Anonymous wrote:I'm from New England and didn't hear of either school until living in VA. I'm now familiar with W&L but no nothing about Claremont....

That's pretty strange. Claremont McKenna is pretty famous among LACa (it has the second lowest acceptance rate of them all and it's also within the 5 Claremont Colleges set of schools). But it could be a distance thing.

I'm from New England and didn't hear of either school until living in VA. I'm now familiar with W&L but no nothing about Claremont....

If it’s Wellesley or Holy Cross people tout the “strong network”. If the school is southern it’s “good ol boys”. I’m a grad and I’ve both benefited from the network and helped other, younger grads. I’m not southern and most of the grads I’ve mentored are from the northeast.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Employers? No chance. Many confederate flags in and around C’ville. Are UVA grads struggling with the association? Same for many southern schools. Part of a weird problem but hardly unique to Lexington. Lexington is a very cute little town, ignorant yahoos aside, and immediately adjacent to the campus.

Not at all. I know both W&L and UVA. W&L has Lee's horse, for heaven's sake! It truly is Southern, as are its sororities and frats. I do not understand its attraction. UVA on the other hand attracts students from all over the world. Confederate flags would never be tolerated. The University is cosmopolitan and international. You can't even begin to equate the two.

Lol....you're delusional. With 70% of students coming from VA it is very hard to be cosmopolitan and international.

No, you are. By your logic then, with 80% of Berkeley's students coming from California there would be a lack of cosmopolitan feeling? Have you ever been to Charlottesville? Or walked the grounds? 67% are Virginians but that includes a class with 35% minority and 10% first generation students. It also includes a new push for low-income students so you have Virginians from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds, including the Virginians who went to private boarding schools. Then there are the Jefferson Scholars. Also students from all 50 states and faculty, staff and students from 183 countries. In addition to the undergrads, there are 7,705 graduate students from all over the country and world in the law school, med school, business school, etc.

UVA is not particularly diverse. You tout 10% first generation students at UVA. UCLA is over 30%. For income diversity, only about 12% get Pell grants vs 35% at UCLA. Only about 4.2% of the most recent class at UVA are international. That isn't very high at all relatively speaking. VT and W&M are higher as a percentage of undergraduates.

You mention Jefferson Scholars seemingly without realizing that W&L has a similar program in the Johnson Scholarship, which is much more extensive in that it is awarded to about 10% of the entering class vs typically less than 1% for UVA Jefferson. How does W&L manage to do this? Little rinky-dink W&L has about a $1.6B endowment for 2,160 students, which is about $737K per student UVA would need an $18B endowment to match that, but this wouldn't account for the fact that W&L's endowment, unlike UVA's doesn't have to be shared with any graduate program other than law or a medical center or for athletic scholarships.

So anyway, I digress. I just think you should be more careful before you slag schools, particularly one as good as W&L. The world is a better place with a diversity of choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Employers? No chance. Many confederate flags in and around C’ville. Are UVA grads struggling with the association? Same for many southern schools. Part of a weird problem but hardly unique to Lexington. Lexington is a very cute little town, ignorant yahoos aside, and immediately adjacent to the campus.

Not at all. I know both W&L and UVA. W&L has Lee's horse, for heaven's sake! It truly is Southern, as are its sororities and frats. I do not understand its attraction. UVA on the other hand attracts students from all over the world. Confederate flags would never be tolerated. The University is cosmopolitan and international. You can't even begin to equate the two.

Lol....you're delusional. With 70% of students coming from VA it is very hard to be cosmopolitan and international.

No, you are. By your logic then, with 80% of Berkeley's students coming from California there would be a lack of cosmopolitan feeling? Have you ever been to Charlottesville? Or walked the grounds? 67% are Virginians but that includes a class with 35% minority and 10% first generation students. It also includes a new push for low-income students so you have Virginians from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds, including the Virginians who went to private boarding schools. Then there are the Jefferson Scholars. Also students from all 50 states and faculty, staff and students from 183 countries. In addition to the undergrads, there are 7,705 graduate students from all over the country and world in the law school, med school, business school, etc.

I don't think you understand what cosmopolitan actually means. And when only 5% of students come from outside of the US it's laughable to call it international.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Employers? No chance. Many confederate flags in and around C’ville. Are UVA grads struggling with the association? Same for many southern schools. Part of a weird problem but hardly unique to Lexington. Lexington is a very cute little town, ignorant yahoos aside, and immediately adjacent to the campus.

Not at all. I know both W&L and UVA. W&L has Lee's horse, for heaven's sake! It truly is Southern, as are its sororities and frats. I do not understand its attraction. UVA on the other hand attracts students from all over the world. Confederate flags would never be tolerated. The University is cosmopolitan and international. You can't even begin to equate the two.

Lol....you're delusional. With 70% of students coming from VA it is very hard to be cosmopolitan and international.

