Washington and Lee University Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Ryan

W&L is commonly known as rich, white, and Southern. students are stereotyped as overprivileged, wealthy snobs sometimes. the campus is vastly white and known for being homogenous. people don't generally expect to find unique or different individuals here. W&L is also rumored to be full of heavy drinkers and drug users, perhaps thanks to the huge fraternity/soroity scene that W&L is also known for.

Blake

Students are rich, white, southern, conservative, Greek.

Parker

W&L students are typically affluent, preppy, and Southern, to be kind. Although to W&L's credit, the amount of diversity on campus is increasing. In general, everyone's exceptionally smart, but our social scene is pretty hard-core. Alcohol can be obtained quite easily on and off campus, if one desires.

Royce

Rich, pretty, stuck up, smart, crazy, drug abusers

Katie

a southern school with an emphasis on the greek life. Also famous for speaking tradition and intimate community/tightly knit, student faculty relationships

Robin

everyone is obscenely rich, preppy, and obnoxious. everyone gets drunk constantly. students are conservative, unaccepting, and racist

Clint

good-natured / posess the desire to suceed in life / friendly / most are of the same mold and background

Michael

That W&L students are rich southern white republicans that are very spoiled and are used to getting everything handed to them.

Rory

not accepting of gays, drink a lot, really smart. a lot of people see us as a rich country club that worships Robert E. Lee.

Tyler

The main Stereotype is that we are a bunch of rich, preppy, private school kids who think we are better than everyone else. There is also the stereotype that we are a party school and very Greek oriented.

Karen

Extremely preppy, hard-core partiers, very conservative and southern

William

Work hard, play hard

Laura

That we are rich, snobby, and smart.

Laura

preppy, snobby, judgmental, shallow, smart, hard workers, like to party

Ryan

prep. white. in the middle of nowhere. conservative.

Kendall

preppy, rich

Alex

A major stereotype of Washington and Lee is that students have the work hard - play hard mentality. Another is that everyone is the exact same and that there is no diversity on campus.

rob

Preppy, wealthy, white, intelligent, good looking, stuck up

Alden

It's a country club that attracts not only bright students but very very rich people. Very homogenized, not great for alternative lifestyles. Work had and play hard.

Casey

That they are preppy, rich, drink a lot and party all the time. WASPY.

Sarah

Some of the common stereotypes of Washington and Lee students are that we are a bunch of white, southern frat boys and sorority girls who party all the time.

Christine

rich, white, conservative

Rachelle

That we are rich, white Southerners.

Gaby

white rich kids

Ben

Washington & Lee students are typically thought to be wealthy, southern, and conservative.

Victoria

All members of Greek life, heavy drinkers, snobs, rich and privileged, white

Nicole

There's definitely a country-club stereotype. The Greek community (sororities and fraternities) dominates, and all the girls wear preppy clothes (complete with popped polo collars) and pearls. Students are intelligent, though they tend to drink too much... remember the saying, "W&L produces three things: Doctors, lawyers and alcoholics."

Charlie

The stereotypical W&L student is rich, white, conservative, southern, and a little out of touch when it comes to anything like diversity, alternative lifestyles, or the "real world."

Sarah

that we're rich conservatives who drink too much

Daniel

Drunken, wild partiers, mostly white, conservative, not always friendly to other nationalities, entirely Greek (Frat/Srat) dominated, shallow, preppy (in fashion style), obsessed with being/appearing "Southern."

Shannon

The stereotypes about Washington and Lee students are that they are rich, greek, southern snobs that drink and party too much, but are still really intelligent.

Nicole

Washington and Lee University is predominantly Greek. If you don't want to join a frat or a srat, go somewhere else. No matter what anyone tells you about Greek life, it is very hierarchical. If you can't handle being at the bottom (after making stupid mistakes during informal recruitment in the Fall), then go home and don't rush and complain about it later. Washington and Lee University is predominantly composed of WASPs. If you have morals, values, and are looking for a religious community, you should probably look elsewhere. There are a few strong religious groups; however, the God-squad are great people, but they have a really rough time at W&L. W&L students are mostly alcoholics. Most students drink (heavily- to the point of blackout) over 2 times a week. Expect to go out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. If there is a Phi Delt party on Tuesday or Thursday, you must go out then too. The more you drink and go out without vomming or getting sexually assaulted, the more awesome you are. The more awesome you are, the higher the probability that you will get into a great frat or srat. W&L has great open parties. This is one of the good points about the school, if you like free alcohol and going out. W&L is exceedingly small and everyone knows your sexual history and business. If you can't handle the goss, go somewhere else. Greek life encourages this atmosphere, so if you hate goss and don't want your life to be talked about perezhilton style, go to a bigger school. A good number of people at W&L smoke pot. A select group of people at W&L blow coke. There are secret drinking/drug societies. These societies are very elite. If you don't like this behavior, go somewhere else. It will be around you constantly especially at the top frats and srats. The sexual assault rate is higher at W&L than at any other school. Female co-eds are not safe. The exceedingly high rate of alcohol abuse and drug abuse amplifies this reality for women. This problem has from time to time affected male co-eds as well (yes, men can be assaulted by women or men, just as women can). While you would like to think that the Honor Code is real at W&L, it is only real for some people. Other people will lie, cheat, steal, and act ungentlemanly at their leisure. I was stalked and physically assaulted twice by a female at this school. A lot of people lied in order to protect this person and keep her in the school, even though she is obviously psychologically imbalanced. W&L cannot protect its students from psychologically imbalanced students. I had to get a Protective Order from Rockbridge County and file two counts of physical assault and one count of stalking from the County in order to be safe. Also, my car was vandalized by a student. The administration is very uptight and if you enjoy your freedom of speech, you should go somewhere else. This school is very uptight and rigid. The only place you can speak your mind is either the class room (where you can speak your mind about intellectual concepts) or in private at a frat house. You will be judged on your sexual behavior. Get ready. If you can survive this place, you can survive anywhere and get anywhere in life. Welcome to the jungle.

Emily

The stereotype says that all W&L students are rich, white and southern.

Andy

A lot of times I hear that people assume W&L kids are rich, snobby and cocky.

Kelly

Everyone is 3 things: white, rich, and Southern. You work hard, and you play harder. Your entire four years at Washington and Lee come down to one week: Rush week. Your social circle depends entirely on which sorority or fraternity you join.

Sean

Wealthy, intelligent, white, southern.

Meredith

W&L stands for "white and loaded"

Torry

white, southern, rich, Greek, big drinkers, big partiers, study hard

Lauren

Stereotypes are that all W&L students are rich, white, Southern, preppy, and, in some cases, have always had everything handed to them on a silver platter because they are wealthy.

Amanda

Rich, preppy, southern, conservative

Matthew

Rich, white, snobbish, conservative

Torry

White, wealthy, athletic, thin(girls) or built (guys), pretty/handsome, preppy, fraternity/sorority, southern, lots of drinking

James

Rich, White, Southern, Fratty

Charlie

Everyone is a preppy, rich, southern kid

Stephanie

Most students believe that Washington and Lee students are just a bunch of rich, white, Southern kids that party all the time. Although W&L has a reputation for being tough academically, it also has a reputation for being a party school.

Allison

Preppy, southern, wealthy

Alex

Rich, friendly, alcholics, southern, conservative

Paige

rich, white, preppy kids

Julie

rich, southern, white

Laura

There are stereotypes that we are rich, smart, really driven academically, and preppy. Each fraternity or sorority have their own stereotypes also. Mostly everyone here is a type A personality; everyone does everything to an extreme at W&L.