Year at Wise or Spring Pathway experiences

[Anonymous]

Waitlisted at UVA and W&M and we are considering both. Any experiences are greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If you use the search function, Spring pathways has been discussed at length, this year. My DD did fall admit but has SP friends. They liked the program and integrated into the campus well— especially the kids who went overseas, because they were all in the same program in the fall and came in with a cohort. W&M does a great job with orientation (although fall, at least, is so much orientation) that introverts tend to get overwhelmed. But it’s also 3-4 days in the spring and done with spring transfers and done well. Kids on campus are kind and accepting and I hear that SP kids integrate well. The downside I hear is that you largely get housing freed up by juniors going overseas, so the one complaint I see is SP kids may not get roommate choice or a freshman hall/dorm. Besides that, great word of mouth and very positive experiences on the parents page.

My DD is class of 2026, and she was the first or second year SP was offered, so it was all unknown. It’s getting more popular every year as it gets word of mouth and admissions keeps getting harder. I did look at the SP page this year and noticed some changes: they are treated as a new transfer application and not a spring admit who as studied off campus, it’s not available for kids with a grade below a C senior year of HS (watch for senioritis!) and you need a 3.0 at community college (that’s the same) or “strong” grades from Verturop (I think that’s new). I’d nail WM down on “strong,” because freshman year is a time of adjustments and overseas is much less supervision. Be honest about whether your kid is ready to study abroad and will produce the “strong grades”— or spend a bit too much time punning. The “strong grades” criteria is weird— do they need a 3.8, 3.5, 3.0? Strong is so vague I’d want a number so my kid wasn’t in limbo, to be sure the “strong” part isn’t being used to manage enrollment numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you use the search function, Spring pathways has been discussed at length, this year. My DD did fall admit but has SP friends. They liked the program and integrated into the campus well— especially the kids who went overseas, because they were all in the same program in the fall and came in with a cohort. W&M does a great job with orientation (although fall, at least, is so much orientation) that introverts tend to get overwhelmed. But it’s also 3-4 days in the spring and done with spring transfers and done well. Kids on campus are kind and accepting and I hear that SP kids integrate well. The downside I hear is that you largely get housing freed up by juniors going overseas, so the one complaint I see is SP kids may not get roommate choice or a freshman hall/dorm. Besides that, great word of mouth and very positive experiences on the parents page.

My DD is class of 2026, and she was the first or second year SP was offered, so it was all unknown. It’s getting more popular every year as it gets word of mouth and admissions keeps getting harder. I did look at the SP page this year and noticed some changes: they are treated as a new transfer application and not a spring admit who as studied off campus, it’s not available for kids with a grade below a C senior year of HS (watch for senioritis!) and you need a 3.0 at community college (that’s the same) or “strong” grades from Verturop (I think that’s new). I’d nail WM down on “strong,” because freshman year is a time of adjustments and overseas is much less supervision. Be honest about whether your kid is ready to study abroad and will produce the “strong grades”— or spend a bit too much time punning. The “strong grades” criteria is weird— do they need a 3.8, 3.5, 3.0? Strong is so vague I’d want a number so my kid wasn’t in limbo, to be sure the “strong” part isn’t being used to manage enrollment numbers.

Should say spend too much time pubbing. Which autocorrect refuses to recognize as a word. But, you get the point.

[Anonymous]

I feel like I generally hear more positive things about spring pathways at W&M. Wise just seems very isolated and W&M has a good reputation for integrating spring pathways and transfer students generally. But, I would probably go with the option at whichever school your child prefers, if there’s a strong preference for one over the other.