<p>Love them both! Planning on Pre-Med. Live in Maryland so W&M is closer than Wake. Thoughts on academics, workload, extra-curriculars like band and tennis.</p>
<p>WF has small classes with lots of one-on-one attention from professors. You will know your teachers there. Affluent group of kids for the most part. W&M is public so probably much larger classes, TAs, more diverse???</p>
<p>Teaching Assistant’s will be for labs at both schools(professors lecture and TA’s run labs at both). As a pre-med, you really need to focus on preparing for the MCAT(Start to study now). By staying closer to home you can visit family over breaks and will be able to see family way more often. Both schools are really good and will prepare you well for medical school. They probably have about the same academic work load. W&M is the better choice due to the combination of location, resources, and academic reputation.</p>
<p>I have to laugh at studybuddy. This poster joined cc today, and has posted 3 times so far, all advocating for the selection of other choices over Wake Forest. Seems to have a bit of an agenda!</p>
<p>Anyway, Wake Forest and William and Mary are both wonderful choices, and I experienced this exact same pairing with my son 4 years ago. A few points to consider:</p>
<p>Wake is known for tough grading and grade deflation. GPA is so critical for pre-med. This issue might favor W&M.</p>
<p>Wake is private while W&M is public. Public universities are under a lot of financial stress. Budget cuts, larger class sizes, etc. When we visited both campuses, we did notice deferred maintenance at W&M. Wake seems to be rolling in cash, judging from the new admissions center, new dorms, business center, etc. This issue appears to favor Wake.</p>
<p>W&M is closer to MD, but both are within driving range. I wouldn’t use this as a deciding factor.</p>
<p>Both have excellent academic reputations, but I would judge Wake to be higher, if you care about rankings. </p>
<p>I’m sure they are fairly equivalent on things like band and tennis. Wake has bigger sports, being in the ACC. Wake is more Greek, which could be either a pro or a con, your choice.</p>
<p>Bottom line, there is no clear cut answer here, it it really more your personal gut feeling on which school seems to fit you best. Good luck.</p>
<p>I agree, StuddyBuddy is nothing but a Wake ‘hater,’ if you will. I wouldn’t really take much of what he/she says into account. Both W&M and Wake are great schools, and you really can’t go wrong with either. As a Wake student, I have plenty of friends who are pre-med, and while it definitely is difficult, it is also definitely doable. The grade deflation is a factor, but it is not as significant as it was in years past. Obviously, I am biased and would tell you to choose Wake, but either school is a great choice.</p>
<p>I would say a very big difference between Wake & W&M would be the surrounding area. Winston-Salem isn’t a big city, but there are definitely things to do and places to go. My friends who go to W&M often complain about the surrounding area. Again, both are great schools, so you really can’t go wrong. I personally have never visited W&M.</p>