Reviews

You will find great professors at William and Mary, and not just in the upper level courses. There will always be the dud teachers, but most truly want to be there to teach, not just to do research. It the ideal place for them to do both and they are very passionate about students and involving them in their research.

You will meet some of the nicest people in the world at William and Mary, and this carries over past just four years in Virginia.

For in state students, it is the best college deal in the entire country. For out of staters, being a public university has some down falls, but the tuition is still lower than private colleges.

Fill out the optional application submission and have fun with it!

Quirky, work hard yet play hard students who are always busy because they are the leaders and joiners of so many organizations. They want to make a difference in the world.

The professors at WM have what's called office hours, which is time dedicated to helping students who decide to visit. The average size of classes is small, so professors are able to spend time with you if you want to. For instance, I missed a class because I was ill, and my professor practically repeated his lecture for me. Mind you, professors have their own papers and research going on and are thus not always free, but if you have a will to learn and are having a little trouble, professors at WM are definitely willing to help.

College life is overall, the best experience ever. There is always something going on on campus, whether it is a concert hosted by students activities or a school-wide activity hosted by Greek life. The people you meet at WM are generally smart and can mix work with play pretty well. Learning to do that is probably the hardest aspect of living on campus, and even that is enjoyable.

Paying in-state tuition, I feel that I am definitely getting a bang for the buck. Even for those coming from out-of-state, tuition at WM is close to ten thousand less than tuition at a similar private school. The reason I would give WM 4/5 stars is due to the fact that it is a state school and cannot provide much financial aid beyond what the government is providing. Besides that, this is my greatest monetary investment, and that includes the rain boots I just bought.

As a prospective, I had been told of the sporadic weather that Williamsburg was blessed with, but I had not planned accordingly. The end of August was scorchingly hot, especially without an A/C unit in my room. The random downpours were also quite inconvenient for getting to class, as I had failed to bring both an umbrella and waterproof shoes. I ended up wearing flipflops in the rain and went to the study lounge whenever it got too hot. Just a thought: bring an umbrella and a fan/air conditioning unit.

William and Mary is a great school for anyone who wants a chance to take classes in a variety of departments. It is also growing increasingly diverse, both in terms of the upcoming classes as well as extracurricular opportunities. There are many activities to discover, including a rock climbing wall in the rec center and a colonial town within sight. The campus is perfect for history buffs, bird watchers, and even those wanting to get involved in Greek life. Seeing as it is a place of higher education, it is also a great place for students who have a passion for learning, where professors and peers will help you learn and get where you want to go.

William and Mary has blown my mind, and I love it. The classes are small and the professors are not only intelligent and talented but incredibly giving with their time, so personalized academic help is just a 5-minute walk or an email away. What surprised me, though, was how much I learned from my classmates! W&M is a tough school, and the intelligence, work ethic and dedication I see on a daily basis are positively humbling. Those same students are friendly, too, and often eager to share and listen to ideas. However the students are not competing with each other - the academic atmosphere both challenges and encourages students, and intellectual growth is almost inevitable, but not miserable and GPA-driven. W&M is also unique in its opportunities for undergraduate research. Professors who give so much time and effort to quality classes also often are conducting research, and they do not limit valuable research assistant positions to graduate students. Some friends of mine in a Biology lab discovered a new strain of bacteria phage - as freshmen! Few universities can offer both quality undergraduate classes and so many opportunities for both professor-led and independent undergraduate research.

At William and Mary, work hard and play harder barely captures the atmosphere on campus. Academics come first, and everyone has that priority in common. Still, often the most difficult decision of the week is not how to come up with a thesis to answer a question for a paper, but what to do on a Friday night when four or five great possibilities all conflict! The students know how to have a good time, and most also have a good heart - volunteer work is common and constantly increasing.

I am an in-state student, and chose William and Mary partly for the in-state rate, despite its shortage of financial aid. Still, W&M puts students first, and it shows! Not only is a W&M education top-notch, but there is someone on-campus to help you with any conceivable question, dream, problem, or idea - for free. Swem Library is phenomenal, and offers services that I never knew any school could provide, let alone in a library. The on-campus events, organizations, and activities are fantastic, and almost all the flyers advertising meetings or events or clubs usually promise free food.

