10 best colleges in VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to VMI? Isn’t it better than MWC or VCU?

Definitely NOT!

VMI = racist, sexist nightmare.

UMW (not MWC --- how old are you???) = welcoming, accepting, supportive, taught only by professors with terminal degrees in their fields.

VCU = diverse with lots of variety for majors; excellent medical and art offerings.

No -- VMI is not "better" than UMW or VCU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to VMI? Isn’t it better than MWC or VCU?

Definitely NOT!

VMI = racist, sexist nightmare.

UMW (not MWC --- how old are you???) = welcoming, accepting, supportive, taught only by professors with terminal degrees in their fields.

VCU = diverse with lots of variety for majors; excellent medical and art offerings.

No -- VMI is not "better" than UMW or VCU.

+1

Aesthetically, if you've ever visited VMI, it almost looks like a prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to USNews National Ranking, the ranking of the national universities are following:

UVA
WM
VT
GMU
JMU
VCU

It’s difficult to compare these schools with LACs and regional schools, but I would say:

1. WL
2. UVA
3. WM

4. Richmond
5. VT

6. GMU
7. JMU
8. CNU
9. VCU
10. UMW

1-3 are a top tier, 4-5 are very strong, 6-10 are solid.

I'd flip #1 and #2 on your list, but pretty much spot on.

I guess the Virginia ranking has been changed quite a bit. About 30 years ago:

UVa and WM were really equal. Now UVa has a slight edge.

VT and JMU were roughly equal. Now it seems like VT is preferred even for non STEM majors.

GMU was a commtuter school with very easy admission. Now its ranking is similar to that of JMU if not bettee.

CNU was almost completly unknown in Northern Virginia. Now it attracts many students from this area.

VMI used to be a respected institute. Now it seems like people don’t care about (or even hate) that school.

[Anonymous]

^^ CNU is still not that great. We just have much bigger population while the number of colleges have not increased. CNU location is not great either. Most people are employed by the military or the shipyard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to VMI? Isn’t it better than MWC or VCU?

Definitely NOT!

VMI = racist, sexist nightmare.

UMW (not MWC --- how old are you???) = welcoming, accepting, supportive, taught only by professors with terminal degrees in their fields.

VCU = diverse with lots of variety for majors; excellent medical and art offerings.

No -- VMI is not "better" than UMW or VCU.

DP. Calm down, geez. I'm a UMW alum and I always say MWC - as do many of us who graduated before the name change. Take it down a notch, or several.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sad to see W&M so definitively behind UVA today. Once upon a time it was often considered better and went toe-to-toe, but today it is wholeheartedly second-place.

I don’t disagree. But it’s an apples to oranges comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to USNews National Ranking, the ranking of the national universities are following:

UVA
WM
VT
GMU
JMU
VCU

It’s difficult to compare these schools with LACs and regional schools, but I would say:

1. WL
2. UVA
3. WM

4. Richmond
5. VT

6. GMU
7. JMU
8. CNU
9. VCU
10. UMW

1-3 are a top tier, 4-5 are very strong, 6-10 are solid.

I'd flip #1 and #2 on your list, but pretty much spot on.

I guess the Virginia ranking has been changed quite a bit. About 30 years ago:

UVa and WM were really equal. Now UVa has a slight edge.

VT and JMU were roughly equal. Now it seems like VT is preferred even for non STEM majors.

GMU was a commtuter school with very easy admission. Now its ranking is similar to that of JMU if not bettee.

CNU was almost completly unknown in Northern Virginia. Now it attracts many students from this area.

VMI used to be a respected institute. Now it seems like people don’t care about (or even hate) that school.

Yep. A lot can happen over 30 years

[Anonymous]

GMU is ascendant.Give it six years and W&M will be an 80-20 female-male school ranked tenth best in Virginia but still bragging about being ranked ninth or something in a meaningless category like “best undergraduate teaching.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GMU is ascendant.Give it six years and W&M will be an 80-20 female-male school ranked tenth best in Virginia but still bragging about being ranked ninth or something in a meaningless category like “best undergraduate teaching.”

