<p>I'm a senior in high school from Tennessee, and I am deciding between Washington and Lee and Georgetown for next fall. I am wondering if any current W&L students or alumni could tell me about their experience with the size there, because that is one of the major things that bothers me about W&L. I'm afraid that socially it might be too much like high school and that after the first year, I would get sick of it since I would never meet anyone new. Please help me out with your opinions since I have don't have much time to decide!</p>
<p>To put it simply – it’s small enough you feel like you know everyone (in a good way - run into people you know everywhere), large enough you don’t actually know everyone, and meet new people every term.</p>
<p>Agreed, it’s on the small side but not such that you’ll know everyone. </p>
<p>I don’t think you can go wrong with your decision though!</p>
<p>Interesting – really different schools in terms of social life though. My S, a sr at W&L, has a best friend at Gtown. They have visited each other many time, enjoying a taste of life on each other’s campuses. But my W&L son would never trade his 4 undergrad yrs for 4 at Gtown, whereas his Gtown friend would happily trade for W&L life. Key factors – W&L social life is centered around campus, and therefore the people and events on it (incl Greek life), whereas Gtowners have no Greek life and commonly look for kicks off-campus - meaning it can be much more expensive, and therefore exclusionary based on wealth and age (obviously having a fake ID is key at Gtown, whereas it is neither nec nor “done” at W&L bc it’s an honor violation.</p>
<p>One more note – smaller can be better when it comes to campus activities and networking for jobs, etc. Went to an intercollegiate academic competition recently, where all the 25 students representing W&L were a tight-knit group bonded over their intense prep work, whereas Big School had an army (75+) of uniformed foot soliders, most of whom were grateful just to be able to sit in the audience. Not really the same experience, I would guess. </p>
<p>Plus S has had great assistance from the W&L network in his chosen field. When companies come to Lexington, you actually have a real opportunity to meet/interview their reps, whereas when they come to bigger schools, you may be in the majority left “off the list.” Even more importantly, finding someone who “is there and doing that” AND will go out of his/her way to help you as a fellow W&Ler is, from our experience, very common. When S went to NYC for an interview recently, his interviewer was a W&L grad who had the exact same campus job he has had. When another company came to campus, he got to meet reps with whom he later interviewed at their office. Great opportunities while you are on campus can = enhanced opportunities after you are on campus.</p>