University of Mary Washington Top Questions

My favorite group, The Undeniably Adjacent, was the campus improv comedy troupe. There are a ton of volunteer organizations, and we are actually the first campus in the nation where "Students Helping Honduras" started. Students always leave their dorm doors open, and we are always willing to meet new people. There aren't any fraternities or sororities, but I think that's a good thing. People are really involved in clubs and sports, so those make up for the lack of Greek life. I met my best friends through the clubs I joined, and I lived with the same two people since my freshman year. We met online before coming to UMW, and we all decided to live together.

Some of the most popular clubs on campus include COAR (a service club), Honor Council (makes sure the honor code is being used around campus), rugby during homecoming weekend, and many others. I am involved in two groups: Circle K International (the college level of Key Club) and ARH (association of residence halls). I'm vice president of CKI and president of my hall council. Students do not usually leave their doors open. People usually do that more freshmen year, but as we grow older we get busier. Usually when upperclassmen are in their rooms, they are either working or sleeping and don't want to be disturbed. Athletics aren't really big on campus. We do not have a football team. The reason for this is because it would cost millions to start one. UMW is trying to get more school spirit through Eagle Nation. I met my closest friends either in my dorm or through clubs I am involved in. Traditional events on campus include but not limited to devil/goat day, club carnival, Mr. UMW, and Friday night dry. People do party at this school, but not excessively. I am not the party type, and I am not surrounded by parties. It's your choice to party or not. Sororities are not big on campus at all. We have no Greek life. My typical weekend includes working, doing volunteer work and homework, and hanging out with friends. If you don't want to drink, there is cheap seats where you pay a dollar to see a movie, you can go off campus to Central Park, or just chill and talk with friends.

There are no sororities or fraternities recognized by the school, save one underground frat. This is one place that always has its doors open, but its a mile from school and most freshies walk... not fun in the rain. The frat guys there are creepy, they were like misfits that united to try and get ass cause they couldnt without their title of 'frat guy'. I met my closest friends down the hall and at church. The dating scene is weird. About 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the campus dates... although it seems like more. The misfits and socially awkward people find each other and the preps date in their own circle. The girls fight over the 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} guys... who, of the 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, are 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} gay, 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} players, 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} unattractive/nerdy, 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} in relationships. The good guys go fast so get em while they're available. Note to self...'one night hookups do not lead to relationships'. In fact, most guys take advantage of the ratio and get as much ass as possible with as many girls as they can.... and they can. Soccer events are the main sporting event on campus and there's usually only 100 or so people at the games, besides homecoming. guest speakers events are well attended, and UMW does a good job of having major concerts (Eve 6, Plain White T's, etc) and comedians on campus.

Students in dorms definitely leave doors open, and without a doubt the friends you make in your dorm freshman year will be with you for your entire time at school. There are a lot of popular groups and clubs on campus, including Student Government Association, GIANT productions, Class Council, PRISM (LGBT), and Young Democrats & College Republicans. This year Young Democrats organized for Bill Clinton to come speak which was great. If drinking isnt your scene, there is usually still a lot to do on the weekends. Battle of the Bands, comedy and improv shows, and student concerts are all popular. If you want some off campus fun there are go-carts, mini golf, bowling, a driving range, and 2 movie theaters near campus. You do, however, need a car to do most of these things, so freshmen, make sure you make friends with some upperclassmen. Cheap Seats is an on-campus movie group that shows recent movies every weekend for just a dollar!

We don't have greek life, so any parties are house parties. They get busted fairly regularly, but the cops are all nice. People don't usually get in trouble. As far as extra curriculars go, we have pretty much everything, from an anime club, to cheerleading, to college republicans and young dems. Anything you want to be involved in, we have a club for it.

