Hi, I am a current high school senior who was admitted to William and Mary this spring for the class of 2020. I have heard so many conflicting things about the school that I am now completely confused; my questions boil down to: How good will William and Mary be at getting me into medical school and equipping me with the tools to do well there? Specifics include:
-How bad is the academic pressure on campus really?
-Are W&M’s science classes/professors on par with the school’s other subject professors?
-Does the grade deflation make it harder for W&M students to get into medical school?
-How good is their pre-med counseling?
-If there are any current medical school students/their families/friends etc. who graduated from W&M what were your/their experiences? Did you/they feel prepared for medical school?
-How are the internship opportunities/ lab opportunities? I know that they have been pouring money/effort into the sciences recently but how well has that been translating to quality practical science education and opportunities?
Thank you so much for your help!
Very good questions - silence from the W&M crowd? Sorry I can’t answer your questions but they are the type of questions every student should ask when selecting a college.
It is probably too late on this one, but I will weigh in quickly. Insofar as it can be tracked, William and Mary appears to have a very high historical acceptance rates for Medical School applicants. I have seen rates of up to 80% cited, which is well above the national average, and exceptionally so for public schools. William and Mary has strong teaching focus (rated only behind Dartmouth, Princeton, and Brown by USNews), good medical school advising (see the web site), and undergraduate research opportunities in science.
If you look at William and Mary average GPAs, you can see that there really isn’t “grade deflation” any more. It is not out of line with peer schools. That is really a view from years back.
Regarding academic pressure, William and Mary is demanding, but that is needed to prepare for the MCAT and medical school. My classmates who went to medical school told me they were comparatively very well prepared. (For most people, medical school is still going to be very demanding.)
William and Mary is not at all “cutthroat”. Students are very supportive of each other in my experience.