Why is William & Mary's acceptance rate relatively high for what their stats are?

[Anonymous]

My kid and I are putting together a spreadsheet of schools he's interested in. The reaches are places like UVA, Georgetown, USC (cal), Davidson.

W&M has high stats -- average GPA 4.4 (the highest on our list) and 1470 SAT (almost the highest). But its acceptance rate is reported at 32%, nearly double UVA, Georgetown, and Vassar.

Why is this? Does it get a ton of applicants with very weighted GPAs? Does it not have as many casual applications like a UVA or Georgetown?

Trying to figure out how much of a target vs. reach this is for my kid and those conflicting numbers confuse me.

[Anonymous]

Because it's kind of known as a nerdy school and not everyone wants their college experience to be in the middle of a 1700s living history museum.

[Anonymous]

Self selecting applicants, and a ton of the class is admitted via ED1 and ED2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Self selecting applicants, and a ton of the class is admitted via ED1 and ED2.

This is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's kind of known as a nerdy school and not everyone wants their college experience to be in the middle of a 1700s living history museum.

Lol this. Lots of self selection involved.

[Anonymous]

This is actually a helpful post! I have wondered this very question many times!

[Anonymous]

Agreed with the above. Also the can't-be-ignored fact that UVA is an attractive alternate school, and so the in-state yield is lower (and, so, admit rate ends up higher) than it would be if UVA weren't an option. (I'm a very happy W&M alum, but when I was deciding where to go it came down to the deadline for me to pick between the two schools.)

[Anonymous]

W&M was late to add business and data science majors. No engineering school. So it has not been able to offer these popular majors. So kids may apply but go elsewhere to study these topics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid and I are putting together a spreadsheet of schools he's interested in. The reaches are places like UVA, Georgetown, USC (cal), Davidson.

W&M has high stats -- average GPA 4.4 (the highest on our list) and 1470 SAT (almost the highest). But its acceptance rate is reported at 32%, nearly double UVA, Georgetown, and Vassar.

Why is this? Does it get a ton of applicants with very weighted GPAs? Does it not have as many casual applications like a UVA or Georgetown?

Trying to figure out how much of a target vs. reach this is for my kid and those conflicting numbers confuse me.

Weighted gpa means nothing; throw that out. If anything, it tells you that kids from Virginia have inflated GPAs.

The SAT column is only meaningful if you add a column: percentage of class submitting scores. For instance, Georgetown requires them.

Finally, the acceptance rate column is only meaningful if you add a column showing if there are ED rounds, and if you in-state or not etc. ED lowers acceptance rates.

Georgetown, for instance, has no ED; it is by far the toughest admit of any schools you have mentioned, all of which have ED.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's kind of known as a nerdy school and not everyone wants their college experience to be in the middle of a 1700s living history museum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid and I are putting together a spreadsheet of schools he's interested in. The reaches are places like UVA, Georgetown, USC (cal), Davidson.

W&M has high stats -- average GPA 4.4 (the highest on our list) and 1470 SAT (almost the highest). But its acceptance rate is reported at 32%, nearly double UVA, Georgetown, and Vassar.

Why is this? Does it get a ton of applicants with very weighted GPAs? Does it not have as many casual applications like a UVA or Georgetown?

Trying to figure out how much of a target vs. reach this is for my kid and those conflicting numbers confuse me.

Weighted gpa means nothing; throw that out. If anything, it tells you that kids from Virginia have inflated GPAs.

The SAT column is only meaningful if you add a column: percentage of class submitting scores. For instance, Georgetown requires them.

Finally, the acceptance rate column is only meaningful if you add a column showing if there are ED rounds, and if you in-state or not etc. ED lowers acceptance rates.

Georgetown, for instance, has no ED; it is by far the toughest admit of any schools you have mentioned, all of which have ED.

Hope this helps!

To add, USC is the next toughest admit (or equally tough, depending on the field).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's kind of known as a nerdy school and not everyone wants their college experience to be in the middle of a 1700s living history museum.

OP, are you in state? Kids in Virginia sort into certain schools based on personality and interests. W&M is perceived as a school for the nerdy, theater type kids. Not debating whether this is true or not, just how 17 year olds see it. Also, W&M didn’t have business for a long time and basically every boy wants to go into finance these days. They ALL want a school that offers business, so UVA and VT are the more obvious choices.

[Anonymous]

GPAs are inflated everywhere and kids with low scores apply test optional.

[Anonymous]

Very low acceptance rates are often driven by having lots of poorly qualified applicants (likely rejections).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid and I are putting together a spreadsheet of schools he's interested in. The reaches are places like UVA, Georgetown, USC (cal), Davidson.

W&M has high stats -- average GPA 4.4 (the highest on our list) and 1470 SAT (almost the highest). But its acceptance rate is reported at 32%, nearly double UVA, Georgetown, and Vassar.

Why is this? Does it get a ton of applicants with very weighted GPAs? Does it not have as many casual applications like a UVA or Georgetown?

Trying to figure out how much of a target vs. reach this is for my kid and those conflicting numbers confuse me.

Weighted gpa means nothing; throw that out. If anything, it tells you that kids from Virginia have inflated GPAs.

The SAT column is only meaningful if you add a column: percentage of class submitting scores. For instance, Georgetown requires them.

Finally, the acceptance rate column is only meaningful if you add a column showing if there are ED rounds, and if you in-state or not etc. ED lowers acceptance rates.

Georgetown, for instance, has no ED; it is by far the toughest admit of any schools you have mentioned, all of which have ED.

Hope this helps!

Not helpful — Georgetown does not offer ED. Stop spouting nonsense.