There’s nothing to do at W&L on the weekends except Greek life. The campus vibe feels like going back in time thirty years…which some might like, I guess.

How is school spirit?

Anonymous wrote:W&L students skew very conservative

Not really. Maybe like 30 years ago.

More moderate as a whole overall, but not very conservative. Even the city of Lexington where W&L is, is one of the lesser conservative towns in that part of Virginia.

Unless you're in a deep red state, most colleges and faculty are on the left-center spectrum.

W&L students skew very conservative

Based on stats posted here by others, W&L is ranked ahead of URichmond by most metrics and may have more in common with a school like Davidson. However, a rational student could easily pick Richmond over W&L if the fit was better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is someone who keeps arguing that the students at both are equivalent. I just don’t see that. I know at my kid’s DC private several students applied - only the ones at the very top were accepted. The state relating to to 10% are compelling, as is the information regarding outcomes and graduate school admissions. UR is a fine school that attracts a different level of student than W&L.

It's multiple posters. Plenty of people seem to think W&L is stronger, but without knowing how many students actually reported rank, we still do not have any significant evidence that there is an academic difference.

Common Data Sets have this information. For 2022-23 enrolled freshmen, W&L had 81% in the top 10% with 34% having a class rank reported. For UR, it was 56% in top 10% with 20% having a class rank reported.

For standardized tests, W&L middle 50 was 1410-1533 for the SAT with 28% submitting, and 32-34 ACT with 26% submitting. UR was 1410-1500 for SAT with 22% reporting, and 32-34 ACT with 18% reporting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&L is more selective and takes a higher cohort of student as mentioned above. The Johnson scholarship (up to 10% of class draws some exceptional students)

Acceptance rate 16% vs. 24%

Top 10th percentile 81% vs 56%

These 2 schools were my daughters #1 and #2 choices. W&L was considered a high target and Richmond was a target based on Naviance etc.

This is interesting, but I wonder if it really makes a noticeable difference.

Of course it doesn't. What will make a difference to your child is the vibe of each and which feels more conducive to learning for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is someone who keeps arguing that the students at both are equivalent. I just don’t see that. I know at my kid’s DC private several students applied - only the ones at the very top were accepted. The state relating to to 10% are compelling, as is the information regarding outcomes and graduate school admissions. UR is a fine school that attracts a different level of student than W&L.

It's multiple posters. Plenty of people seem to think W&L is stronger, but without knowing how many students actually reported rank, we still do not have any significant evidence that there is an academic difference.

Common Data Sets have this information. For 2022-23 enrolled freshmen, W&L had 81% in the top 10% with 34% having a class rank reported. For UR, it was 56% in top 10% with 20% having a class rank reported.

For standardized tests, W&L middle 50 was 1410-1533 for the SAT with 28% submitting, and 32-34 ACT with 26% submitting. UR was 1410-1500 for SAT with 22% reporting, and 32-34 ACT with 18% reporting.

I don't know how much of a priority this is for your family, but Washington & Lee is significantly less diverse both racially and economically. Part of the learning that happens in college is about adapting to new environments and coexisting with different kinds of people-- the homogeneity combined with (admittedly beautiful) geographic isolation will impact this. Schools closer to cities and other universities can also offer more in the way of access to public events like readings, conferences, and talks at other universities, which aren't the same as coursework but influence and deepen academic experiences. The admission stats may be one thing, but the choice between the two seems to be more about what your child wants out of college, at least to me.

Something that sets W&L apart from SLACs with similar selectivity is the history. Of course a lot has changed in the past 150 years, but it is still named after Robert E Lee, who was also its president, and they haven't made as many strides towards diversifying the student body as they could have. Just my impression.

https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/washington-and-lee-university/student-life/diversity/
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-richmond/student-life/diversity/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html

Anonymous wrote:There is someone who keeps arguing that the students at both are equivalent. I just don’t see that. I know at my kid’s DC private several students applied - only the ones at the very top were accepted. The state relating to to 10% are compelling, as is the information regarding outcomes and graduate school admissions. UR is a fine school that attracts a different level of student than W&L.

It's multiple posters. Plenty of people seem to think W&L is stronger, but without knowing how many students actually reported rank, we still do not have any significant evidence that there is an academic difference.

Anonymous wrote:W&L is probably similar to Colgate or Middlebury.

Richmond is probably more like Bucknell or Haverford

Richmond, Bucknell, and Haverford are nothing like each other. If anything, Haverford is more like Colgate and Middlebury, just not remote.

Richmond is a smaller Wake Forest. Bucknell is a less academic Lehigh.

Anonymous wrote:W&L is probably similar to Colgate or Middlebury.

Richmond is probably more like Bucknell or Haverford

Stupid post. Bucknell and Haverford have zero in common. Neither do Haverford and Richmond for that matter.

Just a stupid, stupid post.

Anonymous wrote:W&L is probably similar to Colgate or Middlebury.

Richmond is probably more like Bucknell or Haverford

I am trying to think of overlap between Bucknell and Haverford, other than both being in Pennsylvania (although one's in Pennsyltucky and the other's on the Main Line)

W&L is probably similar to Colgate or Middlebury.

Richmond is probably more like Bucknell or Haverford

It’s been a while, but one of my kids got into UVA and Notre Dame but was waitlisted at William & Mary and Richmond. We were very surprised by the Richmond result, not that our kid ever would have gone there with these other options. Maybe they knew that as well?