Washington & Lee University (and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference-ODAC)

I don't have much insight but my son (a 2021 RHP) did receive an "offer" from W&L if he could qualify academically.  Right after our son received the offer from Coach White, my husband and I had a long conversation with him.  I remember the first question we asked him was if he'd seen our son's grades.  He's a good student, just not an A+ student.  Coach White told us that W&L is very holistic and he had a little pull.  He asked us alot of character questions about our son and wanted some specific examples of leadership/non-baseball extracurriculars that he could take to admissions.  He had done some homework because his high school coach received a call from the coach.  But unfortunately, as we suspected, our son's grades weren't quite high enough.

We're in Virginia and W&L is the hardest school to get into in the state of Virginia.  I don't remember if it was when we were talking to Coach White, or during a "virtual" coaches presentation that he participated in, but he said he wanted to make W&L the "Vanderbilt of D3."

I think my son would have gone there if he had been able to get in, but he's landed at a school where I think he'll be very happy and successful and loved - his school waited while he was waiting on the pre-read.

Son played on the fields at Virginia Military Institute which is right next door.  We could hear the Friday evening happy hour music going on at the frat houses from the field

.......and that is about all I know about W&L.  My husbands cousin went to law school there.  Top notch education.  Lexington is a small historic town where my college roommate grew up.

Glad the board voted to not change the name.  For now.

My 2022 had the same experience as VA Mom's son.  Son's transcript wasn't rigorous enough, plus he had a subpar freshman year. 3.8 after that but it didn't matter, we think because he didn't take his school's most challenging courses.

Disappointed but W&L handled it well.  They were clear and direct as soon as they got the pre-read back, which only took about a week.

Thank you all so far. I absolutely understand that it is a excellent school with some significant barriers to entry. Really hoping to hear about the W&L baseball experience and the caliber of the conference that they are in (the ODAC).

the ODAC plays good baseball, you wont be disappointed there.

Also interested in feedback on the baseball experience piece.

Randolph-Macon plays in the ODAC. They were the runner up in the 2018 world series

Seems most players come from the following states.  This is consist over the last couple of years

2021 Player Distribution by State

2021 Player Distribution by Position

Win/Loss record since 2017   (76 - 76 - 0)

Low player attrition  (it would be interesting to see how many players are on the team at least 3 years)

Might be beneficial for your son to reach out to some of the players or alumni to understand the coaches playing philosophy.

Based on a small sample size of a few players I know in NC (others may have had different experiences):  If you don't play at a tournament where the W&L coaches see you, they don't even respond to emails--not even if the email asks "coach, what tournaments do you plan to attend so I can try to play in front of you?"     

@Chico Escuela posted:

Based on a small sample size of a few players I know in NC (others may have had different experiences):  If you don't play at a tournament where the W&L coaches see you, they don't even respond to emails--not even if the email asks "coach, what tournaments do you plan to attend so I can try to play in front of you?"     

I 2nd that experience.

@used2lurk posted:

Thank you all so far. I absolutely understand that it is a excellent school with some significant barriers to entry. Really hoping to hear about the W&L baseball experience and the caliber of the conference that they are in (the ODAC).

Been away from the forum but just noted this, hit me up via DM my son is attending W&L as a Freshman

My son is a pitcher on the W&L Staff.  Happy to share perspectives on the school or baseball.  Both have been very positive.  Feel free to DM me with specific questions.

https://community.hsbaseballwe...99#74937977142923399

When people say that there are barriers to enrollment what are we talking about?  Is there an ACT range that is mandatory for consideration?   My 2024 has a 27 ACT and a 4.0 GPA... is that inadequate for consideration at that school?   I don't want to suggest he take the effort to reach out to them, if he has no chance of qualifying for admission.

Realistically speaking, that ACT score would be a barrier to entry.  Prior to the test optional period of the last two years, I suspect a 32 ACT would have been the threshold.  I'm not sure where the school is now on the test optional front, but that's the level that's expected at W&L. And the Coach really can't sway admissions. Can only think a few D3's that are more rigorous on that front (eg Hopkins, Cal Tech, MIT, Chicago).  It's on a similar level as a NESCAC school.  

@Wechson posted:

Realistically speaking, that ACT score would be a barrier to entry.  Prior to the test optional period of the last two years, I suspect a 32 ACT would have been the threshold.  I'm not sure where the school is now on the test optional front, but that's the level that's expected at W&L. And the Coach really can't sway admissions. Can only think a few D3's that are more rigorous on that front (eg Hopkins, Cal Tech, MIT, Chicago).  It's on a similar level as a NESCAC school.  

Truth /\ /\ . I started this thread and shared the following elsewhere.

My kid was a 2022 grad and applied regular decision. He did not want to commit to attendance if a D1 offer came thru so RD was the way he applied. Coach White said all the right things about son's baseball and academic opportunities at W&L and the his desire to have my son play for the team. He also said that my son was in the bottom half of the projected applicant pool and he had ZERO pull with admissions. My son was very interested in W&L and we visited 2x prior to applying.

My son had a 33 ACT and a 3.65 gpa (unweighted) with rigor from the top academic prep school in Minnesota along with all sorts of student leadership all the other feel good stuff one wants to have on an application. It might have gone differently if he applied ED but could not do that. Son did not hear back from W&L admissions until after May 1st. Son had a couple of offers on the table and accepted to attend and play at Bradley University first week of May. Coach White was great throughout and wish them and the team the best going forward.

As a parent W&L was my favorite of all of the high academic D3 schools we visited (many for my daughter who plays hockey). It was all around better (all things considered from academics, facilities, the surrounding area, and more) imo than Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts, Haverford, Bowdoin, Colby, and others. Johns Hopkins and Williams were both excellent but the baseball facilities at Williams were at the time (couple of years ago) sub-par to say the least and we did not dig deep enough at Hopkins as they had already committed/accepted a kid that played C (my kids primary position at the time).