Complete an optional submission - it can be anything! I submitted a DVD of a short film that I had completed during my time at the 2007 Virginia Summer Governor's School for the Humanities. It required no extra effort on my part except burning another DVD. I know other people who submitted essays written for other college applications. This is your chance to stand out!

William and Mary is highly residential, meaning the vast majority of students live on-campus, a few live very nearby, and only a handful commute. Thus the College is great for students who want a traditional on-campus college experience and/or for students who will not have a car in college. I literally can walk everywhere I need to, and bike only if I'm running late.
For those interested specifically in a career in government or law, William and Mary's student body and location hold many possibilities. About two-thirds of the student body live in Virginia, and about half of those students live in northern Virginia, right outside of D.C. The W&M government department is huge, the W&M D.C. office coordinates more activities and internships every year, and chances are you will have at least one friend whose parent works for the government. That friend may or may not be allowed to know what exactly his/her parent does for the government!
William and Mary has solid academic departments across the board, and so also would be great for students who, like me, had no clue what to study in college right out of high school. You can choose to study anything at W&M and get a quality education. I recently decided on a Film Studies major while also undertaking pre-medical classes, which is completely possible. William and Mary academics and busy campus lifestyle are not for the faint of heart or for those who want life to be easy. However, the work pays off immediately - life at William and Mary is immensely rewarding and ridiculously fun!

Learning is a relative term- it is said that it is impossible to stop learning. This is especially true at William and Mary. Learning isn't limited to the classroom. Walking from one’s dorm room to the cafeteria, a William and Mary student can learn about the history of America by passing various colonial buildings. For example, the Brafferton Building, built in 1723 was one of the first Indian schools and it is right in the middle of William and Mary campus. Students are constantly in a learning environment - whether in an academic building or in a freshman dorm. Students learn how to become adults, to test their limits, and to grow intellectually.

William and Mary has the perfect environment. Not only is the campus absolutely beautiful, but the students and faculty are friendly. It has the perfect combination of a learning and social environment. Friends greet each other on their way to class and it is easy to meet new people daily. There is an area on the campus called the Terrace where students can sit and enjoy lunch, drink their morning coffee, or study and socialize. Since it is outside, and in the center of campus, it is impossible not to see friends and peers passing by. On a sunny day, it is the perfect place to lounge. Another great thing about William and Mary is that it has all four seasons. Students can experience the beauty of spring, the warm summer, leaves changing color in the fall, and snow in the winter. The night life is active and it is an all-around good time with endless activities.

For in-state students, William and Mary is such a bargain! It was recognized by a national magazine as one of the leading public universities. It is even affordable for out-of-state students since it is a public school. Students have the opportunity to take large lecture classes or small classes (15 people or less). Students will be able to know their professors personally and can participate in research.

Apply to William and Mary.
Be Yourself.
Study, but not too hard.
Have Fun.

William and Mary Tips:
- VISIT THE SCHOOL!!
- Enjoy the tour
- Ask the tour guide many questions
- Walk past the sunken gardens
- Visit the Wren Building while on Campus
- Take a picture with Thomas Jefferson

Once You're at William and Mary:
- take a class in the Wren Building
- play frisbee in the sunken gardens
- listen to your echo at the whispering wall
- Throw a holly leaf into the fire
- go to Convocation as a freshman and an upperclassmen
- make your own memories and your mark on William and Mary

William and Mary is diverse: culturally, ethnically, economically, interests-wise. It is the perfect school for any student interested broadening his / her horizons and opening the doors to success. It is great for all students.

Being at the College of William and Mary is so much more than a classroom education! The professors know what the real world is like and relate all the material they teach the students to something that will truly pertain to life after college. The professors think out of the box and use methods, such as observations, research, and games that go beyond the traditional lecture hall style. William and Mary is without a doubt one of the country's best public Ivys!

