Has the rest of the country heard of William & Mary or does VA Tech have more recognition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area and I heard of William and Mary well before I heard of VT. (Actually I think the first time I heard of it was probably after the shooting.)

Same. Definitely had never heard of VT before moving to VA.

Although I will add, most people don't know schools outside their own state unless the schools are Harvard-level famous. I went to U of M which was highly ranked in my field, tried to get a job in CA, and got a ton of questions about why I couldn't get into the local Cal State.

No you didn't.

[Anonymous]

Isn't W&M is the only college in US named after a UK king and Queen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W and L is private and therefore more expensive in state. It’s also got some of the worst qualities of UVA. Southern, fratty, etc, but smaller and in a more red state area of VA. Its also 2/3 male and in the same town as VMI, Lexington VA. It’s got a great poli sci dept but so does UVA. And W and M.

I wouldn’t compare W and L to any of these schools, and it’s got bigger issues than Lee in its name, although that is clearly one of them.

You seem bright.

They may be bright, but W&L is now 50/50 male female, not 2/3 male. In-state, there is a state Tuition Assistance Grant, which offsets some of the cost differential. W&L is a great school for the right person. The PP evaluated it from their own perspective (Southern, fratty, etc.). In a study by the Economist a few years ago, W&L had the highest value add for income of all colleges and universities in the U.S.

I was being facetious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from Texas and always knew W&M was an excellent school. I honestly can’t say if I knew about VA Tech till I moved to NoVA

Same. Also from Texas and had heard of W&M well before VA Tech.

Same here. Also from TX!

It doesn't surprise me that people from Texas are misinformed.

Nearly every poster on this thread has confirmed the same - W&M > VT by a significant margin in name recognition. W&M is also ranked significantly higher than VT so doesn't seem like we're misinformed at all.

[Anonymous]

Never heard of VT until I moved up here. UVA and William and Mary were the colleges I knew. I still don't think VT is as good as either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The deciding factor is, what does she want to study?

If she wants to go into engineering, computer science, architecture/design or become a veterinarian, then she should choose Virginia Tech.
Most other things, choose William & Mary.

For general liberal arts education, pre-law, pre-med, business, natural sciences, math, advanced study (possibly get a PhD), international relations, public policy, humanities, and social sciences, William & Mary is probably better.

For VT, I'd say the PP was probably correct. W&M does not have engineering (closest is Applied Science - you would have to do a 3-2 with another school to get an engineering degree), architecture and design, or that pre-vet track VT has. VT also has an ag school. VT is strongest in the areas around engineering, where it is the broadest and most complete school in Virginia. VT has a large computer science program, which is useful if you want to get some specialization in your course work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't W&M is the only college in US named after a UK king and Queen?

So?? Many of our states were named after UK Kings and Queens! NC, SC, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia...

[Anonymous]

Virginia Tech is not more prestigious than William and Mary. You are advising her poorly.

Signed,
Yale grad who has served on many hiring committees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't W&M is the only college in US named after a UK king and Queen?

So?? Many of our states were named after UK Kings and Queens! NC, SC, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia...

Columbia used to be King's College. Rutgers used to be Queen's College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter seems like more of a William & Mary person in terms of size and vibe but I worry the rest of the country hasn’t heard of it and/or know it’s a good school. Would a VA Tech degree be better for her career search if she moves out of the area? I know her experience during the four years is so important but we fear spending so much money on a place with low name recognition. (I know it IS a good school academically.)

William & Mary is much better known for academics, and I think that is what you should be focused on. Virginia Tech is better known through athletics (not to say it isn't a good school).

[Anonymous]

Vetch for engineering W&M for everything else. W&M has a very good reputation among employers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vetch for engineering W&M for everything else. W&M has a very good reputation among employers.

THIS^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from Texas and always knew W&M was an excellent school. I honestly can’t say if I knew about VA Tech till I moved to NoVA

Same. Also from Texas and had heard of W&M well before VA Tech.

Same here. Also from TX!

It doesn't surprise me that people from Texas are misinformed.

Nearly every poster on this thread has confirmed the same - W&M > VT by a significant margin in name recognition. W&M is also ranked significantly higher than VT so doesn't seem like we're misinformed at all.

W&M does not have a significantly higher name recognition than VT, to argue so is dumb. The name recognition is similar at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area and I heard of William and Mary well before I heard of VT. (Actually I think the first time I heard of it was probably after the shooting.)

Same. Definitely had never heard of VT before moving to VA.

Although I will add, most people don't know schools outside their own state unless the schools are Harvard-level famous. I went to U of M which was highly ranked in my field, tried to get a job in CA, and got a ton of questions about why I couldn't get into the local Cal State.

No you didn't.

I definitely believe this.

[Anonymous]

Has the rest of the country heard of William & Mary...?

That’s a clown question, bro.