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Undergraduate Program

In-Depth Study Beyond the Classroom

Close interaction between students and faculty members has long been a hallmark of the William and Mary education, fostering an exploratory learning experience that distinguishes the College from its peers.

Throughout Arts & Sciences, students are engaged in this type of hands-on, scholarly and creative activity—an essential component of our commitment to building a community of active learners.

We estimate that, before they graduate, at least 70 percent of our undergraduates participate in mentored research with a faculty mentor or take a course in which research has been a primary component.

Students work side by side with professors in laboratories, in archives and libraries, and in the field. Faculty often include undergraduates in their academic projects; many students co-author papers with their faculty mentors or present their research at national conferences. Each year about 150 students choose to pursue departmental honors—a highly focused inquiry directed by a faculty member and culminating in a thesis submission and oral examination.

Such collaborations help to energize the curriculum and bring the excitement of discovery into the classroom. They impart valuable lessons not gleaned through lectures alone.