@IzzoOne I have visited Wesleyan with my parents but now I’m in the states by myself. I don’t think its very likely for me to visit W&M within the next month, but I’m pretty sure I will like their campus. Wesleyan’s campus is not amazing but it’s still acceptable. And the facilities are pretty good.
Wesleyan has a higher yield rate, which some people say is more significant than acceptance rate. W&M’s undergrad is at least twice as big but only received 2352 more applications. Does that suggest Wes might be more popular? And 65% of the students at W&M are from Virginia, while Wes is more diverse both domestically and internationally.
While William &Mary is bigger and public, it does have the feel of a smaller school and is community focused. Wes may be more diverse ethnically and with geography, but it won’t be diverse in types of thinking. ie; it is loudly liberal, left leaning, and yes funky. You may not find your people, if that doesn’t describe you. @prezbucky - I love how you described the schools as people! Great way on contrasting schools
I graduated from Reed and have friends who went to Wesleyan. Reed is much, much closer to Wesleyan than it is to W&M or W&L. It’s in fact the ‘funkiest’ school on the list.
Nearest airport is Newport News/Williamsburg Airport which is probably about 20 miles away. Richmond isn’t too far either. If you are on the East Coast corridor, there is an Amtrak station in Williamsburg within walking distance of campus.
I’m sure W&M will provide information on transportation and lodging options.
I just talked to a Chinese student at W&M. She told me that W&M is actually pretty liberal too, just not in a radical way like Wes. Students go to great grad schools. Classes are hard but a lot of Chinese students still get 4.0s. Classes in general are bigger than Wes. It’s easy to get to know your professors. First year residence is randomly selected and is pretty bad, but upper class have king/queen sized beds and can choose rooms. Williamsburg actually offers everything more conveniently than Middletown. There’s also an outlet thirty mins away. The thing that she loves the most is that everybody cares about each other like a community.
@jackwang0703 I think you may be missing a bit of the point of the suggestions that you visit, if possible. Sure, look around, see if you like the buildings and the general look of the campus. But what you should really be focused on is the people. Do you like the students you meet? Do they look happy? Engaged? Are they interesting? What are they talking about? Do you want to spend four years with these people?
You could visit W&M and Richmond on the same relatively short trip. And you could visit Wes and Brandeis on another trip. (so, two total trips to visit these schools).
Or you could take a week or so and visit them all. You could fly into Boston and start at Brandeis, then head to Wes, then head down to Virginia for W&M and then Richmond. You could fly home from D.C. (or start in DC and fly home from Boston…)
And, yeah, I agree with what others have said; it’s crazy for OP to have come all this way and wind up buying a pig in a poke.* Definitely visit W&M. I think it will seal the deal for you and you can sleep better at night.
*Quaint American (probably archaic) idiom meaning, to purchase something without seeing it.
OP…your college experience is going to be impacted far more by the community of students that you’ll be a part of then the proximity of outlets or size of dorm beds. As PP have suggested, it really is important to interact with current students and I’d be wary of relying too much on one-off data points. I’m admittedly biased towards Wes but I would vastly prefer to be in Middletown with easy access to NY and Boston than spend four years in Williamsburg. I also wouldn’t characterize the Wes student body as being radical…there is a a segment that is radical, as there is at just about every LAC, but overall the student body is diverse with a strong liberal bias.
Hi there, my daughter goes to W&M, and toured Wesleyan.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned that Wesleyan has an open curriculum with no distribution requirements, whereas William and Mary requires you to take classes in humanities, social studies, science, and language to graduate. My daughter felt that W&M had more rigor, and that you could slack off at Wes if you wanted to. But for some students, the open curriculum at Wesleyan makes it easier to specialize in their area of study. Wesleyan is the more selective school to get into with a 17% admit rate.
Wesleyan is attracting more artsy kids because of the success of Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. W&M’s Mason school of business is climbing the rankings and is competitive to get into (you can apply in the spring of your sophomore year).
I would not describe W&M as conservative, just that Wesleyan is much more liberal with a bigger arts scene. I would describe U Richmond as the more preppy place.
To get to Williamsburg, fly into Reagan Washington DCA, then take the metro Blue Line to King Street, Alexandria Amtrak Station. Take Amtrak to Williamsburg, VA. You can also try flying into Richmond and taking Amtrak from there (you’ll need to take an Uber or taxi to Richmond train station), but it is usually cheaper to fly to Washington DC.
PS Since you are from Shanghai, you will have no problem with Williamsburg summers. But maybe you would like to experience a typical New England winter?
