If WM instate is the target, where else is your DC applying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From an earlier year:
Furman
American
Wake
GWU

Also considered Wofford, Davidson, Rhodes and SEC honors programs

You just rattled off a bunch of schools that are "crazy expensive".

They can offer good merit- Furman, American, GWU, SEC schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From an earlier year:
Furman
American
Wake
GWU

Also considered Wofford, Davidson, Rhodes and SEC honors programs

You just rattled off a bunch of schools that are "crazy expensive".

They can offer good merit- Furman, American, GWU, SEC schools

Honors programs at SEC schools can offer a smaller environment in addition to merit aid

[Anonymous]

Davidson, Richmond, Duke and Tufts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a freshman at WM and it is in a sweet spot especially with in state tuition. There definitely aren’t a lot of schools in that mid size category in general so you end up mostly needing to look bigger or smaller unless you are willing to pay top dollar for a midsize like Emory, Wash U etc

I think there are options as another PP said if you chase merit at some of the smaller schools in say the 35-100 range on the USNews SLAC rankings. Of course some of that depends on your child’s stats and how strong they are, as well as a lot of randomness. You just won’t know until you get the offer what the package is as it seems pretty variable from school to school and year to year. You also may still be over the cost of WM but depends how price sensitive you are ultimately.

Schools like Davidson, Wake, mentioned on here are unlikely to offer merit in this range. Places like F&M, Dickinson, Charleston (which isn’t that expensive anyway), Elon, CWRU, might.

This was what my DD did. Several LACs + W&M and UMW. Waitlisted at WM, goes to a LAC that with merit is less than W&M in-state cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to find a balance of small school, good academics and not crazy expensive. I’m guessing we will have to sacrifice on school size for the other applications?

If you want the academic peers of William and Mary and want similar size(4k-9k), it is Emory, Wake, WashU, Vanderbilt. If you want hardest academics for the size, add Duke and the ivies. There are no other true academic peers in that size range for the in-state price. The ones that offer lots of merit are NOT academic peers. Not close. You get what you pay for: virginia residents get a huge deal for a near-T15 type experience and peers.

[Anonymous]

These are the schools W&M sees as institutional peers. Some have been suggested here. Several are much larger and have very different environments, but comparable academics.

https://www.wm.edu/offices/iae/peerinstitutions/

I do think Elon, BC, University of Richmond, Davidson, Charleston, Tufts, and Wake Forest are pretty popular overlaps for W&M applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boston College, Mary Washington

Boston College (24%--and many will be coming from Jesuit schools) is a very tough admit so I wouldn't consider it a 'target'. The average ACT score composite at Boston College is a 34. The 25th percentile ACT score is 33, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 35.

For my kid last year (but he was International relations):
Targets were GW, American, WM (33% acceptance), Villanova. GW did offer him the Presidential merit award which took $25k off.

We love BC, but a choice in-state WM or BC --we'd go with WM due to outrageous cost of BC.

Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston College, Mary Washington

Boston College (24%--and many will be coming from Jesuit schools) is a very tough admit so I wouldn't consider it a 'target'. The average ACT score composite at Boston College is a 34. The 25th percentile ACT score is 33, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 35.

For my kid last year (but he was International relations):
Targets were GW, American, WM (33% acceptance), Villanova. GW did offer him the Presidential merit award which took $25k off.

We love BC, but a choice in-state WM or BC --we'd go with WM due to outrageous cost of BC.

Best of luck!

DP with a college freshman admitted to BC and UVA/VT/W&M. If cost is a factor, and it sounds like it is for OP, BC should not be on your list.

BC is a great school, and I think there are some interesting parallels with W&M. Our family just wasn’t in a position to pay double the COA of DC’s in-state options.

[Anonymous]

Maybe honors program at Vermont?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From an earlier year:
Furman
American
Wake
GWU

Also considered Wofford, Davidson, Rhodes and SEC honors programs

You just rattled off a bunch of schools that are "crazy expensive".

All schools are crazy expensive except for in-state public universities. So if Christopher Newport is not prestigious enough for you, your kid needs to go to nova and then transfer to William and Mary.

That simply isn't true. TCNJ OOS, which I didn't suggest but agree with, is half the tuition of Wake.

There are also plenty of schools that offer good merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Miami of Ohio?

[Anonymous]

Both my kids applied and got in. One attended, on didn’t. Other school options were heavy on Midwestern LACs with merit.

Pitt (early yes was nice and the campus doesn’t seem as large as it is)
Kenyon
Oberlin
Wooster
St. Olaf
Macalaster
Grinnell.

The kid who went to WM got in ED (her GPA was borderline). The kid who didn’t got into all of the above with decent merit.

[Anonymous]

Wake offers very little merit and a good chunk of it is going to recruit first gen so agree with op’s opinion that it is likely too expensive, same with BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CNU
Charleston
Elon
TCNJ
UNCA

Not a lot of schools like WM. I believe the 3 OOS options grant merit.

Could not get my DS to apply to TCNJ, even though it sounds a lot like W&M to me. DS was accepted to and attends W&M, but he was offered merit aid at Rhodes and Sewanee that would have made either choice equal to or less than W&M in price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to find a balance of small school, good academics and not crazy expensive. I’m guessing we will have to sacrifice on school size for the other applications?

If you want the academic peers of William and Mary and want similar size(4k-9k), it is Emory, Wake, WashU, Vanderbilt. If you want hardest academics for the size, add Duke and the ivies. There are no other true academic peers in that size range for the in-state price. The ones that offer lots of merit are NOT academic peers. Not close. You get what you pay for: virginia residents get a huge deal for a near-T15 type experience and peers.

Sorry - these are not peers of W&M. They are several steps UP.