The College of William & Mary Welcomes the Class of 2015

Today is freshmen move-in day at the College of William & Mary.

This year, the campus will welcome a new undergraduate class totaling approximately 1490 students, including an additional 30 first-year students who are arriving as part of the College’s new joint degree program with the University of St. Andrews.

Up from 1400 students last fall, the expanded class is part of a long standing plan to increase the size of the undergraduate school and enables the College to “maintain an overall undergraduate student body that includes 65 percent from Virginia.”

“This is an exceptional group of students,” said Henry Broaddus, associate provost for enrollment and dean of admission. “They are as smart as they are diverse, and they bring with them the kind of credentials and experiences that will only enhance William & Mary’s reputation as one of the world’s great liberal arts universities. We are delighted to welcome them into the Tribe.”

Included in this year’s class are a student who built a robot featured by NASA; a student who is 668 cranes into his 1000-crane Senbazuru; a student who organized a benefit concert in Cambodia; and someone who was in Egypt at the time of the Arab Spring. Oh, and a member of the Blue Man Group is among this year’s entering students.

And the W&M Class of 2015 is diverse. Twenty-eight percent are students of color, 6 percent are international students, and 10 percent are first-generation students.

In addition, this year’s group includes 240 undergraduate transfers. Of those, 110 students came from the Virginia Community College System, with 41 transferring via the College’s guaranteed admission program with VCCS. Eighty-two percent of the transfers are Virginia residents.

And they are smart. Selected from a record-setting pool of more than 12,800 applicants, the first year students boast of a middle 50th percentile of 1240-1450 on the SAT math and critical reading sections. Of the students who attended high schools providing class rank, 79 percent finished in the top 10 percent.

Freshmen will have a few days to adjust to their new surroundings before the academic semester begins on August 24th. But in the meantime, here are a few events appearing on the new student orientation program:

• A series of briefings ranging from student rights and responsibilities to undergraduate research opportunities


• A night on the town in colonial Williamsburg


• Tours of the library, career center, and book store


• Volunteer service projects sponsored by Students Helping Out Williamsburg (SHOW)


• A student activities resource fair


• An “AV Adventure” billed as part flash mob dance party and part outdoor theater


• Movies under the stars on a giant 30-foot screen with surround sound


• Performances by hypnotist Tom Deluca, various rock bands, a cappella groups, and a stand-up comedian


• An ice cream social

In the old days, orientation programs largely consisted of a stern lecture on “parietals” from the dorm mother. This sounds like more fun.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.