No, you are. By your logic then, with 80% of Berkeley's students coming from California there would be a lack of cosmopolitan feeling? Have you ever been to Charlottesville? Or walked the grounds? 67% are Virginians but that includes a class with 35% minority and 10% first generation students. It also includes a new push for low-income students so you have Virginians from all walks of life and all sorts of backgrounds, including the Virginians who went to private boarding schools. Then there are the Jefferson Scholars. Also students from all 50 states and faculty, staff and students from 183 countries. In addition to the undergrads, there are 7,705 graduate students from all over the country and world in the law school, med school, business school, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Employers? No chance. Many confederate flags in and around C’ville. Are UVA grads struggling with the association? Same for many southern schools. Part of a weird problem but hardly unique to Lexington. Lexington is a very cute little town, ignorant yahoos aside, and immediately adjacent to the campus.

Not at all. I know both W&L and UVA. W&L has Lee's horse, for heaven's sake! It truly is Southern, as are its sororities and frats. I do not understand its attraction. UVA on the other hand attracts students from all over the world. Confederate flags would never be tolerated. The University is cosmopolitan and international. You can't even begin to equate the two.

Lol....you're delusional. With 70% of students coming from VA it is very hard to be cosmopolitan and international.

OP, W&L is a fantastic institution. Top ten LAC. If it doesn’t appeal to you then go elsewhere. But if you’re interested - and you must be - go visit. Don’t sweat the haters here.

By the way, College Confidential is a better source for actual info. Go there.

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Anonymous wrote:The “Mrs degree” is just so absurd and offensive. The ladies at W&L are intelligent, high-achieving kids and to insinuate that they are there to find a husband is just unfair. Perfect post for an anonymous chat board. Idiotic, I’ll-informed and misogynist.

Very “I’ll-informed”.

Do you really think UMC parents send their kids to middle of the road state schools to get an MRS.? Nope. They send them to join the sororities where wealthy white, southern frat boy big law and MD and MBA wannabe go. And in VA, that’s W&L. If you live in VA and know kids who attend, you know it’s true. I’m sure the women are smart and accomplished and all that. It’s what’s expected out of an Mrs. these days.

And I agree— aiming for your DD to get an Mrs. in 2018 is absurd and offensive. Plenty of parents (and kids) still have that as a goal. Meet the guy. Do something like teaching to out him through grad school, and for a couple years after that. Then, pop out babies, support his career, and be financially supported as a SAHM in McLean.

This is strictly anecdotal, of course, but the three girls I knew who went to W&L from back in the day were all from the same mold: conservative upper middle to upper class families, did the sorority bit, married a fellow W&L alum and are now happy housewives replicating their mothers' lives and repeating the cycle with their kids.

Note: I said happy. And they are happy. It's exactly what they wanted. I'll give them credit for it.

Anonymous wrote:Employers? No chance. Many confederate flags in and around C’ville. Are UVA grads struggling with the association? Same for many southern schools. Part of a weird problem but hardly unique to Lexington. Lexington is a very cute little town, ignorant yahoos aside, and immediately adjacent to the campus.

Not at all. I know both W&L and UVA. W&L has Lee's horse, for heaven's sake! It truly is Southern, as are its sororities and frats. I do not understand its attraction. UVA on the other hand attracts students from all over the world. Confederate flags would never be tolerated. The University is cosmopolitan and international. You can't even begin to equate the two.

Anonymous wrote:Claremont is generally considered more conservative than comparable small liberal arts colleges, I think in part because of the conservative Claremont Institute, though it is not officially affiliated with the University. Both are excellent schools that are likely to offer the most bang for the buck on their respective coasts -- as others have said W & L is very Southern and Greek with a very strong alumni network.

The conservative Claremont Institute is not part of the consortium. CMC is a perfectly liberal school. To repeat: it just has a handful of moderate Republican faculty members.

Anonymous wrote:Fun fact.....dumbest kid in my big3 graduating class went to W&L. He was a legacy, but to this day when I hear about that school I think of a college for wealthy dummies.

Or where wealthy men sent their dumb sons.

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Anonymous wrote:All else being equal, I’d hire from W&L.

No idea what that even means. Guessing you don’t ether.

Guessing you don’t know much about anything at all. The statement is clear. You’re just dumb.

Guessing you don’t actually hire people. Your statement is just flat out weird.

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn’t want my kid anywhere near a stem-grinder like TJ. Just what we need, hordes of tech robots who don’t read books without formulas.

Judging from the H1Bs were are importing, Yes, this is exactly what we need. BTW— my TJ kid’s Humanities classes are significantly harder than my base school kid’s humanities classes. TJ kids come out being able to an analyze fiction and non-fiction and write incredibly well. TJ turns out incredibly strong writers.

Anonymous wrote:The “Mrs degree” is just so absurd and offensive. The ladies at W&L are intelligent, high-achieving kids and to insinuate that they are there to find a husband is just unfair. Perfect post for an anonymous chat board. Idiotic, I’ll-informed and misogynist.

Very “I’ll-informed”.

Do you really think UMC parents send their kids to middle of the road state schools to get an MRS.? Nope. They send them to join the sororities where wealthy white, southern frat boy big law and MD and MBA wannabe go. And in VA, that’s W&L. If you live in VA and know kids who attend, you know it’s true. I’m sure the women are smart and accomplished and all that. It’s what’s expected out of an Mrs. these days.

And I agree— aiming for your DD to get an Mrs. in 2018 is absurd and offensive. Plenty of parents (and kids) still have that as a goal. Meet the guy. Do something like teaching to out him through grad school, and for a couple years after that. Then, pop out babies, support his career, and be financially supported as a SAHM in McLean.