W&M is in my top two choices and I’m having a difficult time deciding between the two so I am seeking for some more information on W&M. Is the W&M student population religious? What are the mental health resources like? Is the environment a trigger/pressure cooker especially for those with mental health problems? Is the undergraduate business program good? Are there many opportunities for psychology and business majors?
P.S. Is Greek life overwhelming?
My daughter tells me that students have to wait a long time for a mental health appointment and that the student paper and council have been complaining a lot about that. (This is true of many colleges.)
There is a culture of hard work. Students do study a lot. It’s best to develop good study habits while still in high school. W&M is more intense than any other public school in Virginia, I would say, more akin to a very good LAC.
Greek life is apparently much more low-key than at many schools. It is not an especially religious student body.
This was so helpful- thank you! It just reaffirmed my decision to go to W&M as I originally wanted to go to a LAC and prefer more intimate academic settings.
My real advice to you, @procake, and to every other high school junior, is not to “fall in love” with any one school and to pack your application list with likeable safeties. College admissions is an odd process.
Actually you may be a senior, in which case I urge you to attend admitted students days for your top choices!
I am actually a high school graduate taking a gap year 
I was accepted into W&M and it is a top choice so I was comparing it with another school - they are of equal great caliber and it was difficult so your reply really helped me decide that W&M is right for me. I am an international student so unfortunately visiting is not an option.
W&M has a new Student Wellness Center, which just opened this year. It is beautiful, and the director is very dynamic and talented. W&M, like other schools, is trying to manage increasing need for counseling services.
https://www.wm.edu/offices/wellness/iwc/index.php
I view pressure as something internal. Yes, a fair number of students feel pressure and a fair number don’t. It all feels collaborative and supportive to me, but students do feel pressure.
The campus is beautiful, and the weather terrific, probably hot the first few weeks, warm most of the school year, cool in the winter, with a few cold snaps, and maybe snow once or twice in a typical year. The campus sits immediately adjacent to the Colonial Williamsburg historic district, including Duke of Gloucester (“DOG”) Street. There are now a fair number of sandwich shops, delis, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc. that are popular with students and very walkable from campus. Paul’s, College Deli, Brickhouse Tavern (pizza), Aromas (coffee/sandwiches), and Cheese Shop (sandwiches) are some of the most popular spots with students.
The business school is in a beautiful, fairly new building just up from Lake Matoka, which is on the campus.
I agree about Greek life. I view it as big enough to definitely be something if a student is looking for Greek life but small enough that lots of students rarely interact with it and have a very full social life and don’t hardly notice that it exists. At some schools, Greek life dominates social life. Not true at W&M.
Good luck!
As @TTG mentioned, W&M has a new wellness center dedicated to the mental health of the students. There is a rumor that W&M has a high suicide rate, but this is not true. Yes, there have been suicides in the past few years but not significantly more than any other elite college. W&M students are very friendly but also studious. There is not a cut-throat culture at W&M—the stress students face is put on by themselves rather than competition with others. Psychology is a very popular major at W&M and their business school is good as well.
W&M is definitely not for everybody, but it is for me as I’ll be attending in the fall. The community is truly amazing!
@prodesse when you say W&M is like a good LAC, would you say the classes reflect that? I am only
looking for classes that are discussion-based.
@TTG Would you say there is an abundance of resources for aspiring entrepreneurs? What are the classes like?
@PureShores How did you figure that PureShores was fit for you?
I think my daughter has had one lecture class per semester, and even those aren’t huge. Most are small discussion-based classes. But it may vary by department.
@prodesse May I ask what are the subjects of the classes your daughter takes? I am mainly looking to take classes in philosophy, physics, politics, psychology, data science and business.
I know their are immediate plans for a student business incubator site at One Tribe Place, on Richmond Road–idea to pitch. The business school also has entrepreneurial programs, though I’m not expert in that.
Often, at US universities, students will have larger lecture classes for introductory courses Economics 101, Calculus, Chemistry 101 (or whatever the number is). These can range up to 500 or more students, at some schools. You would probably have a few of these at W&M, like at other top national universities, though I think they typically number 100-200 or so there. But W&M, again like other schools, have introduced smaller required freshman seminars so that students will take smaller discussion-based classes their first year. Their are a wide range of seminars to choose from, and these classes tend to be small topics in which the professors are interested, so they often bring great knowledge and enthusiasm to the classes.
After that, it varies by department and student. A student would typically take some required smaller lecture classes, more in the 40-80 student range and then smaller discussion classes. Depending how a student chooses to organize their schedule, they might have lots of lecture classes like these or very few. For example, a psych major might take a couple of larger lecture classes in their major and a couple to meet other requirements, a couple of smaller lecture classes to meet psych requirements, then all discussion-based classes for their other classes if that’s their focus. Students generally have a fair amount of control over this, especially after basic requirements are met.
There are a lot of small classes and group collaborative projects in the business school. One very good thing about W&M and most smaller LACs is that professors teach almost every class. I know of one tip-top public university where the intro math classes are notably small, and taught by TAs, who might be outstanding, but it is nice when you have professors for every class.
@TTG Do you know when the business incubator site is likely to be established? Are the classes to meet basic requirements big?
I’m not sure when it opens, but will be soon, I believe. I couldn’t find anything about it by googling right now, but saw it laid out in a presentation.
My own definition of class size would be Under 20: discussion-based seminar type class; 20-40: small lecture, probably with discussion, depending on professor; 40-80 mid-size; 80-200 large; 200+ very large.
I can’t say definitively right now, and maybe somebody will correct me, but generally speaking, at most universities, intro classes in a lot of areas will be large or very large. I don’t believe right now W&M has very many very large (my definition) classes. The large classes would be for intro economics, chem, etc. That makes sense in that it’s really important, fundamental but basic info/knowledge that’s being delivered to students. Even at LACs these classes will often have 40-80 students and still be lecture format. I say often, not always.
After first-year, intro type courses, classes will be mid-size or small or seminar classes. Some mid-size classes might be required, and maybe more than a few in some departments, but students can control a lot. Besides a few classes in their major department, they can choose whatever they want to take. And lots of classes are very small or even research based. For example, students often get credit for lab work, where they are working in a lab, sometimes with a dozen students, sometimes only the professor and a few other students.
I know a current student who is majoring in a social science department. I don’t think they’ve had more than 40 students in any of their major classes. If there is one that had more, I’m sure it was under 80. They’ve gotten lots of credit for research in a lab and have had at least 3-4 seminar style discussion classes. I don’t think they’ve had more than a 100 or so for any class at W&M, and that for intro science classes.
So it varies a lot. I think W&M compares favorably with a lot of large universities. It does offer a lot of research opportunities also, which often means academic credits working in small groups. A student could get smaller class sizes at some LACs, but fares well in general, and certainly in comparison with lots of larger universities. And you’ll control a lot.
@procake She’s taking some government, econ, religion, math, computer science, history.