Is there any academic reason to pick George Mason over W&M?
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Anonymous
| For a student who has no personal need to stay in Northern Virginia and will be living in a dorm the first year (and will try to for future years), does Mason offer any advantages? In anything? (I am not going to tell kid where to go; I've just been asking "Well, which do you think would be better as far as X?" questions. And I think a kid can have a good experience anywhere. But I don't know if I'm asking the right questions.) |
Anonymous
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I think W&M has more opportunities - including their prestigious overseas program.
And it has a lot more kudos, generally. George Mason - high 87% acceptance rate William & Mary - 37% |
Anonymous
| price is the only advantage |
Anonymous
| Depends somewhat on major. Mason is really strong for computer science with great access to internships so I might pick it over W&M for that. |
Anonymous
Mason has nursing |
Anonymous
Same, was going to say CS and CS job placement. But other than that, nope. |
Anonymous
| The biggest obvious difference is size of the student population at both schools. GMU is a very large school and as such, class sizes, infrastructure, access to Professors, etc. is a different dynamic than a smaller university. Size isn’t necessarily the academic reason you’re asking about but it does impact the academic environment. These two schools are not an apples to apples comparison. |
Anonymous
| Depends on how burned out they currently are and how well they handled the pressure of getting the grades in high school that got them into W&M. Also consider what their grad school dreams are and what kind of GPA they'd need to get in. There's something to be said for being a top student in a slightly less intense environment and graduating with a really high GPA. |
Anonymous
| No, zero reasons. W&M's reputation is vastly superior. No brainer. |
Anonymous
| They are completely different schools that attract different kids. I’d visit and talk to current students as well as looking at specific academic program of interest. |
Anonymous
| I can't believe this is even a question. There is almost no reason whatsoever that a VA resident would select Mason over W&M. None. I'm all about fit and not always just going for the "most selective" school one can get into. But in this case, they are in different universes and going to W&M is going to do so much more for the student than Mason. |
Anonymous
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W&M has sort of a mean nerd vibe. Also they are ridiculously stingy with grades which is so stupid, because the more elite a uni, the easier it is to get an A. I guess he could always try W&M and then transfer to Mason if he doesn’t like it, harder to go the other way.
20 years ago, the unofficial slogan of GMU was “George Mason: if you don’t want to go to NOVA.” |
Anonymous
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If you want an echo chamber fir your fringe ideas. |
Anonymous
It is for CS. And I know kids don't always stick with their first majors, but in this case, I would be on kid staying with CS. |
Anonymous
Lot of immigrants from Vietnam in the 80’ and 90’ attended NOVA for two years and transferred to GMU after that and all of them are successful today. My wife and I both attended NVCC and GMU. GMU is just as good as WM. It is what you make of it. Two of my kids attended GMU to save money. One is now in med school at University of South Carolina and the other one in med school at university of Washington in St. Louis. |