W&M at a Glance

We're famous for our rigorous liberal arts curriculum and our dedicated, engaged professors. Our students are nothing short of exceptional; they're scholars, athletes, activists, musicians, world travelers and generous volunteers. Our campus, adjoining Colonial Williamsburg, is a masterwork of preservation and innovation.

Our History

• Chartered on February 8, 1693, by King William III and Queen Mary II of England
• The second oldest college in America
• 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
• We also have the nation's first Honor Code 

Our Campuses

Williamsburg (William & Mary main campus)

• 1,200-acres—including scenic Lake Matoaka and College Woods—located in historic downtown Williamsburg, Virginia
• Named one of Intel's 50 "Most Unwired College Campuses" for our campus-wide wireless network
• Sir Christopher Wren Building (1700) is the oldest academic building still in use in the U.S.
• Historic Campus section is restored to 18th-century appearance

Washington, DC (Dupont Circle)

• A suite of offices and meeting spaces in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Building, located steps from the Dupont Circle Metro station
• Runs several academic programs for undergrads that enable 250+ W&M students a year to "Live, Study, and Work in Washington, DC"
• Leased housing allows Program faculty to live in the heart of DC and students to live in luxury Arlington apartments
• Provides W&M faculty, administrators and students the ability to reach the 15,000+ W&M alums in the DC area

Gloucester Point (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)

• 40-acre campus in Gloucester Point at the mouth of the York River, a major tributary and passageway to Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean
• Two satellite campuses on the Eastern Shore and Rappahannock River
• Gloucester Point was a strategic location in the American Revolution and Civil War
• Positioned across the York river from Yorktown, site of the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War

Outstanding, Diverse Students

• From 50 states and the District of Columbia and 54 foreign countries
• 6,271 undergraduates and 2,105 graduate students
• 30 percent are students of color
• 80 percent of freshmen graduated in the top ten percent of their class (and 97 percent in the top twenty-five)
• Middle 50th percentile on SAT: 1270-1460, higher than any other public university in Virginia
• Earn doctorates at a higher rate than any other public university in the nation
• Nearly 400 student clubs and organizations
• 75% of students participate in community service projects
• More than 45% of students study abroad at some point in their undergraduate career, in more than 45 countries each year.

Professors Who Teach

• 12:1 student-faculty ratio
• 85 percent of courses have fewer than 40 students
• 609 full-time faculty members across all undergraduate, graduate and professional programs
• W&M has more recipients of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award than any other college or university

Academics

• Programs in Arts & Sciences and our four graduate/professional schools: Business, Education, Law and Marine Science
• Over 40 undergraduate programs and over 40 graduate and professional degree programs in Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, Law and Marine Science
• Degrees conferred: B.A., 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., Ph.D., Psy.D.

Facilities

• Earl Gregg Swem Library houses a collection of more than 2 million books, journals, manuscripts, government documents and films, with electronic access to many of this from anywhere in the world.
• Swem Library's Media Center boasts nine cutting-edge digital video and audio editing suites and a state-of-the-art Special Collections Research Center.
• The Muscarelle Museum of Art has a permanent collection of nearly 5,000 paintings, sculptures and works on paper.
• The Integrated Science Center is a massive interdisciplinary research and teaching facility for chemistry, biology and psychology undergrads, graduate students and faculty.
• The Commons Fresh Food Company—we call it "The Caf," where healthy entrées are made right before your eyes—is more like a hip, international restaurant than a college cafeteria.
• The Mason School of Business is housed in Alan B. Miller Hall which provides approximately 160,000 square feet of space consisting of state-of-the-art facilities for instruction, student activities, faculty offices, visiting scholars and research.
• The School of Education is in a new 112,000-square-foot facility that brings together all of the school's programs, classrooms and offices under one roof (with room to grow).

Our Alumni

• 92,227 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 award-winning poets, the head of the FBI, NASA's chief scientist, a performer in the Blue Man Group, an international banker, a crazy number of Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright scholars, and some dude named Jon Stewart.