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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does he want to study/do with his degree OP?

Fwiw I’ve also been unimpressed with what Davidson grads have done. While many went to grad school I got the impression it was because they had to. A number of his friends were artists, BS jobs, in non profit, etc. which is fine but not if you’re upper middle class and just paid $280k for your child to attend school and not even end up in a professional career.

Why do you equate working for a non-profit as "not even ending up in a professional career"?? It might just mean that they care more about contributing to society than contributing to their bank account. I would be much prouder if my child "ended up" that way, than trading on Wall Street.

--From one of those people who got a PhD and works for a non-profit (because I wanted to not because "I had to")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davidson and W&L are fine LACs. W&L has an insanely loyal alumni and strong alum networks. Davidson perhaps not so much.

Davidson and W&L and UVA have no prestige advantages over each other. All are the same. People really overthink prestige. They are all great colleges of some standing and are known and beyond that it really doesn't matter whether you went to one over another.

Very few human beings have heard of Davidson and W&L. Very many people have heard of UVA. And UVA is on the cusp of a national NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Few people have heard of Yale either. That is irrelevant. Someone once said to me that there are only two types of colleges in America, Harvard and everyone else, and there's truth to it.

Davidson and W&L are both great colleges. UVA is a great college too. Picking between the three should be done either for financial reasons or soft factors like campus atmosphere, not prestige.

No. Very many people have heard of Yale. If you turn down UVA for Davidson or W&L, many—if not most—fellow students there will wonder why. Don’t make this mistake.

I'm sure the clear majority of Americans have never heard of Yale. The obsession with the prestige colleges is a particularly educated, upper middle class pastime and the vast majority of Americans do not fall into this category.

UVA and Davidson and W&L for all practical purposes are colleges of comparable prestige. Few people are judging anyone for going to one over the other. Even fewer will care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davidson and W&L are fine LACs. W&L has an insanely loyal alumni and strong alum networks. Davidson perhaps not so much.

Davidson and W&L and UVA have no prestige advantages over each other. All are the same. People really overthink prestige. They are all great colleges of some standing and are known and beyond that it really doesn't matter whether you went to one over another.

Very few human beings have heard of Davidson and W&L. Very many people have heard of UVA. And UVA is on the cusp of a national NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Few people have heard of Yale either. That is irrelevant. Someone once said to me that there are only two types of colleges in America, Harvard and everyone else, and there's truth to it.

Davidson and W&L are both great colleges. UVA is a great college too. Picking between the three should be done either for financial reasons or soft factors like campus atmosphere, not prestige.

No. Very many people have heard of Yale. If you turn down UVA for Davidson or W&L, many—if not most—fellow students there will wonder why. Don’t make this mistake.

I'm sure the clear majority of Americans have never heard of Yale. The obsession with the prestige colleges is a particularly educated, upper middle class pastime and the vast majority of Americans do not fall into this category.

UVA and Davidson and W&L for all practical purposes are colleges of comparable prestige. Few people are judging anyone for going to one over the other. Even fewer will care.

This is the majority that lives hand-to-mouth and lives in the boondocks. It's the minority you need to worry about. They are the ones likely to show up on campus to hire your kid, provide internship opps, etc. What are you smoking?? Davidson and W&L are comparable to UVA ONLY in the minds of those who go to those schools.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, when will some of you DCUM'ers realize that to many of us it is not about buying prestige or name recognition (so you can stop arguing about that). We are hoping to get a quality education for our children. You are clearly the same kind of people who spend more for impressive brands of cars and living in the "right" zip code. Not everyone seeks external validation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davidson and W&L are fine LACs. W&L has an insanely loyal alumni and strong alum networks. Davidson perhaps not so much.

Davidson and W&L and UVA have no prestige advantages over each other. All are the same. People really overthink prestige. They are all great colleges of some standing and are known and beyond that it really doesn't matter whether you went to one over another.

Very few human beings have heard of Davidson and W&L. Very many people have heard of UVA. And UVA is on the cusp of a national NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Few people have heard of Yale either. That is irrelevant. Someone once said to me that there are only two types of colleges in America, Harvard and everyone else, and there's truth to it.

Davidson and W&L are both great colleges. UVA is a great college too. Picking between the three should be done either for financial reasons or soft factors like campus atmosphere, not prestige.

