<p>We always talk about how much work goes into academics at WM. How much time do you have during the week and the weekends for relaxation, etc?</p>
<p>I agree with the "everything gets old after awhile". Think about where you live at home. What is there to do? You probably enjoy doing things because of who you do them with a lot more than what you are actually doing.</p>
<p>Tons of people go out Fridays and Saturdays. I would guess that the Thursday crowd is smaller than at some other schools. There's tons of time for relaxation. I mean, some people work tons of hours a day. Some people do work when they have things do, and the rest of the time they don't do much. Some people do daily readings. Some people don't really pay attention to them.</p>
<p>I play frisbee once a week at midnight. After I graduate, I will probably remember much more about that than any exam I take. When will I have another chance to play frisbee after college? Probably never.</p>
<p>Some people put their school work on a pedestal as THE most important thing, others take it as it comes and don't really worry about it much. I mean, if you get a bad grade on an exam because you didn't study enough or because you studied for a million hours and still got a bad grade, in the end, it's the same result. The people who study for tons of time are not getting amazing grades or something. They seem generally more stressed though =P.</p>
<p>/just went to mug night yesterday... mugs are pink this month.</p>
<p>Hi Knight - Though academics are taken seriously around here, sometimes you have to take a step back and distance yourself from schoolwork for a while. And in my opinion, W&M does encourage this - they prefer their students successful and well-rounded, not unstable and depressed. I have found time to relax, but it depends on what you find relaxing. For me, a group of us go to the Recreational Center a couple nights a week. I really look forward to this because we talk, laugh, and catch up with one another. Plus, I have to say that the new Rec. Center is super-nice! Also during the week, I attend a couple of W&M clubs and programs that have nothing to do with my academics - like dance classes and Board Game club meetings - that I voluntarily sign up for because I have the free time. Not too long ago, W&M even advertised relaxation sessions for students in the forms of massages, yoga, and chat groups. In regards to the weekends, they are what you make of them. Sometimes I spend them in the library catching up, playing sports, traveling in and around the 'Burg, or just sitting at home being a TOTAL couch potato. Though by the looks of things, students around here are pretty active throughout the week. </p>
<p>Recently however, my free time has been spent (shamelessly) scouting a glimpse of anyone famous in CW lately. They are currently shooting the John Adams miniseries here which will premier on HBO in 2008 and people are allowed to watch the production as long as they do not interfere. If you are planning a visit here within the next couple months, be on the look-out.</p>
<p>Do most students have cars at WM?</p>
<p>And if not, is it really beneficial to have friends who do? :p</p>
<p>One of the best things of William & Mary? Death by Chocolate!!!!!</p>
<p>Cars can be a bit of a pain to have at W&M.. There is very limited parking. The school bus runs you to the shopping centers and things, and the Amtrak station is pretty close for weekend trips to DC. Now that said, it is always good to have a friend with a car for the weekend trip to the beach- Va Beach is only an hour so you can easily go for the day. When I went to W&M (yeah, I know, years ago) we would take quick trips to the Yorktown beach which was much closer. Not sure if the kids still do that. One of the benefits of all the tourists, is for a small town, it has lots of great restaurants- real nice when your parents come to town!</p>
<p>thanks tjmom</p>
<p>the first thing I thought of when I read this topic was LATE NIGHT WAWA RUNS!!! Lol j/k. If you don't get it (Wawa is a small market like 7/11 across from William and Mary where you can get practically anything when the cafeteria isn't open).</p>
<p>I brought a car to W&M because I live beyond the bus route and I work in another county. Parking is definitely tight (even with the new parking garage), especially if you are looking for spaces near ancient/old campus. Plus, the parking fee for the year can put a damper on your bank account (at least for me), especially when the fee is due before we receive our financial aid check. Though a car is nice to have, you can surely get around without one. The bus routes, like TJmom mentioned, can take you to numerous places. Here is the online bus schedule for those who want to take a gander: <a href="http://www.williamsburgtransport.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.williamsburgtransport.com/</a>. I think students use the Green Line to get around campus? These services are free to those who present their W&M ID card. They run to different areas of the college, supermarkets, the outlet malls, pharmacies, many restaurants, and other popular destinations. I also notice quite a lot of students get around on bikes. Since I do not use/own one, I can not comment on the pros and cons on this type of transportation...</p>
