It was march 26 last year. Most likely before April 1.
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Hoping its the 25th! Fingers crossed!!!
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Thatās my guess too.
W&M has a stereotype for having a pretty competitive academic environment. Anyone know if the atmosphere is still competitive, or is it more supportive, collaborative, friendly, etc now?
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Can honestly say Iāve never heard competitive/cutthroat. Grade deflation, stressful, hardworking, yes, but never competitive.
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My daughter just graduated, and I attended in the '80s. Seems like folks have asked about it being ācompetitiveā for decades. But I never knew it to be a competitive stressful environment, and my daughter never mentioned things that way. You work hard, and itās not an easy school. But at least in our experiences, it was fun, had great students and professors. Loved my time there.
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Current Mom ('23 grad) and incoming ED1 ('27). Definitely an academic environment. '23DS has done quite well but there were some nail biter finals. I think the hardest thing is for these super smart kids to get used to some classes having a midterm and a final as the only grade in class. Also, many MANY kids get low grades for first time ever. Cs are not uncommon but often professors allow a grade drop, or lots of homework grades help, or something else that helps average it out to a much higher grade. But on the other hand students seem to be incredibly supportive of one another. Everyone seems to understand that certain classes and professors are just harder. You might have an easier semester ā¦ you might not. In that sense, I do not think it is uber competitive. Itās been a great fit for our son and we are excited for four more years!
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'08 grad here. Itās academically rigorous (as an academic institution of the Collegeās caliber should be), but itās definitely supportive and collaborative. I never felt the sense that it was competitive/cutthroat (between students) from a grades standpoint. Iām a law school grad and law school (this was at a different institution) was a totally different experience entirely (L-School was uber competitive - one student actually hid library books during a legal research assignment). I took some classes at W&M with friends and we would help each other study. Just like any elite university, there will be students who ask more questions in class or more frequently contribute to discussions. I enjoyed the discussions personally, as I felt that my W&M classmates often greatly enhanced my learning experience. There were so many bright minds and diverse perspectives in a single classroom. We often built ideas off of one another and professors were keen to encourage respectful, constructive dialogue. I grew in confidence through these experiences - learning to better articulate thoughts and ideas.
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Going off of past years, should we expect decisions to be sent out next week
~ March 23-25th?
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Judging by recent precedent, it could be anytime from this coming Tuesday through Thursday of the following week.
According to what can be found in the William & Mary Admissions Admit It! blog:
2022: March 26
2021: March 30
2020: March 21
2019: March 23
2018: March 23
2017: March 23
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Has anyone been to one of the schools visit days? Dd cannot attend admitted students day on 15-16th because of a school trip. Are we able to go visit on own and check out departments? Also does anyone know if the CS dept is good?
Can you make one of the Green and Gold Days? Thatās what we did. Green & Gold Days | William & Mary
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My nephew just got his degree in CS and is staying on to get his Masterās, and heās had a great experience!
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When my '23 WM student was admitted, we asked to meet with someone in the Physics department (on a random week day when we drove down ā¦ one hour from home). They were extremely gracious and met with us. She ended up being his major advisor later. He will graduate in May with a Physics degree! I would say reach out to the department(s) you are interested in and see what they say! My '27 ED daughter has already zoomed with a department chair (Zoom was not in the picture for this kind of thing prepandemic). Worth having your student reach out!
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Thank you - we will do that. Want to stop by over our spring break and have her make her decisions for schools earlier. Our state school has one of the top CS programs and sheās in the honors college there too but itās a very large school and the largest she applied to which is a downside for her. WM is also appealing to her since itās not too far only 3 hrs and itās a much smaller school which is ideal for her- and flexibility to double or triple major + Monroe scholar. Downside - oos tuition.
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@scholarlymom asked a question (here) about the Monroe Scholars program, and about how W&M might compare to UCSD as a possible school for her son. I ended up writing a small novel, and then realized I was about to post on the āresults onlyā thread, so figured Iād pull it over here.
First off, congrats to your son! The Monroe Scholars program is great. I was (many years ago) a Monroe scholar and knew several W&M alums (Monroes and not-Monroes) who went on to go to great law schools (U Penn, UNC, W&M, Richmond). Although I canāt speak to law school topics, I can speak a bit about the Monroe scholars program. Iāll also speak a bit about W&M in general, and my thoughts on it vs. the UCs.
There are three main benefits that I associate with Monroe. The first one you encounter as a student is the opportunity to live in the Monroe dorm (apparently there are two now). You certainly can live in other freshman dorms, but I really enjoyed the experience of building community with the others in Monroe Hall. Itās not in the most convenient location compared to some of the dorms, but W&M isnāt that large of a campus, so itās maybe a 20 minute walk at most, to pretty much anywhere on campus. The people are all great, though. Earnest, charming, sharp. In the very, very best interpretation possible, and with all the love in the world, I describe W&M as a place of āfriendly nerdsā, and Monroe has some of the friendliest/nerdiest.
