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

[Anonymous]

Here's another take:

W&M was a private school that fell on hard times and became a state university. Virginia residents should count their blessings for this!

Most states have a flagship public, a technical public and then a second-tier level of "directional" schools. Think SC/Clemson, UNC/NCSstate, etc, as the flagship/public technicals and Coastal Carolina and East Carolina as the directional schools for SC and NC, respectively.

For undergraduate and some graduate programs, W&M offers additional teaching and enrollment capacity that UVA does not or cannot offer for a flagship school.

VT is a technical public that has taken on some flagship functions because of the limited enrollments of UVA and W&M.

This unique situation of having 3 national level universities in the first or first plus tier is what muddies the water. But who cares! It's a happy problem! And VT is getting stronger thanks to Mr. Bezos with Amazon HQ2 and alumni in various fields (GE CEO, for example). VT is not just Michael Vick or the tragedy (although frankly the colors are horrible and the mascot is a giant turkey, but then again UVA's and W&M's colors and mascots are not great either).

In any event, the presence of UVA, W&M and VT, as well stronger 2nd tier schools such as JMU, VCU and GMU, make VA a much stronger location for public universities. We chose VA over MD because of this: MD has UMCP, but there is no technical school, W&M is much stronger than SMC, and would anyone really compare the MD 2nd tier schools of Towson, UMBC, Salisbury as being comparable to the VA 2nd tier schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the 2nd oldest college in the country. It is nationally known. Jen Psaki went there. It’s a great school. I really wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Also, it’s a bargain if you’re in state.

Jen who?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the 2nd oldest college in the country. It is nationally known. Jen Psaki went there. It’s a great school. I really wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Also, it’s a bargain if you’re in state.

Jen who?

Biden’s press secretary.

[Anonymous]

I think the better question is what are they known for. William and Mary is known for academics and history. Virginia Tech is better known for athletics. It is also well regarded in engineering circles.

[Anonymous]

Coming from a long history of scientists and engineers and having that social circle, as well as being in academia myself, I have to say that I've lived and worked in NYC, Austin, LA, Ohio, and never heard of William and Mary until I came to the DC area. Virginia Tech came up here and there over the years in these various locations, not as a particularly amazing school but certainly a respectable one. Nobody ever mentioned William and Mary. I actually thought it was a Christian school for years after I moved here.

[Anonymous]

sounds like OP that there are people who have heard of one but not the other, or neither or both, so it's kinda a stupid question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's another take:

W&M was a private school that fell on hard times and became a state university. Virginia residents should count their blessings for this!

Most states have a flagship public, a technical public and then a second-tier level of "directional" schools. Think SC/Clemson, UNC/NCSstate, etc, as the flagship/public technicals and Coastal Carolina and East Carolina as the directional schools for SC and NC, respectively.

For undergraduate and some graduate programs, W&M offers additional teaching and enrollment capacity that UVA does not or cannot offer for a flagship school.

VT is a technical public that has taken on some flagship functions because of the limited enrollments of UVA and W&M.

This unique situation of having 3 national level universities in the first or first plus tier is what muddies the water. But who cares! It's a happy problem! And VT is getting stronger thanks to Mr. Bezos with Amazon HQ2 and alumni in various fields (GE CEO, for example). VT is not just Michael Vick or the tragedy (although frankly the colors are horrible and the mascot is a giant turkey, but then again UVA's and W&M's colors and mascots are not great either).

In any event, the presence of UVA, W&M and VT, as well stronger 2nd tier schools such as JMU, VCU and GMU, make VA a much stronger location for public universities. We chose VA over MD because of this: MD has UMCP, but there is no technical school, W&M is much stronger than SMC, and would anyone really compare the MD 2nd tier schools of Towson, UMBC, Salisbury as being comparable to the VA 2nd tier schools?

UMCP is essentially the technical school of Maryland, and thats what it started out as (UMD - Baltimore was the flagship initially).

In terms of second tier schools, UMBC is better than all other than perhaps JMU in liberal arts

[Anonymous]

^ And Salisbury is probably better than Mary Washington.