I agree with you, on both counts. People on this forum love to put down GMU simply because it's our local university. Meanwhile, kids are coming from all over the state, country, and world to attend. As for W&M, it seems to have been in a decline for the past decade. SO many students find it off-putting as it is, and the male/female ratio is just getting wider by the year.

[Anonymous]

Top colleges for whom?

The value-add to the life of a student who attends The Apprentice School is probably much greater than that of a UVa student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GMU is ascendant.Give it six years and W&M will be an 80-20 female-male school ranked tenth best in Virginia but still bragging about being ranked ninth or something in a meaningless category like “best undergraduate teaching.”

I agree with you, on both counts. People on this forum love to put down GMU simply because it's our local university. Meanwhile, kids are coming from all over the state, country, and world to attend. As for W&M, it seems to have been in a decline for the past decade. SO many students find it off-putting as it is, and the male/female ratio is just getting wider by the year.

not sure about the off-putting thing, but the male/female ratio is extremely concerning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sad to see W&M so definitively behind UVA today. Once upon a time it was often considered better and went toe-to-toe, but today it is wholeheartedly second-place.

I don’t disagree. But it’s an apples to oranges comparison.

That perception mostly stems from USNWR, where the ranking criteria for National Universities doesn't favor a smaller public school like William and Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GMU is ascendant.Give it six years and W&M will be an 80-20 female-male school ranked tenth best in Virginia but still bragging about being ranked ninth or something in a meaningless category like “best undergraduate teaching.”

I agree with you, on both counts. People on this forum love to put down GMU simply because it's our local university. Meanwhile, kids are coming from all over the state, country, and world to attend. As for W&M, it seems to have been in a decline for the past decade. SO many students find it off-putting as it is, and the male/female ratio is just getting wider by the year.

not sure about the off-putting thing, but the male/female ratio is extremely concerning.

So I looked this stuff up. W&M's most recent class according to the Common Data Set is 58% female. UVA's is 57% female. UVA's Arts & Sciences (the school that most closely matches W&M's academic offerings) is 62% female. UNC Chapel Hill's is 63% female. JMU's is 58% female. VCU's is 66% female. Mary Washington is 65% female. National female/male ratio was 59.5% female and 40.5% male. Is this "concerning" ratio really out of line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GMU is ascendant.Give it six years and W&M will be an 80-20 female-male school ranked tenth best in Virginia but still bragging about being ranked ninth or something in a meaningless category like “best undergraduate teaching.”

I agree with you, on both counts. People on this forum love to put down GMU simply because it's our local university. Meanwhile, kids are coming from all over the state, country, and world to attend. As for W&M, it seems to have been in a decline for the past decade. SO many students find it off-putting as it is, and the male/female ratio is just getting wider by the year.

not sure about the off-putting thing, but the male/female ratio is extremely concerning.

So I looked this stuff up. W&M's most recent class according to the Common Data Set is 58% female. UVA's is 57% female. UVA's Arts & Sciences (the school that most closely matches W&M's academic offerings) is 62% female. UNC Chapel Hill's is 63% female. JMU's is 58% female. VCU's is 66% female. Mary Washington is 65% female. National female/male ratio was 59.5% female and 40.5% male. Is this "concerning" ratio really out of line?

No, of course not. Everyone likes to spout off nonsense on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ CNU is still not that great. We just have much bigger population while the number of colleges have not increased. CNU location is not great either. Most people are employed by the military or the shipyard.

I'll fully admit I'm a CNU supporter, but here goes. Have you actually been to CNU recently or interacted with any students attending? And the location? The campus is beautiful, it's right near the James River and the immediate area is perfectly safe and very suburban. As to being employed by the military or the shipyard, so? What does that even have to do with the school? Is top tier and attracting all sorts of DCUM love? Nope. That's ok, it's a great fit for my kid who is getting an excellent education. FWIW - I have kids at other, higher ranked schools and for individual attention, CNU outranks them all.