Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond

[Anonymous]

My DC toured, applied, and was accepted to UR. It seems like a happy place to spend four years. We both liked the tour guide and campus, close to Richmond but suburban feel. The size (about 4,000) appealed to me as the students seemed to be well supported, with opportunities for research and internships. UR was generous with merit aid. DC, however, ultimately chose a larger school (about 8,000 undergraduates). As parent, I would have been happy is DC went to UR. (Never visited Wake or Bucknell so cannot comment or compare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you already have your mind made up to not like these schools, so just move on to other options.

True, feels like a troll post. DCUM hates all three of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richmond is somewhere in the middle of DC's list, so I can speak to it a little. Kids are outgoing, happy and very sharp but generally not esoterically intellectually oriented. It's not Bard or Reed or Swarthmore. Course offerings mirror that. They have a very good program in Chinese and international business, but don't offer classical Chinese, for example. They have a whole school for Leadership. Business school doesn't require separate application or admission, which is a plus for many. Food is top notch. There's a Himalayan salt room. What else do you want to know?

Wake, I got creeped out by how perfect the lawns were. Seemed more like a country club than a college. But never took a full tour. Maybe it's great?

Also at Wake, the frat houses ("lounges" or something?) are built right into campus, whereas at Richmond they're off the official campus.

Richmond has an entire wellness building including a Himalayan salt room but you think Wake is the country club?

Wake moms are so touchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these schools as wealthy and “unserious” as DCUM purports? They are the right size, have the right academic programs, and are the right distance for DD, but she doesn’t want a school with a bunch of full pay kids who don’t prioritize academics. She also doesn’t want a social scene dominated by Greek life.

I know we should beware of stereotypes, but I’ve seen similar comments over and over about the typical kid who goes to these schools. Thoughts?

Wake is serious and much better academic quality than the other two. Wake has smarter peers based on naviance data from our region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake is the strongest of the three academically, William and Mary is a peer school.

100%. U of R and Bucknell are great but a tier down.

[Anonymous]

Wake has never and will never have the prestige, vibe cache of Duke. Forty years ago it was a regional Baptist affiliated school. Nice school but nowhere near top 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake has never and will never have the prestige, vibe cache of Duke.

I don't see anyone claiming Wake has or will ever have the the prestige, vibe cache of Duke.

Anonymous wrote:Nice school but nowhere near top 30.

It was literally a Top 30 school for decades until US News changed its rankings to benefit public schools with large classes and poorer students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wake is the strongest of the three academically, William and Mary is a peer school.

100%. U of R and Bucknell are great but a tier down.

NP. My kid is looking at all of these schools as well. What makes Wake a tier above? I thought by reputation Wake and Richmond were on the same level or that Richmond students were a little stronger?

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at Bucknell. DMV public school grad who was a standard strong student in HS. Loves, loves Bucknell. Pretty campus and nice size student body around 3000. The kids at Bucknell are happy, tend to have internships and jobs after graduation (no, I am not referring to finance, that is not what my DC is studying). The professors have been great and the town is cute if one does not mind very small. Business, engineering, strong econ and lots of majors.

Yes, there is a party scene, like at my Ivy that I went to years ago. In terms of greek life, I will say Bucknell is probably not the school for someone who has no interest in that at all. Greek life and sports teams have a big part in social life so be aware of that. Indeed there are plenty of wealthy kids but there definitely is economic diversity. DC has friends who are on aid and friends whose families have 3 homes and they do mix. In short, great school if it hits the right note for your kid in terms of the social scene.

[Anonymous]

We visited all three. Richmond and Wake had rich kids vibes. Wake had Southern preppy rich kids vibe. Bucknell, however, didn’t give off such vibes.

I loved Bucknell during the visit. It gives an impression of a SLAC with excellent education and a great peer environment. I wish DC applied there.

[Anonymous]

I went to Wake as a middle class kid on partial scholarship for my freshman year and my best HS friend went to Richmond (except she was more affluent than I was) and the “rich preppy” vibe at both is difficult to overstate.

For some this is a feature not a bug. But I was miserable, and it’s why I transferred out. Even now that we could easily afford it for our own kids, it’s not at all the vibe I want for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op. please use common sense. There are kid that are partiers at all colleges, including William and Mary, where 30 percent of the kids are involved in Greek life, a similar percentage to Wake and Richmond. At all three of these schools, the majority of kids aren't greek.

At Wake the co-ed business and volunteer service "fraternities" are very popular, as are club sports and the outdoors club. I would be surprised if William and Mary and URichmond are much different. You will generally find more wealthy kids at private colleges, if that is an issue for your kid, stick to William and Mary. In my experience, there is no correlation between family income level and partying.

I don't have personal experience with Richmond, but the kids at Wake care very much about grades and building resumes for grad school/post college professional life.

"Greek" at W&M isn't the same as "Greek" at Wake.

Maybe, but at least for women the Greek percentage has gone up pretty much every year for the last few at W&M. The freshman class is probably much higher than 1/3rd of women. So that's something I'd keep in mind if you really didn't want to be surrounded by people in Greek life because with this current freshman class (and my daughter does recruitment for her sorority and has been told the incoming class of 2030 is likely going to have even higher numbers) it's pretty hard to totally avoid for a woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wake is the strongest of the three academically, William and Mary is a peer school.

100%. U of R and Bucknell are great but a tier down.

NP. My kid is looking at all of these schools as well. What makes Wake a tier above? I thought by reputation Wake and Richmond were on the same level or that Richmond students were a little stronger?

Wake benefitted from being ranked a T30 national university for 25 years until the recent focus on first gen/low income factors.

At our private, Wake is the hardest admit, then Richmond and lastly Bucknell is significantly easier. William and Mary is around the same as Wake, at least for oos. Richmond and Bucknell are often back up for the kids who don’t get Wake.

Bucknell really really loves private school kids so funny to me that someone claimed that it isn’t preppy like Wake and Richmond. I think Bucknell took at least 25 kids from the private schools in our non DC MidAtlantic city.

[Anonymous]

Agree that wake is in a different tier than the other two.

Wake takes kids with around a 3.8 from our private (unless they ED), the other two a 3.4.

I have no dog in this fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op. please use common sense. There are kid that are partiers at all colleges, including William and Mary, where 30 percent of the kids are involved in Greek life, a similar percentage to Wake and Richmond. At all three of these schools, the majority of kids aren't greek.

At Wake the co-ed business and volunteer service "fraternities" are very popular, as are club sports and the outdoors club. I would be surprised if William and Mary and URichmond are much different. You will generally find more wealthy kids at private colleges, if that is an issue for your kid, stick to William and Mary. In my experience, there is no correlation between family income level and partying.

I don't have personal experience with Richmond, but the kids at Wake care very much about grades and building resumes for grad school/post college professional life.

"Greek" at W&M isn't the same as "Greek" at Wake.

Sure it is. Greek life is the same in substance every where. You rush, you pledge, you spend a lot of time at parties and mixers.

It's D&D vs country club. It's not the same.

Nobody plays D&D at either school 😂