And while W&M is certainly better recognized, St. Mary's in Maryland is an actual SLAC with some ~1000 students, while W&M is some weird mix of oversized LAC/mid-sized university without the research

[Anonymous]

OP is nuts. William & Mary has way better name recognition than Virginia tech

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's another take:

W&M was a private school that fell on hard times and became a state university. Virginia residents should count their blessings for this!

Most states have a flagship public, a technical public and then a second-tier level of "directional" schools. Think SC/Clemson, UNC/NCSstate, etc, as the flagship/public technicals and Coastal Carolina and East Carolina as the directional schools for SC and NC, respectively.

For undergraduate and some graduate programs, W&M offers additional teaching and enrollment capacity that UVA does not or cannot offer for a flagship school.

VT is a technical public that has taken on some flagship functions because of the limited enrollments of UVA and W&M.

This unique situation of having 3 national level universities in the first or first plus tier is what muddies the water. But who cares! It's a happy problem! And VT is getting stronger thanks to Mr. Bezos with Amazon HQ2 and alumni in various fields (GE CEO, for example). VT is not just Michael Vick or the tragedy (although frankly the colors are horrible and the mascot is a giant turkey, but then again UVA's and W&M's colors and mascots are not great either).

In any event, the presence of UVA, W&M and VT, as well stronger 2nd tier schools such as JMU, VCU and GMU, make VA a much stronger location for public universities. We chose VA over MD because of this: MD has UMCP, but there is no technical school, W&M is much stronger than SMC, and would anyone really compare the MD 2nd tier schools of Towson, UMBC, Salisbury as being comparable to the VA 2nd tier schools?

W&M was never a private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm the U of M alum. Why would I lie about this? I was interviewing in the Bay Area (where I'm from) and was was asked by multiple interviewers why I didn't go to SF State or UC Santa Cruz or similar. They had no idea what U of M was, other than the obvious point that it was a public school in Michigan. People who are not in school or applying to school don't keep up with rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another take:

W&M was a private school that fell on hard times and became a state university. Virginia residents should count their blessings for this!

Most states have a flagship public, a technical public and then a second-tier level of "directional" schools. Think SC/Clemson, UNC/NCSstate, etc, as the flagship/public technicals and Coastal Carolina and East Carolina as the directional schools for SC and NC, respectively.

For undergraduate and some graduate programs, W&M offers additional teaching and enrollment capacity that UVA does not or cannot offer for a flagship school.

VT is a technical public that has taken on some flagship functions because of the limited enrollments of UVA and W&M.

This unique situation of having 3 national level universities in the first or first plus tier is what muddies the water. But who cares! It's a happy problem! And VT is getting stronger thanks to Mr. Bezos with Amazon HQ2 and alumni in various fields (GE CEO, for example). VT is not just Michael Vick or the tragedy (although frankly the colors are horrible and the mascot is a giant turkey, but then again UVA's and W&M's colors and mascots are not great either).

In any event, the presence of UVA, W&M and VT, as well stronger 2nd tier schools such as JMU, VCU and GMU, make VA a much stronger location for public universities. We chose VA over MD because of this: MD has UMCP, but there is no technical school, W&M is much stronger than SMC, and would anyone really compare the MD 2nd tier schools of Towson, UMBC, Salisbury as being comparable to the VA 2nd tier schools?

W&M was never a private school.

It had a royal charter and support from the crown from its founding in 1693 to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was then private until it started to get state support in 1888.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the 2nd oldest college in the country. It is nationally known. Jen Psaki went there. It’s a great school. I really wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Also, it’s a bargain if you’re in state.

Jen who?

Biden’s press secretary.

That makes so much sense. She is the exact type. Why do all the redheads go there?

[Anonymous]

Californian here. Before moving here 15 years ago, I had never heard of W&M or VT and UVA just sounded like every other big state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is the 2nd oldest college in the country. It is nationally known. Jen Psaki went there. It’s a great school. I really wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Also, it’s a bargain if you’re in state.

Jen who?

Biden’s press secretary.

That makes so much sense. She is the exact type. Why do all the redheads go there?

OP, this is a perfect example. This clueless person doesn’t even know the name of the President’s press secretary. Why would you care about their opinion about which school they perceive as more prestigious?