St Mary’s College of Maryland Top Questions

St. Mary's, along with being an academic institution, is a lifestyle. The school is small - about 2,000 students - and the campus is isolated, creating a rather insulated college experience and culture. It's a blessing and a curse. The school brochures will boast the high percentage of students who live on campus, who stay on campus for the weekends, etc. The campus ties together the student body, and it makes St. Mary's life relatable for all of the resident students - everyone knows what everyone else is talking about. You'll soon be able to recognize the elements and moments that are "so St. Mary's". Some find the isolation and relative obscurity to be suffocating. Our "college town" is 6 feet under ground (adjacent Historic St. Mary's City and archeological dig site) and you need an appreciation for history and artifact identification to benefit from the surrounding area. If that's not your thing, you need a car and the willingness to travel about 15 minutes before you hit anything useful off-campus. The college brings in musicians, speakers, and comedians to entertain the students on campus, and there is always an event to go to if you check your student e-mail religiously and take advantage of it. Be ready to do some extra explaining when you tell people where you go to school (below Annapolis, NOT Mt. St. Mary's, No, it's not a girls' school, actually, it's public). You won't find much school pride in the cliche, face-painting, logo-sporting, cheer-chanting sense, but you will find the sense of unity that comes from going to a small, underappreciated school and a certain affection for the little quirks that makes St. Mary's the school that it is.