I have narrowed my options down to three schools: Washington and Lee, William and Mary, and Washington University in St. Louis. I received full-ride scholarships to W&L (Johnson Scholarship) and W&M (1693 Scholarship), and a full-tuition scholarship to WashU. I’m not 100% certain what I want to do, but I’m interested in going into finance, law, or academia for some social science. W&L is great academically. I like the small class sizes and the liberal arts curriculum. W&L also has really good placement in top finance firms, primarily due to its loyal alumni base, and I could take classes at the law school if I decide to go pre-law. I am concerned, however, about the social scene. It seems too cliquey and I’m not certain I want to go greek (W&L has ~75% greek life participation). I am also fairly liberal, and I’m not sure how I’d fit in at what seems to be a very conservative school. I visited WashU a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. The campus is gorgeous, the facilities are incredible, and the food is delicious. I love the location and it’s the perfect size at around 8,000 undergrads. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a great fit for what I want to do academically. I was admitted into the Olin School of Business and while it seems to be a great program, it isn’t a target school for top finance firms, primarily due to its inconvenient location. Although I could transfer to the main college and pursue a pre-law track, WashU doesn’t have a strong pre-law culture (I hear the average LSAT for pre-law undergrads at WashU is pretty low compared to peer institutions). Furthermore, if I were to transfer to Arts and Sciences, I would lose many of the benefits of my scholarship, which is to the business school, so I’ll probably feel pressured to stay the course. Finally, I would have to pay for room and board at WashU making it about 70k more expensive than my other options. Although I could cover this without loans, I don’t want to make my parents pay that if they don’t have to. I love the 1693 program at W&M. It includes many benefits such as priority course registration, special advising, and access to a house that includes a kitchen, laundry, and study spaces. The biggest bonus of the scholarship is the opportunities for research. Scholars seem to have first pick of research opportunities on campus and have access to a 5k research stipend. This would be great for resume-building and may make pursuing academia as a career path a viable plan. W&M also has good placement in top law schools and a strong pre-law culture. W&M’s business school is even less of a target school than Olin, but some alumni scholars currently work at top finance firms so I would already have some networking opportunities from the jump. I have some concerns about the social scene at W&M. Several people have told me the social scene is fairly dead, but I’m not looking to go too off the rails in college anyway so maybe that isn’t such a big deal. As of now my tentative ranking is 1. W&M 2. WashU 3. W&L but I am far from certain. I have to make a decision on William and Mary very soon so any thoughts/advice anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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You can get to law school equally well from all those colleges, so remove that as a consideration. (The lsat score has nothing to do with what a college does, btw, so don’t hold that against Wash U).
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My S21 attends W&L, coming from a liberal northeastern boarding school. He does not find it to be conservative. Nor cliquey, though he’s a boy, and I don’t know what the girl culture is like. Paradoxically because Greek life is so prevalent, it is more inclusive/less exclusive.
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Where do you fit best? These are all great schools, so you really can’t go wrong!
Take a look at last years outcomes report for Olin if that’s what’s holding you back. Not sure who told you they don’t attract top finance firms.
But they are all great choices, the best one’s going to be the one you feel is the best fit for you personally.
What you do for four years certainly has an impact on your LSAT scores. If you are at a school that emphasizes critical reading, critical writing and logic, you are going to have improved LSAT scores. I find it humorous how people say that where you go doesn’t matter.
None of the three show up on the list of top 25 I see - but guess what, you can find graduates from all 3 at I-banks.
All three are great schools. Not sure why you’d feel WUSTL wouldn’t set you up for law school. It seems to be your favorite. So you can look at things this way:
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Yes, WUSTL will be $70K over four years - but you’re saving a quarter of a million dollars - so it’s still a bargain. St. Louis is a neat city and if you like baseball, the ball park is awesome.
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W&M is closest size wise but is rated low on food and dorms by Niche. They told us this on our tour too although I think they were opening a new dorm.
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Because W&L is mainly Greek, supposedly it’s not cliquey. They have great programs like the Shephard Center for Poverty, etc. It’s also a great school for outdoor pursuits.
Honestly, you’ll have a great experience at all three - and all three will prepare you for law school. Your scholarships are an amazing accomplishment. Congrats.
Having gone to law school, I am not one who says where you go doesn’t matter. However, I cannot imagine that Wash U doesn’t emphasize critical writing, reasoning and logic.
If you think that Law school is a serious possibility, which one of these three sets you up the best financially? If you choose W&M or W&L, would your parents put the money that they would spend to send you to WUSTL aside for law school? If the money for WUSTL would require debt, I would drop it from consideration: you have 2 top schools who will give you a debt-free education. Your future self will be more grateful than you can begin to imagine!
IMO, aside from the financial angle, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to practice listening to yourself: there is no ‘wrong’ choice here. Assuming no debt, there isn’t an objectively ‘better’ choice- it’s about which is better for you. This is a moment for you to stop asking other people, and ask yourself: ‘where am I most likely to shine?’ and ‘where do I want to live for the next 4 years of my life?’.
Learning to trust yourself is a big part of moving into adult life- you can gather info and opinions endlessly, but at some point you have make a decision, and trust yourself that you have 1) done your best to figure out the best (or more often in life, the least-bad!) option and 2) you can handle fixing it if it doesn’t go to plan (b/c sometimes it won’t).
tl;dr: I think you already know what you want to do. Trust yourself, take a deep breath & jump: you’ve got this!
Given your interests in social sciences and the law I’d pick the Virginia schools, simply because this area is chock-full of history and because nearby DC has a lot of legal opportunities for internships. Finance however would be strengthened if you can get an accounting undergraduate degree. I know you don’t necessarily need the accounting degree, but it will long term help out if you can do it.
Olin has fantastic placement. In its latest report, Olin BA grads made $76K with $9K signing bonus. A key point is that “Percentage of graduates for whom we have post-graduation information is 92%.” That’s terrific tracking.
You can surely minor in the humanities and possibly double major. For pre-law, W&L would be awesome, especially as a Johnson Scholar. W&L has great alumni support and a terrific smaller student body. They’ve been working on enhancing ethnic diversity and one can probably find their people, like @cinnamon1212 's son.
Go with your gut. All will have similar results as you are in one controlling the outcomes. None is above and beyond any of the others.