The best word to describe William and Mary is Community, ask any other student and they will agree. We may not have the best football team in the country, but our students all come out to support the players and looking into the stands is a sea of yellow and green! No student at WM is the same, you will learn so much not only from your professors, but from the students as well and that is a great environment to spend 4 years in!

William and Mary is by far one of the best public schools in the nation. This means that the education surpasses most other universities, however the pricetag isn't painful to look at! Living in Williamsburg is relatively cheap, and the school offers so many free activities that I never feel compelled to spend a lot of money while I am on campus.

In applying to WM, be different! The admissions office is looking for a person who will surprise them, excite them, and pull at their heart strings. Write your essay about something that you know no one else in the country will write about and you will definitley distinguish yourself among the competitive applicant pool. And as always, just be yourself!

The students at WM are a little quirky, they all have something interesting or different about themselves and are certainly not ones to just follow the heard. Students at William and Mary are driven and want to make a name for themselves on campus and after graduation, but there is no competitive air between students like you might see at other top-ranked schools. We form the best community to live and learn in!

William and Mary is academically challenging, rigorous, but the BEST time of my life! You're provided with ample academic, curricular, and social opportunities during the school year and you will make lifelong friendships. It sounds cliche, but there is no place I would rather be.

Keep in contact with Admissions and attend as many prospective student events as possible! I emailed Admissions with questions at least once a week just to keep my name familiar in their office. As for your essays, have multiple friends and family members review them before you submit! There's nothing worse than submitting your essays to then realize you had a few grammatical errors. This will leave a lasting impression (and not necessarily a good one). If you can visit campus and get an optional interview, do it! It can only help your application and you get to meet with a current senior so there's no stress during the interview! It is also a great way to ask questions and get answers from a student's POV.

William and Mary is hard. There is no doubt about it. I ended high school with a 4.98 and right now, I have a 3.5. Your classes will be challenging and you will be up late many nights studying or working on group projects, however, everyone survives the semester. William and Mary expects its students to have good time management skills so doing the bare minimum will not get you far here. Professors want to help you so do not be afraid to reach out! Get to know them and make sure they know your name too. It could meet the difference between a B+ and an A- at the end of the semester, and trust me, you want the A-.

Freshmen dorms suck. I'm just being honest. Most are not air conditioned and they're old (just like the college, but in a historic way) so if you can, bring an AC Unit! It saved me my freshman year. As you move up, you have a wider selection of housing, most with AC so woohoo! You really cannot go wrong with wherever you stay though.

I mean the dining halls are ok. You have two all-you-can eat dining halls to choose from, The Caf and Sadler. You also have Marketplace which offers a selection of to go foods (this is where a lot of students go). The food in our dining halls are ok; I am not a fan. So next semester I switched my meal plan so I can have more dining dollars (or flex) to spend at the Business School cafe! Make sure to stop by at least once and get a sandwich on pretzel bun or a bubble tea from Argo Tea! You won't regret it. If you are tired of dining halls, there are restaurants and QSRs where you can use your dining dollars to get food on the go. Cosi in Sadler Center is a popular spot!

Are you kidding? You're in Williamsburg! Colonial Williamsburg is our backyard and as a student, you get a free 4 year collegiate pass into Colonial Williamsburg! The outlet malls and Busch Gardens are only a bus away and there are always a ton of events going on on campus thanks to AMP!

the college of william and mary is: quirky. i have met some of the most amazing, down-to-earth people here; kindness and humor is emphasized, and academic passion is a must. college is what you make of it but w&m will be more than happy to meet you half way!!! :)

who are you down to your toes and that squishy part between your ribcage and gallbladder? for my application essay, i wrote about how i used to hate my name because it's different/cultural/ergo weird but how, through reading and writing and general growing-up, i came to love my name and all that it represents. what's your flavor? what do you dream about? in your applications show don't tell who you are with anecdotes/stories about things that make you tick, things that have changed you. be honest, funny and quirky.

