Anonymous
05/15/2026 10:06
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe that students at any of these schools don't prioritize academics. College is so much different these days.
Exactly. Smart, hard working kids at all of these schools. I’ll have a kid at two of them this fall. I wish there was a dcum caveat section where you had to note what your affiliation is *current parent, *dinosaur alum, *rejected kid with a parent vengeance, * no experience/gossip monger….. some of the info here is so outdated and schools have changed a ton in the last 10 years.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:58
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
If a student needs financial aid, they are going to receive a more generous package at Wake or Richmond than Bucknell.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:57
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
I find it hard to believe that students at any of these schools don't prioritize academics. College is so much different these days.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:55
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:All four of these schools are great schools. Parsing the differences by rankings here is pretty silly. All are relatively equal. The vibe and offerings differ and only the kid can decide their fit after research and visits. RIchmond dipped below a 20% admit rate this year. wake is around 20% and Bucknell around 35%. W&M is only state school with pretty self selecting admit pool but also around 34%.
Wake was 18 percent this year.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:55
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Although all four schools have strong business programs, Wake is the only one ranked in the T20 by Poets and Quants. It's 13 this year.
Not true. Richmond is ranked 17. And has been top 20 for 5 years in a row.
Apologies. The list I was looking at only had the top 15, I thought it was the top 20 as there were some ties.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:52
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Richmond is even preppier and more greek than Wake, but smaller.
Contrary to what you read on DCUM, Richmond and Wake are very popular these days, with both receiving a record amount of applications this year. Turns out there are a lot of kids that like the combination of small classes with professors that care about teaching, meticulously maintained campuses, great post graduate outcomes and a fun D1 sports scene.
However, if your kid is small-minded enough to think all full pay kids are lazy, perhaps besides questioning your parenting skills, you should send them to UC-Merced or VCU so she doesn't have to deal with the affluent.
My kid went to VCU and loved it. She'd die at Richmond or Wake. And we're actually kinda wealthy.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:52
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
All four of these schools are great schools. Parsing the differences by rankings here is pretty silly. All are relatively equal. The vibe and offerings differ and only the kid can decide their fit after research and visits. RIchmond dipped below a 20% admit rate this year. wake is around 20% and Bucknell around 35%. W&M is only state school with pretty self selecting admit pool but also around 34%.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:47
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Although all four schools have strong business programs, Wake is the only one ranked in the T20 by Poets and Quants. It's 13 this year.
Not true. Richmond is ranked 17. And has been top 20 for 5 years in a row.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:46
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's D&D vs country club. It's not the same.Anonymous wrote:Sure it is. Greek life is the same in substance every where. You rush, you pledge, you spend a lot of time at parties and mixers.Anonymous wrote:"Greek" at W&M isn't the same as "Greek" at Wake.Anonymous wrote:Op. please use common sense. There are kid that are partiers at all colleges, including William and Mary, where 30 percent of the kids are involved in Greek life, a similar percentage to Wake and Richmond. At all three of these schools, the majority of kids aren't greek.
At Wake the co-ed business and volunteer service "fraternities" are very popular, as are club sports and the outdoors club. I would be surprised if William and Mary and URichmond are much different. You will generally find more wealthy kids at private colleges, if that is an issue for your kid, stick to William and Mary. In my experience, there is no correlation between family income level and partying.
I don't have personal experience with Richmond, but the kids at Wake care very much about grades and building resumes for grad school/post college professional life.
Nobody plays D&D at either school 😂
Sure they do. But it’s not the dominant culture. I have no idea why that’s been popping up about W&M lately.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:43
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Although all four schools have strong business programs, Wake is the only one ranked in the T20 by Poets and Quants. It's 13 this year.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:41
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Bucknell is the best value buy out of these three. Lowest incoming student stats and easiest admission but also the strongest pipeline to finance and consulting jobs.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:34
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Some differences that might be significant depending on your kid's interests. Wake is the only one of the four that requires students to be separately admitted to the undergrad business school as sophomores, the other three are direct admit. I believe the admit rate for undergrad business at Wake is around 60 percent.
Wake is the only one of the four schools to have an affiliated medical school and hospital. This is a big plus for premed students as it allows for shadowing and research opportunities during the school year. There are also a few classes taught by the medical school faculty that are open to undergrads, and some clinical opportunities, like Wake doulas, that are run by medical school students but open to undergrads.
Wake is the only one of the four schools to have an affiliated medical school and hospital. This is a big plus for premed students as it allows for shadowing and research opportunities during the school year. There are also a few classes taught by the medical school faculty that are open to undergrads, and some clinical opportunities, like Wake doulas, that are run by medical school students but open to undergrads.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:29
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:100%. U of R and Bucknell are great but a tier down.Anonymous wrote:Wake is the strongest of the three academically, William and Mary is a peer school.
NP. My kid is looking at all of these schools as well. What makes Wake a tier above? I thought by reputation Wake and Richmond were on the same level or that Richmond students were a little stronger?
SAT ranges are similar, although percent submitting is only in the 20s at both, so it's all funny money. I think they're comparable, though Wake may have an advantage in regional prestige
This is a bit deceptive. When you factor in the ACT as well, Wake is getting test scores from about 45-50 percent of the class, and Richmond 30-35 percent.
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:17
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
I know happy kids at all four (including William and Mary).
Anonymous
05/15/2026 09:16
Subject: Wake, Bucknell, and U Richmond
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:100%. U of R and Bucknell are great but a tier down.Anonymous wrote:Wake is the strongest of the three academically, William and Mary is a peer school.
NP. My kid is looking at all of these schools as well. What makes Wake a tier above? I thought by reputation Wake and Richmond were on the same level or that Richmond students were a little stronger?
SAT ranges are similar, although percent submitting is only in the 20s at both, so it's all funny money. I think they're comparable, though Wake may have an advantage in regional prestige