Knowing that to be accepted at William and Mary Raymond Mason Business School in sophomore year you need to maintain a 3.5gpa, does anyone know what it’s the average freshman gpa at W&M? Just trying to gage how realistic it is to attain this type of gpa?
University of Richmond’s gpa requirement is only 2.7. Wondering why it’s so different between both schools?
I don’t know the source, but I’ve seen postings of an overall gpa of 3.47. Seems high, but WM students are high achieving overall. My son is at WM now. He is very laid back about grades and still finished his first semester with a 3.58. He had 16 credits and a very busy extracurricular life. He will be applying to the business school.
I’ve never seen a published GPA requirement. Did you see it somewhere?
I don’t believe there is any official cutoff. I’ve heard that the most competitive applicants will have at least a 3.5.
Right - I was just worried that the OP was comparing a “strongest candidate” GPA at W&M with a “bare minimum” GPA at U of R.
It’s hard to compare the two programs because U of R doesn’t require a separate application to their business school, just the min GPA and some required courses.
Richmond’s low business school requirement was one thing that turned him away from applying there.
The requirements for university of Richmond are on their website.
Yes - we saw those - just curious about the phrase knowing you need to maintain a 3.5 GPA - I was thinking it sounded like you found 3.5 published somewhere! I wasn’t very clear about which school I was asking about.
For W&M ive heard from students. I guess I should check with admissions
Also maybe I wasn’t clear, I meant have a 3.5gpa freshman year to be able to apply to the business school
There isn’t a minimum set requirement at WM. But 3.5 and above makes you the most competitive.
Got it thank you!
Did you apply to any direct admit schools? Are these your final two or are you perusing for future years?
You might email admissions at contact.bba@mason.wm.edu and ask. They may give you a vague answer - or not - for example, they may tell you what % make it or what % get to minor, etc and who knows, may tell you off the record some #s. But of course, the app is more than academics.
Good luck.
We’re in the process of making the college list. My daughter wants to study business and I’m trying to gage how difficult it is to get into a business major in liberal arts colleges. I’d rather have her apply to direct admit business schools but she wants some liberal arts colleges on the list too
Thank you for the info!
There is no minimum GPA. A total of 225 students are admitted to the business major program each year (135 in the Fall semester, 90 in the Spring semester). Prospective majors must obtain junior standing—54 credits—and complete Calc, Micro, Macro, Accounting and Stats before applying.
They do look at more than just grades, also consider extra curricular involvement and achievements. The 3.5 GPA is thrown around as a general guide on what you should be shooting for. I’m sure there have been students under a 3.5 that have been accepted and students that are over a 3.5 that have been rejected.
The point is that it is somewhat competitive but not so crazy if your grades are solid.
Sorry, I don’t mean to hijack but my S25 is also considering W&M and others that are not direct entry for business. My question is what happens to the students who aren’t admitted? Let’s say you’re a junior, you’ve taken all of these prerequisites for business, you have ok grades but you aren’t accepted. Are you shuttled into Econ? Are you stuck doing an extra year in order to get everything finished for something else? How does it work?
It’s not a one shot and done, you can apply in multiple semesters. Each class I think they accept somewhere between 40-60% of students. The advice is to be persistent. Start with a business minor, find a faculty mentor, get involved in organizations at the school, utilize the resources from the school like the writing center and tutoring to get your grades up, work on your soft skills like communication.
If your set on majoring in business and are doing the right things you are likely to get in eventually. If you are coasting by with a B/C average and just want to major in business to try and land an IB job after graduation then you’re going to be disappointed. (Just FYI Economics is no walk in the park).
Thanks, I was an econ major so I know it isn’t easy. I guess I’m always playing worse class scenario, you just never know how a student will adjust to college.
Thanks for your thoughts though.