What’s wrong with William & Mary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that it doesn’t really have a bright future as a public school. In a time of increased popularity for many Virginia public universities, William & Mary seems to be caught in a downward spiral. Its application numbers are stagnant, its female-male ratio is ridiculous, its acceptance rate has increased to almost 40 percent, its yield rate is terrible, it’s poorly positioned in terms of tech growth, it’s very expensive, and it’s now looking to increase (?) enrollment because it needs the bucks. Discouraging my kid from applying. Is it time for the school to consider becoming a private college or to affiliate with Tech or something?

UNC and Emory have the same gender balance.

Most colleges have this gender balance. More women than men attend college— on average colleges are almost 2/3 female.

Off topic question: does this imbalance in any way benefit male applicants over females?

Yes.

Big time.

[Anonymous]

I don’t recognize the school OP describes and MANY from area HS go there including OOS students.

[Anonymous]

It’s ok that your kid didn’t get accepted. They wouldn’t have liked it anyway. Anyways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that it doesn’t really have a bright future as a public school. In a time of increased popularity for many Virginia public universities, William & Mary seems to be caught in a downward spiral. Its application numbers are stagnant, its female-male ratio is ridiculous, its acceptance rate has increased to almost 40 percent, its yield rate is terrible, it’s poorly positioned in terms of tech growth, it’s very expensive, and it’s now looking to increase (?) enrollment because it needs the bucks. Discouraging my kid from applying. Is it time for the school to consider becoming a private college or to affiliate with Tech or something?

UNC and Emory have the same gender balance.

Most colleges have this gender balance. More women than men attend college— on average colleges are almost 2/3 female.

Off topic question: does this imbalance in any way benefit male applicants over females?

Yes. The admission rate is 8-10% higher for men. (IDK exact numbers, but is something like 33% acceptance for women and 41% for men’. Unless the men really javemstats that are that much higher. It’s easier for men to get in. That dynamic is not at all uncommon at SLACs. Girls get an edge in many engineering programs and boys get an edge in SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hmmmm... SCHEV report over the past 5 years shows that WM applied/accepted/enrolled has stayed incredibly stable. Minor variations within years. And currently, there is a downward trend in college applications. Let’s say that again— we are in a demographic downward trend in college applications, while WM stays stable.

https://research.schev.edu/enrollment/B8_Report_new.asp

The lower boys enrollment thing has always been there. It’s more like a LAC than the other state schools, and almost all LACs are 60+% male.

It’s also just expensive for a state school, which discourages applicants who can pay less and attend UVA and VT. For many kids, the WM upcharge isn’t worth it. But that’s not new either.

Most recent year had 75% SATs of 1510 and GPA of 4.46.

https://research.schev.edu/enrollment/B10_FreshmenProfile.asp

They have a 95% first year return rate and a 93% graduation rate.

https://research.schev.edu/iprofile/231624/William-&-Mary?

In short, there is nothing wrong with WM. It’s been around found hundreds of years. It will still be here in 2030. And probably 2130.

I’m not sure whether you are a troll trying to thin out the competition before RD apps are due, or if you are one of those people who think that UVA is the only public VA college worth attending. Either way, WM is great for kids that want a smaller school and smaller classes— and can pay the extra $$ to get it. My kid already has their RD app in. By all means, don’t have your kid apply— less competition for the rest of us.

None of those things. What struck me was an article discussing the alleged future enrollment drops for colleges in general, and how the school is struggling to stay ahead of that. Best of luck to them, because that would give me a headache—that is, how to increase applications, decrease the acceptance rate, and increase the class size,

By being a state school. As cost goes up 3-4% per year for private LACs, WM becomes more and more attractive, especially in state. The Va population looking at LACs pays $30,000 less a year than for most private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems to me that it doesn’t really have a bright future as a public school. In a time of increased popularity for many Virginia public universities, William & Mary seems to be caught in a downward spiral. Its application numbers are stagnant, its female-male ratio is ridiculous, its acceptance rate has increased to almost 40 percent, its yield rate is terrible, it’s poorly positioned in terms of tech growth, it’s very expensive, and it’s now looking to increase (?) enrollment because it needs the bucks. Discouraging my kid from applying. Is it time for the school to consider becoming a private college or to affiliate with Tech or something?

Affiliate with Tech the Cow College??
I don't think so. We've been harking upon the gale for over 300 years, I think we will be ok despite your stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is on some sort of mission to bash William and Mary. I see similar posts in other threads.

Yes. And how better to do it than on an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

We liked the school from afar, but when we visited were turned off.

They had a faculty panel and it was appalling how little individual attention they seemed to give to students (like they boasted about still recognizing the pre-health advisees the following year.) My child has found much more hands on advising at a different SLAC.

[Anonymous]

That was your impression from a panel discussion.

Do you actually know, for certain, that your child is getting more hands-on advising at another SLAC?

[Anonymous]

DC really wants to go to a SLAC, but WM is also high on the list. Of course, UVA is on the list but lower as it is referred to as version 2.0 of our local high school.

[Anonymous]

The Va population looking at LACs pays $30,000 less a year than for most private schools.

What does this mean!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Va population looking at LACs pays $30,000 less a year than for most private schools.

What does this mean!


This is Paying for College 101

Many LACs cost more than $70k a year all in. And many top LACs don’t give merit aid. WM costs a bit over $40k in state. That makes WM $30k a year less expensive for a DCUM donut hole family.

I’d love to send my kid to Hamilton or Bowdoin or Amherst. But not if I’m paying $120,000 more over 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That was your impression from a panel discussion.

Do you actually know, for certain, that your child is getting more hands-on advising at another SLAC?

Yes, because she is assigned TWO advisors and share their conversations/office visits with me often.

W & M undoubtedly has some good advisers, but the one assigned to pre-health majors who they selected to speak on a panel was horrific. She explained how she advises students to feign interest in helping people to increase their admissions odds and literally was bragging because she actually ran into and recognized a first year whom she had advised the following year. My kid has dinner at her advisors' homes, with other students of course. It is night and day. Don't assume that your experience reflects others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Va population looking at LACs pays $30,000 less a year than for most private schools.

What does this mean!

This is Paying for College 101

Many LACs cost more than $70k a year all in. And many top LACs don’t give merit aid. WM costs a bit over $40k in state. That makes WM $30k a year less expensive for a DCUM donut hole family.

I’d love to send my kid to Hamilton or Bowdoin or Amherst. But not if I’m paying $120,000 more over 4 years.

Why are those the only two options. There are many great schools ranked lower than Bowdoin and Amherst. You have set up a false set of options for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Va population looking at LACs pays $30,000 less a year than for most private schools.

What does this mean!

This is Paying for College 101

Many LACs cost more than $70k a year all in. And many top LACs don’t give merit aid. WM costs a bit over $40k in state. That makes WM $30k a year less expensive for a DCUM donut hole family.

I’d love to send my kid to Hamilton or Bowdoin or Amherst. But not if I’m paying $120,000 more over 4 years.

Thanks for clarifying! We are a donut home family and DC is applying to 3 SLACs - they each off pretty good aid-so I hear. DC lived WandM. DC is an introvert - think cat lady like prefers reading a book over drinking with random people. WandM looks like a good fit. Hoping DC gets in! Hoping the SLACs offer competitive aid!