As the mom of a current W&L student, I agree with the other posters that there are no meaningful differentiators in the academics and opportunities these two schools afford. Your student will have access to more resources and experiences than they can utilize in four years!
The meaningful differences (excluding finances per the OP) are in fit… where will your student be the happiest?
- With 2000 students (4000 if VMI is included) or with 8000 students in the consortium?
- CMC has half as many white students and double the Asian and Hispanic students (approx the same Black students)
- SoCal or the Shenandoah Valley of VA?
Those are questions for your student and your family. Interestingly about half of my kid’s friend group at W&L are Asian students so I sometimes have the incorrect perception that there are more Asian kids on campus than the profile reflects. W&L is making headway in attracting more students of color, but it is a work in progress. I suggest your student ask to be connected with a current Asian student at W&L. My D did this when she was making her decision (different diversity concern but same principle) and found that students didn’t mind “telling it like it is”.
Best of luck and congratulations on those scholarships!