Fast Facts
The University of Mary Washington combines long-standing traditions with state-of-the-art technological advances to provide one of the best undergraduate liberal arts educations in the country, as well as the leading regional graduate programs in education, business, and technology. Its location half-way between Virginia’s capital and Washington, D.C., as well as impressive internship and study abroad experiences, puts Mary Washington in a unique position to extend the classroom experience beyond Fredericksburg.
UMW at a Glance:
Type of Institution
The University of Mary Washington is a co-educational, public institution located in historic Fredericksburg, Va.
History
The University of Mary Washington celebrated its centennial during the 2007-08 academic year. Founded in 1908, the University is named to honor Mary Washington, famed Fredericksburg resident and mother of George Washington.
Campuses
The University’s residential campus in Fredericksburg houses the traditional undergraduate program. The campus features Jeffersonian architecture on 176 beautifully landscaped acres. The University’s College of Graduate and Professional Studies is located in nearby Stafford County. Here, working adults have been taking classes at night or on weekends to complete a bachelor’s degree or earn a master’s degree since the campus opened in 1999.
Location
The University is within an hour’s drive of both Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., providing students with unique internships, research excursions, or recreational opportunities. Students also can head west to see Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, or east to visit the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the City of Fredericksburg offers a mix of history, culture, and recreational activities.
Student Body
There are approximately 4,000 undergraduate students enrolled at the Fredericksburg campus from 43 states and many foreign countries. About 15 percent are members of minority groups. About 65 percent of students live on campus in one of 17 residence halls or campus apartments. The College of Graduate and Professional Studies has more than 1,000 students enrolled in degree programs and other credit-bearing courses.
2007 Freshman Class
UMW reviewed 4,475 freshman applications for the fall of 2007, offered admission to 3,187 candidates, and enrolled 977 first-time freshman for the 2007 fall semester. These students hail from 28 states and nine foreign countries. Their average SAT score was 1789 and their average ACT score was 25.3. These students had an average high school grade-point average of 3.61.
Faculty
Students learn from full-time faculty, 90 percent of whom have earned a doctorate or other terminal degree in their field. The University has no graduate teaching assistants. In 2006, UMW saw one faculty member win a Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and three other faculty members receive Fulbright Awards to teach abroad.
Class Size
The average undergraduate class size is 21 students. Upper-level classes are smaller, typically with about 15 students. The student-faculty ratio is 15:1.
Academic Programs
UMW provides a strong undergraduate education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences with more than 40 majors and programs of study. Students may double-major or design their own interdisciplinary major. Many students also conduct independent research, hold internships, and study abroad.
Degree Programs
Fredericksburg: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Liberal Studies, Master of Science in Education
Stafford: Bachelor of Professional Studies, Master of Business Administration, Master of Education, Master of Science in Management Information Systems, MBA-MSMIS dual degree
The First-Year Experience
The UMW First-Year Experience includes freshmen seminar classes that create genuine opportunities for new students to seek and even contribute to creating knowledge and meaning. These seminars, capped at 15 students, help students develop the intellectual skills necessary for liberal learning.
Study Abroad
Approximately 289 University of Mary Washington students studied abroad last year on either year-long, semester or summer programs. The University offers 13 of its own faculty-led summer programs and 12 exchange or direct enroll opportunities with universities abroad in a variety of locations.
Information Resources
The University of Mary Washington offers technically advanced access to the world of information, both for rigorous scholarship and for the life of the mind beyond formal research and learning. Its two primary libraries (one each on the Fredericksburg and Stafford campuses) offer sophisticated traditional collections across the range of academic disciplines, while also providing guided gateways to myriad on-line resources. The University’s technical infrastructure, featuring high-capacity networking throughout and wireless network access in all academic buildings (plus many residence hall “common” areas), brings the range of resources to each person’s fingertips.
Student Life
There are more than 100 student clubs and organizations oriented around academic themes, the arts, sports and recreation, student government, cultural diversity, and other interests.
Retention Rates
The most recent retention rate for UMW students is 76%. This means that of the 840 freshmen who enrolled at the University in the fall of 2001, 638 of them graduated from UMW within six years. UMW has been recognized for having one of the highest retention rates in the region by U.S. News & World Report. (Data is from the 2007-08 Common Data Set.)
Intercollegiate and Recreational Athletics
UMW’s 23 teams for men and women compete in the NCAA Division III Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), with impressive results. The Eagles have captured the CAC All-Sports Award – given to the overall best athletics program – 11 times. More than 245 Eagles have been named to All-American teams. The University also offers 15 club sports and outstanding facilities for sports and recreation.
School Colors
The school's colors are gray and blue.
Cost
UMW is widely touted in college guidebooks as a “Best Buy” in higher education. For the 2008-09 academic year, undergraduate tuition and fees for Virginia residents total $6,774; for non-residents, $17,942. Room and board for all undergraduates is $7,040. More than half of students receive financial aid.
The cost of graduate school for in-state residents is $304 per credit hour.
Accreditation
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
What Others Say About UMW
UMW is ranked in every major selective guide publication. The following is a sample of what these guides have to say about UMW:
In its 2008 edition of “America’s Best Colleges,” U.S. News & World Report ranked UMW ninth among southern master’s degree-granting institutions and fourth among public schools in the same category.
In its 2006 edition, The Fiske Guide to Colleges listed UMW as one of the nation’s 300 best colleges and universities, stating that “Mary Washington has gained a reputation as one of the premium public liberal arts colleges in the country."
Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges’ 2007 edition placed Mary Washington in its “highly competitive” category, designating the University as one of the 171 top colleges and universities in the nation in terms of academic selectivity.