Gen ed for WM and UVA

[Anonymous]

Does UVA have more gen ed requirements than WM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does UVA have more gen ed requirements than WM?

W&M doesn't have gen ed requirements per se, they have a liberal arts core curriculum that goes through the four years. It has fewer required credits overall, but you are less able to use AP/IB/etc to replace the courses.

[Anonymous]

UVA: The new “Engagements” pathway for general education requirements is viewable on the College website. Don’t know much about W&M.
Something that troubled me was the fact that my student couldn’t use AP credits for Engagements. So, my student applied to switch to the Disciples+ pathway. Apparently, no incoming first-years in the College are no longer allowed to switch to Disciplines+. Something to consider.
Also, advising can be hit-or-miss. If your child intends to apply to McIntire or Batten, there are prerequisites required and admission is not guaranteed. Admission is not guaranteed to any of the application-based majors in the College.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, didn’t intend to write “no” twice. No incoming first-years are allowed to switch…

[Anonymous]

Lol, Disciplines not Disciples!

[Anonymous]

I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

How many of their high school APs were they able to apply/use for credit during their first year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does UVA have more gen ed requirements than WM?

W&M doesn't have gen ed requirements per se, they have a liberal arts core curriculum that goes through the four years. It has fewer required credits overall, but you are less able to use AP/IB/etc to replace the courses.

that's gen ed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

How many of their high school APs were they able to apply/use for credit during their first year?

Couldn’t tell you with out looking but I think AP Calc, AP psych and AP gov ? Honestly I don’t recall
But most of them are being taken on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

UVA. also has a language gen Ed requirement of two years (unless you are in the engineering college)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

UVA. also has a language gen Ed requirement of two years (unless you are in the engineering college)

Yes. But it’s rarely 2 years assuming you come in with some exp in a language. My DD had stopped Spanish in 10th and tested into the 2020 level Spanish so just had to take that one semester and done. My DS took through AP Spanish and if you get a 4 on the exam you’re exempt, he could have also tested out. He decided to try a new language though so is doing two years.

[Anonymous]

Here is the description of W&M's core curriculum:

https://www.wm.edu/as/undergraduate/coll/index.php

It is very confusing at first, but if you dig into it it seems like most of the requirements are pretty flexible. For example, there is a lower-level requirement to take one class each in science/math, social sciences, and humanities, but those can be met by nearly any class in those disciplines, and can be met with DE/AP credit. The upper level (COLL 200) requirement is the same distribution of 3 classes, but those have to be taken at W&M. However, one of those will count for your major anyway, so you're only looking at two extra classes. Most of the lower-level requirements (proficiencies in language, math, arts), can be met with AP/DE/Transfer credit.

[Anonymous]

Yes it's very funny that the gen ed requirement calculation is very complicated for many of the school LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does UVA have more gen ed requirements than WM?

W&M doesn't have gen ed requirements per se, they have a liberal arts core curriculum that goes through the four years. It has fewer required credits overall, but you are less able to use AP/IB/etc to replace the courses.

that's gen ed

It's different because it's a purposefully sequenced core curriculum through four years which is different than gen ed reqs which are often done in the first two years and are really flexible credits that you can use AP/IB for. So, yes, it's the closest thing W&M has to a gen ed requirement, but it's done more like a liberal arts core curriculum than a university's gen ed requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have twins at UVA so I can speak a little about the gen Ed. I can’t speak to W&M. My DS was in the engagements pathway and while he felt some of the classes were a waste of time, they were small so he met people and interesting plus pretty easy As. My DD was in disciplines and all I can say is that they are both rising second years and both basically have just a couple of gen ed classes left to complete. They probably each have maybe 1-2 classes left to complete that and their second writing requirement. It was a breeze to meet those reqs honestly, shouldn’t be a concern as long as your DC is well rounded enough to enjoy a variety of classes. Net net is that it basically made no difference on their ability to get those requirements taken care of easily and quickly.

UVA. also has a language gen Ed requirement of two years (unless you are in the engineering college)

Yes. But it’s rarely 2 years assuming you come in with some exp in a language. My DD had stopped Spanish in 10th and tested into the 2020 level Spanish so just had to take that one semester and done. My DS took through AP Spanish and if you get a 4 on the exam you’re exempt, he could have also tested out. He decided to try a new language though so is doing two years.

Didn’t work for my kid with
many years of Spanish . Rather than doing another two years if that he switched to German which worked out well -the prof takes students to Germany during J term.