<p>When I stayed on campus last summer in the Bryan Complex (located across the street from the WAWA), the one thing that got me and my roommate through those hot summer days were the pint-size selections of Ben & Jerry's ice cream WAWA kept stocked - yuuuum! And the Death by Chocolate (available at The Trellis in Merchant?s Square) is indeed pure chocolaty heaven!!</p>
<p>ah...the cult of the wawa...</p>
<p>Does CW get old? Yes and no. I think the trick is to appreciate it for what it is. Like most W&M students I grew up in VA, which pretty much means I've took field trips to Williamsburg/Jamestown every few years. Even still, though I guess it would have been "cool" to act very jaded about it, I still enjoyed being able to walk down DoG street whenever I wanted. Maybe go to the cheese shop, have a beer, and sit out and watch the goofy tourists. </p>
<p>I certainly agree with my classmate, wmalum, New Town is nice. For so many years it was strange not having anything that really catered to the students, other than the Leafe, etc. Even from a business end it was a no-brainer, but Williamsburg as it is, moves slow as can be, even for central VA. </p>
<p>We always talk about how much work goes into academics at WM. How much time do you have during the week and the weekends for relaxation, etc?</p>
<p>It really depends on what you're after. Honestly, it doesn't take but maybe 2-3 hours worth of work outside of class per day...tops...top get a decent GPA. It won't be great, but you should at least be average. But you'll have plenty of time to do other things during the week. I did very well grade wise, but still went out on Fridays and Saturdays. Everything comes down to time management. You can have your cake and eat it too, but you've got to be disciplined when it comes time to hit the books.</p>
<p>As far as cars go, I knew plenty of people that spent four years without a car. They're not needed, but they can make life nice. They can also be a bit of a distraction.</p>
<p>parking at WM is really not that bad. It is very popular to complain about it though. There is plenty of room for anyone to park at the Hall. From the other side of campus, this is like a 12 minute walk. If you want to park right next to where you live, you will very possibly have issues. However, this also means that essentially, the interior of the campus is car free and very pedestrian friendly. I really like that there aren't roads going all through campus, and campus is pretty small. Walking "all the way" across campus is roughly 12 minutes. I know people at Virginia Tech who walk 20-30 minutes to get to class.</p>
<p>Only Jrs and Srs are allowed to have cars, with a few exceptions. And all Jrs and Srs do not have cars here, so I can confidently say that less than half of the people on campus have cars. People who live off campus are probably more likely to have cars.</p>
<p>I do have a car, and I use it basically once a week to go grocery shopping. I also use it to go home on breaks (and take other people with me).</p>
<p>Relaxation time: It's reasonable. While the workload is intense, it is easily managed by a well-adjusted student. Even the busiest of students can be found playing intramural soccer on Busch field at midnight.</p>
<p>Parking: A real pain unless you live in the Botetourt, Dupont, Yates, or the Units. There's plenty of space in the W&M Hall lot, but many times you'll struggle to find a spot anywhere else. Parking issues aside, having a car on campus is quite nice because there's not a lot to do in the immediate vicinity of campus. CW, like much of the rest of Williamsburg, is focused on tourism and as such, practical shopping and dining options for full-time residents are severely limited. The bus system can get you to New Town or Target if you can master the transfer between the campus line and the Red Line, but the Red Line doesn't run after 8:00 PM, or at all on Sundays. Plenty of freshmen have gone to see an evening movie at the New Town cinema only to find they had to walk all the way back because the bus had stopped operating. Bottom line: if you're the type who shops for groceries often or likes to go out to dinner or see a movie on a Friday night, you'll find the bus system a nuisance and will probably prefer your own car. As a freshman, you can apply for a parking permit if you have an off-campus job, otherwise you will simply grow to love the Wawa.</p>
<p>Campus housing: For freshmen, it's not so bad. Dupont is definitely the most sought-after for its central air conditioning and suite-style bathrooms. Monroe has the best location (on old campus, right across the street from Wawa) but you probably won't get in unless you're a Monroe Scholar. Barrett is old and pretty. Yates has air conditioning and is tolerable as long as you don't draw a basement room. About half of the freshman class will end up in the Botetourt Complex (Fauquier, Gooch, Nicholson, Spotswood, Dinwiddie), lovingly referred to as the Projects. If you end up living in Botetourt, you will develop close relationships with your hallmates as you bond over narrow, dimly-lit hallways; resident cockroaches; and a lack of air conditioning. Once you survive your freshman year, you enter the lottery where sophomores are notoriously shafted (this seems to be a universal