University of Mary Washington Top Questions

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Mary Washington has a strong commitment community service-- Students Helping Honduras, started by alumnus Shin Fujiyama, is one of the biggest clubs on campus. The whole school comes out every year to support the annual Walkathon, which raises money to send down to an orphanage and community in Honduras. Freshman year, everyone leaves the doors to their rooms open. After that, people seem to figure out who is in their group of friends and stick more to hanging out with them.

I'm involved in the Young Women's Leadership Program, a group in which we mentor 7th graders. It's a great way to make friends because you have to instantly trust the other girls in your group. It was a nice release, just a place to talk about your week. Students frequently leave their doors open. I met my closest friends through many of my activities and my classes. One big tradition is Devil-Goat Day, a day of food and competitions. People party quite frequently, but there's plenty to do without drinking. There are movies and plays on the weekends on campus, and frequently concerts off campus.

Off campus, it is amazing to go downtown and look at the old shops and eat delicious food or you can go down to the river or to Central Park. On campus, watching movies is fun, playing board games has been highly underrated. On weekend nights, yeah you can find a party, but you can also avoid them if you want to. The school isn't a huge party school, but there are definitely ways to find parties and to have fun. There is no greek life as of yet at my school. It is fun to go lay outside on the lawns during the nice weather and tan while you study or you can swim in the fountain. The school plays 2 different $1 movies every weekend, and those are always worth checking out. We also have random free/cheap concerts and comedians and that is always fun. There is ALWAYS somethign to do on campus to satisfy everyone's interests.

Although most students are involved in clubs or other organizations on campus, big and small, there are students who choose to attend class and keep a part time job as their main focus and still continue to make and keep a large social circle of friends. It really is easy to make friends no matter what you do or dont do with your time on campus throughout the 4 year stay. Outside of classes our school brings many important guest speakers throughout the year, one a week at least, for free to enlighten the community. Academic departments throw parties and meetings to highlight the special interest of their students. There are parties off campus as 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students live off campus in surrounding neighborhoods. Our campus is wet, so if you are 21 you can drink in the dorms on campus, which does happen. UMW has apartments across the street which house upperclassmen and is a very popular place to have friends over for food and drinks. Old town Fredericksburg is a 10 block walk from campus and is open and welcome to students for coffee, food and concerts. Fred. and UMW have a large music scene where students and locals alike join together to give free shows every weekend.

There are a lot of clubs on campus, and there is a day every year where they all line Campus Walk so students can come by and sign-up. They could be anything from club soccer to the Women of Color, are all student run, and can apply for some money from the school (say $500 a year if you're lucky and a larger club). Sport wise we have some very good sports teams (Men's and Women's Tennis, Rowing, ect.) that are nationally ranked every year. Many people attend the basketball games of both sexes, as well as the soccer and to a lesser extent lacrosse. There is a wonderful, new tennis complex with 6 indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts. And though our tennis teams, specifically the women's, have been ranked in the top 20 for the last 2 years (this year we were 6 and made it to the Elite 8), they have very few fans outside family. This is the case with many of our teams outside the big three. In addition, the administration got rid of our Rowing Teams at the beginning of this year, though we finished the previous season ranked #7 in the nation. The problem was legitimate (loss of their training waters), but the bigger issue was that the administration made almost no attempt to reconcile the problem until a wealthy relative of one of the players stepped in. They were completely content to simply get rid of a program that was not as "popular" as say basketball, regardless of how hard the players worked and how much better they were on a national level (our Men's Basketball Team struggles to make the tournament each year). And as i mentioned before, though basketball is pretty popular, there are only two sets of bleachers in the gym (on one side), and no football or other team to rally around. The biggest activity among the students is drinking. Not to say that this isn't the case all around the country, but on Friday/Saturday nights a good portion of the student body regardless of class, is at one of the sporting houses or other upperclass houses drinking. And of course the cops come around about an hour and a half into the party to break it up anyway. And drinking is not simply reserved to the weekends, as the sports players in my hall were obserdly intoxicated on at least 2 weekdays every week as well. Though i was a Junior living with an RA, they were all freshmen. This may not bother you, which is fine, but the housing situation will. This year there are over 150 students who don't have housing yet for next fall (4,000 students go to Mary Wash, though a great deal of them live off campus), and will probably have the same fate as the students in their situation this past year, who were placed in a hotel until Residents Life 'forced triples' (putting three people in a room designed for two, which by the way are already "cozy" to begin with"). Registration of housing is much worse than for classes, and the dorms themselves are old and many have 'roach' problems.

First off, we don't have any 'official' fraternities or sororities, but that's changing. Also, we don't have a football team, but our basketball and soccer teams are pretty big. Most people end up getting involved in clubs, and we've got a lot of different stuff on campus. For example, SHH (Students Helping Honduras) is one of the biggest clubs on campus. We started SHH, and now universities all over the country have chapters too, so it's a pretty big deal. We have a LOT of guest speakers too, ranging from mathematics and the light spectrum to classics and politics, and they happen all the time, so that's definitely something to get in to. Also, there's people planning and organizing events and dances all the time, you just have to look for flyers that people put up (and they're everywhere, we have like 3 huge bulletin boards on campus, and people put event info sheets on the dining hall tables all the time).

NOTHING goes on on campus. you have to find a scene that suits you at a house or an apartment off campus if you want to go to a party. occasionally a good performer/show comes on campus but not nearly often enough.

Activities are great if you do them. People complain but its because they don't try. Im involved in groups and clubs, particularly political things and the campus is active politically. I mad friends from every walk of life from both parties through politics. There is alot to do if you want to do it. Not a big party school but better than the rep suits it. People go out all the time there is something every night you want to party but you dont have to every party to make friends. Parties are not huge, but fun house parties happen every week. They do get busted alot but its never a big deal you just move onto the next party. You are so close to DC...GO! People waste time when they could volunteer travel, walk around the historic places. Great place to run, bike, hike, fish, kayak.... many complain but they don't try.

UMW offers a lot of interesting things to do - you just have to be proactive and keep your eyes open for opportunities. They have speakers and live music on campus sometimes, but I seldom went to those since I live off campus and have a strong group of friends on my own. There is a lot to do downtown, like hear live music or go to bars. If you don't want to drink, there are a lot of programs on campus like Friday Night Dry that offer activities, like water pong, for students who don't want to drink (though I've met very few students who don't drink). There are no frats -- well there is one that's "underground" but they are pretty dumb. They throw a few good parties throughout the year, though. Around Devil-Goat Day in April (our biggest event! games, moonbounce, class competitions, tons of fun) they through a party called The White Party where they rent out a local bar and everyone dresses in white and dances. It's kind of fun. Anyway, except for the aforementioned "frat," there is no Greek life at MW which is really nice since Greek life is stupid -- why pay for your friends when I can have mine for free? But social groups kind of break up in a frat/sorority way, like with the athletic teams or certain groups, like PRISM. The school stays relatively cliquey. But they all mold and mesh really well so it's not a huge deal. When I lived on campus, I wished they had offered more legitimate kinds of activities, like things that weren't so lame. And I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY TORE DOWN THE UNDERGROUND!!! The Underground was this AWESOME coffeehouse underneath Lee Hall where students could hang out, study, socialize, get coffee, etc. They also held live music there. Now there isn't a good place for students to just chill. HUGE mistake taking that away. Real dick move.