The College of William and Mary

Date: Sep 05 2004
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated in 2004, but it would not allow me to select that year. I transferred to the college as a sophmore and as an out-of-state student. Therefore, some of my opinions are likely bias because I had some other college experience to compare it too. I will just run down different point to evaluate my experience at the College.

(Transfer) Orientation - This experience was 100% awful and useless. You are grouped with the 100 or so transfers admitted that semester and really do not contact with anyone else through the duration. The freshman orientation is more comprehensive than our experience, yet we were only required to register together and play an endless amount of "name" games.

Registration - It has come along from the initial system and now is setup on an online platform. However, the Registers change the registration requirement from the number of credits total versus the number of credits earn. Example: As a incoming Freshman registering for the Spring semester, you are registering only with the credits you may have earned from AP courses AND will not include the "X" amount of credits you took that Fall semester.

Domicile / Independent - You better be strong and have documents for at least two to three years back. Since a good number of kids come from very well to do families or in general have a dependency on their family, petitioning for independence and domicile status is rare. Because of that tyep of demographics, they give you an incredibly hard time in the trial process.

Money - WM is the oldest college in the nation and the second to be chartered, but they are BROKE. When I say broke, I mean in terms of school of their caliber or are very old institutions. There is a CONSTANT complaint of money which leads to a lack of resources, staffing issues, and future-planning.

Housing - Note: Transfer students you will likely not get housing. They sent is a kind letter of denial roughly eight weeks before classes began. Williamsburg does not have a surplus of housing; therefore, local residents charge rediculous rates to rent out below-acceptable, liveable rentals. All the mannagement companies are poor at upkeeping the problem and assisting to problems.

On-Campus Housing - The campus is old. I have not been in all the rooms, but some are very tiny and the bathrooms are not the most favorable.

Food - The only cafeteria food I recommend is the Caf by the Hall. There are a few "name-brand" places that overcharge for their food. You will find WAWA and pizza will be a huge staple in your life.

Professors - This is a tough category for me. I found that, professors approached students differently, depending if they were matriculating students or not. Most of my economics professors were good to excellent, with an exception of one. Most were willing to work with you. I found that professors were not helpful to me once they realized I was not a matriculating student in that department. Their desire to help was minimal. NOTE: Every proofessor I had was extremely knowledgeable on their subject; but many suffer from a great weakness, not truly being an effective educator. Many classes I had were completely "taught" by Powerpoint or on the extreme consisted of a man sitting in a chare for 50 or 80 minutes.

Diversity - Clearly, their is none. There is a lack of female professors in certain departments. Within the student -body, diversity is virtualy non-existence. Don't be surprised my the "Ghetto-oply" displays or the "Affirmative Action Bake Sales". Since the Board is so worried about their reputation, they will hush the situation as soon as possible to ensure there is not negative publicity.

Social Issues - In my last two years at the college, there were roughly three to four suicides. Many of the students are over-stressed and it is more often than not due to college-related issues. Again, there were bigot demonstrations on-campus. The soon-to-be ex-Dean, received a 10K raise while the maintenance staff averaged $7/hour. Many departments lost great professors and staff members because of the financial handling by the board. The Dean referenced a speech in the early 90s where he diagnosed a financial problem for the school. Yet he failed to implement any aggressive plans to bypass them.

Assualts - Sexual assualts are the "hush-hush" of the College community. Several females per academic year claim sexual assualts by male peers. Some cases are dismissed if the female was an under-age drinker. Her further aggression again the male can led to her expulsion for drinking. Double-edge sword appears. In the last year, the school was victim to an graduate student interest in a child pornography ring. Also, the males bathroom was a favorite place to acquire casual sex—the actual restroom was posted on the 'Net

Credibility - The school continues to ride on a reputation long lost since the late 1980s. Work for the Fund of WM to find all of the previous alumni who complain about their struggles with the College during and post-graduation in addition problems their children may have endured.

Registers and FAid - The Devils. There are about a handful of people who will lead you to the right direction. When you find them, latch on to them and do not let go.

Advisors - VERY BIG PROBLEM. Your initial advisor is chosen by your assumed preference of a college major. However, you can run into to big problems. 1) You change majors 2) Your advisor just sucks. When changing your intended major you must be extremely adament about finding the appropriate advisor to help you prepare in the future. If you have an awful advisor in your department, try to latch onto a professor who has taught you previously.

Career Services - Take advantage of going to brother/sister colleges' career fair. I sorely wish I had went to career fairs at ODU, UVA, VT, and GW because they sponsor true career fairs and can be effective for internships. WM fair is a gathered in a tiny room with a thousands booths for the Y or the police force. It was a farce.

Language - Transfers, complete four years of language before you enter WM. The same goes for HS students. It will save you stress!

Organization - There are clubs, intramurals, and then there are the Greeks. They rule the social life and if you are someone who works outside of academics, you will gain most of your friends outside the college atmostphere. In addition, social life on campus is very dependent on the greek syste.

Parking Services - Go to hell.

Commuters - Finding other commuters in your class makes the lifestyle easier. Joining a group or working on-campus can incorporate you more into the student body.

Thoughts - This is not a good school for non-VA residents. I'd venture to say a good number of transfers opt to leave because it is not welcoming. You severely overpay for the same mediocre aspects of the school and are held to a higher criterion level for admission. The school is not accomdating for accepting non-VA school credits; I lost half a semesters worth.

You seek diversity - go somewhere else.

You have come from a modest income family and need assistance - go somewhere else.

You want to live in a good city - go somewhere else.

Your major depends on connections and internships - go somewhere else.

I think this school can be best effective for a VA resident. You can easily spend two years at Richard Bland, get a A average, enter WM as a junior and major in business. Two, you come in as a VA resident and double-major (knowing this as a Freshman).

The school is not wholly bad but needs a complete "make-over". Administration needs knew direction. The future of the College needs a projection. Take advantage of any opportunity possible because a second chance may not come around. Attend as many guest-speaker functions as possible; the College is lucky to receive top-name people regularly.

Visit the campus many times before making the final decision. Also, look into schools like UVA, UMD, UNC, and VT as viable and often better choices. Particularly UVA and UNC, because these schools have better name recognition, reputation, and maintain better connections within the career services department.

Overall, I would have either stayed at my first university, which was a Top50 school too, or transferred to UVA, UMD, or UNC. I allowed myself to be truly misled about what WM was all about. You will find WM is only popular among the mid-atlantic states.