<p>applicantmum, They must have done a great job in recruiting applicants from NY. UMW has 28% of students from OOS.</p>
<p>I am a sophomore at Mary Wash and I am having the time of my life. I needed a small liberal arts college, and UMW definitely fit that profile, and the low tuition didn't hurt either. I am currently an Economics major, but I am thinking about switching to Poli Sci or English, just because I'm not sure if Econ is my thing. I also take a lot of music majors, and will probably graduate with the equivalent of a minor in music (we don't have minors). As for dorms, I lived in Mason Hall last year, which I consider the best dorm (but I have a little bit of a bias). Though Alvey is the only air-conditioned Freshman dorm, it's on the complete end of campus and Mason always has a great group of kids living there. The food is eh, but apparently, rumor has it, we will be getting a new area to get food once construction on Lee Hall is finished.
I made most my friends through my dorm and through the extra-curriculars I got involved in. There are a lot of ways to get involved, especially on a political level. Our school was ranked as one of the most politically active campuses by the Princeton Review a couple of years ago, and whatever your political views may be, we have very active Young Democrats and College Republicans organizations, as well as a newly-formed College Libertarians club and a Social Anarchist Theory club. We also have organizations such as Legislative Action Committee (LAC). which is a non-partisan groups that acts as a liaison bwtween the school and government, at the local, state and national level. We arrange for political figres to come speak and take trips to Richmond and DC (both of which are about an hour awayy from the school, depending on traffic). In addititon to being a member of LAC, I am involved with the Young Democrats, a member of two singing groups on campus (an a cappella group and a chamber choir), involved with Invisible Children and I plan to get involved with Student Government next year.
Academically, the school is tough, but we don't seem to have the same kind of pressure that students at William and Mary have. The professors are incredible, and are more than happy to help and talk to you. Since we are about an hour away from two major cities, there are alot of internship opportunites available. A new part of the curriculum for Freshmen is that you now need to take a Freshman Seminar course. This policy is new this year, so I have not taken one, but I have seem the course list, and they seem pretty intereted. The purpose of making Freshmen take these classes is to encourage Freshmen to speak up in their classes, and remove the pressure that might come with having upperclassmen in the same room.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Emgirl88,</p>
<p>Thank you! Do you have any friends in Art, Art History, or Historic preservation? Any info about strength of these majors appreciated.</p>
<p>applicantmum77, </p>
<p>My roommate, who is one of my best friends at school is a Historic Pres. major, and she loves the program. Since Mary Wash is one of the only schools in the country to offer an undergrad pres program, it is a very strong program and this was definitely one of her first choices when she was applying. She got to go on her first dig this summer in Texas (where she's from) and she always speaks very highly of the professors in the department. </p>
<p>I have a friend who's an Art History major, but I don't know much about the program. I would assume there would be some opportunities for internships being near to art galleries in DC.</p>
<p>Emgirl88,</p>
<p>Thanks. D hit the submit button. Our fingers are crossed.</p>
<p>Can anyone talk about the social life here, please?</p>
<p>My D is at UMW, and I would like to clarify the class registration/AP question. D went to UMW with 17 credits from AP classes. She was still classified as a freshman for the first registration, and the second. She was classified as a rising sophomore for the housing lottery and next year's registration. In other words, it takes a whole lot of AP credit to bump you up so most freshmen are all in the same boat. It's not like they rank the students by how many credits they have and line them up in that order to register. The most AP credit anyone she knows came with was 25. Many had more like 6.</p>
<p>D is not in one of the bigger majors but she's been able to knock out the gen ed requirements. Getting the classes you need is possible with a little planning and a little flexibility. She is willing to take an 8 am class, for example.</p>
<p>The car thing has not been a big deal. Some freshmen are allowed to have cars because they are from far away or other reasons. The Fred is not great but it's not that bad either. D and friends have used it and have not been stranded. BUT they made sure they knew of someone with a car that could come for them if needed.</p>
<p>If you want to know any of the downfalls of UMW you can follow my threads. Life has not been great for D there but she is going back and looking forward to next year.</p>
<p>I hear the school is very quiet, without much Greek life. Maybe thats why the campus is so beautiful, no crazy frat brothers littering everywhere! (like at my current school)</p>