w&m is no joke! make friends with your professors, do your work/reading, study ahead of time and you will be fine. better time management = more free time = less stress = more fun! you learn that in college ;)

average dorms (mold, cockroaches in the summer, no ac in some) but the people there are amazing. if you want strong friendships for life then opt for a small dorm freshman year. the housing lottery sucks so maybe look at special housing one year!

average--three and a half stars. sadler (central dining) is the best and sometimes they do a great job but the meats are iffy...salad bar/pizza is excellent. the caf is crap (i have maybe two friends that like it) and marketplace is pretty good (they have an excellent deli section/veggie burger...) wish they had organic options though...

go to colonial williamsburg (cw)! (i'm an old/quiet soul so i like walking around/people watching/going to shops with friends/going to the williamsburg library...it's a very picturesque setting). fun really happens when you're hanging out with friends and someone says, hey! does anyone want to____? (fill in the blank with go see a shakespeare play, go stargazing at lake matoaka, go off campus and watch a movie, etc). i've been to some great college parties (implication?) hosted by upperclassmen friends (i don't drink but i have fun anyway and never feel pressured to drink...) the frats have dance parties, but i've heard it's rank nasty sometimes...i love dancing but i've never been to the frats. you'll just have to see for yourself, i guess!

sucks for out-of-state students, great deal for in-state...very high-quality school overall :)

colonial williamsburg events (during winter it looks adorable!) and wawa runs (for snacks).

nerdy, quirky, funny, adventurous; must value education and positive friendship above all!!!

i am vp of club tennis and it is amazing and awesome and marvelous i've met some of my best friends through the club, and i know many people have similar experiences with other sports clubs. we got fourth place in sectionals and are going to nationals in april.

about a third of people are in frats. it's not a big deal if you are/aren't; it's not really a huge status change if you are/aren't. people are very down-to-earth here. frats/sororities are a good way to meet a crap ton of people but at the same time rush/general events take a crap ton of time. there are also stereotypes associated with each one so just be aware--i don't really judge based on that, so whatever floats your boat!

very safe campus! very trusting, close-knit environment. we leave our keys/ids/wallets/phones on tables to reserve them at mealtimes, i've lost my id and had it returned twice, etc. etc. that said, our professors accuse us of being a bit too trusting and there have been some incidences with stealing in the past (bikes and textbooks especially for some reason). don't be an idiot but don't worry, basically.

I'm not sure yet what I want to major in, so I've taken a variety of different classes here. They are all STELLAR, and I'm not just talking about the astronomy class I had last semester! The GER's force you to become well-rounded, and you'll be exposed to great teachers and subjects outside your main interest. All the teachers care passionately about their subjects, and most can even communicate that to the students. I've taken several classes that have really opened my mind.

The students are friendly, intelligent, and motivated. The campus is gorgeous and absolutely OOZING with history and tradition- you get a sense of that from your first day of orientation. There are clubs for anything you could be interested in, and there's always something randomly fun going on. The Rec Center has great facilities, the food is decent, and everyone has a functioning sense of humor. The whole school experience here is a dream come true.

I pay out-of-state tuition, which can be a real bummer, but I have enough financial aid, scholarships, etc. that it's not too much of a burden on my family. For in-state students, the education and experience here are insanely good for the price you're paying. Actually, that's true for me too!

You will love the many traditions here, from serious ones like the Honor Code (which people do take seriously) to sillier ones like the Yule Log ceremony, where the president of the college reads Twas the Night Before Christmas to the student body. Practical tips: be sure to bring an air-conditioner, rain boots and an umbrella. Also, it's always cheaper to get the textbooks off Amazon.com than from Barnes and Noble. Finally, tight competition for classes means that freshman rarely get the ones they want, so use the website to keep track of which classes are full already and have several backups when registration comes.

Motivated, outgoing liberal arts students with a passion for knowledge and fun. There's a place for everyone here EXCEPT for slackers.

