UVA is terrible for STEM, all of their STEM programs are sub-par and the CS program is especially weak. W&M is OK, the best option of the three is Tech. I would would highly consider GMU for CS, the name is not as flashy but the CS program is excellent.

My son graduated from VT engineering with a CS degree in 2020. He had a good experience. When he was a student, he took a CS course which included a project for Boeing. Solid CS curriculum.
In terms of job placement, he got got an internship with AWS in California that led to a full-time position with AWS in Seattle. He recently moved from AWS to Google as a software engineer. I've been impressed with recruiting at VT engineering. My son has friends from VT that landed CS jobs at places like Facebook and quite a few at Microsoft.

In terms of UVA and W&M vs VT, they're all good schools. UVA and W&M are usually considered more prestigious than VT but I don't think that matters in CS and engineering where VT has scale and a national reputation. I would consider factors such as campus location (my son loved Blacksburg), school spirit, and cost (Blacksburg is a cheap place to live). My kids and I toured UVA but did not visit William & Mary. We're out of state by the way. Engineering is more significant at VT versus UVA but UVA is a great school and I'm sure their engineering is solid. When we toured UVA, the tour guide felt the need to put down Virginia Tech which turned off my son. VT is a great school for a student that likes nature, doesn't need to be in a big city, and can navigate a big school. I liked the school spirit and sense of Hokie community and the campus is beautiful.

Anonymous wrote:Why anyone would pick W&M over the other two, all else being equal, is beyond me.

Close knit campus, great access to professors, intellectual classmates.

Your kid should pick the school they like best.

Anonymous wrote:UVA and VT will provide far more opportunities than W&M. UVA has name recognition and VT is a large tech-focused school, both of which attracts employers.

Not only this but your kid will probably change majors as mine did. I was thrilled they picked UVA for aerospace engineering, not Georgia Tech because UVA gave much more freedom. And, yes, DD changed majors first year from aerospace engineering to her real cal lin PPL (Politics philosophy & law) and never once looked back. Go with the best school

Why anyone would pick W&M over the other two, all else being equal, is beyond me.

Our friend’s kid just graduated from WM last May as a CS major. Loved going to school there. Just started working at Microsoft this summer and is really happy.

Agree with the poster who said to pick the school where your kid will be happiest.

UVA and VT will provide far more opportunities than W&M. UVA has name recognition and VT is a large tech-focused school, both of which attracts employers.

Pick the school you like the most.

FWIW, W&M is placing increasing emphasis on CS and related fields. As an example, from a recent message to alumni:

"In response to the campus planning prompt from 2021, two departments and one program have been working on a proposal to consider how we might establish a new academic unit in computing, data science and applied science. A design team representing W&M’s five schools has been discussing how we might meet the rapidly growing demand for these majors among students and increasing workforce demands for computational modeling and statistical analysis as powerful tools for critical thinking — relevant to every industry and discipline."

A) you didn't ask but I would go to UVA simply because (as my DD did), kids change majors. A lot. So ask yourself - best place to be to change a major from say, aerospace engineering (or CS) to politics, philosophy, econ? (as my kid did), UVA. The quality of his work combined with the UVA prestige and truly wonderful letters of rec from his professors got him into a DPhil program overseas.
b) if you don't buy that argument, then add to your list to tour (and ask to speak to departmental heads before you tour), GMU's CS department. Also be sure to look into GMU's Manassas, state-of-the-art campus for related CS, Game Design, Data processing, and Cyber security courses. Those grads can really write their own tickets.

My message is to allow for a graceful exit if your child changes majors. I changed mine 3 times at my SLAC back when that was considered normal

I would look at a few things no one knows your student like you do.

1. Classes required for the degree. Do they feel they can be successful? For example one of mine is terrible at languages he picked an Eng CS program that required two semesters at that school only.

2. Matriculating into the program. Many engineering programs and others make students have a certain GPA to matriculate ie apply to the program after they have already been a student either after freshman or sophomore or junior year. Well if the student can not get in then what do they do to change majors? it is not that easy at these schools. please remember many college students have lower GPAs than HS.

3. Look at the career center website what companies come to these schools for job fairs and internships are they what your student wants?

I realize anecdotal, but my W&M daughter has multiple friends who are CS majors, and they are very happy.

If money is not an issue, which program is better?

VT has way more Stem gen ed and UVA and W&M have more liberal arts gen ed is what I have understood. All 3 are equal just the college experience may be different for each.

If anyone can share recent exp that will be helpful.