How to pick between UVA and W&M

[Anonymous]

My son's best friend is a Physics major at UVa, and seems to be having a good experience. He is considering graduate school, but has not yet made a final decision on that. My son is a CS major at W&M. As almost everyone here has said, I don't think there is an objectively "right" answer here. Your son will likely do well at either place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son's best friend is a Physics major at UVa, and seems to be having a good experience. He is considering graduate school, but has not yet made a final decision on that. My son is a CS major at W&M. As almost everyone here has said, I don't think there is an objectively "right" answer here. Your son will likely do well at either place

How does your son like CS at W&M?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's best friend is a Physics major at UVa, and seems to be having a good experience. He is considering graduate school, but has not yet made a final decision on that. My son is a CS major at W&M. As almost everyone here has said, I don't think there is an objectively "right" answer here. Your son will likely do well at either place

How does your son like CS at W&M?

I’d like to know this, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's best friend is a Physics major at UVa, and seems to be having a good experience. He is considering graduate school, but has not yet made a final decision on that. My son is a CS major at W&M. As almost everyone here has said, I don't think there is an objectively "right" answer here. Your son will likely do well at either place

How does your son like CS at W&M?

I think he's had a pretty good experience/education. He is double majoring in math, and has an interest in machine learning and AI. He ended up landing an internship with the Navy through a coding competition recommended by one of his professors (he also won $4000!). That internship resulted in a permanent job offer, which he accepted and where he will be starting in June after he graduates. The one interesting tidbit I've gleaned from him is that it is very possible to get through the major requirements without much actual programming. So some of that has to be done on the side. However, given the trajectory of AI, he thinks that basic programming is rapidly becoming less important in the job market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's best friend is a Physics major at UVa, and seems to be having a good experience. He is considering graduate school, but has not yet made a final decision on that. My son is a CS major at W&M. As almost everyone here has said, I don't think there is an objectively "right" answer here. Your son will likely do well at either place

How does your son like CS at W&M?

I think he's had a pretty good experience/education. He is double majoring in math, and has an interest in machine learning and AI. He ended up landing an internship with the Navy through a coding competition recommended by one of his professors (he also won $4000!). That internship resulted in a permanent job offer, which he accepted and where he will be starting in June after he graduates. The one interesting tidbit I've gleaned from him is that it is very possible to get through the major requirements without much actual programming. So some of that has to be done on the side. However, given the trajectory of AI, he thinks that basic programming is rapidly becoming less important in the job market.

PP. Thank you for taking the time! Our senior is deciding between UVA and W&M. I may ask her if she would consider a double major in math. Very interesting about the actual programming.
Congrats on the job offer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is ranked in 20’s and W&M ranked in 50’s. Wouldn’t ranking matter?

No.

+1. People need to investigate the factors used in rankings to see if they are relevant to them, not blindly follow them.

Both are good schools, OP. Don’t think you can go wrong here. Good luck!

William and Mary is ranked T6 in undergraduate teaching in USNWR and has what appears to be top scores in Princeton Review among public schools for "Academic Rating", "Interesting Professors", and "Accessible Professors".

[Anonymous]

My concern with CS at William &Mary is that it is not well established, as it is a new program. I think they are building their own school, but that won't happen until next year.

[Anonymous]

I'm following this thread with interest. I have a DS who plans to major in physics and is deciding between UMD and W&M - we're in MD.
I agree with the PP who said to talk to a physics professor - that is what my son did when he went for a tour last fall. Just cold-emailed the admin asst of the physics dept who hooked him up with a professor who had time to chat. If your DC is into accelerator research, Jefferson Labs is right there, and at least some W&M profs are involved in research there.

I think my son would be happier at W&M (and we'd prefer it for the size/teaching... and yes, both of his parents are academics! we know that not all professors love teaching!) but it's going to be hard to swallow the price difference, when UMD's physics dept is good.

Wish us luck, too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern with CS at William &Mary is that it is not well established, as it is a new program. I think they are building their own school, but that won't happen until next year.

They have had CS awhile, they are just expanding to have a whole School of Computing. They have a LOT of excellent faculty per student and the career outcomes are top-notch for graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern with CS at William &Mary is that it is not well established, as it is a new program. I think they are building their own school, but that won't happen until next year.

CS at W&M has been a thing since at least the 90s. It's definitely very established, although I would also make the argument with a fast moving field like CS that being newer is not a detriment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern with CS at William &Mary is that it is not well established, as it is a new program. I think they are building their own school, but that won't happen until next year.

CS at W&M has been a thing since at least the 90s. It's definitely very established, although I would also make the argument with a fast moving field like CS that being newer is not a detriment.

CS at W&M has been a thing since the 1960s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA is ranked in 20’s and W&M ranked in 50’s. Wouldn’t ranking matter?

If this is how YOUR CHILD (not you) is choosing, you're doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is ranked in 20’s and W&M ranked in 50’s. Wouldn’t ranking matter?

If this is how YOUR CHILD (not you) is choosing, you're doing it wrong.

😊 why is it so wrong? What if the student wants to do finance/business. Ranking matters then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My concern with CS at William &Mary is that it is not well established, as it is a new program. I think they are building their own school, but that won't happen until next year.

CS at W&M has been a thing since at least the 90s. It's definitely very established, although I would also make the argument with a fast moving field like CS that being newer is not a detriment.

CS at W&M has been a thing since the 1960s.

Perhaps its just that W&M isn't really known for CS, even if they had a program for a while. I believe W&M is mainly known for its humanities. In general, I don't think people choose W&M specifically because of their CS program(not to say that it is bad).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA is ranked in 20’s and W&M ranked in 50’s. Wouldn’t ranking matter?

If this is how YOUR CHILD (not you) is choosing, you're doing it wrong.

I get it. It's hard not to buy into that. But, it is far from the whole story.

My kid got into a T10, GU and really selective SLAC in addition to UVA WM. The state schools are the two lowest ranked of his acceptances.

But, they are in the final running with the other...5 currently. There is a lot to consider about all of. This is a busy month. My kid is attending admitted student days, weekend(s) at all of them.

We want him to see where he feels the most comfortable and where he fits the best.

I think a lot of us think the actual college doesn't tell the whole story...like you want a sticker that says 'but I also was accepted into...X, Y, Z'. If you read this board especially because people make crappy assumptions based on what a kid posts on his Decision Day Instagram story. You have zero idea. My neighbor turned down an Ivy. We might be in the same boat, as well as GU. We are in a UMC neighborhood filled with donut hole families who don't get need-based aid so these $90-100K price tags really are a deterrent when you have to pay in full.