UVA in-state v. Davidson v. Washington and Lee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do NoVA UVA students really run into HS classmates all the time? Isn’t there a high # of OOS? Does it feel like an international, global school or does it truly feel like “13th grade”?

It's 70% in-state so of course it's going to have a far more regional feel than a top 20 private....how could it not? And as much as UVA parents want to believe that it's a school with international pedigree it simply isn't It's a fine state school but go into it with realistic expectations about diversity.

No, it's 57% in-state. And only a few students (depending on size) from a fellow classmate's school show up. My DC knew four. He never sees them. The only school that sends a large (50 or so) contingent is TJ.

lol....typical dull and delusional UVA parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do NoVA UVA students really run into HS classmates all the time? Isn’t there a high # of OOS? Does it feel like an international, global school or does it truly feel like “13th grade”?

It's 70% in-state so of course it's going to have a far more regional feel than a top 20 private....how could it not? And as much as UVA parents want to believe that it's a school with international pedigree it simply isn't It's a fine state school but go into it with realistic expectations about diversity.

No, it's 57% in-state. And only a few students (depending on size) from a fellow classmate's school show up. My DC knew four. He never sees them. The only school that sends a large (50 or so) contingent is TJ.

lol....typical dull and delusional UVA parent.

What's delusional? The same posters keep coming on DCUm and say "I don't want my kid and 500 of their high school friends going down to UVA together" but what they don't realize is that NO high school sends 500 kids to UVA. The giants like Langley or McLean might get 50 in (top ten percent) but those are the creme de la creme and often go off to Ivies or Tech schools so don't show up. The only school to get huge numbers into UVA is TJ which gets 200 to 250 on any given year but again TJ students use UVA as a safety so at most 50 of 60 TJ students might show up. That's it. There are 21,000 students down there. My DD says she never sees her 2 besties from public high school. Like everything in life, it is what you make of it.

[Anonymous]

While it is true that few Americans have heard of Davidson, Every person in the world of academia have. And they are the ones who count. Davidson, a small private college, is ranked in the Top Ten Liberal Arts Colleges in America. It focuses exclusively on a quality undergraduate education. Small classes, and top notch professors. UVA on the other hand is a huge public school, which to a large extent is focused on graduate degrees. Tens of thousands of Undergrad students face large classes, in a far less personalized environment. Davidson, with less than 2000 carefully selected students, punches way above it’s weight, both in academics and in athletics. It has produced a US President (Wilson), a US Secretary of State (Rusk), a White House Spokesman (Snow), one of the greatest athletes ever (Curry)... and many more. Davidson is probably less prestigious and known than UVA in the general public, but Davidson is FAR more prestigious than UVA among those in the know.

[Anonymous]

MY DD was accepted at all three with aid. BTW congrats OP it wasn’t easy! The schools are very different. UVA is a great school but very large. Half of the class will be edited from the top spots just because of the size. But if big state school is what you want UVA is the ticket.
W&L attracts an elite crowd from all over the US. Big help if you are going into law business or any field where connections count. It’s the Potomac school of colleges.
Davidson is more or less the same but with a southern focus. The price was the same & DD chose Davidson.

[Anonymous]

WOW, can't believe this thread is 11 pages! I guess now we know what topics strike a cord with DCUMs

To me, if money is a factor and all schools are full pay, it's hard to beat in-state VA. You have UVA, VT, and WM (something for everyone IMO). If you want to go to a SLAC and your creds are good enough to get you into UVA, then you'd probably get good merit at the ODAC schools like Roanoke or Bridgewater or even Richmond.

Again, this is if you're looking at full pay for all top schools.

[Anonymous]

Some very vain LMC idiots on this board that have no idea what these schools are like or who attends them.

[Anonymous]

OP I don’t think you really have a choice. 4 years of med school? With another in college and no aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MY DD was accepted at all three with aid. BTW congrats OP it wasn’t easy! The schools are very different. UVA is a great school but very large. Half of the class will be edited from the top spots just because of the size. But if big state school is what you want UVA is the ticket.
W&L attracts an elite crowd from all over the US. Big help if you are going into law business or any field where connections count. It’s the Potomac school of colleges.
Davidson is more or less the same but with a southern focus. The price was the same & DD chose Davidson.

