University of Mary Washington Top Questions

The student body is extremely homogenous. It is predominantly female, white, upper-middle class, Republican. Most of the students hail from either Richmond/Southern VA area or Fairfax County/Northern VA, with a few outliers in between. A lot of the student body is involved in athletics of some kind. If you are an ethnic minority, LGBT, alternative, not college-aged, commuter, from lower socio-economic background..........you will have to work to fit in. Students from any of those categories often keep to themselves or latch onto those from similar backgrounds.

There are all types of students at UMW, representing many races, religions, classes, and political affiliations. It is amazing to see so many different backgrounds and opinions. Something interesting, though, is that I live closer to the people I go to college with than I went to high school with.

Coming from a very diverse school,I was horrified when I heard white people dropping the N-bomb. There was very little respect for other races.Most of the people stick to their own groups.Sports teams and their groupies are the most popular.Any person of color would probably feel out of place and would never venture out if their group of 4 other colored friends on campus. Unless you are on the basketball team.

There are alot of international students on campus, as well as many different cliques which are very wide-ranging. UMW also attracts alot of students from acrosst the country as well as just from VA.

The school is not very diverse, however it is gearing up to allow for more diversity in the future. Many different students interact. There are cliques on campus, but they are easily ignored because the majority of students on campus are more inviting and willing to help each other. The students are very politically aware, mostly because we are a liberal arts school, and most have liberal views.

Most of the student body is from northern VA or farther up. But dont let that stop ya! I am from (deep) southwest VA (as in 6 1/2 hours away from campus), and I have acclimated quite nicely.