<p>With acceptances letters soon to arrive, thought I'd add something to those choosing between William and Mary and whatever. My daughter and her roommate, graduating in May, each were accepted to their first choice grad schools. If further education is in your future plans, a bachelors' from William and Mary looks great!</p>
<p>What were their majors? My daughter is planning to study Biochemistry with possible premed focus. W and M is my first choice but she is still weighing her options.</p>
<p>ponymom, biochem is currently a minor at W&M and not a major but there are numerous pre-med options at W&M and your D can always talk to the Charles Center about the possibility of expanding the biochem minor into a self-designed major.</p>
<p>I’d encourage students reading this blog to check out one of our student bloggers who just wrote a piece on choosing W&M [W&M</a> Blogs How I chose William and Mary](<a href=“http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/03/21/how-i-chose-william-and-mary/]W&M”>http://blogs.wm.edu/2011/03/21/how-i-chose-william-and-mary/)</p>
<p>I feel like almost everyone has a “When I went to Colonial Williamsburg when I was 6, I saw William & Mary and told everyone that I was going to go to college there” story. I didn’t even remember mine, but my mom insists that it happened.</p>
<p>Many students, especially Virginians, do have a story like that. In fact we have a poster that says “A Fourth Grade Field Trip for Many, a Four Year Adventure for the Select Few” based on that idea.</p>
<p>However, many students encounter the College in different ways but all those who love it share that common bond, no matter how they fell in love!</p>
<p>As an OOS, my story might be a little bit different. I hadn’t even been particularly interested in William & Mary until a few weeks before April Vacation of last year. During that vacation, my mother and I took the week, and stayed with some friends in VA, so that I could look at colleges. The first day we were down there, my mother and I drove the two-or-so hours from the house we were staying at to Williamsburg. Oh. My. Word. The instant we got on campus, I was totally overwhelmed. It was gorgeous, and there were so many students, and the admissions center was just so warm and welcoming.</p>
<p>Now, I can’t remember what came first-- My sit-in on a class, or my tour-- But my goodness, both of them just hit me like a ton of bricks. I introduced myself to the professor of a “Comparative Government and Politics” class, and she was so welcoming, and happy to have my in her class, and other students spoke to me and told me to sit with them, and didn’t treat me like “just an observer”. I could run on for hours about how interesting the day’s topic of “Democracy as American Export” was, but I think you’d get bored! The tour was also amazing. A proud, highly energetic senior told us about tradition, quirks, and the environment of the campus. She was engaging, positive, and had plenty of friends that would first say hi to her, and then address the whole tour, telling us why we should attend W&M! I was blown away, and excited by the energy, and brilliance that the school seemed to exude. Needless to say, I was charmed.</p>
<p>Even the worker at the student center where my mother and I took lunch was just brimming with friendliness and warmth. Asking us where we were visiting from, and then telling me that she would be my “Mama, and make sure I eat well!” if I were to attend W&M. Haha, that woman has remained a lovely, sweet, inside joke between my mother and I… If only she could know what an impression she gave.</p>
<p>After my day at W&M, I insisted that I buy a sweatshirt. The green hoodie with it’s yellow script has remained my most-worn piece of clothing this year. Plus, it’s the only sweatshirt I’ve ever bought from a college. I love that thing more than I can explain. </p>
<p>Honestly, with the slew of rejections I’ve been receiving lately, I think that my chances of acceptance aren’t very good. And, because of a personal issue, I don’t think I can handle going to another school, and then transferring. But, I do know that William & Mary has been my favourite school ever since I set foot on that campus. </p>
<p>Why William & Mary?
Because it’s William & Mary.</p>
<p>Hey Lillium, don’t let the rejections get you down. College acceptance is super cut-throat these days so you can’t win them all.</p>
<p>Thanks Zach, </p>
<p>I know (all too well) that colleges have been super-duper-difficult this year. I’ll keep hoping for the best on the William-and-Mary front. :] Thanks. It’s just hard when people with lower stats than mine get into schools which I was rejected from. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense. 
They don’t get my vibrant personality and intellect through the paper!</p>
<p>Lillium, sometimes it’s hard to understand the decisions admission offices make when you’re outside looking in. Different institutional priorities and policies can guide decision making in ways that aren’t always obvious. We always hope however that students do not equate admit/deny with self worth or value. Selective colleges simply have more great students applying than they can admit. It doesn’t mean those they didn’t take aren’t great.</p>
<p>When decisions are released we’ll have a blog post that tries to give applicants an idea of the pool from which we selected the incoming class and hope that helps to explain decisions.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My daughter is currently a Junior in the Mason School of Business. She is a marketing major. We live in California, but my entire family – mother, dad, 4 brothers and a sister – live in the Tidewater area of VA, within an hour of Williamsburg. My daughter grew up visiting VA frequently, but hadn’t been to W’burg in about 5 years when we visited VA during the summer between her sophomore and junior years in high school. We were just starting to think about colleges, and decided to take her over to W&M for a campus tour just so she could see what a college campus was like. We had talked about W&M and were somewhat familiar with it as we had several friends who had graduated from the college. She fell in love with it immediately. In fact, she went back during the summer between junior and senior years for another tour and an interview. She researched it carefully, and a very strong factor for her (supported by us) was the reputation of the faculty – the priority given to teaching and the reputation for their accessibility to the students. Also, even though she knew she wanted business, she also wanted a very strong liberal arts background with the opportunity to take courses of interest to her. She completed a minor in music by the end of her sophomore year, has played in the Wind Symphony since her freshman year, and participated in Sinfonicron (student-run light opera company) since her first year. She has been employed by the alumni association (interviewing and then writing articles about alumni) since her first year, worked as a supervisor at the student center, and now has a job in marketing with the Career Development Center. She participates in intramural sports and has just thrived at W&M. She has been very successful at finding summer marketing internships. After her sophomore year, she landed one with a major orchestra here in California. She has already been offered one with Wolftrap in VA for this coming summer, but has been interviewed by 3 major PR firms in Washington, DC and NYC. She has taken advantage of all the support opportunities available to her at W&M – advice on resume preparation, resume review, student marketing assoc., on-campus seminars and networking opportunities. </p>
<p>On cc, we read often the advice to students that there are multiple colleges that would be a good fit for them. I believe that this is true, but I also firmly believe that W&M was the perfect fit for her.</p>
<p>bubblemom… sending you a PM. lol</p>
<p>glad to hear your D is having such a fulfilling experience bubblemom. We hope the abundance of opportunities at W&M provide such experiences to our students and it’s good to know students like your D have found a good fit and are taking advantage of all W&M has to offer</p>