Good safety schools for those who like W&M?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| What are some good safety schools for those who like William & Mary? |
Anonymous
| I think you need to provide more information about the student's profile (stats, ECs, etc.) for anyone to opine on what may be a safety school. |
Anonymous
| Yes, need more stats. But if you are in VA I think generally UMW is a good alternative. |
Anonymous
Can you elaborate on UMW? Don’t really know much about it |
Anonymous
| My DS graduated from W&M OOS.He was also accepted to Wake Forest, Villanova, and LaFayette. |
Anonymous
And? |
Anonymous
| My child likes W&M too. Almost all other schools he likes are LAC and smaller than W&M. |
Anonymous
If you're confident that your kid is in the zone for W&M, yes UMW is the logical in state safety. Google it. If you're from out of state, then LACs in the 20s and 30s are worth considering as safeties. Not UMW. |
Anonymous
| If you are saying w&m is likely based on stats but need a safety, the classic safety for w&m is Mary Washington. Possibly JMU. |
Anonymous
| I’ve never known anyone, or heard about anyone, who said, oh, I didn’t get into William & Mary, so now I’m going to UMW. Aim higher. |
Anonymous
You're not a Virginia resident. |
Anonymous
+1 The only state schools DD is applying to are W&M and UMW. She's also applying to a variety of LACs that will probably give merit aid so she's not likely to choose Mary Washington but it does have good programs for her major and is both an admissions and financial safety. She mainly doesn't like that it's close to home. Christopher Newport could be another alternative as a smaller school and its incoming students have a very similar stats profile but she preferred UMW. The bind is that if you have the stats to be competitive for W&M, the other schools that are matches probably don't give much merit aid. So you need to look a tier down. Went through the same thing with DS who had strong stats but didn't get into UVA. He liked big state schools and applied to a variety. The OOS, even with merit, didn't seem worth the extra cost and he's happily going to VT. |
Anonymous
| SUNY Geneseo |
Anonymous
| Christopher Newport is also a good in state option for someone interested in W&M. |
Anonymous
If likes W&M because it's like a LAC, look at the list of national liberal arts colleges ranked 20-70. That should give enough variety of targets and safeties. If seeking significant merit aid, look for LAC where the stats are above the 25%ile and for schools that are 30-70. Some things to look for in this list LACs: 1. Look at majors of interest. How robust is the faculty, what are the career outcomes, what are the PhD admission rates (even if your kid isn't interested in a PhD this says something about reputation and rigor). Look at the number of students in each major. Low numbers are fine (kid may be really supported, less competition for opportunities/letters of recommendation etc) but it's important to have a cohort. 2. Look at general support--freshman retention rate, 4 year graduation rate. Don't fuss too much over 20-21 data since covid shook things up. But there are sometimes real differences between schools in this regard between schools with similar student populations. 3. Look at where the campus is located-- some are in rural areas, some in livelier small towns, some in mid-sized cities. Many are in the midwest, Pa or Northeast. See what DC prefers if this is important. What is there to do? Look also for support for programs like study abroad, internships, and the like because it's important to gain broader experience when going to a small college. If in-state VA and looking for in-state public options, depending on major JMU or UMW (or on the off-chance UVA if grades are high but SAT is mediocre--UVA regularly accepts students in NoVA with a weighted 4.4 or higher across SAT levels above 1200). If likes W&M and wants that sort of mid-sized feel (6k students as opposed to LAC 2k students) look for small to mid-sized universities. |