Our History
- Chartered on February 8, 1693, by King William III and Queen Mary II of England
- The second oldest institution of higher learning in America, and the first to become a university
- Severed formal ties with Britain in 1776
- Became state-supported in 1906 and coeducational in 1918
- Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's first academic Greek society, was founded here in 1776
- Find more cool facts about William & Mary
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Our Campuses & Locations
Williamsburg (William & Mary main campus)
- 1,200-acres — including the Martha Wren Briggs Amphitheatre, Lake Matoaka and College Woods — located in downtown Williamsburg, Virginia
- 68% of our undergraduate students live here, on-campus
- Sir Christopher Wren Building (1700) is the oldest university building still in use in the U.S.
- Improvements to building efficiency and new LEED certified facilities mean we've expanded campus while reducing our energy use. W&M has also committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2030.
Gloucester Point (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)
- 42-acre campus at the mouth of the York River, a major tributary and passageway to Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean
- Chartered in 1940, VIMS is one of the leading marine research and education centers in the U.S.
- VIMS is both an independent state agency and home to W&M's graduate School of Marine Science
- Two satellite campuses on the Eastern Shore and Rappahannock River
- Positioned across the York River from Yorktown, site of the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War
- Home to the 93-foot research vessel Virginia, the most advanced ship of its kind of the East Coast.
Washington, D.C. (The Washington Center)
- Runs Study in D.C. academic opportunities that enable W&M students to live, study and work in Washington, D.C.
- Works with schools, departments and programs across William & Mary to help them navigate the D.C.-area's dynamic governmental, for-profit and non-profit institutions, and engage with the 17,000+ W&M D.C. alumni community
- Located in the heart of the nation’s capital, the Washington Center is home to large classroom, event, and office space for all W&M students, faculty, staff, and alumni
- Provides leased housing that allows Study in D.C. students to live in safe, high-quality apartments in Downtown D.C.
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Outstanding, Diverse Students
- From 49 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and more than 60 foreign countries
- 6,543 undergraduates and 2,974 graduate students
- 31% identify as students of color
- 82% of freshmen who are ranked graduated in the top 10% of their class
- Middle 50% range for first-year students applying with test scores:
- 1360-1520 SAT, higher than any other public university in Virginia
- 31-34 ACT
- 80% of undergraduates participate in research mentored by faculty
- 450+ student clubs and organizations
- More than 1,100 students contributed 11,840 hours to almost 4,300 community engagement projects and events over the last two years
- Nearly 60% of undergraduate students study abroad during their time at W&M, in more than 50 countries each year.
- Earn doctorates at one of the top rates for any public university in the nation
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Professors Who Teach
- 13:1 student-faculty ratio
- 100% of classes taught by faculty
- 85% of our classes have fewer than 40 students — nearly half have fewer than 20 students
- 653 full-time faculty members across all undergraduate, graduate and professional programs
- W&M is ranked top 10 in the country for undergraduate teaching by U.S. News & World Report
- W&M has more recipients of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award than any other college or university
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Academics
- Programs in Arts & Sciences and four graduate/professional schools: business, education, law and marine science
- 52 undergraduate majors and 62 minors with more than 100 tracks available
- More than 30 graduate and professional degree programs
- 15 graduate certificate programs
- Degrees conferred: B.A., B.A.Ed., B.B.A., B.S., Ed.D., J.D., LL.M., M.A., M.A.C., M.B.A., M.Ed., M.P.P., M.S., M.S.B.A., Ph.D.
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Campus Facilities
- Earl Gregg Swem Library houses more than 2 million books, journals, films and e-resources, and its Special Collections Research Center is home to rare books, manuscripts and artifacts.
- Swem Library's Reeder Media Center boasts two innovative classrooms, a screening room, collaboration lab and eight acoustically isolating studios for media recording, production and mastering.
- The Muscarelle Museum of Art has a permanent collection of more than 6,000 paintings, sculptures and works on paper, and serves as a research center for campus.
- The Integrated Science Center (ISC) is a massive collaborative research and teaching facility for applied science, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and psychological sciences undergrads, graduate students and faculty.
- Throughout campus, W&M dining offers access to our two all-you-care-to-eat facilities, five specialty coffee houses, four convenience stores, a bake shop, food court and national franchises.
- The Raymond A. Mason School of Business is housed in Alan B. Miller Hall which provides 160,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities for instruction, student activities, faculty offices, visiting scholars and research.
- The School of Education is in a 112,000-square-foot modern facility bringing together all of the school's programs, classrooms and offices under one (beautiful) roof.
- Learn more about our historic and innovative campus spaces, as well as housing and dining.
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Our Alumni
- 106,998 and counting
- Three U.S. presidents — Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler — were educated at William & Mary (four if we include George Washington's surveyor's license).
- Some of our graduates have included head coaches who have led their teams to the Super Bowl and World Cup, Emmy award-winning actors, leaders of both the FBI and CIA, innovators at Hulu, Netflix and Apple, NASA’s chief scientist, a groundbreaking video-game producer, and renowned comedians like Jon Stewart and Patton Oswalt.
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