The University of Mary Washington

Date: Nov 04 2013
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
I'll make this as simple as possible: Only chose to attend Mary Washington if you hate yourself.

Never have I ever been so disappointed with myself after choosing this school. during my tour and visit to the campus, it seemed very pretty and my tour guide raved about how nice everyone was and how much fun everyone has. That was a crock of bull crap. I was always a social butterfly in high school and absolutely loved talking to new people and making friends. Here, I have tried countless times to reach out and meet new people, but am constantly given dirty looks and ignored. People here are ruder than I have ever experienced in my life, and that is saying a lot considering I grew up in New Jersey and have lived in New York.

To be successful and have friends at this school, you have to be on a sports team or in one of the "fraternities." I put that in quotations because they're not even legitimate greek life; they are underground because they are not allowed to be associated with the school. This campus is nothing but sports cliques and fake frat brothers who never let anyone else into their parties or give anyone else the time of day. My friends and I have been denied every single time going out simply because we were either not on a sports team or because we are freshmen. I honestly felt like I was back in high school. This is the reason basically everyone goes home on the weekend. Being back with mom and dad is ten times better than being stuck on a dry campus studying for tests every weekend.

Now academics: I could almost handle this school without the social aspect if there were good academics and programs, but there are not. I am a biology major and I am being forced to take classes such as art appreciation and music theory… How those classes will help me with becoming a nurse is beyond me. Every school has gen ed requirements, but being at a liberal arts school, you must waste money studying a variety of other subjects that don't correlate with your major. The teacher's also assign much unnecessary busy work that keeps you from studying for tests the way that works for you.

I have had one goal since I began attending Mary Washington, and that is to at least save one person the pain of going through a semester/year at this institution. I want to warn new students about this place because I wish someone had done that for me. Take it from someone who has gone through it and tried her best to embrace it, and STILL failed. UMW is most likely not the school for you.