Hi. I’m trying to figure out of I should go to Middlebury or William & Mary (oos). Cost isn’t that big of a concern for me. Mostly wondering about academic reputations. I want to study some form of political science whether it’s international relations or government. I want to go to a top law school. And I want to study finance/economics as a secondary. I might want to work in DC eventually. I’ve considered many other factors. This is what’s left for me, thank you.
In this general college ranking, Middlebury places quite a bit higher than William and Mary:
Go to the school where you want to spend the next four years. There seem to be enough differences (ex. location, size) that one should feel right. They are both outstanding schools that can get you where you want to go. Your post-graduation success will be dependent on what YOU accomplish during college rather than which one of these fine schools you choose to attend.
Do you intend to make this decision by later today (ET)?
Both are excellent.
Did you visit?
You can’t go wrong - whichever felt like home is the right one.
W&M will be larger, has a reputation for being nerdier/quirkier, closer to DC.
Middlebury has a traditional residential campus, lots of resources, excellent for Foreign language (necessary for IR).
Ok thank you
Ok thanks!
Between these two, I would think whether you want to be at a relatively isolated LAC or a midsize coastal research university would be the dominant factor.
Both are very good academically. Middlebury maybe has a slightly higher general reputation, but then William & Mary has a particularly good reputation in your areas of interest. So I very much agree, at this level what matters is what you choose to do and how well you do it, not which college you choose.
But then W&M has about 7100 undergrads and another 2800 postgrads. That is relatively undergrad focused for a research university (although W&M was just upgraded to an R1), but still Middlebury has about 2800 undergrads and no postgrads. That has a lot of potential implications, each of which can be a pro or con depending on you. Like, for example, Middlebury is a NESCAC member and that means a pretty substantial minority of students are a varsity athlete of some kind. Middlebury will have fewer large lecture classes, but typically less variety of upper level classes in a given field. And so on.
OK, then Middlebury is in a small town in rural Vermont. It is a lovely setting with nearby mountains for recreation, but it is pretty far from any major metropolitan areas.
W&M is in a relatively modest sized town, although a lot of people visit for local attractions, but it is not far from the local large coastal cities of Virginia, various beaches, and is in what I would consider to be the greater DC orbit.
And to me that would seem to be enough differences to form a preference over which four year college experience sounded the best to you. But I can’t tell you which to prefer, because that is a matter of personal preferences.
Neither will give you an advantage over the other for getting into law school.
Based on the content of your post, W&M is a better fit, but both options are outstanding academically.
Both are excellent choices. I’m not as familiar with W&M, but Middlebury has a very strong international studies program, and its economic department is highly ranked among liberal arts colleges. I’d also note that Middlebury has an office in DC, and a substantial number of alumni work in the DC region.
William and Mary also has a Washington DC center. I agree that there is no bad choice here and it really comes down to fit. I know the OP said money isn’t a concern, but if they are a full pay family W&M is a relative bargain especially if they will be paying for law school down the road.
Yes, $69,00 vs $91,000.
Being that it is May 2nd, I guessing a decision was made. Still, and maybe this has been addressed, the population of these twos schools is distinctly different, with Middlebury being very NE centric and preppy while William & Mary is significantly quirkier.