Founded by King William III and Queen Mary II of England in 1693, the College of William & Mary is a public institution located in downtown Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States after Harvard University. The school has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,200, its suburban campus occupies 1,200 acres. It uses a semester-based academic calendar. William & Mary is considered one of the original "Public Ivies," a publicly funded university providing a quality of education comparable to those of the Ivy League.

William & Mary has more than 30 undergraduate programs and more than 10 graduate and professional degree programs. Its highly ranked graduate schools include the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, the School of Education and the Mason School of Business. The establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 make it one of the first universities in the United States. William & Mary is steeped in traditions, including the ringing of the Wren bell by graduating seniors in the Sir Christopher Wren Building, the oldest college building in the nation. William & Mary educated U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler as well as other key figures in U.S. history, including U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and 16 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The school's NCAA Division I varsity sports teams, known as the "Tribe," participate in the Colonial Athletic Association. The school founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776 and was the first school of higher education in the United States to install an honor code of conduct for students. All freshmen are required to live on campus and the majority of upperclassmen live on campus as well.