<p>A lot of people I know got into both. And on either side I know some that got into one but not the other. In those cases, if you look at it, it is maybe not as odd as it seems. Someone who got into W&M that seemed weaker may have applied early/done more because they really liked it. Maybe they had contact with a professor, or did something of interest to the school. Same goes for getting into UVA but not W&M. And whatever it was that pushed them over the border at the one, didn’t do it for the other. It could just be the general “feel” the admissions committee gets, that the applicant will or won’t fit. </p>
<p>I applied RD to both and got into both. I got a likely letter from UVa but not from W&M. I didn’t get Monroe or Echols. A lot of my friends only applied to UVA (as their match) but about 5 of us in the top 10 applied to W&M and we all got in. Same for UVA. The rest of them all got Monroe, apparently my SATs were about 20 points off based on that, which is annoying but what can you do? At this point it wouldn’t make a difference anyway but it was a little annoying then. All of the other ones are going to UVa, except one who applied RD and one who applied ED. And then we have one more who was a very good student but fell a little short of a “honor grad” fairfax standards, but has a good hook in theatre experience. I’m honestly not surprised by most of the decisions. One person I know who didn’t get into WM and got into UVA, aspires to be an engineer. Well, WM doesn’t HAVE that. Obviously they didn’t put it on their app, but still, people need to understand that’s probably going to come across somehow. They aren’t going to accept someone like that who is basically sure to turn them down for UVA/Tech, over someone who clearly has more of a liberal arts focus.</p>