College of William and Mary Top Questions

Someone interested in learning, either from Virginia or from upper-middle class Northeast Corridor.

Someone who is exceptionally intelligent, very committed to learning, and prepared to work really hard. We certainly have some students who aren't particularly bright, but they all seem to be business majors or athletes and are definitely not in the mainstream. Also, prospective W&M students should realize that being smart will not guarantee them good grades here (we have notorious grade deflation, and in my experience most of the really gifted people I know have pretty low GPAs), so again, you'll probably be most happy here if you're doing it to learn rather than to succeed.

A student that is motivated to achieve and a hard worker but that grades are not the end all be all.

Smart , driven individuals

Someone who is serious about academics, wants state of the art professors, and likes strong community.

Anyone with plans for doing research or projects (though it's definitely not a necessity), anyone with a real interest for learning new things, people who like the intimacy of smaller colleges (W&M has around 5000 undergrads) and the relative quietness of Williamsburg, people who want to challenge themselves academically. People, in short, who are motivated to succeed and aren't ashamed of that fact.

Come to this school if you are serious about academics but want to avoid the cut-throat environment of other ivies and pseudo-ivies. Also, come here if you want to be involved in a lot of extra-curriculars.