-The best thing about UMW is the campus, in my opinion. In addition to the many acres of beautiful buildings and lawns, UMW has some awesome professors, and also a great weekend social life.
-If I could change one thing about UMW, it would be to have Greek life instated at the school. Although it seems contradictory to my previous answer, it would provide a nice social addition for students who don't affiliate themselves with sports teams (who typically throw parties etc.)
-UMW is the perfect size for me. Around 4500 people is plenty for me, and although you see many familiar faces around, there's always someone to meet everywhere you turn.
-I get mixed reactions when I tell someone that I goto UMW. At home in NJ, many people don't recognize the name, but those that do are well aware of its high academic merit and the level of education provided there. Around the VA area, UMW is much more well known, and I am always proud to announce where I go. With the reputation it has in the VA area, I can see why so many kids from in-state attend here. I can recall one kid at a party at Catholic University in DC asking me where I went, and when I responded "University of Mary Washington" he was blown away. "Wow that schools hard as hell to get into, I didn't get in there, man!" Things like that are great little morale boosters when discussing UMW.
-Most of my time is spent on campus. I'd say thats a pretty big consensus for most students, including those who live off-campus. UMW has done a great job making the atmosphere extremely student oriented, with hundreds of activities going on all the time. With so much going on it's not a "pain" to stay on campus, on the contrary, it's very enjoyable. I love going out to Ball Circle on campus walk and throwing a frisbee or football around with my buddies, and it's an added bonus that there are tons of girls (~70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the school) that are always out there.
-College town: yes, but not in every traditional sense. If you picture the gigantic Fraternity houses lining the streets like seen in the movies, UMW may be a slight disappointment. But, Mary Washington's surrounding area is very college oriented. I catch myself smiling sometimes when I'm off campus and I see beer can's in the street, or garbage piles of bottles outside houses on trash day. Fredericksburg has a small town feel to it definitely, but it surely has a strong college sentiment around it. The downtown streets are lined with "UMW" banners on all the light posts, and everyone knows that if you look around college age, that you're a student at the school; which has a great respect in the community, for obvious reasons.
-The biggest recent controversy on campus was an incident involving a "racist" student in one of the halls. The student left a sign with a pro-slavery slogan on it in one of the hall's fridges. Many students responded strongly against the situation, making sure that UMW wasn't perceived as a campus full of racists. Another notable event was the recent push by many students to have marijuana moved to a 3-strike policy, versus the current one-strike policy.
-UMW has extreme pride, but not exactly like a Virginia Tech or Penn State style school has. Students like myself are extremely proud of their school, but I think it stems more as a pride overall, not just for a football team, or similar notable trait. I would bet that in any given week, every student wears at least one shirt or other piece of UMW insignia apparel, showing that we are proud of UMW and all that it stands for.
-I don't think there is anything unusual about UMW. I think that term implies negativity, where as the differences at UMW just make it better than other schools that its students applied to.
-One experience I'll always remember was homecoming Freshman year. I think this was when I really fell in love with my school. My friend who goes to Rutgers came down to visit, and we both had the times of our lives. Keeping with past school tradition, "Kegs and Eggs" started at 9am on Saturday, followed by a seemingly mandatory attendance to the men's lacrosse game, and men's rugby games. After that, an exodus of kids moved to a 10 keg party that lasted into the early hours of the morning. Sunday morning rolled around, and by noon the festivities continued with parties at every student house around campus.