William and Mary feedback

[Anonymous]

PP/12:04. Thank you for those providing employment/internship information. Don't think of CS when it comes to W&M and probably are stronger options in state, but from what I've seen, it's still pretty impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love w&m - didn’t go there but many in my family did (I was a lazy HS student). One of the main cons I hear about it, though, is that the work is hard and grading is tough. I also hear that undergrad GPA a is very important for med school. That’s potentially a bad combination. So I would be concerned about pre med at W&M for that reason alone.

That's the reputation, but the undergrad GPA is no different than schools like UVA and has had very significant grade inflation. The average undergrad GPA was a 3.33 in 2014 (compared to a 3.32 at UVA in 2013), and I'm sure it's higher now.

https://www.gradeinflation.com/Williamandmary.html

Gotta remember that UVA has an engineering school + UVA is work hard, play hard.

I was in grad school at UVA in the e-school, and I don't think the undergraduate grades in the e-school were that far off the normal grades. Not so sure about the "work hard" aspect from what I could see as well....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from WM about 10 years ago and thought I'd chime in.

- Yes, lots of people are very nerdy and it's not a party school, but it's a really community-based environment. Because there's not a lot to do in Williamsburg, everyone hangs out with other students, goes to similar parties and sees each other regularly. I loved that about WM and don't think I would like to have gone to a school in a city where people have 20+ bars to go to. That being said, those students who like to party will probably complain about the lack of a party scene often which can wear on some people. I will say, that I returned recently and looks like there are a ton of cool breweries and restaurants that have popped up in the area since i've been there.
- Getting good grades is very tough. I was a very hard-working student (as are many of my friends) and we all worked our butt off..that being said, I feel like every WM student has at least one C on their transcript if they took anything remotely challenging. In my field, that did not impact my job prospects, but I would definitely factor that in if grades matter for med school admission or employers.
- The professors are amazing. In my 4 years, I maybe had one class taught by a TA. Every professor I met was incredibly kind and went above and beyond for us students. I owe my career to a WM professor and I will never forget that.

I had a great experience but college is different for everyone. Definitely visit and have your DC talk to as many current students as possible.

Can I ask what the point is of mentioning "cool breweries?" I mean, as a craft beer loving dad, that's good news for me. But my kid won't be 21 until the summer before her senior year in college. And likely won't drink beer anyway, to spite her dad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of an interested junior here. Lots of comments along the lines of “not a party school” and “not much to do in Williamsburg” - my kid is not a partier but I would like to think of him enjoying himself in college so would love to hear what are some common socializing options - eg, are there a lot of school-sponsored performances, do kids frequently go to the movies, are intramurals popular, is there a big weekend board game culture, etc. Thanks!

I posted above about the career center.

My DS is a senior at W&M. He's in a fraternity. He likes hanging out with a group of friends, drinking beer and watching sports. He and his friends attend all the football games and basketball games. They gather to watch professional and other college sports on TV. Even before he was 21, some of the "bars" let underage kids in (I think they do wristbands or hand stamps for 21 and older.) He'll go to the local bars with friends to socialize and - watch sports.

He's very active in a club sport. In addition to the practices and competitions, the club does some community service projects and social events. They will go out to dinner together to a place like Chipotle. Right before winter break, they had a pot luck dinner and "yankee" gift swap.

His fraternity plays alot of intramural sports both male and coed. They will team up with a sorority to create a coed team.

There is a club fair in the fall - there may be one in the spring as well.

My DS does not do much away from campus (other than the bars/restaurants he can walk to.) I think he went to one movie his freshman year. The college usually has a Busch Gardens day - they take a bus to the amusement park and students get discounted tickets.

No, W&M does not have a wild, "Animal House" style frat scene. As someone above said, it appeals to a certain type of student. My DS LOVES W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of an interested junior here. Lots of comments along the lines of “not a party school” and “not much to do in Williamsburg” - my kid is not a partier but I would like to think of him enjoying himself in college so would love to hear what are some common socializing options - eg, are there a lot of school-sponsored performances, do kids frequently go to the movies, are intramurals popular, is there a big weekend board game culture, etc. Thanks!

I posted above about the career center.

