Anyone know a William and Mary computer science student or current engineer? I’m applying to Virginia Tech and UVA for computer science as well, but I like William and Mary’s atmosphere more to the point where I’m considering applying early decision. Is their CS program good, and do students have a good job prospects like the fortune 500 companies WM claims on their website? Thanks!
A friend of mine is an Economics/CompSci double major and only has great things to say about it, but I don’t personally know anything about the program.
I know of a few people at UVa doing CompSci with, obviously, equally great things to say about it.
To that point, you’re not going to find many people with a declared major hating on their program or openly admitting another program to be better. UVa and W&M are amazing schools and you can’t go wrong, but remember that they are extremely different in atmosphere and student life; Tech is its own thing and you won’t catch UVa or W&M students praising them for much.
I have a question hopefully someone will be able to touch on… I am in my mid 20’s and will be applying to both UVa and WM as well as a few others in about a year or so for CS & general science after I finish up at my local community college in VA. I grew up in Charlottesville, so I understand the atmosphere in the town and around campus. However regardless of the size/social life of either school, which do you think would foster a better love of learning for someone?
In other words, what school has the vibe that people are actually there to learn? What school has these kinds of teachers where they are really there to teach? It seems some teachers at UVa might only be there for research and not care much about how well you learn in class.
Both schools seem a bit competitive as well and I have heard from some that WM is very difficult, perhaps more so than UVa at times. But do you think that competitiveness hinders the “higher learning” side of the education at WM? I feel at some schools this could be a real problem and perhaps at some schools they make an attempt morevso to “weed” than to teach well and try to help students.
It would be great to hear someones opinion who has experience at WM and/or UVa. I know there is no perfect school in this regard, but there are certainly schools/places closer to what I am talking about than others. Does anyone know any schools similar to what I may be referring to? Maybe even some LAC type schools?
Thanks!
My info is somewhat second hand, (DD attended both schools), but I’ll take a quick stab at attempting to answer - bear in mind, you can never answer these questions without a lot of generalities.
I think the environment at W&M is very much what you’re looking for - it’s a very intellectual place, and the teachers are renowned for their commitment to teaching. And while there is a great deal of “competitiveness” at W&M, I’ve only heard it described it as “internal” competition - that is, (many) students are driven to achieve, but aren’t competitive with their peers.
I’ve heard about toxic programs at schools - but note it does kind of depend on your course of study. I doubt you’ll find a lot of competitiveness in an archaeology program - but In the so-called “pre-med programs”, there are some extremely toxic environments at many/most big-name schools.
I think UVA with it’s Div 1 trappings and the ethos surrounding the school leads it to get a bad rap in some circles about its collective intellect - there are a lot of high achievers there, and the quality of instruction is very high.
Socially, the communities feel quite different to me. I think there is a bit more competitiveness there among the students, but don’t think it crosses the line into “toxic.” I think the social aspect of UVA is perhaps the one caution I’d have - the social strata at UVA is far more pronounced than at a place like W&M, which has a kind of casual, hippy, friendly, nerdy vibe, and where, whether you’re the captain of the football team or captain of the Quidditch team, you’ll find acceptance and friends. Certain personalities could easily “get lost” at a school like UVA.
I don’t have wide exposure to a lot of schools, but found myself impressed with the cultures at Williams and Swarthmore - though both tended to have a lot of the “upper-class/prep school” kind of student, the love of learning seems quite present, without the climbing, toxic competitiveness you’ll find at some Ivy-class schools.
In-state, I’ve heard very good things about Mary Washington, and U of R, but there are yet-others to consider (from someone more knowledgeable than I.)
Hope this helps.