The professors at W&M are definitely great, some more so than others but you can find a phenomenal professor in any department, or for any type of class (if you take the time to look). In general, they make themselves very available outside of class time to talk, are engaging and passionate about their subject and are recognised experts in their field, outside of the university. In a lot of cases, you can even do research with the professors, even as an undergraduate. A few of my friends looked into it and had no problem finding a professor to work with, in a field they were interested in. This is especially true for science majors, because W&M has no graduate science program, so you aren't competing with grad students to do work with the professors.

Learning comes from more than the professors though. W&M is a community of very intelligent and driven students. The other students impress you with your knowledge and challenge you to try harder. It's cliche, but you really do learn from your peers.

W&M also provides ample opportunities to learn/ gain experience outside of the college. Study abroad is HIGHLY advertised and encouraged (and has very strong programs), and the career center is a fantastic resource for finding jobs/ internships while studying, during the summer, or after graduation.

As I mentioned, the community here is great. Students are competitive, but in a positive way that encourages you to work harder; I have not encountered anyone that tries to out-compete by sabotaging others' work.

The campus is beautiful. That's all I really need to say about it.

I am out of state, so tuition is incredibly expensive and the college is pretty stingy when it comes to financial aid. I am certain that I could not get the experience I'm having at W&M for cheaper, though, and I know that the experience will eventually be worth the extra costs and work. For the time being though, the high price is a big worry, and one that I probably wouldn't have at most other universities in the country.

for people who are accepted:
Attend Admitted Students Day . It was what convinced me about William and Mary- I hadn't been too impressed on the tours or other visits, but they had really good programs at their admitted students day and they gave me a much better understanding of what William and Mary is really like.

for people who decide to go:
Visit the Cohen Career Center your freshman year and definitely sign up for the various listservs that the Center offers. Make an appointment to get advice on your resume, or to look in to possible internship/ job opportunities, even if you aren't interested in applying for any yet. Make yourself known there and start that relationship with them, because they'll end up offering you opportunities you might not have known to even look for otherwise.

Be thoughtful when answering the questions about the dorm you'll live in. Your freshman hall is really what makes the difference between a good freshman year and an invaluable freshman year.

Buy a cider mug from the Bake Shop on dog (duke of Gloucester) street in January. For $11 you get free cider, soda, coffee, ice cream (possibly more...) for an entire year, so if you buy it in January you'll have it for two semesters instead of one.

Orientation is not at all what college is actually like, but bear with the sleep deprivation and awkward mixers because it definitely keeps you from being homesick and will prove to have been a worthwhile experience by the end of the week.

Students at William and Mary are called twamps (typical William and Mary person). I'm not entirely sure how to best describe what that means, but definitely intelligent and driven (as I mentioned before), but also pretty dorky (in the best way possible). I've met some of the funniest and smartest people here, but none of them take themselves too seriously. If you've got quirks and like to laugh, you should fit in fine.

William and Mary has awesome faculty and a wide-range of course options. There are general ed requirements of course, where if you are already familiar with the topic may expect to be disappointed, but I was challenged even in courses I felt overly prepared for. Each class expanded my horizons and stretched me in ways I had not expected. The professors expect a lot of us but in return pour a lot of themselves back in to the students. That combination really maximizes how much each students learns and grows.

Besides the academics, the best part of W&M is the sense of community. The honor code and general morale on campus makes the 5,000 students on campus feel like a much smaller number. There are so many rich traditions combined with passion and innovation that make W&M a very unique, very special place.

For in-state students, tuition is great and there are a lot of aid options. Unfortunately, I am from out of state and received no financial aid. The education is well worth the $40,000 ticket price for out-of-state students, but it still hits the pocket pretty hard.

WORK HARD. It's not an easy school to get into and they expect a lot out of you once you get here. But the opportunities at W&M, the connections you'll make, and the extraordinary growth as a student and as a person that you will experience is 1000% worth it. Apply early if you know that this is the place for you.

It's not a party school by any means, but if you want to learn and are interested in community service, politics, or international relations- this is THE school for you! I read once that all Griffins are a little bit nerdy, but endearingly so... it couldn't be more true!