My DS is a senior at W&M. He's in a fraternity. He likes hanging out with a group of friends, drinking beer and watching sports. He and his friends attend all the football games and basketball games. They gather to watch professional and other college sports on TV. Even before he was 21, some of the "bars" let underage kids in (I think they do wristbands or hand stamps for 21 and older.) He'll go to the local bars with friends to socialize and - watch sports.

He's very active in a club sport. In addition to the practices and competitions, the club does some community service projects and social events. They will go out to dinner together to a place like Chipotle. Right before winter break, they had a pot luck dinner and "yankee" gift swap.

His fraternity plays alot of intramural sports both male and coed. They will team up with a sorority to create a coed team.

There is a club fair in the fall - there may be one in the spring as well.

My DS does not do much away from campus (other than the bars/restaurants he can walk to.) I think he went to one movie his freshman year. The college usually has a Busch Gardens day - they take a bus to the amusement park and students get discounted tickets.

No, W&M does not have a wild, "Animal House" style frat scene. As someone above said, it appeals to a certain type of student. My DS LOVES W&M.

Thanks for the thorough response and this sounds great and I suspect what my own son’s college life will be like (minus the fraternity, he isn’t interested). What club sport, if you don’t mind? Would be great to know the active ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from WM about 10 years ago and thought I'd chime in.

- Yes, lots of people are very nerdy and it's not a party school, but it's a really community-based environment. Because there's not a lot to do in Williamsburg, everyone hangs out with other students, goes to similar parties and sees each other regularly. I loved that about WM and don't think I would like to have gone to a school in a city where people have 20+ bars to go to. That being said, those students who like to party will probably complain about the lack of a party scene often which can wear on some people. I will say, that I returned recently and looks like there are a ton of cool breweries and restaurants that have popped up in the area since i've been there.
- Getting good grades is very tough. I was a very hard-working student (as are many of my friends) and we all worked our butt off..that being said, I feel like every WM student has at least one C on their transcript if they took anything remotely challenging. In my field, that did not impact my job prospects, but I would definitely factor that in if grades matter for med school admission or employers.
- The professors are amazing. In my 4 years, I maybe had one class taught by a TA. Every professor I met was incredibly kind and went above and beyond for us students. I owe my career to a WM professor and I will never forget that.

I had a great experience but college is different for everyone. Definitely visit and have your DC talk to as many current students as possible.

Can I ask what the point is of mentioning "cool breweries?" I mean, as a craft beer loving dad, that's good news for me. But my kid won't be 21 until the summer before her senior year in college. And likely won't drink beer anyway, to spite her dad.

Haha I hear you. More so to mention that the town is evolving and that the social scene has progressed since I was last there (when there were only 3 bars)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is a sophomore there. There is a parent Facebook page ("Conservative Families of William and Mary") where posters have been grossly unhappy with WM's COVID policies. Can't tell how big a group they represent (I suspect not big), but there is a cohort who(se parents) aren't happy with the school.

My kid is not crazy about the COVID policies - he probably spent 22 hours a day in his room during his freshman year - but he's generally a rule follower, so he's doing what he's asked.

This sounded weird so I checked. There is no such Facebook page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love w&m - didn’t go there but many in my family did (I was a lazy HS student). One of the main cons I hear about it, though, is that the work is hard and grading is tough. I also hear that undergrad GPA a is very important for med school. That’s potentially a bad combination. So I would be concerned about pre med at W&M for that reason alone.

That's the reputation, but the undergrad GPA is no different than schools like UVA and has had very significant grade inflation. The average undergrad GPA was a 3.33 in 2014 (compared to a 3.32 at UVA in 2013), and I'm sure it's higher now.

https://www.gradeinflation.com/Williamandmary.html

2014! Utterly irrelevant!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is a sophomore there. There is a parent Facebook page ("Conservative Families of William and Mary") where posters have been grossly unhappy with WM's COVID policies. Can't tell how big a group they represent (I suspect not big), but there is a cohort who(se parents) aren't happy with the school.

My kid is not crazy about the COVID policies - he probably spent 22 hours a day in his room during his freshman year - but he's generally a rule follower, so he's doing what he's asked.

This sounded weird so I checked. There is no such Facebook page.

You're wrong. There is a group - it's called "Conservative Families of W&M" and I'm a member of the group. It's a private group but says its visible for anyone to find it. It was recently formed when the official W&M parent group (the one run by the school) shut down.

