<p>Hello, I've been accepted at both places, but I can't make a decision as to where to go. I went to summer seminar last year and loved the Naval Academy, but before that I had never really thought about going into the navy. I'm not from Virginia, but I've always loved William and Mary. That brings me to the cost. Is William and Mary worth the out of state cost of $53,000? I also got into Case Western, Kenyon, OSU, Pitt, and Ohio Wesleyan which all gave me $15,000+ scholarships. Thanks for the advice. Also, I am planning on majoring in chemistry with the hope of becoming a doctor, but so isn't everyone else in the class of 2018. I would like to go to a school with plenty of options for when I change my mind. Thanks!</p>
<p>4 years at William and Mary = $212,000. What your other options by cost after scholarships? My opinion is that W&M has a beautiful campus, a great residential life but is lacking academically in its Liberal Arts program. Planning on being a Lawyer? W&M is good. </p>
<p>Unfortunately many colleges are selling there colleges based off of residential life (my impression of W&M when I toured with daughter) or in many cases selling dreams that aren’t going to happen for the majority of students. I will say that the students that go there love the college. That is not necessarily a good reflection of the quality of education.</p>
<p>Well then, what is a good reflection of the quality of education at W&M? It enjoys an excellent reputation for the quality of undergrad teaching as well as in other areas: <a href=“W&M Rankings | William & Mary”>http://www.wm.edu/about/rankings/index.php</a>. You say its students love the college - well, they’re high achievers, certainly no dummies. I don’t know what you mean by “the great residential life” - many students enjoy the strong sense of community at W&M. The residences themselves vary widely.</p>
<p>W&M is certainly not for everyone, and finances may well be the deciding factor. To say it is “academically lacking” is completely untrue. You certainly seem to have it in for W&M. Most of your few posts slam the school, which makes me wonder why your daughter applied. Fortunately for her, she has other wonderful options to choose from. If your experience with W&M is the sum of a tour and a waitlist offer, I don’t think your opinion is all that reliable.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree wholeheartedly with the above, W&M is an excellent school. Although I am biased, my son is having an excellent time as a junior he was just offered a summer internship with IBM in Big data science. they told him offers are around 76K for kids with his background and they LOVE W&M students.</p>
<p>That said, you do know that going to a service academy requires 6 years of service. That is 6 years at officers pay ( generally lower than what you can get in the private sector). But after that graduates are highly considered for more senior managers level positions at companies ( my brother was made a VP after serving only 6 years, several years before his high school friends. </p>
<p>Frankly I am surprised you were offered admission to an academy, they usually seek out students who live ( and die) to serve. My brother went to Annapolis ( electrical engeering) and he studied war history for fun from 10 years old, perfect type they said.</p>
<p>A kid in our neighbor hood went to West Point and graduated 4 years ago, served in Iraq, came back with only one leg… just saying, its still a FABULOUS education and FREE!!! Worth about 250K I have heard. But if you are not dedicated to service I am not sure the risk is worth it, as low as it may be, its still a risk you don;t get when attending W&M ( if you are not ROTC ) </p>
<p>Also your costs at W&M are WAY off… OOS is 33K Tuition and 8,500 room and board, way less for me than my sons other choices CMU and NYU…</p>
<p>And W&M has an excellent reputation for professional school admissions. You should also know that not “everyone wants to be a doctor” in fact applications are way low, since its very expensive to go to med school and payback is long and getting longer with reduced reimbursements. </p>
<p>Bottom line…do you WANT to serve as an officer in the USNA? Are you prepared to serve in WHATEVER capacity the USN needs you to? Are you prepared to pay back (one hundred + thousand dollars) if you are dis enrolled for any reason? Are you wanting the next 9 years of your life to be planned out for you, with little room for YOUR wants, needs, desires?</p>
<p>I think the service academies are a great place for some kids, an ok place for others, and the wrong place for many. You must go in with the right attitude. If you do so, you will get a top flight education, many unbelievable experiences, and a leg up on starting your career. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>“planning on majoring in chemistry with the hope of becoming a doctor…”</p>
<p>Then you do not belong at the Naval Academy. Each year no more than 15 USNA graduates are given permission to attend medical school. This is the quote from the USNA website “Current Navy regulations cap the maximum number of combined Medical and Dental Corps billets for graduating USNA midshipmen at 15, but, in any given year, the actual number of billets available may be less than that depending on the needs of the Navy.”</p>
<p>Plus, I might add, with all that extra military training your grades might not be as high and in general you might not be as prepared for the MCAT as students from civilian colleges.</p>
<p>Kenyon College is a fantastic small liberal arts college where studying is the norm. No distractions at Kenyon, and the students are down to earth, unpretentious, but razor sharp. I love Kenyon!</p>
<p>Ohio Wesleyan is less than a hour from Kenyon, and offers nothing that Kenyon does not also offer. Cross this one off, unless it is a lot cheaper than Kenyon.</p>
<p>Case Western is great for pre-med, but that kind of ends it. Not many options outside of scientific majors. Plus, Cleveland is sort of a drag, and CWR campus is nothing special… in fact, almost certainly the worst campus of the schools you were admitted to.</p>
<p>Pitt is as good or better than OSU in almost every way, unless you like the idea of being embarrassed by Buckeye football fans for the rest of your life. Certainly the city of Pittsburgh is a far better place to attend college than is Columbus.</p>
<p>William and Mary is marvelous. If you want it, and can afford it then you should go there. You only get to do this once. But compare to Kenyon first.
