William and Mary vs. Holy Cross

IzzoOne
Fri, 27 Apr 2018 07:39:03 +0000

If money is not an issue, I think it should come down to fit. They are both excellent choices.

My view is W&M is a pretty friendly and social school, with a strong sense of community, but it isn’t a huge party school. Of note, I have seen it ranked very high for student satisfaction (see Princeton Review surveys) and a high retention rate. There are a few bars (the delis) right across the street from the campus and a few other spots in Williamsburg that are further away. About 1/3rd or so are Greek, but I don’t think it is a big deal if you don’t join. There is a lot of activity around residence life, clubs, and organizations.

Holy Cross also is known for having a tight community. Worcester is considerably bigger than Williamsburg, and isn’t too far from Boston, which has a lot to offer, although you should probably check the travel times. Williamsburg is a similar distance to Richmond, which is becoming a trendy city, but Richmond isn’t Boston. I have heard that Holy Cross is also quite demanding. I think Holy Cross also has one of the highest percentage of Catholic students in the country. In that sense, it may be a bit more homogeneous than W&M.

As for computer science, you are right that many of the programs that get more notice are at the larger schools (Berkeley, Washington, Texas, Illinois) or at the technically-focused schools (CMU, GT, MIT, etc.). But the flip side of that I have seen is that they can be overrun with students and competitive in some cases, or limit the number of students in specific tracks. That probably won’t be the case at either Holy Cross or W&M, and you may have better access to teachers.

Good luck.