Has the rest of the country heard of William & Mary or does VA Tech have more recognition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We tried hard to get our kids to consider W&M but they were put off by the small-town location. In any event, a sample of unknown size, suggests that when students are admitted to both W&M and VT it is pretty much a toss-up which one they go to. At least there is no significant difference, unlike the case for, say, UVA (no, I did not attend UVA). See

https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=College+of+William+and+Mary&with=Virginia+Tech

A friend's daughter who was admitted to all three of the schools mentioned opted to attend W&M for STEM (not engineering, obviously).

What may be more meaningful to know is what choices are made outside of engineering. William and Mary doesn't have engineering, so students choosing VT would be choosing a different course of study.

Fair enough. But one has to wonder why a student seriously interested in engineering would apply to W&M in the first place. Few students are interested in the combined engineering degree program on offer at W&M and elsewhere. It might be fair to assume that students who applied to both W&M and VT were predominantly non-engineering types.

Why wouldn't they? Unless their stats are good enough that VT Engineering is a guaranteed safety, there's no reason that students wouldn't apply to W&M considering the minimal monetary and time costs.

My thinking was that students who are interested in engineering would only apply to VT with few exceptions. (W&M does not offer engineering except through a combined degree program; very few students opt for this.) Those interested in fields other than engineering are those who would likely apply to both W&M and VT. Hence, my conjecture was that the Parchment results largely reflect choices made by students who are not interested in engineering. This thinking is influenced by watching one engineering-oriented son make decisions on where to apply to. In the end, he applied only to schools that offered engineering even though he was initially attracted to some schools that didn't.

I did exactly this when applying, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M is a school about 200 years past its prime. It's a fantastic public school option for Virginians, but... C'mon. It's not even the best public school in the state. I don't understand the people trying to pass it off as some prestigious, "highly coveted" school.

I wouldn't say 200 years past its prime, but definitely past its prime within the last 15 years or so. It's certainly not "highly coveted" by high society New Yorkers!

[Anonymous]

Few schools are known outside their states. When I went to UVa from out of state, I'd never head of it, nor had my friends back home. But as I ended up staying in NoVa for the job market afterward, it ended up helping me anyway since everyone here knows it. Unless you are turning down Ivies I wouldn't worry about name recognition - it's probably a better school than VT (except stem) and definitely a very different vibe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few schools are known outside their states. When I went to UVa from out of state, I'd never head of it, nor had my friends back home. But as I ended up staying in NoVa for the job market afterward, it ended up helping me anyway since everyone here knows it. Unless you are turning down Ivies I wouldn't worry about name recognition - it's probably a better school than VT (except stem) and definitely a very different vibe.

I grew up in a major metro area (not DC) and knew W&M and UVA. I'm went to a high school where everyone went to college and people were as obsessed with the top schools the same way many in this area are. I had heard of Tech, JMU, and GMU, but couldn't tell you much about them other than that they were in Virginia and that they weren't as competitive to get into as the first two.

[Anonymous]

As a science major, many of us turned down liberal arts schools in favor of VA Tech, including W&M.

VA Tech has an incredible number of patents. Their research facilities are good. If I were a science or IT major in VA and wanted in-state, it would be my top choice.

[Anonymous]

The football team at Tech has also helped with National recognition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a science major, many of us turned down liberal arts schools in favor of VA Tech, including W&M.

VA Tech has an incredible number of patents. Their research facilities are good. If I were a science or IT major in VA and wanted in-state, it would be my top choice.

Virginia Tech is strong in engineering. Science is another matter.

[Anonymous]

Just in my direct experience when kids were applying to schools (both W&M and VTech):
My midwestern relatives heard of William & Mary as one of those old, elite east coast schools. They don't know of Virginia Tech but just assume it's one of those many Tech schools. William & Mary seemed to have more cachet.

[Anonymous]

How exactly does one compare the academic strength of undergraduate education between a elite private university and an elite LAC?
We are talking undergraduates here, not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from the northeast and in my nerd circle of peers W&M was fairly well known. A few people attended. VT was more obscure but one random semi-nerd (not great grades) went there.

This. William and Mary is pretty highly coveted in NYC society circles as a step below Ivy (in line with Oberlin, Williams, Haverford etc).

+1

I'm the first PP and out of our nerd circle it was a considered a good choice for the bookish kids looking for a smaller LAC experience. Roughly the top 5% of class, not the tippy top valedictorian + contenders who were HPYM.

[Anonymous]

Back to the original question.

I grew up in NY and spent time in Boston.

William & Mary was thought of as a private school that is public for VA residents, and a very big deal.

Virginia Tech I learned about when I got to DC, but also that was when I spent more time with techies.

If your field were engineering, I bet you'd put VT high on the list.
When I met people who went to VT they were really smart, especially in STEM related careers.

I'd be delighted if my kid(s) went to either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the original question.

I grew up in NY and spent time in Boston.

William & Mary was thought of as a private school that is public for VA residents, and a very big deal.

Virginia Tech I learned about when I got to DC, but also that was when I spent more time with techies.

If your field were engineering, I bet you'd put VT high on the list.
When I met people who went to VT they were really smart, especially in STEM related careers.

I'd be delighted if my kid(s) went to either.

Why exactly was W&M considered a "very big deal" back in NY/Boston?

[Anonymous]

When I was in graduate school, the president of the university listed the school she was trying to emulate. Binghamton, which is considered the most prestigious element of SUNY, was trying to emulate W&M. That was there example of a top public school.

[Anonymous]

You need to distinguish between name recognition and the reason why the school is recognized. Virginia Tech may be as well known as William and Mary, but I'd say it is much more likely that William and Mary is known for academics and its long history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to distinguish between name recognition and the reason why the school is recognized. Virginia Tech may be as well known as William and Mary, but I'd say it is much more likely that William and Mary is known for academics and its long history.

The vast majority of the country (and the world) has not heard of William & Mary, and for the minority who have, it's regarded as a decent school, not necessarily known for its academics, and rarely acknowledged for its long history. I think that reputation is mostly contained to Virginia.