After the freshman dorm, the next benefit I think of are the regular lunches that we had with guest speakers. These were small gatherings where a professor, visiting lecturer, or other friend of the college would come and give a brief talk and socialize with the students. To be honest, I donāt actually recall any specific lectures that I heard during these lunches, but I remember enjoying them very much.
Finally, the stipend. Unfortunately, my own research project was stymied as I was in a near-fatal car accident the summer before senior year (spoiler: I lived!), and almost didnāt make it back to campus for the fall ā¦ but I was researching C.S. Lewis, and had been planning to go to Ireland to spend a week with his son and to go to Oxford to spend a week in his old stomping grounds as I did that research. My now-wife (also a Monroe) used her stipend to travel to Siena, Italy, where she learned how to make (and restore) stained glass. A good friend of ours retraced the steps of Lewis & Clark (and also went to a lot of baseball games along the way). There are a lot of really cool projects that students do, and thereās a āfairā in the fall where students share their research.
But! As cool as the Monroe program is, I really want to emphasize that the best opportunity before your son isnāt Monroe, but W&M itself. Having grown up in Virginia, I didnāt really appreciate how special it is that thereās such a thing as a small, public liberal arts university. I probably heard those words on a tour or information session, and then as a student saw them on banners, but it was very much a fish-asking-āwhat-is-water?ā moment: I completely took the intimacy of the school for granted. But the relationship the students have with the professors is really something special.
Once you declare your major, your major advisor is a professor. In all cases Iām aware of, your freshman advisor is also a full professor (mine was, as was my wifeās). And relationships with professors transcend the classroom. I was invited to a government professorās home for Super Bowl parties, to a history professorās home for holiday parties, and to a sociology professorās home with a small group from class for just general socializing (he served us Alaskan crab legs?!). (Important to note: I wasnāt even majoring in any of those departments!) The professors deeply care about the students, and make a point of connecting with them. The ease and naturalness of those relationships was something I didnāt appreciate until we started looking into college for our own kids.
But my favorite story isnāt even any of those. So I had a car at school for a semester, and managed at one point to completely kill the battery. I knew that my sociology professor (a different professor than the crab legs one!) was a car guy, and figured heād know what I should do. (Buy a new battery? Jump start it? I had no clue.) After class I go up to him to ask him for his advice. He replies, āwhereās the car?ā āOh, just off campus.ā āLetās go!ā So we hop in his car and drive over to where mine was parked. He has me pop the hood and try starting it up. Total silence. By the time I can even get out of the car to come around front, heās unscrewed the terminals and is hauling the battery out of the car. He then says āIāve got a battery charger at home. Iāll charge it up!ā Iām both shocked and grateful, of course. But it gets better! At the next class session, I go up to him afterwards to ask him about it: āSo, um, should I come by some time to, uh, get the battery?ā He replies āOh, no need. Itās already back in the car!ā
Moments like that donāt happen every day, but they do happen at William and Mary.
Itās a really special place, and I didnāt fully understand at the time what was so incredible about it being a small public liberal arts university, or how rare it is to have the combination of factors that make W&M the place that it is.
My oldest is now at Berkeley (weāre California residents now, and focused on in-state options), and while there are many upsides to universities at the scale of the UCs, and while sheās doing what she can to connect with professors (office hours, asking lots of questions in class), itās just a completely different animal. Her major advisor is ā¦ fine, but definitely not a professor. Her fall semester was pretty heavily disrupted by the grad student strike, as many of her classes had heavy GSI involvement. It would be quite remarkable to hear of her getting invited over to a professorās house ā¦ invites from multiple professors in different departments (especially professors outside her major) would be unthinkable.
Iād be happy to answer any other questions you have, but have probably written too much for now. My DMs are open, though, in case anyone has questions I can help with!
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The dorm that historically housed Monroe Scholars is (will be) closed for renovations. Do you know which dorms will be used for class of 2027? Thanks.
My kid is not a Monroe, but I am guessing for the one year they will possibly reserve special floor space either in Dupont or Dawson for the Monroe freshman. Not sure about the upper class Monroes.
I have a question about W and M and Monroe Scholars. My son was admitted early as a Monroe scholar. He was also recently admitted to UCSD. We are from San Diego. UCSD is a top school, but we fell in love with William and Mary when we visited. My husband is a UCSD alum and we are debating the two schools as far as prestige, grad school acceptance, etc. I did the college tours with my son and he is drawn to the small, beautiful, liberal arts colleges. He didnāt like UVA and didnāt apply. His reach dream schools are Princeton and Duke, but it is such a slim chance those will turn into acceptances. So, we are debating these two schools. Can anyone speak to William and Mary that is from the East Coast? He will likely try for grad school on the East Coast (possibly law school) and curious how William and Mary would prepare him vs UC system. I love the school and think he would be happy there vs. a crowded UC.
Make sure you look through the other WM threads. Youāll find lots of good info. Iām an an alum and my daughter just graduated. Fabulous education, beautiful campus, historic area right next door with free access. To me, WM is an ideal place to spend four years. Your student will be well positioned for grad school with a WM degree.
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