<p>I am interested in w&m but I just wanted to get some information from students who actually go there.</p>
<p>First: how is the social life? what is there to do on campus and off campus? what is a typical weekend like?</p>
<p>Second: how is the international relations program? I heard that it was good, but if anyone has anything they would like to say about it I would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I'm fuzzy on the IR program, but I know a lot of people in it who seem to like it. </p>
<p>As far as social life - being car-less in Williamsburg is definitely limiting, but it's not a huge problem. </p>
<p>The University Center Activities Board (UCAB) plans a ton of great events. For homecoming we're having The Ting Tings and The Cool Kids play, and in September Rob Riggle from the Daily Show came and did stand up. Take a look at their website: UCAB:</a> Home</p>
<p>We have a pretty good bus system if you want to go off campus. New Town is right down the road and it has a lot of shopping (WhiteBlack, VS, Old Navy, B&N, Pacsun, etc etc etc) and restaurants (Panera, Cheeburger, CA Tortilla, Bonefish Grill, and more), as well as a movie theater. New</a> Town - Williamsburg, Virginia </p>
<p>Colonial Williamsburg can be fun, too. Lots of cute shops - great places to buy gifts for Mom - and your W&M ID gets you into all the historical shops/exhibits. </p>
<p>We're also maybe 15 minutes away from Busch Gardens, and there's a weekend at the beginning of October where W&M students can take chartered buses there every 30 minutes. Tickets are ~$20, which is excellent, especially if you like going to Howl-o-scream. </p>
<p>Typical weekend... hmm. Fridays have always seemed pretty boring to me; there's usually not as much going on. Saturdays there are usually a couple off campus parties, and the Units (aka the fraternity housing) are pretty busy. They can definitely be fun, just depends on where you go/who you know! (Thursday also counts as the weekend for a lot of people, but not for me, 9 am class :( ) There are a ton of dance parties early in the year at the units. </p>
<p>Join some clubs, go Greek, stalk facebook events - you'll find stuff to do. :)</p>
<p>weekends... are what you make of them. If you want to go out Thurs-Sunday, you can. W&M is a smaller school that isn't known for its social life. If you frequent the same places on the weekends, you are likely to become familiar with the crowd at whatever location that is. Other organizations that aren't social greek groups do things as well. I will be back at school this weekend for homecoming and I have a full slate of evening activities =)</p>
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<p>The IR program is very good... they just redid it to require more economics (through intermediate micro and macro).</p>
<p>There aren't really any "International Relations" classes. You take a combination of government, econ, and history along with your foreign language of choice, which requires 2 languages to 202 (4th semester) and 1 additional semester in one of them, OR 3 semesters after 202 in one language. If you took 4 or 5 years in high school, you can start up needing 3 semesters. If you have AP or IB credit, you might need less. There are other courses you can take toward the degree too, like anthropology.</p>
<p>There are some core classes that you have to take...
Intro to International Politics
International Political Economy
International Security
International Trade Theory and Policy
International Finance
Global History since 1500
IR in Disciplinary Perspective</p>
<p>... then you have a bunch of choices, from different groups. The choices are like, 1 class out of 7, 1 class out of ~25, and 2 classes out of ~50. The new IR major does require a "capstone" project, which can be completed by a thesis, an independent study, or a 400 level seminar (in a topic related to IR)</p>
<p>So, you need 37 credits here... plus the 3 foreign language classes beyond 202, = 49 credits, plus pre-requisites that don't count toward your major, which at a quick glance, appear to be: Econ 101, 102, 303, 304 (intro and intermediate micro and macro) = 61 credits, which is a lot, but you will leave school with a VERY well respected degree. Also, it doesn't feel like the classes are all in the same "field", since IR is an interdisciplinary major. The 60 credits can come from 6 different subject areas. It's not the same as taking something like, 60 credits of math. </p>
<p>I graduated in May with an IR degree... I wasn't overly involved in IR extracurriculars, but W&M has one of the beset Model UN teams in the world, if you're into that.</p>
<p>If you have other questions or want me to try and expand on something, I'll do my best. =)</p>