Anonymous wrote:My child, who is strongly considering it, wants a close-knit community. Most state schools felt too big and anonymous. They were drawn to friendly, attractive campuses. Also looked at BC and decision is now between W&M and Davidson. They’re not quirky but like the fact that W&M is welcoming to all kinds of kids.

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Anonymous wrote:I think the arrival of a Lululemom store within walking distance heralded a new era. (Not even kidding.)

That said, at my kid’s non-NOVA public (and I’m a different posted than the non-NOVA poster above), the kids choosing W&M this year are unanimously quirky so far. (No shade— they’re all great kids.)

It's definitely fascinating how different the reputation is at different schools in Virginia - even between two schools in the same county. I almost feel a little bad for the kids who commit under the impression that it lives up to that reputation, if they would have picked a different school otherwise because they wouldn't feel as happy in that environment. My daughter knows a couple kids in her dorm who have expressed disappointment at the school being "more preppy" and "not as nerdy" (their words) than they had expected.

And a trending post yesterday on yikyak - "why did this school stop being the "boring nerd" stereotype as soon as i started going here... I WANTED THE BORING NERD SCHOOL"

Anonymous wrote:My child, who is strongly considering it, wants a close-knit community. Most state schools felt too big and anonymous. They were drawn to friendly, attractive campuses. Also looked at BC and decision is now between W&M and Davidson. They’re not quirky but like the fact that W&M is welcoming to all kinds of kids.

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

W&M is not Greek dominated, but it is still around 1/3rd Greek and long has been. Greek life is significant. It is not a Power 5 school, but it likely has one of the highest percentages of students participating in D1 athletics in the state. Athletics is significant, but not in an SEC football way. The attitude may not be pre-professional, but it has relatively high percentages of students going into the professions of medicine, law, business, and academia.

Yes Greek life was definitely always significant but sorrorities have almost doubled in size in the last decade with most of that growth in the last 3 to 4 years, and student football and basketball attendance has exploded in the last couple years. And the business school has blown up. I would say all of these have gone from something that people could avoid interacting with to something that you'd probably struggle to avoid someone not interested in either. So that's become the big cultural difference if that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't recommend W&M to the types of people that often get recommended it on College Confidential, who would otherwise be only looking at SLACs. But I have to imagine for so many people on there to be suggesting it like it's equal to schools w no Greek life/D3 sports at most, it must have had a considerably different vibe a decade ago.

Percentage of students graduating with a business degree in 10.9% in 2025. In 2009 was 11.9%. Football attendance averaged 10,268 in 2023. It was 10,782 in 2010. (It has been declining at most schools since about 2008.)

Remember that W&M has grown by 1300 undergrads between 2010 and 2025. Avg football attendance doesn't actually say how many students attended. You can go on the internet and find plenty of posts from a decade ago where people say nobody there really goes to games, and that the average student would rather be in the library on a Saturday. That's not true anymore. The home season opener was a sorority rush event last fall.

You can find somebody saying anything online. Doesn't mean it is true.

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

W&M is not Greek dominated, but it is still around 1/3rd Greek and long has been. Greek life is significant. It is not a Power 5 school, but it likely has one of the highest percentages of students participating in D1 athletics in the state. Athletics is significant, but not in an SEC football way. The attitude may not be pre-professional, but it has relatively high percentages of students going into the professions of medicine, law, business, and academia.

Yes Greek life was definitely always significant but sorrorities have almost doubled in size in the last decade with most of that growth in the last 3 to 4 years, and student football and basketball attendance has exploded in the last couple years. And the business school has blown up. I would say all of these have gone from something that people could avoid interacting with to something that you'd probably struggle to avoid someone not interested in either. So that's become the big cultural difference if that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't recommend W&M to the types of people that often get recommended it on College Confidential, who would otherwise be only looking at SLACs. But I have to imagine for so many people on there to be suggesting it like it's equal to schools w no Greek life/D3 sports at most, it must have had a considerably different vibe a decade ago.

