Reply to Is there any academic reason to pick George Mason over W&M?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here are a few reasons. I know the question is about academic reasons, but a lot of it really comes down to price-performance-ratio. A deal at GMU (University Scholars, decent merit money from the honors college) changes the equation considerably.

1. Program availability: engineering, nursing, cyber security, game design (either arts-focused or applied cs), conflict analysis and resolution, hospitality management are options at GMU but not William & Mary.

[b]2. Access to internships year-round: anything DC-specific (Hill, State Department, international orgs, etc.) and the Dulles Tech Corridor are amazing places to start careers.

3. W&M deflates grades more than other VA publics. If GPA is critical, such as in law school admissions, W&M will be a much rougher ride.[/b]

4. Diversity of student body and surrounding area.

5. CS and related fields — other posters are more familiar and have made a good case.

6. International relations and related fields: access to DC for internships, networking and uniquely situated adjunct faculty. More foreign languages are offered at GMU. If the counter argument for W@M on this one is the St. Andrews joint degree, then I beg to differ. It’s certainly international, but highly competitive and one pays a special rate well above in-state prices to participate.

[/quote]

A couple of comments.  First, William & Mary has a DC program and office and was ranked #1 in Princeton Review for internships among public schools.

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=top-20-best-schools-for-internships-public-schools

Second, William & Mary does not "deflate" grades.  It has a higher average GPA for graduates than other Virginia publics listed on Gradeinflation.com  (W&M, UVA, Virginia Tech, JMU, Old Dominion).  I don't think OP is interested in law, but the attached link also shows for the most recent year, William & Mary also had the highest median GPA of all Virginia public schools listed in the top 240 law school application feeders (W&M - 3.44, UVA - 3.43, VT - 3.39, JMU - 3.31, GMU - 3.29,  VCU - 3.25 , ODU - 3.05.  William & Mary had a higher percentage of students applying to law than the other Virginia schools.

https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar/council_reports_and_resolutions/May2018CouncilOpenSession/18_may_2015_2017_top_240_feeder_schools_for_aba_applicants.authcheckdam.pdf [/quote]

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