Most popular groups on campus? He..ck if I know. There are so many. I was involved with Cheerleading, and while it was time consuming it was well worth it. Student clubs are a lot of fun and they're very easy to get involved with-- you just have to make the effort! People in dorms definitely leave their doors open, especially in freshman dorms. You'll meet tons of people that way. I met my closest friends within my classes in my department, through clubs and activities, at sporting events, etc. People are very friendly at UMW, they honestly want to meet new people. Sporting events are somewhat popular, but could use more involvement. People have a lot of pride in their school at UMW but that doesn't always mean they take the time to attend sporting events. Uh, if I was awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I was studying. I doubt that's uniform across the board, but I'm a huge big nerd and studying was what I did during the week. The weekends, however, were different. If you want to party, there are parties within walking distance. If you don't, you don't have to. It's definitely not a party school, but there are certainly parties on the weekends that you can attend, and have a lot of fun. Downtown there are bars (if you're 21), and lots of other activities. Central Park has a lot of stuff to do as well, and if you don't have a car there is the Fred to get you there or you can use your upperclass friends. If drinking isn't your thing you will definitely find friends that feel the same way.

One of the most popular organizations is Students Helping Honduras. It was started to help children in Honduras and provide homes and schools to certain villages. They hold an annual walkathon each spring to raise money, and there's always a huge turn out. I've gotten involved in a political group on campus, and I'm also a tour guide and RA. I love showing the campus to prospective students because that's one of the main reasons people love UMW. Being an RA, I meet a lot of people, and you meet the most people in your dorm, at parties, and through other friends. If you like to party, there are a decent amount of parties every week. If you don't like to party, there are plenty of other things to do. There are movies (that have been in theaters, but are not out on dvd) shown every weekend for $1 each, there's historic downtown with lots of shops, there's Central Park (that has a mall and tons of shops and restaurants), and you're about an hour away from Richmond and D.C. There's bowling near school and they have a college night. There is tons of stuff to do at UMW if you get involved!!!

Most popular: SSH- Students helping Hondoras ( started by a guy who used to go to UMW a couple years back), The Ecology club is the most active helping the environment. the ROwing team is like a cult. I think the other teams have just as much loyalty towards their sport as well. Only Frosh halls really have people leave their doors open. Once you're done with first year, the door stays shut. Athletic events are always the most popular. Guest speakers are more popular with townspeople rather than college kids. Theatre is popular, but needs to be more so. Dating scene: gotta work for it. Going to only a couple events won't allow you to meet a lot of people, but go to a few, and dating is easy. The community type environment, where you can see people more than once, facilitates it.

There is no Greek Life, but there are clubs representing almost anything you can think of. There are performances, concerts, conferences, seminars, guest speakers, sports events, and much more to keep you entertained. There is no Greek Life, but it is a college. No matter where you go to school there will always be some amount of insanity. Also, in the dorms people usually have their doors open so it is really easy to meet people. We have a tradition called Devil-Goat day...you'll figure it out when you get here.

Athletic events are very popular. The lack of a football team has led us to extreme support for the rugby, soccer, and basketball teams. Dorms are a friendly environment and I thoroughly enjoyed my two years living in them (However I am very glad to be living off campus now). Traditions include Devil Goat day which is always fun (just a day to hang out with each other) and homecoming.

Mary Washington offers a wide variety of social offerings from $1 movies to concerts (Lupe Fiasco and Plain White T's were some of the more recent offerings) to Comedians (Nick Thune and Kevin Cease among others) to campaign rallies (former President Clinton came during the Spring 2008 semester). The environment is generally one of safety however there have been a couple thefts of laptops in recent years. I personally never bothered locking my dorm while I lived on campus and never had a problem.

There is none!

Very boring, except for about one good event per year.

I found that I was at fault because most of my friends from freshman year transferred, and thus I was left with finding almost an entirely new group of friends come sophomore year. Most people make friends through their freshman hall and that is great-except the dorms are organized with same-sex floors, and halls so it is harder to make friends with the oposite sex. By joining clubs and organizations you make friends as well, but unfortunately I worked a lot on school projects through my departments, taught in elementary schools and worked outside of school and thus lost interest/time come junior and senior year for all the clubs I was involved in during my first two years on campus. I also stayed close friends with people who also moved off campus, like myself. I feel there is a big difference in the people who live on and who live off campus-with how we spend time outside of class, and also the amount we party. Because there are strict one-strike policies on drugs and alcohol on campus, most of the highly social/party-goers move off campus as soon as they can. I was a RA for my second year to help pay for school, and then moved off campus junior and senior year so that I would be able to work more, and also to party! The party scene is lacking, the bars around town are catered to the locals (named Frednecks) more than the students, and I found that we were such a small party-going group that it became a bit too clostrophobic come senior year. I did have fun once I turned 21 and could travel to Richmond and DC for the club/bar scene, but it was unfortunate that I had to leave Fredericksburg to have the most fun! There is no greek scene-which I liked.

