<p>Hi, I'm an in-state potential applicant (im a junior this year) with a couple of questions for students/alums. When I saw WM, I loved the campus (and of course williamsburg in general...), but I attended one of those information days and it seemed as if students presenting/guiding there seemed pretty...peppy. I know that's to be expected for these things, but the one thing that concerned me was that 4 out of the 5 of the guides were in frats or sororities. I'm not into all of that. How's social life for those who aren't "greek"??? are the frat people dominating campus, or do they keep to themselves? i read somewhere that 1/3 of students go greek, so I was curious. mind you, that won't keep me from applying (esp. considering other state schools are prob. even more frat-oriented)</p>
<p>a couple more questions: how is it living in williamsburg, seeing as its also a tourist spot? I love visiting, but wondered how good town-gown stuff is. do lots of students get jobops?</p>
<p>Does william and mary have a hiking club? this is kinda my "sport" (though I don't reallydo nearly as much as i like...) I would like to pursue this in college if i can.</p>
<p>finally, How's the language/IR programs. i obviously know history's good, but don't know much about the others. i'm especially interested in Russian and poss. Chinese.</p>
<p>thanks for answering any questions. I really should know more than I do about WM, since I live in state, but my knowledge is mostly pre-19th century hitory of the area, that the campus is pretty and that tuition is so insanely reasonable.</p>
<p>First, the students at W&M are involved. They are dedicated in what they do. The students in greek life do not go isolate themselves. They are part of 1 in 4 and Every 2 Minutes (rape education/prevention groups, male and female respectively), they are tour guides, they sing in choir and a capella, they play instruments, they play sports. Roughly 30% of the campus is greek. I'm friends with greeks and nongreeks. There's not really a division.</p>
<p>Tourist spot is good because we have some stuff that other places don't have, like go karts and pirates cove mini golf and Busch Gardens (discounted tickets on W&M day). But also drawbacks, because the area is really geared toward the tourists ($$$$) and not the college crowd ($). There's not much right near campus, though there are plans to increase this, and build up the area by the Delis with more student friendly businesses. We got a movie theater in the fall, and a new shopping center is being built. It's very nice. It won't be finished for a few years, but things are open already. The bus runs there (or a 5 minute drive in a friend's car), and you can ride it for free.</p>
<p>Hiking club? Don't know. I'm sure there's an outdoors club though. And as they say... if we don't have it, you can start it =P</p>
<p>Language/IR - I heard a tour guide say we have the biggest Modern Language program in the state. W&M has a very strong Government / IR department. I'm actually an IR major (after I fill out the paperwork to declare, meh). Model UN is 3 time defending world champion. There have been job offers in the career center at school for the DC area looking specifically for a W&M graduate. My experience in the language department has been with Spanish, and my professors quite good, with the exception of one.</p>
<p>yes... feel free to ask anything more. I'm gone this weekend, but I shall return by Monday, heh.</p>
<p>thanks for answering my questions! I really loved the campus when I saw it, so I'm pretty sure I'll apply next year. :-)</p>