Academics @ Wm & M

hxhsux
Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:37:52 +0000

i have to say, there are very few gut classes at W&M (human sexuality, human geography, and comp sci 131 are the only ones i can think of). and the professors all seem to skew toward being old-school - you won’t get an A just because you’re bright and articulate; everyone else is, too, so you have to do the work to separate yourself. W&M’s reputation for resisting grade inflation seems to be deserved, and while everyone says that grad schools know about this and cut you some slack when reading your application, i’ve never heard a grad admissions counselor say anything about it explicitly.

that said, it’s possible to get As, and they’re satisfying because you know you’ve earned them. it’s tough, but i think it’s a pretty good system. you know exactly where you stand relative to your classmates, not like other schools where a third of the class graduates PBK (which is really hard to get at W&M).