Virginia vs. Maryland for Universities

[Anonymous]

The vast majority of people don't know James Comey other than him being in a political stuntman. Doubt they'd know what college he went to.


The poster makes a good point about relative name recognition. Large universities will have more name recognition because their alumni base is larger and they tend to be research universities which brings academic prestige. The laymen may recognize a state flagship over W&M which might be some random with not much to go on.

However W&M has a private/Catholic-school sounding name which can bring about its own sort of prestige in certain industries and certain ranks i.e. industries/ranks where "University of - " makes you just another state school kid and everyone else has gone to a private, catholic or LAC.

[Anonymous]

Political scandal*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate

Really?!?!?!? WTH do you teach? I'm from NY, went to school in Massachusetts, and I knew William and Mary was a good school. I think the fact that you didn't know W&M says more about you than it does about W&M.

[Anonymous]

Fake professor is here a lot. Often says Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate

Really?!?!?!? WTH do you teach? I'm from NY, went to school in Massachusetts, and I knew William and Mary was a good school. I think the fact that you didn't know W&M says more about you than it does about W&M.

I know! Seriously?? I'm from CA and knew W&M was a good school. Actually applied from CA and it was my 1st choice but the $$$ wasn't there so went to Cal instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Maryland ... and the only answer is Virginia.

Yep if your kid doesn’t get into UM College Park it’s best to go private. Virginia has many other great public school options besides Uva.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fake professor is here a lot. Often says Harvard.

There are at least 10 different professors on here, and I assure you I am real. I also texted my dad today who was a professor a few states away for 30 years, he also never heard of W&M. It must only be popular for certain majors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Maryland ... and the only answer is Virginia.

Yep if your kid doesn’t get into UM College Park it’s best to go private. Virginia has many other great public school options besides Uva.

You are going to live in VA for JMU or Radford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate

Really?!?!?!? WTH do you teach? I'm from NY, went to school in Massachusetts, and I knew William and Mary was a good school. I think the fact that you didn't know W&M says more about you than it does about W&M.

PP again, my father and I are in different fields - engineering and business. Neither of us had ever heard of W&M

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate

Really?!?!?!? WTH do you teach? I'm from NY, went to school in Massachusetts, and I knew William and Mary was a good school. I think the fact that you didn't know W&M says more about you than it does about W&M.

PP again, my father and I are in different fields - engineering and business. Neither of us had ever heard of W&M

And neither of you ever opened a book or magazine that ranks colleges? It's been ranked one of the top colleges in the country for decades now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fake professor is here a lot. Often says Harvard.

There are at least 10 different professors on here, and I assure you I am real. I also texted my dad today who was a professor a few states away for 30 years, he also never heard of W&M. It must only be popular for certain majors

Again, says more about you and the limits of your knowledge than it does about W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA, VT and W & M....Vs UMD at top tier.

I would take Virginia over just about any state (at least outside of California).

Are you a fool? Massachusetts North Carolina way better

Massachusetts public universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For all of the complaining about MD, I am not really seeing much difference with VA, with one exception. Remembering that VA has 85,000 HS seniors compared to MD 60,000:
UMD serves the role that in VA is served by UVA and VT (State Flagship, which UVA is a little small for, and STEM center)
ACT 25-75
UMD 28-33
UVA 30-34
VT 25-30
Pretty equivalent and could go either way depending on a student's area of interest.
UMBC 24-29 = GMU 24-30 and serves a similar role with similar strengths.
Towson 20-25 and Salisbury 20-25 are, perhaps a little behind JMU 23-28 and CNU 23-28, but not dramatically different.
For kids wanting a small, liberal arts option SMCM 23-28 = UMW 22-29.
The only real niche that MD can't match is W&M, but that is a pretty unique school that no other state can really match.

Who judges school quality based on ACT scores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I gotta be honest, almost nobody outside of Virginia has heard of W&M. I'm a professor who lives in the DC area and even a few years after I moved here I thought it was either some kind of weird hippy school or a catholic school. I finally figured out it was part of the public system and an actual normal university only after being a VA resident for five years. I've been at top universities in the northeast, south, and now here, and know hundreds of academics. I have never heard a single one even mention W&M. I doubt most faculty even know it is a school. That's NOT to say that it might not be a good school. But a lot of getting jobs is about name recognition. Most employers in LA, Atlanta, Austin, NYC has probably never heard of the school. In addition, a quick googling of the faculty salaries shows that it does not pay competitively to attract top faculty. Some may be there for location preference but I can't imagine any top people in their field choosing to take a 33% salary cut to go there unless they were desperate

Really?!?!?!? WTH do you teach? I'm from NY, went to school in Massachusetts, and I knew William and Mary was a good school. I think the fact that you didn't know W&M says more about you than it does about W&M.

PP again, my father and I are in different fields - engineering and business. Neither of us had ever heard of W&M

So stupidity runs in the family. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA, VT and W & M....Vs UMD at top tier.

I would take Virginia over just about any state (at least outside of California).

Are you a fool? Massachusetts North Carolina way better

Massachusetts public universities?

North Carolina?