Upon getting to William and Mary, I realized just how small a niche my academic experience had been to that point. Living in a community of predominantly upper middle-class Caucasians provided a certain perspective of the world, but college certainly contributed to an expanded viewpoint of all the different types of people that coexist in the world we live in. Because William and Mary provides a safe-haven for students of varying races, religions, sexual preferences, SES, etc., I have gotten a chance to engage with many people that I feel that I may not have at a university whose demographic is not as diverse. That said however, most of the students come from upper-middle class families in Virginia, predominantly Northern Virginia/DC metropolitan area. The College consistently strives to celebrate its diversity, most visibly with its plethora of student-run clubs observing various ethnicities and activities of that culture (e.g. Bhangra club, Asian Student Union, etc.), and I believe that attending a number of those events has broadened my horizon. Since there are so many clubs and different groups available for students to make friends it, it is impossible to isolate any one group that would feel more or less at home at William and Mary. In fact, it is safe to say that if a newly accepted student didn’t feel comfortable at William and Mary, it is likely due to a lack of effort on their part in trying to find their nice within the university; everyone is friendly and wants to make all students feel accepted in their new home for the next four years!
There is opportunity for interaction among different groups of students, especially in an academic sense (e.g. group projects, research, etc.), but like any school, there are certainly cliques within the College. A few prominent ones include drama kids (no one ever sees them, but all know they are frantically rehearsing for something or spending all of their time in the drama building, Phi Beta Kappa Hall), football players (even though football isn’t popular at William and Mary, this doesn’t stop them from thinking they run the school), runners (perpetually wearing athletic gear, it’s impossible to walk into a dining hall without seeing 8-20 of them sitting together), and fraternity and sorority members (the ones serious invested in their Greek society will be decked out in letters, or wearing the typical frat-guy/sorority-girl attire all of the time). Aside from these (admittedly flat) stereotypical groups, students generally wear prep-style clothing, but everyone has a definitive style, and is comfortable enough in their own skin to be themselves, which is fantastic to be in the presence of.
Students are very politically aware, which is largely due in part to William and Mary’s proximity to Washington DC (3 hours’ drive), but it is difficult to identify a strong political presence at the school. It was formerly a liberal hotbed, but adolescent conservatism has surged, and the College is relatively balanced in terms of its political positioning. As far as future successes, students for the most part place a high emphasis on financial success—pre-med and the sciences are some of the more common concentrations at William and Mary, and many students choose them for their socio-economic prestige. Not to say that all students care about monetary wealth after school, but based on the background of the majority, many students chose William and Mary on the belief that it was the best school to help their chances to succeed fiscally later in life.