Decreasing in Quality

[Anonymous]

UVA BoV just voted to freeze tuition for next year. CoA is still going to be around $25,000 less than W&M for four years. I didn't see strong on-campus recruitment at W&M compared to UVA.
Dorms smelling of damp (apparently, it's the wettest college campus in the US) and not a lot to do in the 'Burg. They're doing Spring Admit pathways again this year so I wondered if they have a worsening yield issue. Great school for the right student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M. If it weren’t a state school offering the incentive of in-state tuition, I couldn’t tell you what it stands for or what makes it different from any other LAC ranked 50+ on USNWR. It’s living on an old reputation, bolstered by its in-state status, and isn’t sure where it wants to take itself outside of trying to fundraise as much as possible. For what, exactly, except bragging rights? No one knows.

Totally disagree. Fantastic undergraduate teaching (#4), small classes, gorgeous campus and consistently ranked as one of the happiest college campuses around. And clearly committed to its students since it rolled back the previously announced tuition increases when Covid struck. Find me a lot of other schools without gigantic endowments that did the same (and a lot of Ivies and other schools with gigantic endowments continued to hike prices, including UVA which has an endowment that's eight times as large).

Happiest campus? I've heard most of the students there commit suicide. Pressure-cooker academic environment and dreadful social life. Try W&L if you want a good LAC in VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven sisters schools

Sad but true

Especially the non-Wellesley/Barnard ones. Smith, MoHo, and Bryan Mawr are nothing like the used to be.

I mostly agree with this too. I know smart women who went to both Smith and Mt. Holyoke, but these have become places to navel-gaze about gender irregularities and sexual orientation issues. Women who aren't preoccupied with these things don't choose to go there now that they have alternatives.

[Anonymous]

Wesleyan? Oberlin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan? Oberlin?

No

[Anonymous]

No offense to the Oberlin parents in this thread that post frequently (my DD applied & got rejected), but it has really gone downhill in the last ten years. It was solidly above Kenyon when my DD applied almost ten years ago, and now it's definitely ranked lower. Might even fall behind Denison.

[Anonymous]

I’m not an Oberlin parent but I wonder whether the idea that it has decreased in quality is based on something other than rankings. Has the quality of the education actually decreased? Has the faculty gone downhill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not an Oberlin parent but I wonder whether the idea that it has decreased in quality is based on something other than rankings. Has the quality of the education actually decreased? Has the faculty gone downhill?

No and no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This obsession with UVA's ranking between 24-28 is entirely irrelevant. Anyone with basic knowledge of universities know that UCLA/Michigan/UNC are far more respected throughout the country and the world in terms of academics. UVA has the connection with Thomas Jefferson, which is the only differentiating factor in its favor.

Not true. UNC known as school that lets athletes cheat. UCLA now in demand, but it wasn't always that way and lots of downsides. Michigan a great place, but splitting hairs when compare to UVA.

Find the school that works for you and forget the numbers and rankings. You're being played.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M. If it weren’t a state school offering the incentive of in-state tuition, I couldn’t tell you what it stands for or what makes it different from any other LAC ranked 50+ on USNWR. It’s living on an old reputation, bolstered by its in-state status, and isn’t sure where it wants to take itself outside of trying to fundraise as much as possible. For what, exactly, except bragging rights? No one knows.

Totally disagree. Fantastic undergraduate teaching (#4), small classes, gorgeous campus and consistently ranked as one of the happiest college campuses around. And clearly committed to its students since it rolled back the previously announced tuition increases when Covid struck. Find me a lot of other schools without gigantic endowments that did the same (and a lot of Ivies and other schools with gigantic endowments continued to hike prices, including UVA which has an endowment that's eight times as large).

Happiest campus? I've heard most of the students there commit suicide. Pressure-cooker academic environment and dreadful social life. Try W&L if you want a good LAC in VA.

Sorry your information is outdated. UPenn is where suicides have been happening at an alarming rate.
Had two kids go to W&M, both very different, both loved their experiences and far from unhappy. W&M isn't for everyone, but that is why school fit is so important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M. If it weren’t a state school offering the incentive of in-state tuition, I couldn’t tell you what it stands for or what makes it different from any other LAC ranked 50+ on USNWR. It’s living on an old reputation, bolstered by its in-state status, and isn’t sure where it wants to take itself outside of trying to fundraise as much as possible. For what, exactly, except bragging rights? No one knows.

Totally disagree. Fantastic undergraduate teaching (#4), small classes, gorgeous campus and consistently ranked as one of the happiest college campuses around. And clearly committed to its students since it rolled back the previously announced tuition increases when Covid struck. Find me a lot of other schools without gigantic endowments that did the same (and a lot of Ivies and other schools with gigantic endowments continued to hike prices, including UVA which has an endowment that's eight times as large).

Happiest campus? I've heard most of the students there commit suicide. Pressure-cooker academic environment and dreadful social life. Try W&L if you want a good LAC in VA.

Sorry your information is outdated. UPenn is where suicides have been happening at an alarming rate.
Had two kids go to W&M, both very different, both loved their experiences and far from unhappy. W&M isn't for everyone, but that is why school fit is so important.

How dumb to you have to be to think that ‘most students commit suicide’? Q follower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M. If it weren’t a state school offering the incentive of in-state tuition, I couldn’t tell you what it stands for or what makes it different from any other LAC ranked 50+ on USNWR. It’s living on an old reputation, bolstered by its in-state status, and isn’t sure where it wants to take itself outside of trying to fundraise as much as possible. For what, exactly, except bragging rights? No one knows.

Haters gonna hate. Not sure why. School usually doesn't provoke the strong reactions that UVA does.

If William and Mary is an irrelevant anachronism on its way to oblivion, why waste your breath?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M. If it weren’t a state school offering the incentive of in-state tuition, I couldn’t tell you what it stands for or what makes it different from any other LAC ranked 50+ on USNWR. It’s living on an old reputation, bolstered by its in-state status, and isn’t sure where it wants to take itself outside of trying to fundraise as much as possible. For what, exactly, except bragging rights? No one knows.

Haters gonna hate. Not sure why. School usually doesn't provoke the strong reactions that UVA does.

If William and Mary is an irrelevant anachronism on its way to oblivion, why waste your breath?

Looks like the W&M development team found DCUM