<p>^Agreed…!</p>
<p>Yea this is an unusual choice for sure. </p>
<p>Being someone who is probably going to UW Madison next year, I’m not going to lie that W&M is more elite and has greater prestige. However, atleast for me personally, never in a million years would I go there over Madison. The big-time football, parties, and stellar academics that come with a top Big Ten school are much more desirable to me than going to a smallish historic school. Of course if football, hockey, and school spirit are not that important to you, it would be different, but they are to me so that is why I’m going to UW.</p>
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And you are still telling OP where to go?</p>
<p>^^^^My laugh of the day on CC!</p>
<p>eastside-that great advice. best so far.</p>
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<p>I think that this is precisely the response that you would get from 3 out of 4 Americans.</p>
<p>3 of 4 Americans have never heard of William and Mary. Probaly more like 9 out of 10. Academics would have a much different response depending on what you want to study.</p>
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<p>Nonsense, don’t tell me that 3 out of 4 Americans don’t know the Steely Dan song My Old School. Say it ain’t so!</p>
<p>Here is the first verse:</p>
<p>“I remember the thirty-five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine
Up to Annandale
It was still September
When your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls
In the county jail
I was smoking with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair
I said oh no
WILLIAM AND MARY won’t do
CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I’m never going back
To my old school…”</p>
<p>BTW, Annadale is where Bard College is where Steely Dan was formed.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know that. And half the high schools in the US have On Wisconsin as their fight song. Back to reality.</p>
<p>[Carpe</a> diem! UW recruiters seize on others? woes to woo academic stars](<a href=“http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/university/article_1464031e-3c3f-11df-9a25-001cc4c002e0.html]Carpe”>http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/university/article_1464031e-3c3f-11df-9a25-001cc4c002e0.html)</p>
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This may be true for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I would not say that it is true for the whole country.</p>
<p>Barrons is big on touting UW’s prestigious graduate schools and big name professors but offers little to show that these attributes have anything to do with UW’s undergraduate education. The idea that you need or can even get a recommendation from a big name prof to get into a top grad school is belied by the fact that (1) on a proportionate basis you see far more PhDs who went to small liberal arts colleges than PhDs who went to State U and (2) UW’s four year graduation rate is so low (less than 60 percent) that it’s more likely that students can’t even get into the big named professors’ classes, then again get a recommendation from one.</p>
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<p>Gadad, I think this is a highly regional question and I think the fact that you live in Georgia makes you overrate the average person’s knowledge of W&M and the average person’s knowledge of Wisconsin.</p>
<p>I think extremely highly of W&M and would choose it in a moment over Wisconsin. I’m trying to get my S to consider it and he hasn’t bitten, quite yet. I, myself, think of it as highly prestigious and an excellent choice. </p>
<p>But that’s because I grew up in the East Coast. It’s just not as known out here in the midwest, and many more people here would be favorably impressed by Wisconsin than by W&M (and would not see Wisconsin as “just some state school”). As with all prestige questions, the answer is “prestige among whom”?</p>
<p>They are two completely different schools, and you can receive a great education at either. William & Mary is ranked 33; UW is ranked 39. You honestly can’t tell me that there is a big difference between 6 spots (I don’t trust the US News rankings, but I’m just using it to prove my point). If you like big schools where you meet new people everyday, go to football and basketball games on the weekends, and is in one of the best college towns in America, go to UW. If you like a smaller setting where you really get to know the people you see everyday in your classes, not as many sports, maybe a bit more intense academic environment, go to W&M. Just go where you feel comfortable, only you can know the place that is right for you</p>
<p>Compared to actual similar sized schools schools Wisconsin is one of the top producers of future PhD’s, Pulitzer prize winners and Fortune 500 CEOs. And yes, you can get a recommendation from those big name profs. The fact that some are not in a huge hurry to graduate means they just love being in Madison. What’s the rush?
At least they actually HAVE big name profs. What you do with them is up to the student. Much better than having virtually none like certain Virginia schools.</p>
<p>Nice article on one of those big name profs in action.</p>
<p>[UW</a> history professor takes students on a Cold War ride - JSOnline](<a href=“http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/90547059.html]UW”>http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/90547059.html)</p>
<p>Another UW teaching legend sadly gone too early.</p>
<p>[Harvey</a> Goldberg Center](<a href=“http://history.wisc.edu/goldberg/hgc_cd/cd.htm]Harvey”>http://history.wisc.edu/goldberg/hgc_cd/cd.htm)</p>
<p><a href=“http://history.wisc.edu/goldberg/seminar.htm[/url]”>http://history.wisc.edu/goldberg/seminar.htm</a></p>
<p>And a note to Nova–you can’t get into every class you want all the time at Harvard either.</p>
<p>“The fact that some are not in a huge hurry to graduate means they just love being in Madison. What’s the rush?”</p>
<p>This is laughable. Madison hardly corners the market on where kids like to go to school. If it did it would be far more selective, particularly from out of state. Both U-Va and William and Mary set aside a higher percentage of first year spots for out of state students, yet both still manage to maintain out of state admissions requirements that border on Ivy League. The same can hardly be said about UW.</p>
<p>There are lots of schools in a lot of fun places that graduate their students far more quickly than UW. A school with a four year graduation rate of less than 60 percent is either not a serious undergraduate academic institution or it’s a behemoth that places too many road blocks on a student’s ability to graduate.</p>
<p>Definitely something worth considering when you’re paying out of state tuition.</p>
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That’s funny you got a kick out of my statement because it was neither ignorant or arrogant. If you think that, the same could be said of your statement.</p>
<p>OP - I know nothing about UW, so I won’t give you any advice about which school to choose. I am very familiar with W&M for numerous reasons and I do know that they have an impressive international relations program and an extremely good career services center. Many students find DC to be pretty receptive to W&M students for internships and summer jobs. Check out the student blogs part of their website, especially Bailey’s blog. She is an IR major who made the most of her time at W&M and has had phenominal opportunities along the way. She graduated high school with one of my kids and I sometimes wish he had taken his scholarship from W&M instead of choosing his Ivy (that’s not to say HE doesn’t love his choice!). Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>If UVa and W&M were so superior I would expect their alums to show some major accomplishments. Yet I don’t see many of them on lists of CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners and the like. Maybe they are to busy on their path to corporate dronehood or working to make partner at some law firm to do anything interesting. (Except for Tina Fey who is wonderful). Two UW alums had major roles in providing the technology that allows the computers we are using to exist (Bardeen & Kilby) that earned them 3 Nobel prizes. Other younger alums invented the show (Kentucky Fried Theater)that Saturday Night Live stole as its model (but don’t feel too badly for the KFC guys–they went on to make Airplane, Ghost, Ruthless People, Police Story and other films. Another revolutionized TV drama with Miami Vice while another was starring in Hill Street Blues. More recently other started The Onion and another is the producer of the new hit TV show–Modern Family. W & M alum Jon Stewart relied on Ben Karlin who came over from being a writer at The Onion to write and produce the show (and later the Colbert Report). It was then when the show found its footing and sharpened wit.)“Basically, if you’ve laughed in the last ten years,” New York Magazine wrote, “Ben Karlin was responsible.”</p>
<p>And UW is doing something to address issues of access to needed classes that may be a problem in getting needed classes. Unlike other schools that are laying off, UW is hiring 75-100 more faculty focused on areas of high student demand and “bottleneck” classes. In Chemistry alone 5 new profs have been hired this year.</p>