<p>My niece deposited at Holyoke but just got in from the waitlist at W&M. She's a VA resident, so financially W&M is better. on the other hand Holyoke offerred $$ and she's feeling a bit like Holyoke really wants her and W&M got around to her.<br>
Any comparisons or just thoughts appreciated.
Thanks</p>
<p>I think that would be a silly basis for a decision. It doesn’t matter how much the admissions committee at a school liked you. They’re not going to be your classmates or professors and you’ll probably never meet them. </p>
<p>If she likes Holyoke for other reasons and the extra money isn’t too much of a burden, she might as well go there. WM and Holyoke are obviously very different schools, especially considering the lack of men at Holyoke.</p>
<p>yea… she should go where she thinks she will get a better experience.</p>
<p>Getting in off the WL is not going to change her day to day experience at W&M, and getting money from MH is not going to change her day to day experience there either.</p>
<p>If she wants to go to W&M, but is thinking along the lines of “they didn’t want me then, so I don’t want them now”… well, that is not a recipe for good decision making, IMO.</p>
<p>Getting in off the W&M waitlist (especially as a female) is quite a feat. They are definitely not “getting around to her”! W&M is incredibly selective. My daughter is thrilled to have been accepted at W&M and is attending – but if she had given weight to which school seemed to want her the most (scholarships/grants and honors programs), she’d be attending UNC or UVA. Definitely encourage your niece to go where she thinks she’d be happiest. Once they get to W&M, I doubt students think about whether they found out they were admitted in early March (when Monroe Scholars got letters) or on March 30th or in May or June. I think they all know that they made it out of a hugely qualified pool of applicants.</p>
<p>I’d choose Holyoke. My sister goes there and she chose it over WM, UVa, and Elon. She says you really feel like an individual there. The teachers know you and you feel like you know the school. Plus it’s part of the 5 Colleges system, so the all-girls thing is not as limiting as you would think. There are boys in the surrounding colleges and you will see them very often. If she already likes Holyoke, I’d say choose Holyoke. It’s one of the best schools to “grow” as a person in a way that you cannot at some larger schools.</p>
<p>^ forget that. I’d choose W&M. Ultimately it’s her decision, though.</p>
<p>Don’t let waitlist origin discourage her. Many of my daughter’s friends were originally waitlisted. She would have never known until her sister was waitlisted last year and she started asking around to find out how difficult to get in off a waitlist. (extremely difficult…she should be honored!) Personal opinion of the two schools and of course, financial sense should be the factors in her decision.</p>
<p>W&M doesn’t want any student less than any other. The highly selective nature of our admission process combined with our small entering class simply means we cannot admit all of the students we like. Getting to admit students from the waitlist often brings us a great deal of joy.</p>
<p>Obviously the two schools are very different in location, size, university vs college, and co-ed vs single-sex so it’s more than likely one is a much better fit than the other. Plus there’s the different of public and private and tuition.</p>
<p>Both are great schools but it’s likely that your daughter is a better fit at one given how different they are. Is she looking for a college or university? A rural campus or suburban one? Single-sex or co-ed?</p>
<p>Getting waitlisted and then being offered a place should not even factor in the decision. Money, head, heart and everything else will and should but the “Waitlist” thingy is absolutely unimportant.</p>
<p>She’s decided on Wm and Mary. Thanks to everyone for your help.</p>
<p>Glad to hear it. We look forward to having her as a member of the Tribe!</p>