Stats can be manipulated many ways!</p>
<p>“Worst Case scenario, I hate it and transfer to UVA after my first year.”</p>
<p>LOL, did just that along with approximately 10 hallmates from my dorm and other people in knew from classes. Half of them transferred to UVA with me, one transferred to UPenn, the other one to Gtown, one to UConn, 2 decided to start farming and not come back to school and 1 girl transferred to UMD Baltimore. That was the thing that I found most disturbing about W&M…people transfer out a lot (at least that’s how I saw it). At UVA, I never met anyone who decided to transfer (actually, I never even meet anyone who thought about transferring), while at W&M, this was an actual topic of conversation.</p>
<p>I was in sort of the same situation except I was choosing just between UVA and W&M. I’m instate and want to major in Government or IR as well.</p>
<p>I’m really familiar with UVA since my sister went there and I have tons of friends going there. I really do like the school and Charlottesville. However I ended up choosing W&M because of the size of the student body and classes and I just felt more comfortable on the campus. I could see myself going there even more than at UVA. When I visited WM, I ended up meeting a lot of great people and talked to a lot of professors as well. I also found that making a list of what I liked and disliked about each school was actually helpful despite being sort of cliche. Either way though you can’t go wrong with any of your schools. Good luck with making your decision!</p>
<p>The “grades are too tough, no fun” mythology is perpetuated by UVA. Its not like Animal House but you can do well and have fun easily. Of course the point to college is to be prepared for life, so a little hard work is probably a good thing if you want to do well afterwards.</p>
<p>I’m willing to work hard, but the worst feeling is working your butt off hoping for an A and still making a B- or B, and that’s what I heard happens. UVa is supposed to be academically as tough, but I don’t hear of any grade deflation there. </p>
<p>As for transferring, I’m already sure I love the campus and the environment, so that will only be an option if I absolutely can’t maintain a 3.3+ at W&M. Also, the retention rate for W&M is as high as UVA’s, I’m pretty sure.</p>
<p>Caution: good grades at UVA, IMHO, come with a lot of hard work and sweat.</p>
<p>Depends on your major and how careful you select your courses. My semesters were made up of one hard class, one medium, two easy and another class (that was medium-hard most of the time) and I managed to get almost all As at UVA and still being involved and having a pretty good social life.</p>
<p>William and Mary–very special place. I love the idea of the Yule Log, the different traditions, the living history. The size is great. W and M is a VERY impressive school, and you know you like it the best. Go there!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help!</p>