No. Very many people have heard of Yale. If you turn down UVA for Davidson or W&L, many—if not most—fellow students there will wonder why. Don’t make this mistake.

I'm sure the clear majority of Americans have never heard of Yale. The obsession with the prestige colleges is a particularly educated, upper middle class pastime and the vast majority of Americans do not fall into this category.

UVA and Davidson and W&L for all practical purposes are colleges of comparable prestige. Few people are judging anyone for going to one over the other. Even fewer will care.

This is the majority that lives hand-to-mouth and lives in the boondocks. It's the minority you need to worry about. They are the ones likely to show up on campus to hire your kid, provide internship opps, etc. What are you smoking?? Davidson and W&L are comparable to UVA ONLY in the minds of those who go to those schools.

You are uninformed. Students at SLACs like Davidson and W&L do very well in the job market, graduate school, internships, etc. And as far as comparing the schools to UVA, check out https://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/#tab:rank. Davidson and W&L are higher ranked than UVA. If you think SLACs cost too much or aren't a good fit for your kid, fine, but you are just wrong about how such schools are viewed by employers or graduate programs.

[Anonymous]

If money isn't an object, I'd go with whichever one is a better fit. I'd also say that we've been very pleasantly surprised at the amount of merit aid DC is getting at these types of schools. A couple of them have come in slightly lower than UVA and W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does he want to study/do with his degree OP?

Fwiw I’ve also been unimpressed with what Davidson grads have done. While many went to grad school I got the impression it was because they had to. A number of his friends were artists, BS jobs, in non profit, etc. which is fine but not if you’re upper middle class and just paid $280k for your child to attend school and not even end up in a professional career.

Why do you equate working for a non-profit as "not even ending up in a professional career"?? It might just mean that they care more about contributing to society than contributing to their bank account. I would be much prouder if my child "ended up" that way, than trading on Wall Street.

--From one of those people who got a PhD and works for a non-profit (because I wanted to not because "I had to")

Unless you’re independently wealthy, it’s extremely dumb to spend $75k a year on tuition to go and work for a nonprofit!

[Anonymous]

I'm a W&L alumni. As many PPs have mentioned, W&L people are fiercely loyal to the school. I try to be subjective and recognize that it is a great school, but there are many, many other great schools out there.

If your son is pre med, I would consider W&L strongly. Those students do very well. Call the school, ask for the data. I know that in recent years, fully 80% of pre med students were admitted to one of their top 3 choices for med school.

Davidson's pre med students also do very, very well. One of the reasons the students coming out of top SLACs are competitive going into med school are the research opportunities available to them as undergrads because there are no grad students to compete with. Are they doing the same groundbreaking research that grad students are doing? No. But undergraduate students at big research universities are rarely afforded any of those opportunities.

At a good SLAC like W&L or Davidson, students are closely shepherded through the medical school admissions process. There are far more resources going to that undergraduate student preparing them for that next step.

If you can afford it, I would certainly select a good SLAC over UVA with your son's goal of medical school. He can go to UVA for med school.

[Anonymous]

Davidson has serious grade deflation. Avoid it for pre-med.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davidson and W&L are fine LACs. W&L has an insanely loyal alumni and strong alum networks. Davidson perhaps not so much.

Davidson and W&L and UVA have no prestige advantages over each other. All are the same. People really overthink prestige. They are all great colleges of some standing and are known and beyond that it really doesn't matter whether you went to one over another.

Very few human beings have heard of Davidson and W&L. Very many people have heard of UVA. And UVA is on the cusp of a national NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Few people have heard of Yale either. That is irrelevant. Someone once said to me that there are only two types of colleges in America, Harvard and everyone else, and there's truth to it.

Davidson and W&L are both great colleges. UVA is a great college too. Picking between the three should be done either for financial reasons or soft factors like campus atmosphere, not prestige.

No. Very many people have heard of Yale. If you turn down UVA for Davidson or W&L, many—if not most—fellow students there will wonder why. Don’t make this mistake.

I'm sure the clear majority of Americans have never heard of Yale. The obsession with the prestige colleges is a particularly educated, upper middle class pastime and the vast majority of Americans do not fall into this category.

UVA and Davidson and W&L for all practical purposes are colleges of comparable prestige. Few people are judging anyone for going to one over the other. Even fewer will care.

