william and mary transfer advice

Transfer Students
1

<p>so…i’m an incoming freshman at william and mary and i’m looking for advice on if i should attempt to transfer to another school.</p>

<p>william and mary is a great fit for me. i’ve visited the campus twice and stayed overnight and had a great time each visit. i love the history of the school, the campus, and the students at w&m. the only downside for me is that its in-state, so i wouldn’t get to see a new region of the country during college. i’ve been arguing with myself over if i should try and transfer to a higher ranked school (aka ivy league) solely based on an ivy having more prestige and having an advantage on the job market over william and mary.</p>

<p>i know that william and mary is a very good school with a great reputation that will give me a top-notch education, but at the same time i’ve heard how many doors an ivy league degree can open and the connections you can make. i’m really just wondering if all of the hassles of trying to transfer would be worth it and if there would be a large difference between a william and mary education and an ivy league education.</p>

2

<p>The academic and social differences are slight and, unless you qualify for a LOT of need-based aid, the financial difference for Virginia students is enormous. Plus, for students who are happy where they are, there are big advantages to staying in one place for four years. Many people bond with the students they meet freshman year, and if you show up later, social groups are already formed and you have to fit yourself in as best you can. Ivy League schools accept very few transfers and when they do, they don’t bend over backward to orient or acclimate them, in my experience.</p>

<p>If you want to experience a different region of the country, the Ivy League schools are not where you want to go, because they are clustered in the northeast. Virginia–especially northern Virginia–is culturally very similar to the places just north of it. California, the Deep South, the Rocky Mountain states, or Alaska/ Hawaii might be better choices. Remember that then you need to add travel costs to the cost of tuition/room/board.</p>

<p>So if W & M is a good fit for you, go there and excel, and if you want to see the world, spend the money you save traveling in the summer. Look into study-abroad programs; many W & M students participate in them. After you graduate you can get a job or go to grad school anywhere in the world.</p>

3

<p>Just to clarify your situation a bit, you’ve yet to set foot on campus but are already contemplating transferring? I’m also curious if you considered the Ivies during your college search, whether or not you applied to any, and the outcome of those applications, though they don’t really have any bearing on your current dilemma.</p>

<p>I’m a W&M grad and also contemplated transferring, but for sports purposes, which would have helped smooth the social transition that jingle alluded to. In the end, it just didn’t make financial sense for me. I had decent financial aid for an OOS student and transfer students tend to get the dregs when it comes to aid. Nor did I think playing a collegiate sport (that I would never play professionally), was worth breaking the deep bonds that I’d made with my friends (almost all of whom were from my freshman hall). But money may not be an issue for you.</p>

<p>A few years after me, the son of family friends also went to W&M, and then transferred to Harvard after his freshman year. I don’t think he’d applied to any Ivies as a high school senior, realized that he could probably get into Harvard as a transfer, and like, you, was attracted to the Ivy League mystique, so he went for it.</p>

<p>So, if this is something you’re thinking about, by all means explore it. I think a lot of people would probably try to discourage you from making a choice driven solely (as you stated) by rankings, prestige, and perceived advantages in the job market, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with those criteria. And I can certainly understand your desire to get out of your home state. </p>

<p>Logistically, though, the earliest you could file your transfer application is near the end of or after your first semester, isn’t it? So, whether or not you end up deciding to transfer, there’s really nothing you can do about it until you’ve been on campus for a few months. And in the meantime, I’d advise you to excel in your classes and try to keep an open mind. Give W&M a chance to win you over. If, after a few months, you still find yourself pining for Harvard, then by all means see if you can’t transfer there.</p>

<p>As for your question about quality of education, I think just about everyone would agree that there is little difference between W&M and Harvard in this respect. In fact, the same US News rankings that place Harvard so high also rank W&M as #5 for Best Undergraduate Teaching among national research universities, above Brown and Yale (Harvard, Penn, Columbia, and Cornell didn’t make the list). </p>

<p>I agree, it sure seems like an Ivy League degree can open doors. But it’s hard to really quantify this effect. Will someone hire you just because you graduated from Harvard? Possibly. But given the types of jobs that Harvard grads aspire to, it’s probably safe to assume that you’re never going to be the only Harvard grad to apply for a position or graduate school program. So then what? No matter where you are, you’re going to have to try and excel. The connections you make in college can certainly help, but it’s still up to you to play the networking game. </p>

<p>Personally, I think that if you’re already at W&M, you should just kick ass at W&M and then go make the college proud in your future endeavors, whatever they are. You can mitigate the in-state thing by studying abroad and taking internships during the summers. All of my friends from W&M who did well there pretty much had their choice of jobs and grad schools after graduation. </p>

<p>Good luck with school, and your decision.</p>

4

<p>To be able to transfer to an Ivy or equivalent school, you’ll have to do extremely well academically at W & M - better than almost all of your fellow freshmen will do. It’s quite normal for first semester freshmen to struggle to find the balance between college academics and the social experience.</p>

<p>I can understand wondering if you’ve made the right choice, since you’re regretting that you won’t attend college in a new area of the country. But as a W & M student (as at any good college), you can study abroad, do summer internships, or even service projects in other regions to give you a more geographically diverse experience.</p>

<p>So you’ve got this:

at in-state prices. Yes, a degree from an Ivy would probably give you a career boost at first - but very few doors would be closed to you simply because you’re got a degree from W & M instead.</p>