University of Mary Washington

On July 18th, we left our hotel at 8:45 am and arrived at University of Mary Washington at 10:00 am.

The University of Mary Washington is a four year public college located in Fredersckbeurg, Virginia and only cost $36,106 per year with housing. The student to teacher ratio is about 15:1, and there are 4,400 undergraduate students.

The University of Mary Washington is a medium sized campus with spaced out buildings and lots of trees and grass surrounding the campus. I felt like the campus was very calm, beautiful, and clean. I really enjoyed all the trees and grass on the campus because it made me feel very relaxed.

The first thing we did was watch a presentation about the college (fun activities, studies, sports, etc.) and how to apply. Then we split up into groups of 3 and went on our tour.

The first place my group visited was the student center. Our tour guide talked about what the student center offered, which was tutoring, a study lounge, and the cafeteria. I also discovered that when exams are coming up, the school will bring in their own therapy dogs that the students can visit in-between their exams or while they're studying for their exams to help students reduce stress and anxiety. The school will also let you be the therapy dogs' caretaker, raising the dogs from puppies and helping with training them into becoming therapy dogs as they get older. I got really excited when I learned this because I am a huge dog lover.

After visiting the student center, we went to some of the classrooms. The classrooms are completely air conditioned, as are all the schools buildings, which is great because the summer heat was intense. We learned that the school has an honesty program where the school will hold a huge assembly at the beginning of each year talking about honor and honesty. Students will then pledge (optional) to never lie, cheat or steal at the school. Because of this, when taking a test, the teachers will leave the room and trust that you will not cheat on the test. Also, if anyone ever loses something and another student find its, they will give it to the main office or try to find the owner and return their belongings. I love this about the school because it creates an amazing sense of community, safety, and trust.

The murals on the walls were painted when the school was built in 1908

After seeing the classrooms, we went to visit the school gym. The gym was big, clean, and full of all types of equipment. Classes, like dance, yoga, or kick boxing are held at the gym certain days of the week.

Next, we walked to the dorms, which were co-ed and optional to stay in. Before you are assigned to a dorm, you must take a personality test to help find you a roommate that is similar to you to avoid any confrontation.

After we went to see the dorms, we finished our tour and went to the school cafeteria to eat lunch. The food was amazing, by far my favorite out of all the colleges we went to. I really enjoyed the area we ate because it wasn't super crowded like some of the colleges we visited. When we were finished eating, we went to the school's book store and some people brought souvenirs.

Overall, the college of Mary Washington was my favorite college that we visited. The campus wasn't too big or too small for my taste, and there wasn't a bunch of students. I loved all the open space and trees, and everyone seemed super friendly and kind, which made me feel comfortable and safe. I will definitely be applying to this college when the time comes.