Percentage of students graduating with a business degree in 10.9% in 2025. In 2009 was 11.9%. Football attendance averaged 10,268 in 2023. It was 10,782 in 2010. (It has been declining at most schools since about 2008.)

Remember that W&M has grown by 1300 undergrads between 2010 and 2025. Avg football attendance doesn't actually say how many students attended. You can go on the internet and find plenty of posts from a decade ago where people say nobody there really goes to games, and that the average student would rather be in the library on a Saturday. That's not true anymore. The home season opener was a sorority rush event last fall.

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

W&M is not Greek dominated, but it is still around 1/3rd Greek and long has been. Greek life is significant. It is not a Power 5 school, but it likely has one of the highest percentages of students participating in D1 athletics in the state. Athletics is significant, but not in an SEC football way. The attitude may not be pre-professional, but it has relatively high percentages of students going into the professions of medicine, law, business, and academia.

Yes Greek life was definitely always significant but sorrorities have almost doubled in size in the last decade with most of that growth in the last 3 to 4 years, and student football and basketball attendance has exploded in the last couple years. And the business school has blown up. I would say all of these have gone from something that people could avoid interacting with to something that you'd probably struggle to avoid someone not interested in either. So that's become the big cultural difference if that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't recommend W&M to the types of people that often get recommended it on College Confidential, who would otherwise be only looking at SLACs. But I have to imagine for so many people on there to be suggesting it like it's equal to schools w no Greek life/D3 sports at most, it must have had a considerably different vibe a decade ago.

Percentage of students graduating with a business degree in 10.9% in 2025. In 2009 was 11.9%. Football attendance averaged 10,268 in 2023. It was 10,782 in 2010. (It has been declining at most schools since about 2008.)

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

W&M is not Greek dominated, but it is still around 1/3rd Greek and long has been. Greek life is significant. It is not a Power 5 school, but it likely has one of the highest percentages of students participating in D1 athletics in the state. Athletics is significant, but not in an SEC football way. The attitude may not be pre-professional, but it has relatively high percentages of students going into the professions of medicine, law, business, and academia.

Yes Greek life was definitely always significant but sorrorities have almost doubled in size in the last decade with most of that growth in the last 3 to 4 years, and student football and basketball attendance has exploded in the last couple years. And the business school has blown up. I would say all of these have gone from something that people could avoid interacting with to something that you'd probably struggle to avoid someone not interested in either. So that's become the big cultural difference if that makes sense. I definitely wouldn't recommend W&M to the types of people that often get recommended it on College Confidential, who would otherwise be only looking at SLACs. But I have to imagine for so many people on there to be suggesting it like it's equal to schools w no Greek life/D3 sports at most, it must have had a considerably different vibe a decade ago.

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

W&M is not Greek dominated, but it is still around 1/3rd Greek and long has been. Greek life is significant. It is not a Power 5 school, but it likely has one of the highest percentages of students participating in D1 athletics in the state. Athletics is significant, but not in an SEC football way. The attitude may not be pre-professional, but it has relatively high percentages of students going into the professions of medicine, law, business, and academia.

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Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

A lot of these were less of a thing pre-covid. Go on College Confidential and you'll see people list W&M over and over as a recommendation for students who don't like Greek life or a pre-prof culture. Student section at games was empty outside of homecoming too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

When was Greek life, sports, and pre-professionalism not significant at W&M?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was there in the 80s and remember all types. Only a few who i thought were VERY quirky. Most were smart, mainstream students at that time.

I'm the 2000-2010s poster. I definitely agree with you that it was much more mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Idk what changed in the decades after that, maybe some greater culture shift. I know Greek life shrunk a ton then. But I definitely think the "quirky" type of student doesn't have as much interest in a school like W&M anymore. I'm sure it's a factor of the stuff that was previously not big at W&M in previous years (greek life, sports, pre-professionalism) blowing up

Anonymous wrote:For those with kids there: is the feeling more intense (like a Swarthmore) or more easy-going and supportive (like a Bowdoin)? I know it's bigger than both of these, just wondering an about the atmosphere.