</p>
<p>Thank you all for your detailed responses. I am definitely taking them into consideration. </p>
<p>the only things I want to offer to this thread are:</p>
<ol>
<li>the poster that said W&M is “lacking academically in the liberal arts” is on crack.</li>
<li>if you are not “all in” then do not go to Annapolis.</li>
</ol>
<p>W&M has an excellent undergraduate chemistry program with a faculty that is deeply committed to quality education. You can’t go wrong there. The cost out-of-state is sobering, and W&M does not provide much aid to out-of-staters. They need the revenue to compensate in part for shrinking state support. Unless you are absolutely committed to the Naval Academy, DO NOT GO! </p>
<p>I am not on crack but a very sober case of realism … I hold true that W&M is not that strong in many academic areas. I am open minded - prove me wrong. But suggesting that I am on crack does not prove anything.</p>
<p>
It would be helpful to know what you mean by “not that strong in many academic areas.” Which areas are those? Specific departments? How do we judge the school’s academic strength - do you mean relative to other schools (which ones?) or are you talking about faculty publications/research or student employment after graduation? Your first response in this thread says that W&M “is lacking academically in its Liberal Arts program.” Since W&M remains committed to a liberal arts education to an unusual degree for a public institution, I would like to see some proof of your assertions myself.</p>
<p>If you are correct, it is remarkable that the school has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of so many accomplished students and their parents for so long. To say nothing of its faculty, or the peer institutions that review the school so favorably each year. Perhaps you can enlighten all of us.</p>
<p>Eusriso, it appears you simply hold a grudge against the college. I’m very sorry about your personal dilemma with the college, but please don’t take it out on the school by calling it subpar academically. William and Mary’s law and med school placement rates are far above the national average, it’s listed as a top 10 public school in the country, it’s one of the best undergraduate teaching schools in the nation (#3) If you could look on the accepted facebook group you would see that students are picking William and Mary over Cornell, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Berkeley, Oberlin, Davidson. These are all highly respected schools.</p>
<p>If you want proof W&M academic programs are worth something well, the State Department selected two universities to lead a new study that the State Dept. is conducting, and W&M was one of the schools selected. I’m sure the IR and poly sci depts. are all over that. I know countless stories of “liberal-arts degree” grads from W&M and all of them seem to be doing well. In fact, one is currently a department head at Duke Medical Center…I’d say that person is doing pretty well Everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to George Bush senior have praised the college as an incredible institution. Please don’t be rude about our school. It’s a wonderful school. #tribepride </p>
<p>I know plenty of people who went to USNA, but were not the typical gung-ho Navy-career-minded type. One friend went largely because of parental pressure, but he did just fine academically and professionally and surprised everyone else by serving over 25 years and making Captain. The service academies, Navy specifically, are a phenomenal way to test yourself academically, physically and mentally. The leadership training and opportunities are world class and you can’t beat the free tuition, room and board plus small stipend. The guaranteed employment for 5-6 years comes with free medical and dental, world travel opportunities, and the privilege of serving your country with other men and women from ALL WALKS of LIFE who generally care more about the well-being of America than personal financial gain. W and M is an excellent school, but please don’t rule out USNA just because you may not have a hard-core interest in being a naval officer. You have to be prepared to give up alot of personal freedom and manage multi-dimensional challenges in every busy day. Service Academies are a tough place to be, but great places to be from (Navy being the best, of course!) You share hard times with your classmates but plenty of fun, amazing memories as well, which is why the comraderie and class loyalty for USNA grads is amazing and grows stronger with each passing year. </p>