<p>Considering that Wm and Mary really is as good as the best LAC in the USA, it is amazing that it is not even more highly selective. And it is very very hard for OOS admissions and pretty tough on NOVAs from dense DC burbs, too. I think it is a jewel, and a treasure. I do notice my fellow Virginians often avoid it however because it has a sweatshop reputation without typical big profile sports teams. I think it is not really that bad re workload, as long as you know you are going to go to class daily with 100% highly qualifed and motivated kids and that there is “no where to hide” re slacking off. If that is OK with you, it couldn’t be a better place to learn a great deal in four years.</p>
<p>Are southernboy’s claims true? Is it really more selective out of state than rice or duke?</p>
<p>I think is just the same, my best friend who got into Rice got waitlisted at W&M and he got waitlisted at Duke also.</p>
<p>Getting into Wm and Mary OOS means you have stats that would be appropriate for the pool that would be highly considered for admission to Duke or Rice etc but admissions are much more layered than just numbers everywhere. However, a relevant point is that OOS at Wm and Mary is cheaper than many private universities, therefore an in- state education is a real bargain. Many would say this is equally true for UVa, and also many would point this out for UNC Chapel Hill as well, but those schools do not offer four years of smaller classrooms.</p>
<p>Does anyone know OOS acceptance percentage? I know overall is 35% and transfer is almost 47%?</p>
<p>very large pool of applicants. type in “common data set” in the school website…should come up.</p>
<p>It’s an amazing oppurtunity if you’re in-state (financially), because it’s very prestigious and very good. If you’re OOS, there are some better options. What is OOS tuition?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Based on the out-of-state SAT scores I’ve seen for UVa (W&M is about the same), out-of-state selectivity would be roughly on par with Rice, Duke, Williams, Swarthmore, Brown, Dartmouth, etc.</p>
<p>Both of the big-name Virginia schools are horrible “admissions values” for out-of-state applicants. Much harder to get into than they should be based the overall “stats” of the student bodies. </p>
<p>While they are cheaper than private schools, out-of-state applicants are still paying very high prices for what are, at the end of the day, public state universities.</p>
<p>Flip all that upside down if you are in-state. The value at either W&M or UVa with in-state admissions and in-state tuition is so strong that you would almost have to be nuts to consider anywhere else.</p>
<p>The public-private distinction is becoming blurry–even arbitrary. UVa has an endowment in the $4,000,000,000 range. Far more than many large privates. They have pretty good tuition revenue and the state pays for the bulk of new buildings–saving much of the endowment for other things.</p>
<p>To GentlemanandScholar:<br>
SouthernBoy said the academic TRADITION and historical TRADITION easily rivals or exceeds Harvard’s. He didn’t say it was as hard to get into, no one would argue that it is. However, W&M’s history and tradition will give any US school a run for its money.</p>
<p>You can give me a list of the other public schools that it doesn’t stack up against though, according to collegeboard, W&M has higher scores than UCB. Way lower acceptance rates than Wisconsin or Texas or Michigan, and higher SATs than all of them. Lower acceptance rate and higher SAT scores than UVA. And W&M’s acceptance rate for the class of 2009 is going to be pushing that of Berkeley. At the 5 public schools “ahead” of it, W&M had a lower admissions % than 4 of the 5, and higher SATs than all 5 of them.</p>
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>Campus - One of the nicest campuses in the country.</p>
<p>Academics - Tough. Hard. C’s handed out without a 2nd look.
Average freshman GPA of under 3.0. Average graduating GPA of ~3.1.</p>
<p>Students - They work hard, and they work a lot. Not very into sports like at big state schools. Community service is big.</p>
<p>Faculty - very nice. Always willing to spend extra time with the students. The professors at W&M are there to teach, not to do research.</p>
<p>Specific Buildings - the library just completed a multi year (5? 7?) renovation, and is very nice. I can’t imagine you not being able to get something you need there. And hey, if you need something that’s missing, they’ll get it from another school for you. The most famous building is the Wren building, named for its presumed architect, Sir Christopher Wren. It is the oldest academic building in continual use in the country. Any other building interests?</p>
<p>grading system - 4.0, 3.7, 3.3, 3.0 etc etc. C’s are handed out by the handful. Many lecture classes curve to a C+ or B-.</p>
<p>intramural sports and clubs - the intramural scene is active. IM sports are usually being played 3-4 days a week, or more.</p>
<p>I took 8 classes freshman year (not including music related) that had: 250 (intro psych), 180 (intro chem), 180 (micro econ) 150 (roman civ), 22 (calc 1), 27 (spanish intermediate conversation), 20 (spanish culture), and 15 (nationalism in the balkans). You’ll never find a small intro psych/chem/bio/econ class. Only TA I saw was in chem lab, NOT in class.</p>
<p>W&M has the campus feel of a smaller New England school, with warmer weather. =P</p>
<p>i totally agree with soccerguy…while I was a W&M…I NEVER had a TA…now that I’m going to UVA, we have discussion sections…I’m just like what are those? AND my econ clas is about 350 students…sucks to be giving up such a small and great school, hopefully I’ll be happier. And the only reason why W&M isn’t higher on the rankings is bc its endowment is not as big and is a really tiny school, which focuses on UNDERGRADS, as you can tell UCB, UVA, UMICH, have tons of graduate students and tons of research unlike W&M.</p>
<p>It just seems like a fantastic school. I’d really like to go there. I wish I wasn’t so hard to get in though, but I am glad that transfer students have a much easier time percentage wise. However, I don’t know if the stats are more in-state or OOS. I hope I get in. Anyway, soccerguy…8 courses? That’s quite a lot for a freshman. I’m only taking 4 at UF, 16 credits though. How did you end up doing?</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>Derekc4, fairly sure Soccerguy meant 8 in a year, not 8 in a semester :)</p>
<p>oh…right lol. I was going to say…way too kill yourself at a school known for difficult courses, good call</p>
<p>Not all schools consider state-residency for transfer students. For example, if you go to UNC’s website it says that OOS are treated just like In-State for transfers.
This isn’t the case for the UC’s, of course.</p>
<p>Awesome, so they are not separated at WM? Where can I find this out?</p>
<p>If you are set on a Wm and Mary app, they interview for first-years now. (In order to help them sort out their chosen admissions class each year, they needed this tool.) It is optional and it is definitely evaluative from trained upperclassmen. I don’t know if they offer this for transfers, but you should inquire and do it if they will.</p>
<p>William & Mary is not a small school. It is actually a medium-sized school (7500+ students). W&L is a small school. UVa is a large school. I’m sure Soccerguy can elaborate. He seems to have an amazing grasp of the facts. All I know is that when I applied to schools years ago from a very elite Southeastern prep school, I got into Duke, Georgetown and Virginia but was wait-listed at William & Mary. I knew then that the popular media was full of it.</p>
<p>I’d love to do an interview, but do they have alumni all over the country? I am going to be in Gainesville and it is not exactly convenient to get to Williamsburg. It’s a minimum of a full 2-day trip. Probably 3.</p>