theme, though, not simply limited to W&M). Once you get to be a junior, however, you're pretty much guaranteed space in the Bryan Complex, the Ludwell Apartments, or the fancy new Jamestown dorms. The reason many students choose to stay on campus isn't really because of how great campus housing is, but rather because off-campus housing options are very limited. The City of Williamsburg hates college students and does everything possible to force students to stay on campus, mostly by enforcing the draconian 3-person ordinance which prohibits more than three unrelated people from living in the same dwelling. The City also buys up property around the college, fixes it up, and sells it in hopes of raising the price of rent beyond the means of the average student. Bottom line: You might get a year in Botetourt or the Units, but you'll be focused on meeting new people and before you know it you'll be living in Jamestown.</p>
<p>Yes we used to call it Body Rot!</p>
<p>Fauq yeah!</p>
<p>I lived in Taliaferro when I was a freshman, I don't think it's even a dorm now. It was pronounced Tolliver. You always knew an out of towner when they would ask where Taliaferro was, they pronounced it exactly the way it was spelled.</p>
<p>Botetourt was funny too, people would pronounce it Boat Tort.</p>
<p>Taliaferro is still in use.</p>
<p>I wouldn't necessarily agree that Dupont is the most sought-after Freshmen dorm. Considering that it's fairly easy to procure permission to have a window air conditioning unit, that really isn't much of a problem.</p>
<p>Also, plenty of people in Monroe aren't Monroe Scholars. There are only 70-80 incoming Monroe Scholars, and Monroe holds about 140 kids.</p>
<p>I personally think Barrett has the best location, though I might just believe that because most of my classes are in Morton. Barrett gives you the best of both worlds of being (essentially) on old campus, with relatively close proximity to the UC, but also being fairly close to the New Campus academic buildings.</p>
<p>Yeah I don't see how Dupont would be the most sought-after, they were my 3rd last, Yates and Botetourt being below it. Of course I got stuck in my very last choice, the lovely Gooch hall. I believe I even put it below Nicolson which is an all girls dorm. If you decide to come here keep in mind that I don't think Res Life really even looks at your list of dorms in preference as a freshman, it's all up to luck.</p>
<p>True, lots of people like Barrett because it's old and pretty and it seems to be the dorm shown off by the tour guides. Barrett is also in a great location because of its proximity to both old and new campus. You can get in to Monroe, but about 2/3 of the spots are usually taken by Monroe Scholars so it's a long shot. I always loved the attic lounge.</p>
<p>It is true, though, that ResLife ignores your preferences. They claim to match you with a roommate first, and a dorm second, but by all accounts they (and by they, I mean their new computer software) end up doing a lousy job. Freshman students who want a double get one of the rare singles, and students who indicated they would have preferred a single get stuck in a triple overcrowd. Students who wanted Dupont get stuck in Fauquier, and students who wanted one of the Botetourt dorms (not sure why they would want one, but some do) get put in Yates. In addition, the roommate questionnaire consists of about four questions regarding sleep habits and room cleanliness, not nearly detailed enough to perform an accurate match. I have long held the opinion that a completely random assignment process would be preferable to the current system for freshmen because 1) the assignments seem random anyway and 2) it would eliminate any false hopes that your housing requests are actually taken into consideration.</p>
<p>So if you're feeling adventurous... tell ResLife you want to live in a triple overcrowd with messy roommates who play loud music and stay up all night. Then laugh at everyone else when you get assigned your Dupont single.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The bus system can get you to New Town or Target if you can master the transfer between the campus line and the Red Line, but the Red Line doesn't run after 8:00 PM, or at all on Sundays. Plenty of freshmen have gone to see an evening movie at the New Town cinema only to find they had to walk all the way back because the bus had stopped operating.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think it runs till 10, but yea, it still ends early. New Town is still new. Hopefully they will work on extending the running time of that line further into the evening. And it does stop on campus. It stops at Cary Street / Jamestown, right across from Barksdale.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you can't really request freshmen housing. I thought the roommate questionaire was good. You're looking for a roommate, not a best friend. Most people I know were matched with people who lived like them, though not necessarily good friends. There's a special reception you get to attend senior year if you and your roommate stay together for 4 years =P.</p>
<p>I chose to stay on campus because there were apartment dorms... if there weren't, I probably would've moved off. Living in one room gets old, for me at least.</p>