William & Mary welcomes applications from students with an international background. We feel that each international student adds a unique background and experience to our already diverse and eclectic student body.
We've tried to supply as much information as possible to help you submit a complete application with all the necessary materials and additional forms.
International Freshman Application Requirements
1. A completed Common Application or Coalition Application. Read our Specific Instructions to complete either the Common Application or Coalition Application.
2. $70 application fee: The $70 (USD) application fee can be paid online or should be sent in the form of a money order, bank draft or cashier's check payable to a U.S. bank. We cannot accept Eurocheques, checks from banks that do not have agreements with U.S. banks or credit card payments.
3. Secondary School Report Form including official records of your courses and grades from allsecondary schools and universities you have attended. Please note that in order to have complete secondary school records, we need to have records from your ninth grade year (last year of middle or junior high school) as well as your complete senior high school records. These records must be notarized. Certified non-English transcripts or grade reports should be accompanied by official (literal, not interpretive) translations.
4. Results of the appropriate tests a) SAT I or ACT; and b) TOEFL or IELTS. Please request that the results be sent directly to William & Mary by the testing organization. Only the official results will be used in evaluating your application.
Optional Application Materials include:
Teacher Evaluation Form and Letter of Recommendation - you may submit one letter of recommendation with your application. Please do not submit more than two.
Interview for Rising High School Seniors - if you have the chance to visit William & Mary during the summer before your senior year of high school, take advantage of this opportunity to let us know more about you.
Creative and Performing Arts Submission
International Transfer Students Application Process
An international transfer student is anyone who is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States and who wishes to enroll in an undergraduate degree program at William & Mary and has attended another college or university after graduating from high school. If you have already earned a Baccalaureate degree (or equivalent degree) in the United States or outside of the United States, you cannot earn a second undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary.
We welcome applications from international transfer students who attend colleges or universities in the United States for both the fall and the spring semesters. The deadline for the fall semester is March 1, and the deadline for spring applications is November 1.
Once you have been admitted to W&M and paid your deposit, you will receive an email from our online system iStart where you can then complete an online form and upload copies of your passport identity page (if you have one) and financial documentation (i.e. proof of funding). Learn more about this process through the Reves Center of International Study webpage. The request will be electronically endorsed by the admissions office and then routed to the Reves Center. Reves Center will issue the I-20, send it out, and notify you that it is on its way
Applications from international students attending schools outside of the United States who need an F-1 visa are accepted only for the fall semester so as to allow these students the full benefit of the fall new student orientation program. Also, the processing of forms needed for the immigration visa and the delivery of these forms to the student necessitate a longer time period than exists for spring transfer applicants.
Language & Testing Requirements
All classes at William & Mary are conducted in English, and your assignments, papers and tests must be written in acceptable English. Because we do not offer any English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses for non-native speakers, you must be able to speak and write fluently.
TOEFL and IELTS
If English is not your native language, and if your schooling during the past five years or more has been in a language other than English, the College urges you to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic Test. Any student who has spoken a language other than English in the home should strongly consider submitting TOEFL or IELTS test scores as they give the Admission Committee additional testing to use together with the verbal part of the SAT or the ACT.
Generally, William & Mary is looking for these minimum scores on the TOEFL exam:
100 - Internet TOEFL
250 - Computer TOEFL
600 - Paper TOEFL
Students receiving scores lower than 580 on the pencil/paper test, 93 on the internet-based test or 237 on the computer-based test should consider taking an English as a Second Language course before applying to the College. William & Mary will only accept an overall band score of 7 or above on the IELTS Academic Test.
SAT and ACT
Every student applying to William & Mary must take a standardized test that measures aptitude in math and verbal areas. International students, like their domestic counterparts, can choose to take either the SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test or the ACT: American College Testing. William & Mary does not require any SAT II subject tests.