[Anonymous]

To the person asking about social life: there are a ton of clubs that host parties/social events that are open to everyone, lots of low-key get togethers of game groups etc, every kind of club sports which are popular even for non-athletes, there's regular outdoor group events (camping, backpacking, rockclimbing, canoeing etc.). There's Greek life with fairly typical frat parties for those who want it. Some 19 year olds + will go to bars (lots of outdoor beer gardens now). Dorm parties. Getting together in the woods parties. Lots of kids hang out at delis/coffee shops. There are outdoor music events, and a student-run campus music venue (though not during pandemic because the space is small), and a ton of campus traditions/celebrations. It's a pretty cohesive campus community--the 'one Tribe' thing seems fairly accurate. Whenever we visit our kid and he's walking around he runs into 20+ friends just by chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love w&m - didn’t go there but many in my family did (I was a lazy HS student). One of the main cons I hear about it, though, is that the work is hard and grading is tough. I also hear that undergrad GPA a is very important for med school. That’s potentially a bad combination. So I would be concerned about pre med at W&M for that reason alone.

That's the reputation, but the undergrad GPA is no different than schools like UVA and has had very significant grade inflation. The average undergrad GPA was a 3.33 in 2014 (compared to a 3.32 at UVA in 2013), and I'm sure it's higher now.

https://www.gradeinflation.com/Williamandmary.html

2014! Utterly irrelevant!

And not just because it's 2014. Until someone can demonstrate that the work it takes to get a 3.3 at "hard" schools like UVA/W&M is equivalent to the work it takes to get a 3.3 at GMU/JMU etc. claims of "grade inflation" are meaningless. Selective schools are selecting more and more elite candidates, you'd expect average grades to go up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love w&m - didn’t go there but many in my family did (I was a lazy HS student). One of the main cons I hear about it, though, is that the work is hard and grading is tough. I also hear that undergrad GPA a is very important for med school. That’s potentially a bad combination. So I would be concerned about pre med at W&M for that reason alone.

That's the reputation, but the undergrad GPA is no different than schools like UVA and has had very significant grade inflation. The average undergrad GPA was a 3.33 in 2014 (compared to a 3.32 at UVA in 2013), and I'm sure it's higher now.

https://www.gradeinflation.com/Williamandmary.html

2014! Utterly irrelevant!

It is highly likely that GPAs are even higher now. They are all going up.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor’s kid goes there and is VERY happy. He is extremely smart but had some mental health challenges in high school and W&M has been extremely supportive and accommodating. He is doing well academically, has made some great friends, gotten an off campus job, and overall is just so much happier and healthier. It has been a wonderful experience so far for him.

[Anonymous]

Anecdotal but both my sister and brother-in-law are now physicians and graduated from William and Mary. Neither were actually premed during their time there, but made their way to med school a couple years later. I think they would both say it prepared them well. The rigor of my sisters classes was definitely higher than my liberal arts college. I have lots of friends who went to William and Mary as well, all were happy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from WM about 10 years ago and thought I'd chime in.

- Yes, lots of people are very nerdy and it's not a party school, but it's a really community-based environment. Because there's not a lot to do in Williamsburg, everyone hangs out with other students, goes to similar parties and sees each other regularly. I loved that about WM and don't think I would like to have gone to a school in a city where people have 20+ bars to go to. That being said, those students who like to party will probably complain about the lack of a party scene often which can wear on some people. I will say, that I returned recently and looks like there are a ton of cool breweries and restaurants that have popped up in the area since i've been there.
- Getting good grades is very tough. I was a very hard-working student (as are many of my friends) and we all worked our butt off..that being said, I feel like every WM student has at least one C on their transcript if they took anything remotely challenging. In my field, that did not impact my job prospects, but I would definitely factor that in if grades matter for med school admission or employers.
- The professors are amazing. In my 4 years, I maybe had one class taught by a TA. Every professor I met was incredibly kind and went above and beyond for us students. I owe my career to a WM professor and I will never forget that.

I had a great experience but college is different for everyone. Definitely visit and have your DC talk to as many current students as possible.

Can I ask what the point is of mentioning "cool breweries?" I mean, as a craft beer loving dad, that's good news for me. But my kid won't be 21 until the summer before her senior year in college. And likely won't drink beer anyway, to spite her dad.

Hate to break it to you, but college kids find ways to drink. Like getting fake IDs.