Friend’s DS sounds very similar to your DC and he is extremely happy at Mary Washington (in sophomore year now). Has found his people, very happy with classes and professors, really likes the environment overall.

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Anonymous wrote:I like the campus and the only red-flag is see is this: https://augustafreepress.com/news/enrollment-decline-for-virginia-universities-puts-radford-umw-at-some-risk-in-the-future/

What is the reason for the decline in these schools?

It is a function of the market. VT, GMU, and JMU have enough demand to grow and they perceive growth (and the additional revenues that come along with it) as strategically important. They have grown 22%, 21%, and 20% respectively over the past decade, and since they are so large and perceived more positively than other schools like Radford, they are kind of sucking up all of the oxygen since there is not overall college enrollment growth (and it it forecast to decline). (UVA and W&M are growing, but aren't as large and are balancing maintaining selectivity with growth.).

UVA and W&M need to quadruple in size yesterday. Minimum 40k students at UVA.

I sure hope not. W&M is in a hard to find sweet spot of public college but midsize, and shouldn’t mess with that.

It would mess both schools up. UVA already has a tense relationship with Charlottesville, and this would push it to the breaking point.

Could we keep the discussion on this thread to Mary Washington please?

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Anonymous wrote:Can a conservative thrive there?

I hope conservative students are miserable literally anywhere they go, their mindset is toxic

People like you are exactly why many schools have become toxic. Maybe it's time for you to do some deep self-reflection.
DP

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Anonymous wrote:Can a conservative thrive there?

What do you mean by "thrive" in this context? If you mean "be respected and heard," sure. If you mean "be able to spout utter nonsense without being challenged to offer facts and/or logic in support," probably not.

DP. "Utter nonsense" is often spewed by people on the far left, too. I'm sure you agree it's ok to also challenge them by offering facts and/or logic in support?

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Anonymous wrote:My daughter is currently a junior at Mary Washington and she really likes it. She is also a very quiet kid, not a partier at all.

A few things we've noticed about UMW:
Pros:
Great Merit Aid
They accept DE and AP credits generously- three of the four girls in my daughter's apartment are graduating a semester early
We LOVE the on-campus apartment option. The apartments are nice and close to campus. We also love that when she graduates a semester early, we aren't stuck in a year-long lease.

Cons:
My only con is that the school could benefit from Greek life. Without a huge sports culture, it would give the kids more to do, IMO.

I think the reason that JMU is surging is due to the sports/greek culture.

Previous Bio/CS poster. Glad to hear that they're still great with this. I basically came in with sophomore status due to AP credits and that helped me major in two unrelated departments while still graduating in 4 years. Also got great merit aid while I was there, and honestly loved that there wasn't a greek/sports culture on campus as that wasn't my scene.

DP. I'm also an alum and agree with you, especially the last point. I deliberately chose MWC (as it was called when I went there) *because* it had no Greek scene. Another poster suggested it would benefit from adding one and I disagree completely. I think many/most kids who choose this school do so in large part because there is no Greek life.

However, when I attended (late 80s), there were far more male students than there are now. The ratio was still somewhat skewed in favor of females, but not nearly what we see today. The environment was also much more mainstream, for lack of a better word. I absolutely loved my four years there, lived on campus all four years, made wonderful friends, and yes - had boyfriends. I think the culture on campus is quite different now than it was then, and I think if they want to "reinvent" themselves somewhat, they need to do some major marketing toward male students. Also, it was a mistake to change the name to "university" instead of the original "college." Mary Washington College was the perfect name for a lovely SLAC. They need to lean into that again and realize that students who choose it do so *because* it's a small college.

Anonymous wrote:Can a conservative thrive there?

What do you mean by "thrive" in this context? If you mean "be respected and heard," sure. If you mean "be able to spout utter nonsense without being challenged to offer facts and/or logic in support," probably not.

Anonymous wrote:Mary Washington is definitely underrated, i know several kids there now who love it.

OP, given your current list you might also want to look at Saint Joe’s in Philly, and St Mary’s College in MD?

OP here. Sorry- I realized my wording was confusing. I meant my daughter is undecided in terms of major but know she doesn't want anything STEM.

We haven't looked at CNU yet but can put that on the list. Just trying to get a sense of where and what so her list has been varied - GMU, JMU, UVA, Loyola in Baltimore, Hopkins (someone told us the tour was excellent so we went to check it out), Mary Wash, and Villanova.