William and Mary experience for NOVA kids

[Anonymous]

OP here--thanks everyone for all these helpful insights/experiences--it's helping me stop from bugging my son!

[Anonymous]

The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

[Anonymous]

DD sophomore at W&M. She chose it over UVA because she thought she would have more opportunities in a smaller school. She Has has a great time there so far, supportive teachers, loves her sorority, just been offered very nice internship. So we’re happy.
The freshman dorm room was small but AC. The food is not wonderful but it’s ok. Not terrible. This year nice room in nice dorm. Next year sorority house and semester abroad. She loves it.
For a guy : more women than men attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

Pointless remark. However the OOS students are very motivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

Ooof. Sad but probably true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

Ooof. Sad but probably true.

Pretty much every college wants as many applicants as they can get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD sophomore at W&M. She chose it over UVA because she thought she would have more opportunities in a smaller school. She Has has a great time there so far, supportive teachers, loves her sorority, just been offered very nice internship. So we’re happy.
The freshman dorm room was small but AC. The food is not wonderful but it’s ok. Not terrible. This year nice room in nice dorm. Next year sorority house and semester abroad. She loves it.
For a guy : more women than men attend.

Not all dorms are great, but they seem OK. On the flip side, you can conceivably live on campus for all four years. That isn't possible at many state schools and is typical only of select private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a freshman at W&M; we live in NoVa and he went to a private school. He had a good ACT score but middling grades... we were surprised he got in. HE loves it and is having a great year. The worst aspect has been the freshman dorms (awful) and the food (gross). Like the previous poster, my son also joined a fraternity and has found a good group of kids to hang with. His looking forward to living in the frat house on campus next year (a significant upgrade from his freshman dorm). He plays on a competitive W&M club sport team, one that travels not just around VA but around the region; he also plays on a bunch of the IM teams they offer, like soccer, basketball and team handball. He has found the classes to be challenging, but not insurmountably so; he received an A- and Bs in all his fall classes. He is undecided in his major, and so his advisor was assigned to him; and although he is not going to be in her field, she has been helpful and kind. He chose W&M because of its size; none of us wanted him to go to a large school. . In fact, W&M was the biggest school he applied to.

I have a girl who is in love with W&M. Can you expand on what’s wrong with the dorms and food? We could only see a model room which was pretty basic, but fine. And we did not get to eat on campus.

I'm the PP who has a freshman who is really enjoying W&M. He lives in Green and Gold Village, which is a large freshman complex by the Kaplan Arena. The complex was originally built as the fraternity houses. They DO NOT have air conditioning and many of the other freshmen dorms do not as well - not sure of the percentage without air. His dorm has two floors of lounge space and the lounge space is air conditioned. The first month of school, the only time he was in his room was to sleep. It was just too hot. But on the positive, he probably became closer to his dorm mates because they were in the same boat. No one was in their room They all hung out in one of the lounges. They designated one of the lounges as the quiet lounge for studying and the other one as the social lounge for watching tv, playing games, etc. My DS loves the location of his dorm. He's in an area of campus that has a large number of dorms and close to amenities like a cafeteria, the rec center and the Kaplan Arena. I don't know where all the freshmen dorms are located but I do know there is a small one by the Admissions Office and another one in the Market Square shopping area.

My DS complains about the food but doesn't really state specifically what he dislikes about the food. There are two all you can eat cafeterias. One across the street from where he lives (by the Kaplan Arena) and one in the Sadler Center in the center of campus. There is an ala carte cafeteria where he can use his meal swipes (not dining dollars) that is near the Admissions Office. He says they have the best food but it's quite a walk from his dorm so he usually only eats there during the week for lunch. There are a couple of places where he can use his dining dollars but he doesn't go there all the time. He only has enough dining dollars for about 20 meals, so a little more than once a week.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

One of the mice things about VJAS and some of the other summer programs around is that your kid’s get some familiarity with the schools. My kid spent time at Mary Washington, Virginia Tech and William & Mary long before college choosing season. By that point, he knew that no AC and smaller town were non-starters for him. He is now OOS.

[Anonymous]

No AC in Williamsburg is pretty rough. But they let you buy an AC unit. Many places without AC won’t let you do that. I don’t understand the “no AC” concept myself. It’s been around for more than 50 years ....

[Anonymous]

W&M also upgrading their dorms. Not sure about the time frame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is a freshman at W&M; we live in NoVa and he went to a private school. He had a good ACT score but middling grades... we were surprised he got in. HE loves it and is having a great year. The worst aspect has been the freshman dorms (awful) and the food (gross). Like the previous poster, my son also joined a fraternity and has found a good group of kids to hang with. His looking forward to living in the frat house on campus next year (a significant upgrade from his freshman dorm). He plays on a competitive W&M club sport team, one that travels not just around VA but around the region; he also plays on a bunch of the IM teams they offer, like soccer, basketball and team handball. He has found the classes to be challenging, but not insurmountably so; he received an A- and Bs in all his fall classes. He is undecided in his major, and so his advisor was assigned to him; and although he is not going to be in her field, she has been helpful and kind. He chose W&M because of its size; none of us wanted him to go to a large school. . In fact, W&M was the biggest school he applied to.

I have a girl who is in love with W&M. Can you expand on what’s wrong with the dorms and food? We could only see a model room which was pretty basic, but fine. And we did not get to eat on campus.

I'm the PP who has a freshman who is really enjoying W&M. He lives in Green and Gold Village, which is a large freshman complex by the Kaplan Arena. The complex was originally built as the fraternity houses. They DO NOT have air conditioning and many of the other freshmen dorms do not as well - not sure of the percentage without air. His dorm has two floors of lounge space and the lounge space is air conditioned. The first month of school, the only time he was in his room was to sleep. It was just too hot. But on the positive, he probably became closer to his dorm mates because they were in the same boat. No one was in their room They all hung out in one of the lounges. They designated one of the lounges as the quiet lounge for studying and the other one as the social lounge for watching tv, playing games, etc. My DS loves the location of his dorm. He's in an area of campus that has a large number of dorms and close to amenities like a cafeteria, the rec center and the Kaplan Arena. I don't know where all the freshmen dorms are located but I do know there is a small one by the Admissions Office and another one in the Market Square shopping area.

My DS complains about the food but doesn't really state specifically what he dislikes about the food. There are two all you can eat cafeterias. One across the street from where he lives (by the Kaplan Arena) and one in the Sadler Center in the center of campus. There is an ala carte cafeteria where he can use his meal swipes (not dining dollars) that is near the Admissions Office. He says they have the best food but it's quite a walk from his dorm so he usually only eats there during the week for lunch. There are a couple of places where he can use his dining dollars but he doesn't go there all the time. He only has enough dining dollars for about 20 meals, so a little more than once a week.

Hope this helps!

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is a freshman at W&M; we live in NoVa and he went to a private school. He had a good ACT score but middling grades... we were surprised he got in.

Do you mind me asking his scores and GPA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

Ooof. Sad but probably true.

Pretty much every college wants as many applicants as they can get.

And every state school would like as many OOS as possible. More revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The primary W&M experience for NoVa kids is learning that W&M doesn’t want NoVa applicants, and instead exists for the revenue provided by out of state applicants who support applicants from the southern and western parts of the state.

Neat thread tho.

Ooof. Sad but probably true.

Pretty much every college wants as many applicants as they can get.

And every state school would like as many OOS as possible. More revenue.

By law, W&M (and all other public VA schools) keep a minimum of 65% of students in-state. A sizeable percentage come from NOVA.