This is the majority that lives hand-to-mouth and lives in the boondocks. It's the minority you need to worry about. They are the ones likely to show up on campus to hire your kid, provide internship opps, etc. What are you smoking?? Davidson and W&L are comparable to UVA ONLY in the minds of those who go to those schools.

Double Ivy here, and I'd definitely consider Davidson on par with UVA, and look at any candidate from W&L on his or her own merits. I'm not sure why you seem to think your own views are more broadly held.

[Anonymous]

I consider UVA on par with Davidson/W&L as well. No affiliation with any of the three schools. Davidson is definitely not an inferior school to UVA, and according to Parchment, cross admits decide between the two at a 50/50 rate (in other words, no difference in perception by admitted students).

[Anonymous]

W & L is $64,000, not including travel costs BUT you need to add in the fees for fraternity and sorority membership. When we toured we were told almost 90% of the students participate in greek life (and a LOT of drinking). It's such a problem (IMHO) that the expenses for greek life are listed right here on the tuition form of W&L. This has also been a problem for the full freight minority and poor students - they might be at W&L full freight but they can't participate in the greek life, which is very expensive. https://www.wlu.edu/admissions/scholarships-and-aid/cost-of-attendance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W & L is $64,000, not including travel costs BUT you need to add in the fees for fraternity and sorority membership. When we toured we were told almost 90% of the students participate in greek life (and a LOT of drinking). It's such a problem (IMHO) that the expenses for greek life are listed right here on the tuition form of W&L. This has also been a problem for the full freight minority and poor students - they might be at W&L full freight but they can't participate in the greek life, which is very expensive. https://www.wlu.edu/admissions/scholarships-and-aid/cost-of-attendance

That's very interesting! Thanks for sharing. It's kind of like joining Greek life is just an assumed fact, for better or worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davidson and W&L are fine LACs. W&L has an insanely loyal alumni and strong alum networks. Davidson perhaps not so much.

Davidson and W&L and UVA have no prestige advantages over each other. All are the same. People really overthink prestige. They are all great colleges of some standing and are known and beyond that it really doesn't matter whether you went to one over another.

Very few human beings have heard of Davidson and W&L. Very many people have heard of UVA. And UVA is on the cusp of a national NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Few people have heard of Yale either. That is irrelevant. Someone once said to me that there are only two types of colleges in America, Harvard and everyone else, and there's truth to it.

Davidson and W&L are both great colleges. UVA is a great college too. Picking between the three should be done either for financial reasons or soft factors like campus atmosphere, not prestige.

No. Very many people have heard of Yale. If you turn down UVA for Davidson or W&L, many—if not most—fellow students there will wonder why. Don’t make this mistake.

I'm sure the clear majority of Americans have never heard of Yale. The obsession with the prestige colleges is a particularly educated, upper middle class pastime and the vast majority of Americans do not fall into this category.

UVA and Davidson and W&L for all practical purposes are colleges of comparable prestige. Few people are judging anyone for going to one over the other. Even fewer will care.

This is the majority that lives hand-to-mouth and lives in the boondocks. It's the minority you need to worry about. They are the ones likely to show up on campus to hire your kid, provide internship opps, etc. What are you smoking?? Davidson and W&L are comparable to UVA ONLY in the minds of those who go to those schools.

Double Ivy here, and I'd definitely consider Davidson on par with UVA, and look at any candidate from W&L on his or her own merits. I'm not sure why you seem to think your own views are more broadly held.

I am another double Ivy, and I do a lot of hiring in my profession. I most definitely consider Davidson and W&L on par with UVA when assessing candidates. In fact Davidson and W&L may stand out more, simply because I see so many UVA grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W & L is $64,000, not including travel costs BUT you need to add in the fees for fraternity and sorority membership. When we toured we were told almost 90% of the students participate in greek life (and a LOT of drinking). It's such a problem (IMHO) that the expenses for greek life are listed right here on the tuition form of W&L. This has also been a problem for the full freight minority and poor students - they might be at W&L full freight but they can't participate in the greek life, which is very expensive. https://www.wlu.edu/admissions/scholarships-and-aid/cost-of-attendance

Just to clarify, are you saying the full freight minority students can't participate in Greek life because it is so expensive? Or is there some other reason they can't participate?
( I am a minority who participated in Greek life attending an Ivy on financial aid.)