<p>wants to double major in politics and biology? </p>
<p>Someone asked me that and I couldn’t give the kid my opinion. Can someone give his/her’s? Please. Thanks.</p>
<p>RML, have you been hitting the bottle? I count 3 major spelling errors in the thread title. :eek:</p>
<p>They’re both great. Biology and political science are arguably WUStL’s strongest majors, but W&M is well-known for political science and IR as well. WUStL prides itself on flexibility, and it’s quite common for students to double or even triple major there (I’m not sure about W&M).</p>
<p>As usual, perhaps the best advice is to apply to both and see where one gets in.</p>
<p>sorry; my keyboard probably wasn’t cooperating with me. :D</p>
<p>yeah, I think he has already applied to both schools along with several others, mostly in the East Coast. He also applied to Cornell, Dartmouth and Bowdoin College. He’s predicted 38 in IB, currently number 3 in his class and president of Math Club in his HS. He’s also a great pianist and a silver medalist (black belt) in tae kwan do martial arts. Don’t know his SAT scores though. he’s been to all those school he’s applied to and his top 2 choices are WUStL and William & Mary.</p>
<p>Both terrific schools but what does being Italian have to do with anything?</p>
<p>^ I mean he’s international - from Italy.</p>
<p>W&M has serious financial problems and is not the school it was. Wash U is a better bet. And St L has a great Italian community.</p>
<p>LInk to WM financial issues press release</p>
<p>[William</a> & Mary - President Reveley message on W&M finances](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/news/pressreleases/2009/president-reveley-message-on-wm-finances.php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/news/pressreleases/2009/president-reveley-message-on-wm-finances.php)</p>
<p>Yeah, the state has not been generous to higher ed in Virginia for general operating expenses. Tuition is going up by $300. Nothing like California, though. W&M is an extremely high outlier when looking at ranks versus financial resources. However, W&M is also in the middle of its largest building boom since the 1960s (and this time without an increase in the number of students), thanks to the state and private donations. I bet that W&M is still cheaper for an international student than WUStL.</p>
<p>It is much harder to double major at W&M, it seems, and anything more than that is not allowed. The College prides itself on its interdisciplinary approaches and focus on undergraduate education and involving them in faculty and independent research. Last year some biology freshmen discovered a new strain of virus and named it after the lake in the middle of campus that they found it in. International Relations at W&M is not a subset of PoliSci like it is at many other schools, but is rather an interdisciplinary mix of Government, Economics, History, Language, and Culture. The Government department is very strong [I’ll let others who know both schools do the comparing] and has a “Semester in DC” domestic study program where students have internships at various places like the White House or IMF and take classes with a professor who accompanies them there and lives in the same apartment complex near the W&M in DC campus.</p>
<p>The cities are probably quite different too. St. Louis is much larger than Williamsburg, but the restored section of Colonial Williamsburg is right next to the College which provides for quite a bit of opportunity to explore and take in the arts without all of the carbon emissions.</p>
<p>Ok :)</p>
<p>Is your Italian int’l friend fluent in English? Can he afford the $55k per year for his schooling?</p>
<p>Are those 5 schools his only interests? Does he really know many US schools (besides hearing about ivies and such)?</p>
<p>His double major is interesting. What’s his career goal? What are his stats?</p>
<p>He speaks fluent English and his parents are wealthy, so i guess a 55k a year for the kid’s education wouldn’t be a problem for the family. And, I guess I’m correct because he’s not applying for a scholarship. The way I understand him, he likes both schools (W&M and WUStL) and he likes them the most, or more than he likes all the rest of the schools he has applied to. There was no mention of the kid seeking employment in the US after college, so I guess he’s preparing himself to take over the family business someday.</p>
<p>The sky is not falling at W&M. All schools,(see thread re problems at Harvard) are adjusting to the economic difficulties of the day. Three years from now these issues will be but a memory. Echo the calmer voices that said go visit both and see which one is a better fit. You cant go wrong with either. If you like baseball/hockey go Wash U. If you like warmer weather/beach go W&M.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Is he applying to any safety schools? </p>
<p>Since he’s Italian, does that mean he wants to be where there are some/many Italians? Then, for safeties, he should apply to some schools in the NY, NJ, Chicago areas.</p>
<p>Has he considered Villanova? It’s not a safety, but it might want a full pay international.</p>
<p>swish14–the outlook for W&M’s next budget is not good.</p>
<p>[Gov</a>. Kaine: Spending cuts needed | Lynchburg News Advance](<a href=“http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/state_regional/article/gov._kaine_spending_cuts_needed/22203/]Gov”>http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/state_regional/article/gov._kaine_spending_cuts_needed/22203/)</p>
<p>Umm, that link indicates that they are looking at raising/letting tax breaks expire instead of cutting money from the schools. You seem to be shouting the same thing over and over when most of us know what kind of financial system the world is in.</p>
<p>Many schools are having some financial difficulties. If we excluded them all, there’d be too few to choose from. lol</p>
<p>Yes, many states are having similar problems which is why I’d look to a private right now over a public school in a heavily impacted state. That was the question.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Very big Italian community in St. Louis, fwiw.</p>
<p>the kid isn’t interested to be in a place full of Italians. A diverse mix of crowd is ideal for him.
I only mentioned that he’s Italian to emphasize that he’s international.
looks like mentioning that was wrong.</p>
<p>again, his top 2 choices are W&M and WUStL.
Imagine if he sees Dartmouth as a fallback, you can only guess he’s deeply interested at those two schools, for very rarely would an elite student sees Dartmouth just a fall back school.</p>