Great School, but here are the facts...

Introduction
I chose UMW because of it's size and location. It only has about 4,000 people which isn't too small and it's close to Washington D.C. and Richmond. The campus is beautiful and the people are really friendly and kind. If you thrive in a huge, socially overwhelming school like UVA you should stay away.

Campus Life and Social Life
There are parties off campus apparently and there is a pretty good group of people that go off trying to find them. There is no football team at UMW...things like homecoming are based around our soccer team. Rugby is popular too. There are many different clubs of all types which helps when trying ot meet people. On the weekends...a LOT of people leave. Many people are close enough to home that they go home often or go down to the other schools to catch some more action. It is definitely a suitcase school but I think there is a trend moving away from that. Advertisement
Academics
The professors are great and there are no TAs at UMW. Every professor is truely there for you and they are all completely approachable. It's great to know that you can get help from the professors. Also, personally, my biggest class is only 20 people and as you take more specific, upper-level courses, the class sizes decrease considerably. The biology department is big in the sciences. I'm not sure about some of the others but I know business majors generally have it pretty easy. There is a lot of work for science majors as they have to take two sciences at a time. With labs, the sciences make a heavy courseload. Overall, the courses have a lot of reading.

Student Body
Many students are from Northern Virginia and there seems to be a large group from New Jersey. There are 2 girls for every guy and honestly, there are some crazy dramas going around sometimes. There seems to be a lot of people who smoke and drink but if you find your own group of friends it ends up being alright.

In Closing...
It's a great school that many people don't know about. Most people will try and get into UVA and William and Mary first before considering UMW. There also seems to be a lot of people who might be considering transferring to other schools (such as UVA and W&M). It's disappointing because there isn't very much school spirit at all. It seems like if everyone felt really happy about being at Mary Wash it would be such a better place. There is currently a contest on campus to make the UMW cheer but our school spirit still needs a lot of work.

One thing that is disappointing is the responsiveness of the departments around campus. If you ever need help you have to send multiple emails and continue to push for someone to help you. This is only on the department level because once you speak to the professors or most people in person they are more than happy to help you in any way they can. It's a great feeling when the professors are so willing to help.

Overall, Mary Wash is a great school and you should definitely consider it. It needs some work but the more people that come who are willing to contribute to our spirit the better! Apply next year!