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FactsSlang
- Blowout (Sometimes "LDOC") - The last day of classes each semester
- The 'Burg - Williamsburg
- The Caf - The Commons Dining Hall
- CW - Colonial Williamsburg
- Dellys - The Williamsburg version of a bar scene
- SC - The Sadler Center, formerly the University Center
- The Sex Change - The W&M Student Exchange, in the basement of the SC
- Swemming - Working at the Swem Library for an extended period of time
- The Triathlon - An old (informal) campus tradition that involves jumping over the Governor's Palace wall, streaking the Sunken Gardens, and swimming to the Crim Dell Bridge and back
- T.W.A.M.P. - A "typical William and Mary person," someone who studies all the time and has no life; more of a joke than an insult
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
- A masseuse comes to the Rec Center and gives massages for just $25 per half hour.
- Bring a lot of quarters for laundry.
- Don’t declare your major before you have to.
- Don’t schedule 8 a.m. classes.
- Get your doctor to write you a note saying you have allergies so you can get permission for a window air conditioning unit—your first 2 months will be that much better, and everyone will want to hang out in your room.
- Passing classes requires a whole lot of work and not much sleep.
- Request a good dorm on the housing survey, and turn the survey in on time.
- The Information Technology office is in Jones, Room 7. Your laptop will malfunction.
- Try everything, but learn how to say no to some things because there’s not enough time in a day to do it all here.
- You can rent laptops, iPods, and camera equipment from the library——for free.
Tips to Succeed
- Don’t freak out if you don’t get the classes you planned on during registration——no one does, and you may end up loving or majoring in a subject you never intended to take.
- Don’t stress out——find ways to balance out the tough academic workload with relaxing activities.
- Don’t take a huge course load—classes here are very demanding, and 14-15 credits is plenty.
- Don’t write papers the night before they’re due.
- Find a special place to study——whether it’s your room, that corner of Swem, or the patch of grass under a tree. Find a place where you can concentrate and get work done.
- Find an extracurricular niche, and explore the campus and its numerous opportunities. Classes are important, but they aren’t everything.
- Go to all of your classes every day.
- Go to your professor’s office hours and ask for help.
- Use the Writing Resource Center.
Urban Legends
- An escaped mental patient killed a W&M couple in the Governor’s Palace maze in the 1920s.
- Secret societies use the college’s steam tunnels to move around parts of campus, and even to get into the crypt underneath the Wren building.
- The Tucker ghost visits those students who choose to pull all-nighters in the classroom on the third floor.
- We have an unusually high suicide rate (which has been proven incorrect, so don't worry).
Traditions
- The Raft Debate - Three faculty members——one from the humanities, one from the social sciences, and one from the natural sciences——all get together in an auditorium and defend in front of their students why they should be the only one to get off of the island they crashed on, based on their contributions to society.
- A Cappella - There are a zillion (or at least eleven) a cappella groups on campus. Some groups are coed, some are single-sex, and they offer a range of repertoires, from pop music to classical to Christian songs. They usually come around and perform for freshman dormitories, as well as at Homecoming. All the groups showcase their talent during the annual William & Mary Sings. You might not like it when you first arrive, but all the groups will do their best to make you love it before you leave.
- Blowout - The last day of classes, especially spring semester, culminates in a humongous, campus-wide alcohol fest. Students go to class drunk, go to parties drunk, and go to sleep drunk. In the spring, seniors go to their freshman dorms for a toast and then head to the Wren Building to ring the bell. For those who don’t wish to partake, watching inebriated friends and classmates is usually amusing. There are also school-sponsored carnival-type events. It’s the last chance to have fun before finals begin.
- Convocation - During Opening Convocation each year, the freshman class walks through the Wren Building from the campus side onto the Williamsburg side, where upperclassmen and faculty greet them. On graduation day, the class returns from the Williamsburg side to the campus side.
- The King and Queen Ball - A formal dance held outside every spring in the Sunken Gardens if the weather permits. It features a live band, a tipsy college president, and students from every class getting down with their bad selves in formal attire.
- The Primal Scream - At the end of every semester, the president of the college stands with hundreds of students at the top of the Sunken Gardens, leading a long, loud scream to relieve stress. It can be heard from across campus.
- The Triathalon - Students must streak the Sunken Gardens, swim in the Crim Dell, and jump the Governor’s Palace Wall, all in one night.
- The Yule Log Ceremony - Students gatherd in the Wren Courtyard during fall semester exam period for the long-standing tradition. Among other things, the President read How the Grinch Stole Christmas dressed in a Santa suit, and the Vice President for Student Affairs recited “’Twas the Night Before Finals.” Students threw sprigs of holly into a fireplace in the Wren Building to symbolize the shedding of troubles from the passing year. Then everyone enjoyed hot cider and cookies.
School Spirit
You won’t see hordes of W&M students painted up for football games, but they show their pride in other ways. Most people know all the lyrics to the Alma Mater and will sing at the slightest prompting during any event. Virtually every car on campus has a William & Mary bumper sticker on the back of it, if not a customized W&M license plate. Any W&M student would argue vehemently about how superior W&M is to UVA, University of Richmond, or Harvard, for that matter. Most W&M students are nerds, but we’re not ashamed of it. After all, there’s nothing shameful about attending the same college as four United States presidents.
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