Intramural sports / club sports at mary wash are really fun! It's a great way to meet people and the students who work for campus recreation are really great. There's no football team at mary wash but we do have a mens and womens rugby team. The womens team is really good and has gone to nationals 7 or 8 times and has won states pretty much every year. Rugby games are fun to watch, and the people who play rugby are fun to drink with!

In the list of suggested topics, the question How important are frats/sororities? struck out to me. Mainly because there is no Greek life at Mary Washington (some may argue there is a fake frat, but that's an entirely different story). UMW does not recognize any fraternities or sororities on or off campus. To me, this was actually a good thing. Students don't have to worry about the hazing and craziness associated with the Greek life. Many incoming freshmen looking to party are deterred by this, because Mary Washington isn't your typical party school. If someone wants, they can find what they're looking for, but there is a relieved pressure without the Greek scene.

I had a great time at Mary Wash, even though it is not know as a party school. The teams really joined together in terms of parties and special events, and that is what I enjoyed most. The atheltic teams became a sort of Greek life on campus, where each team had several houses. Also, the bar scene in Fredericksburg is pretty good, I only wish there were more closer to campus.

We have hundreds of clubs here at UMW, ranging from the Asian Student Association to the Trek Club, the Ultimate Frisbee club to the Gun club, and the Performing Arts Club to the SALSA club. As for our athletics, we are a competitive NCAA Division III institution that competes in the Capital Athletic Conference. The past two years, our women's bball team made it to the NCAA tournament. We finished in third place nationally in 2006 and in 2007 we hosted the first two rounds. In addition, our swim team and tennis team consistently sends people to nationals. Two years ago, our baseball team had one player go to a AAA team for the Giants (just to name a few things). Even if you are not coming here to be an athlete, there is still much sporting opportunity. We have a ton of student run sport clubs that compete at different schools almost every month, and our Campus Recreation and Intramural program is growing each year. We are currently building a new multi-purpose, artificial turf field for things like flag-football, soccer, softball, etc. One of the best things at UMW is our homecoming. Although we do not have a football team, we do have a homecoming soccer game. It sounds lame at first, but it is one of the few times where literally every student comes together to show school spirit, support our athletes, and just party all day long. We don't have any recognized fraternities and sororities, but this does not phase our social life and weekend plans. Fredericksburg is big enough where there is much to do and explore. We are not a huge party school, but if you hang out with the right people you won't be bored every weekend. A great thing about our school too is our campus. It is small enough where you can't get lost, but big enough where you can easily find a spot by one of our fountains or Ball Circle and just sit down and relax during those nice Spring days.

I am heavily involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry and I think that it is a wonderful group affiliated with UMW. I like activities on campus especially "Cheep Seats." I think that events on campus like guest speakers are not as popular and maybe need to be publized more. There is a lot of things to do during the weekend if you want to find things to do. I think students meet their friends through their dorms and through their classes or clubs. I think the city of Fredericksburg plays an important part in giving students things to do on the weekend. There are plenty of wonderful things to do downtown and they offer a lot of great things for students.

UMW is not too big on sports or frats so we find other ways of entertaining ourselves. A lot of what we do is sponsored by the clubs on campus. Some activities are doughnut sales, historic attire balls/dances/banquets, ultimate frisby, one dollar movies every weekend etc. Also, especially freshman year, most of the friends you make live in your dorm so you'll have hall parties, go out to the mall, walk downtown, do whatever. There's not too much drinking at UMW but it does happen, there are usually parties going on every Thursday or on the weekends.