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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Lol. Totally true. And I say this as the parent of an extremely happy W&M kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You didn't read what they wrote yet you accused them of spouting nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

This is the answer.

How does instate versus out of factor into the acceptance rates. DD is OOS with higher GPA but lower test scores. Trying to figure out if W&M is a reach or target. She won’t be applying ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I majored in Finance there over 2 decades ago. Did they suspend the business school for some reason recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I majored in Finance there over 2 decades ago. Did they suspend the business school for some reason recently?

They still have a Business school and a Finance major.

[Anonymous]

W&M has a low yield rate compared to the schools OP mentioned so they have to admit more kids. (Yield rate = # of kids who matriculate/# of admitted students.) See below.

Class of 2028 yield rates:
Davidson: 48%
USC: 43%
W&M: 27%
Georgetown: 47%

W&M could play the yield maximumization game (ED, demonstrated interest, etc) but judging by these numbers they aren't. My DD is not interested in W&M so I'm speculating on whether they play the yield game.

[Anonymous]

Oh my gosh, stop acting like a 32% acceptance rate is high. It puts them in the "highly selective" group.

UVA is 23% for instate and 12.5% for out of state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

W&M has had business education for over 100 years and a separate business school for about 60 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Clueless poster alert. And a good warning not to believe everything that some rando posts on this forum.

[Anonymous]

William and Mary Mason is ranked #20 on Poets and Quants. I'd say they have a decent business school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So many morons on this forum with 2nd grade literacy and the most contemptuous accusations.

[Anonymous]

W&M is an excellent business school with great recruitment. Stop worrying. Just apply and see

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+100
None of my kids had any interest whatsoever in this school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M has a low yield rate compared to the schools OP mentioned so they have to admit more kids. (Yield rate = # of kids who matriculate/# of admitted students.) See below.

Class of 2028 yield rates:
Davidson: 48%
USC: 43%
W&M: 27%
Georgetown: 47%

W&M could play the yield maximumization game (ED, demonstrated interest, etc) but judging by these numbers they aren't. My DD is not interested in W&M so I'm speculating on whether they play the yield game.

What? Of course they do. They offer both ED 1 and ED 2 and talk all the time about how much “demonstrated interest” means to them. They definitely are playing the yield game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M has a low yield rate compared to the schools OP mentioned so they have to admit more kids. (Yield rate = # of kids who matriculate/# of admitted students.) See below.

Class of 2028 yield rates:
Davidson: 48%
USC: 43%
W&M: 27%
Georgetown: 47%

W&M could play the yield maximumization game (ED, demonstrated interest, etc) but judging by these numbers they aren't. My DD is not interested in W&M so I'm speculating on whether they play the yield game.

Just to note that Georgetown and USC accomplish that yield without ED (though USC has changed to ED for business only this year).