William & Mary

William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, founded in 1693 under a royal charter from King William III and Queen Mary II of England. It is the second-oldest college in the United States and is known as the "Alma Mater of the Nation", with historical ties to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler. The university established the nation's first Greek-letter society, Phi Beta Kappa, and pioneered the elective system of study and an honour code in 1779.

The institution offers more than 115 majors, minors and pre-professional programmes across the liberal arts and sciences, and 45% of students major in STEM fields. Its academic units include the College of Arts & Sciences, the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences, the School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics, the School of Education and William & Mary Law School, the oldest law school in the nation. Work spans disciplines including computing, data sciences, physics, coastal and marine sciences, business, education and law.

U.S. News ranked William & Mary second among public schools for undergraduate teaching in 2026, and The Princeton Review placed it sixth among public schools for internships in 2025. The university ranks first nationally for study abroad participation and is one of only eight "Public Ivies" in the country.