Reply to Too early to start thinking W&M/UVA?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Too early to start thinking W&M/UVA?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Believe it or not (and in this area, I realize not) not every kid’s first choice is UVA. I have a TJ kid who has the stats to get in. Not even applying. Wants a nerdier cohort, and a much smaller school, so WM is the in state first choice. Male (which really does matter at WM), middle of the class, 1540 SATs. Should be in easily. Second choice is   Followed by VT with some grumbling, because they have a spec8alized program he is interested in.  But also looking at SLACs with strong physical science programs.

Point is, different kids want different things out of college. But, I would not start counting UVA/WM chickens freshman year— especially if you do not have a kid at TJ, where most of the UVA applicants, and nearly all WM applicants will get in. My DC2 is at a strong base school. Strong freshman year. No way I would make college predictions before at least another year of grades are on the books and we have SAT scores. [/quote]

You sound a bit defensive.  For plentry of kids, William and Mary is their first choice.  I did my undergrad there and UVA for grad school.  I wouldn’t trade that decision for anything.[/quote]

PP here d nice catch. I feel a bit defensive.  I wish we could afford to send DC to any $70k/ college they wanted, but we can’t.  Not with two kids and possible grad school down the line.    And we are in the donut hole and top SLACs have no merit aid.  I am a bit defensive about not being able to afford Williams, Amherst, etc.

And I feel defensive about the fact DC wants WM, not UVA.  At TJ, WM is viewed by many kids as far inferior to UVA, and a safety school.  You apply to UVA and WM, and if you don’t get into UVA, you are stuck at WM.  I think this is ridiculous, and love the more LAC vibe, smaller classes, high percent who go on to get a PhD, etc.   But  if I tell a group of TJ parents my kid wants WM, they automatically assume it’s because my kid cannot get into UVA, rather than because DC likes it better.   It’s ridiculous.  But there you have it.  [/quote]

I understand—I really do.  It was something like that at my big box nova hs years ago, even when, at that time, William and Mary’s average SAT scores were higher than UVA’s (and any other public college’s for that matter).  We were a group of seniors who just wanted to be at William and Mary.  One common response we heard was, why do you want to go there with its grade deflation and lack of bars?  That was some time ago.  Just know that those kids are wrong.   But perceptions do matter and UVA is undeniably one of the hottest schools in the Nation..  Honestly, though, I would also view UVA as something close to a safety school for TJ students.  That is, if you can’t get into UVA from TJ, what was the point?  My kids are little, but years from now I’d love to have this problem.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics