Questions from a prospective student!

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>Okay if anybody reading this goes to W&M or is in high school or whatever.. basically anybody who has answers or suggestions please feel free to share!</p>

<ol>
<li>I'm interested in majoring in history; would WM be a good school for this major? What types of classes are there?</li>
<li>How's the food? Dorms?</li>
<li>What are the most important parts of the application process? What are the admissions officers looking for in the applications?</li>
<li>How important is the interview and how much does it affect acceptance?</li>
<li>What is Williamsburg like? Is there a lot to do? Is it better to have a car? I know as a freshman I won't be able to have one but after freshman year would you suggest it?</li>
<li>How do you spend your time? How much time is spent on schoolwork/socializing/partying/etc?</li>
</ol>

<p>If anybody has any answers please don't hesitate! you don't have to answer all of them these are just some general questions!</p>

<p>THANKS SO MUCH!!!</p>

2

<p>well, that is an exhaustive list, haha</p>

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<p>Yes. W&M has an excellent history department, and has especially unique opportunities in early american history that you cannot find other places. You can see the course catalog here: [William</a> & Mary - Course Catalogs & Course Schedules](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/coursecatalschedules/index.php]William”>Course Catalogs & Schedules | William & Mary)</p>

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<p>The food is ok… it is cafeteria stuff. It’s not outstanding, but there is definitely a good variety. There are three main dining halls, 2 are all you can eat, and 1 is a food court type place.</p>

<p>The dorms are solid. The Jamestown dorms are very new, and very nice (and energy efficient). Some of the freshmen dorms have small rooms and no AC. W&M is pretty small, so all the dorms have fairly good location… obviously some are closer to some parts of campus, and others to others. You can read about them and see floor plans here: [William</a> & Mary - Residence Halls](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/offices/residencelife/oncampus/residencehalls/index.php]William”>Residence Halls | William & Mary)</p>

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<p>They are looking for you to be more than numbers. Generally they want good scores, good grades, most challenging curriculum, and passion about something. Could be a sport, job, hobby, volunteer work… they admit people, not a GPA or SAT score.</p>

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<p>The interview is optional, and does not count against you at all if you do not do it. According to the common data set, if you choose to do the interview, it is “considered”. See here: <a href=“http://web.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_0910_part_c.pdf[/url]”>http://web.wm.edu/ir/CDS/cds_0910_part_c.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Williamsburg… is unique. You can go to the beach at Yorktown. You can bike to Jamestown. You can go canoeing on the lake. You can play tons of intramural sports. You can play minigolf or drive go karts. You can visit the three bars right next to campus if you are over 21. You can watch the shows that AMP (student activities group) brings to campus almost every week. There is generally a big-ish concert every semester. You can enjoy a run through colonial williamsburg (or elsewhere). You can go to the movies, there are 2 theaters. You can go to the outlet mall and shop. You can watch student groups perform concerts. You can listen to live a cappella every Wednesday night. You can throw a frisbee with your friends. You can [enjoy some adult beverages] and hit a tennis ball with golf clubs around campus to raise money for charity every spring. You can ride the local buses for free to get to where you want to go. You can volunteer (I think the numbers are over 75% of W&M students, and over 300,000 hours per year). There has been a lot of development recently within a short drive, and there is going to be more development starting soon right next to campus that is going to incorporate some student living space and businesses.</p>

<p>You can’t have a car until junior year, unless you get permission because you need one to travel off campus for some reason (job, volunteer work, etc). If you live in VA, you should always be able to catch a ride with someone to get home on breaks. If you need the airport, rides are generally provided by the student government for a small fee.</p>

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<p>You can divide your time however you want. I know people who hardly ever partied, and people who partied from Thursday to Sunday. The general rule they share for school work is 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour of class. Whether you want to do more or less is completely up to you.</p>

3

<p>Its exam time so I don’t have the luxury of providing a nice long response, but if you go back through previous threads I’m pretty sure I’ve addressed each of those topics in the last few months. It could be helpful if you have the time between APs.</p>

4

<ol>
<li> I’m interested in majoring in history; would WM be a good school for this major? What types of classes are there?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer: Not sure you can pick a better place to study history than the seat of early American history. W&M is next to the country’s first settlement and graduated multiple signers of the Declaration of Independence, four presidents, a Supreme Court Chief Justice and the list goes on. W&M was also first to do a lot of things within higher education from the nation’s first law school to the nation’s first campus-wide DOT campaign. Historical innovation and the study of history are hallmarks of a W&M education.</p>

<p>The History department offers classes across time frames and regions. Check out the Course Catalog ([William</a> & Mary - Catalogs 2005 to Present](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/catalog]William”>Course Catalogs | William & Mary)).
2. How’s the food? Dorms?</p>

<p>Answer: W&M’s dorms while logistically and amenity-wise are likely quite typical, the Residence Life policy of self-determination is unique and helps make your living space feel like your own because you get to govern your.</p>

<p>Lots of options with food from all you can eat to a la carte. Nice too that W&M Express (a debit card of sorts) works at a lot of local eateries.</p>

<ol>
<li>What are the most important parts of the application process? What are the admissions officers looking for in the applications?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer: W&M engages in holistic review so all parts of the application are relatively equal. W&M puts a bit more weight on transcripts than other parts but a great transcript alone does not an admit make. Everything from course rigor, grades, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, recommendations, essays, talents, background, etc are used to make a decision.</p>

<ol>
<li>How important is the interview and how much does it affect acceptance?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer: Interviews are optional but if you are on campus the summer before your senior year and can take advantage of the opportunity why not? It’s the only way to put your personality into your application. We treat interviews like letters of recommendation but this is a recommendation from someone we implicitly trust and who we’ve trained to be evaluative in a way that is helpful to the Admission Committee.</p>

<ol>
<li>What is Williamsburg like? Is there a lot to do? Is it better to have a car? I know as a freshman I won’t be able to have one but after freshman year would you suggest it?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer: Williamsburg is a bit different for a college town but in addition to the touristy historic area, Williamsburg has made strides to built up areas more appealing to young people. High Street and New Town offer shopping, dining, and entertainment geared towards the city’s younger residents. W&M student groups also do a ton to bring shows, speakers, entertainment, etc to campus so that students can access it easily.</p>

<ol>
<li>How do you spend your time? How much time is spent on schoolwork/socializing/partying/etc?</li>
</ol>

<p>Answer: There are over 400 student clubs, 23 DI varsity sports, over 40 club sports, 27 Greek chapters, the list goes on and on!</p>

5

<ol>
<li><p>How’s the food? Dorms?
The food is cafeteria food for the most part (esp. at Sadler), the Caf is much nicer but i mean you get used to it so it’s not that bad. The dorms depend on where you live, smaller dorms w/o AC can be annoying</p></li>
<li><p>How do you spend your time? How much time is spent on schoolwork/socializing/partying/etc?
You can spend your time however you want. Most people find themselves studying most of the week, hanging out with each other, then going out maybe 1 night. More social/greek students will study then go out thursday-sunday…and of course there are extremes on both sides.</p></li>
</ol>

6

<p>Soccerguy, Here<em>To</em>Help and W&M admission have provided you answers - you are all set. I will tell you one other thing though. W&M expects you to study - unless you are absolutely briiliant (and only a few students are), you got to study hard to be at 3.4+ type of GPA. And I mention that magic number because of graduate school admission process.</p>