Founded by Royal Charter in 1693, The College of William and Mary is the second oldest college in the country. It has a long history of liberal arts education and a growing research and science curriculum that demonstrates a strong commitment to undergraduate research.
William and Mary has long been considered by many as a “Public Ivy,” a state-assisted institution that offers a superior education at a cost far below that of private Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
The school’s 1,200-acre campus is located approximately 150 miles south of Washington, D.C., midway between Richmond and Norfolk, VA. Although William and Mary retains its traditional title of “College,” it is in reality a small university that offers advanced degrees in several fields. Recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the country’s top-ranked small public universities, the college enrolls just over 7,500 full-time undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Law, and Marine Science. William and Mary’s faculty provide the college an 11-to-1 student/faculty ratio, among the lowest of public universities.
Known as “the alma mater of a nation,” William and Mary has graduated three U.S. Presidents: Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler. It is the only institution of higher education in the United States that has a Royal Charter from the British Crown and is also the only one that carries the name of members of the Royal Family.
The university also claims several firsts, including the 1776 creation of Phi Beta Kappa, the country’s first academic honor society, the establishment of an honor code, and the first collegiate law school, established in 1779.
The college’s music, theater and dance departments offer a wide variety of performances throughout the year, many of them free and open to the public. Information on upcoming events
may be found on the college’s web site at www.wm.edu. |
