<p>I think W&M epitomizes my personality and what I would look for in a college, the more I look at it. [Side note: 404 not found on their site reads “Oh heavens. The page you desire is not within our compendium.” How cool is that?!] There’s one major issue: I want to do engineering, specifically environmental or chemical. Are there other colleges similar that have engineering? Has anyone on here gone on from W&M to do engineering? I hope to visit W&M on my way to other colleges to see if the environment is really that perfect for me. If only they had engineering! </p>
<p>Where are you getting your fit idea from? Studentreviews?</p>
<p>Case Western comes to mind, though they’re not quite the same. Obviously CalTech/MIT as well. Only MIT is ABET-accredited in environmental engineering, though.</p>
<p>I’m glad you love William and Mary! The student’s personality and sense of humor combined with the great academic environment is one of the #1 reasons why I decided to go here. And I see you have discovered the famous Jefferson page. As CE527M mentioned the 3+2 Engineering program with Columbia is an option, however you have to consider whether you can afford the cost. If from OOS, five years of schooling can be expensive.</p>
<p>Keep in mind though that their environments might be different though. I visited a couple of these, and although they were wonderful schools with great students, some of them were more homogeneous and had less diversity. I can’t testify to personalities of these schools, but if you decide to come to W&M or have any questions feel free to contact me.</p>
<p>I’m generally not a fan of 3+2’s (unless you’d be perfectly fine graduating from the first school with your first major only, so the 2nd degree is just icing on the cake).</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I got my fit ideas from the Fiske Guide, online reviews, and the W&M website. </p>
<p>@Vlklngboy11 thanks for the suggestions!</p>
<p>@CE527M Yes, I’ve considered that as an option. </p>
<p>@shawnspencer Wow, cool! Thanks for offering your help!</p>
<p>You see, I get a lot that if I like the Virginian air and overall atmosphere/campus of William and Mary and want to do engineering, I should just apply to UVa. I am out of state for both, but my mom is Virginian so is versed with all and also would be willing to pay (of course I have in-state safeties should the costs prove too great, and I’m prepared for that). I will be applying to UVa, but I like the smaller and more intellectual atmosphere of W&M. Please forgive me, UVa people, but I visited UVa and read the profiles and reviews of it, etc, and I feel there’s just a little bit too much…preppiness? there…like an air of superiority and privilege or something. That was my major problem with UVa–I did like the liberal arts flair in the engineering curriculum, and the campus is gorgeous. I’m also of course considering Virginia Tech. Clemson is very high on my list right now. Thanks for all the help! :)</p>
<p>@FCCDAD thanks for the suggestion! I feel like that is an option, but it is very difficult to convey this to other people (parents, etc…). </p>
<p>How does Johns Hopkins compare to W&M? I know they’re not incredibly similar, but any common threads? I’ve gotten a bit more interested in Hopkins as of late. Thanks!</p>
<p>What are the most important features of W&M that you want to find in another school?
I think of W&M as small, Southern, public, historic, liberal, and nerdy (not necessarily in that order).
What does it mean to you?</p>
<p>Schools that offer some of those features (but not all), plus engineering, include Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, JHU, Bucknell, Princeton, Cooper Union, Olin, and Harvey Mudd. However, these schools are all very different from each other. The one that comes closest to W&M in undergraduate size, location and atmosphere might be Johns Hopkins. </p>
<p>Like W&M, JHU is very selective, but a bit less so than many of the top 20 national universities. Both schools attract serious students who want high-quality academics. Neither school would be too attractive to students looking for a huge sports, Greek, or party scene. Neither school would be as attractive as the Ivies to students looking above all for social prestige. Both schools have about 6K undergraduates. Both campuses feature many Georgian, red brick buildings and neighboring green space. JHU’s Homewood campus is about a 60-90 minute drive North from downtown Washington DC; Williamsburg is about a 3 hour drive Southeast from DC.</p>
<p>JHU, unlike W&M, is private and urban. JHU enrolls many more graduate and professional school students than W&M does. With its engineering programs and famous medical school, JHU could be considered more STEM-focused, although both schools have many strong arts & science programs.</p>
<p>@tk21769 thanks for the excellent analysis! Thanks for the comparison–that’s extremely helpful! Those are the things I like the most about W&M–I like the liberal, academic, introverted atmosphere. It’s kind of just a breath of fresh air there. I think I might be looking at JHU under the microscope a bit more. I don’t mind the public/private thing because I don’t even live in Virginia, so I won’t receive the benefits of in-state tuition. </p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I used a mix of both, and the Fiske Guide now includes some student comments, but I agree, not enough for a complete picture. </p>
<p>@happy1 thanks! Any reason why Lehigh was left off? I think I like Lehigh better than the other two so far. </p>
<p>Lehigh and Lafayette are both undergraduate colleges with small class sizes with strong engineering programs. The difference you might find at Lehigh compared to the other two aforementioned schools is that a majority students are more preprofessional oriented (such as engineering) despite it being a liberal arts college</p>
<p>I considered Lafayette, which I surprisingly liked more than I expected to. Bucknell I didn’t have any strong feelings one way or the other (except for the school colors, meh) At Lafayette they have the Marquis Scholarship, a merit scholarship for those among the top 15% of people accepted, which is worth up to $25,000. So if you have the stats, that might be something to consider.</p>
<p>Note that Bucknell has a majority of students in fraternities and sororities, while Lehigh, Lafayette, and William and Mary have substantial minorities of students in fraternities and sororities, if that is a concern for you. JHU fraternity and sorority participation is lower, though still significant.</p>
<p>It’s true that they often get compared. Both are great LAC schools in Pennsylvania. But like any schools, they do have some differences, one of them being the greek life that ucbalummnus mentioned. Perhaps it was just a preference thing, but Bucknell did not make the final cut of the schools I applied to. I’m probably going to stop commenting now, as my extent of my knowledge of these schools are somewhat limited as I’m going off my vibes from visiting and my own research prior to applying. Do your own visits and form your own judgement from there, good luck!</p>
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