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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would tread carefully WRT William and Mary.  Students have heavy workloads and the profs have very high expectations.  The freshman (non-Lemon, or the else Monroe Scholars’) dorms are in deplorable condition for the most expensive state-supported school in the country.
Please be aware that mental health issues can become an issue.  https://flathatnews.com/2021/05/03/84-forced-hospitalizations-in-six-years-students-detail-negative-experiences-with-mental-health-services/
[/quote]

Is this true re: W&M?  We're waiting to hear application status and were aware of the heavy workloads, but also heard it was a supportive environment.  Didn't know the freshman dorms were also horrible - is that true?[/quote]

They don't have air conditioning and are very old. [/quote]

Back a few years ago, it, like Cornell, had an [b]abnormally high suicide rate[/b] amongst students due to stress.[/quote]

[b]This is a rumor.[/b]  It has far fewer suicides than you would predict based on its number of students.  In the 2014-2015 academic they had several suicides (which sadly wouldn't be unexpected in a college of its size--and was still below what you would just predict on average) and they responded by more proactive prevention policies.  Their policies drew attention so people wrote about it thinking the problem must be "worse" there than elsewhere.  The reality is that they have a low rate and a responsive school (that raised concern and created prevention policies despite not having a major problem).  The persistence of rumors like this though is a disincentive for schools to create preventative resources because then people think it must be a real problem there.

[/quote]
It is not a "rumor".  It was a very big deal in 2014 and we all remember it.  Here's a 2015 Wash. Post article on it.  Same with the Cornell bridge.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/04/15/suicide-at-william-mary-fourth-this-year-triggers-concern-about-mental-health/[/quote]

Yes, there were 4 or 5 suicides that year in 2014-2015, which is terrible as I mentioned above.  But the expected rate of suicides based on averages for their age group would be 7.  So even in their worst year they were below average.  But the Washington Post used them as an example for their opinion on concerns for mental health etc.  Doesn't mean they were "worse" than anywhere else, articles like this--that don't contextualize that it's a problem all over--and actually not as bad at W&M than others-lead people to think it's terrible there.   (BTW, I don't work for W&M nor am I an alum--I just care about mental health and hate that schools that create preventative resources get penalized for it).[/quote]

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