W&L attracts an “elite crowd from all over the US”? That’s news to me.

[Anonymous]

Obtaining a UVA decal is one of the things on area unc parents’ life scavenger hunt for their kids. You don’t turn it down. As mentioned above, it would be at drible unforced error.

[Anonymous]

If you get a good financial aid package that puts a quality SLAC on a financial par with a large public University, than on balance, the SLAC will provide the higher quality undergraduate educational experience for your money. On the other hand, if you do not receive a good financial aid package, than the public university is probably your better path, unless money is no issue. Got it?

[Anonymous]

I adore Davidson and wished I'd gone there years ago instead of an Ivy League. I would have benefited from more individualized attention. Having said that, I've heard that there is a problem with grade deflation at Davidson. Is that true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MY DD was accepted at all three with aid. BTW congrats OP it wasn’t easy! The schools are very different. UVA is a great school but very large. Half of the class will be edited from the top spots just because of the size. But if big state school is what you want UVA is the ticket.
W&L attracts an elite crowd from all over the US. Big help if you are going into law business or any field where connections count. It’s the Potomac school of colleges.
Davidson is more or less the same but with a southern focus. The price was the same & DD chose Davidson.

W&L attracts an “elite crowd from all over the US”? That’s news to me.

Only 48 states so good catch. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

My brother graduated from W&L and I graduated from UVA. He definitely got a more personal education than I did, but I can't say that is worth the cost differential assuming you are in state and paying full cost. If you want a school size and experience a bit more like a SLAC, you might look at W&M. (It is probably more like Davidson than W&L in feel.) I had a cousin graduate from there and she liked it.

W&L offers the top 10% or so Johnson merit scholarships. If you qualify for that, the cost calculations look quite different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While it is true that few Americans have heard of Davidson, Every person in the world of academia have. And they are the ones who count. Davidson, a small private college, is ranked in the Top Ten Liberal Arts Colleges in America. It focuses exclusively on a quality undergraduate education. Small classes, and top notch professors. UVA on the other hand is a huge public school, which to a large extent is focused on graduate degrees. Tens of thousands of Undergrad students face large classes, in a far less personalized environment. Davidson, with less than 2000 carefully selected students, punches way above it’s weight, both in academics and in athletics. It has produced a US President (Wilson), a US Secretary of State (Rusk), a White House Spokesman (Snow), one of the greatest athletes ever (Curry)... and many more. Davidson is probably less prestigious and known than UVA in the general public, but Davidson is FAR more prestigious than UVA among those in the know.

Woodrow Wilson didn't graduate from Davidson. He also didn't graduate from UVA Law. He was an early school switcher, actually graduating from Princeton and Hopkins.

While I agree Davidson is more focused on undergraduate education than UVA, I don't agree it is more prestigious among those "in the know". I'd say they are roughly similar, and UVA is better known to lay people because it is larger and has ACC athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While it is true that few Americans have heard of Davidson, Every person in the world of academia have. And they are the ones who count. Davidson, a small private college, is ranked in the Top Ten Liberal Arts Colleges in America. It focuses exclusively on a quality undergraduate education. Small classes, and top notch professors. UVA on the other hand is a huge public school, which to a large extent is focused on graduate degrees. Tens of thousands of Undergrad students face large classes, in a far less personalized environment. Davidson, with less than 2000 carefully selected students, punches way above it’s weight, both in academics and in athletics. It has produced a US President (Wilson), a US Secretary of State (Rusk), a White House Spokesman (Snow), one of the greatest athletes ever (Curry)... and many more. Davidson is probably less prestigious and known than UVA in the general public, but Davidson is FAR more prestigious than UVA among those in the know.

Steph Curry undid a lot of the Davidson prestige by claiming the moon landings were a hoax.