Welcome to Your Residency Weekend Experience
The Residency Weekend is a defining element of our revolutionary Online MBA and MS in Marketing programs. It’s your opportunity to engage in intellectually invigorating discussions of contemporary business issues, deepen your connection with online classmates through face-to-face interaction and grow your professional network.
We host residency weekends twice per year on our historic campus in Williamsburg, Va., and while attendance is only required at one weekend during your time in the Online MBA program or Online MS in Marketing program, you are welcome to attend as many as you like. These conference-style, Friday-Sunday events include speakers, team-building activities and networking functions. You will have the opportunity to discuss core business topics such as leadership, finance and marketing, as well as current events and global issues. You’ll also have the chance to meet with our Executive Partners (EPs), a select group of retired professionals who volunteer their time as mentors to all Raymond A. Mason School of Business students.
While this experience is required for the MBA and MS in Marketing programs, students from all of our online graduate business programs are encouraged to attend.
Video Transcript
And it was probably the best weekend of that entire program. Just the the connections that I made, the people that I met actually meeting the faculty in person was something that was very impactful to me, and the topics that they have for Residency are high octane. You are learning a lot. You're making connections. And for me, even though the requirement to go to Residency, you only have to do one weekend. Since I was here in the local area. I decided to go back. So I actually did more than one. And the faculty encourages that. They want you to be on the campus. They want you to interact. However, you can, even if you are on the West Coast, if you can be on a webinar, you know any way that they can support you or be with you. And I think that was the differentiator for William and Mary.
There was that connection right off the bat and that support network throughout the program. And even afterwards, I mean, I think it's a Testament that you have graduates here that are willing to give up their time to, you know. Help, you know, promote the school, because you know, we obviously have an affinity. And you know it's a testament to the program that you have folks that want to do that.
Residency Weekend at a Glance
During your residency experience, you can expect to:
- Learn from guest speakers as they share their expertise on a variety of relevant business issues
- Attend workshops and panel discussions designed to enhance your online learning experience
- Participate in engaging dialogue with industry leaders on topics that reach beyond what’s covered in the classroom (crisis communications, ethics in business, AI for business, etc.)
- Strengthen your relationships with your classmates through valuable in-person interaction and collaboration
- Expand your network by forming connections with accomplished business professionals throughout the residency period
Please note: Students are invited to attend all residency offerings, though you only need to attend one to meet the 1-credit program requirement.
Residency Weekend Snapshot
Each Residency Experience is unique. The schedule below is a sample of what you might experience when you attend the on-campus event.
Friday
- Arrive on campus Friday evening
- Networking reception
Saturday
- Group breakfast
- Breakout session #1
- Lunch with Executive Partners
- Breakout session #2
- Cocktail reception
- Formal dinner with keynote speaker
Sunday
- Group breakfast
- Breakout session #3
- Lunch
Beyond the Screen: The Power of Residency Weekend at William & Mary
What does it mean to be truly connected in an online program? In this video, Dr. Phil Wagner shares how Residency Weekend brings students beyond the screen—creating meaningful, in-person experiences that go far beyond traditional coursework.
From hands-on simulations to networking with faculty, peers and industry leaders, discover how these immersive experiences build community, sharpen real-world skills, and elevate the overall learning journey.
Video Transcript
There are a variety of online programs and online MBAs where you can just sort of blitz right through, and you’ll do a discussion board and an assignment each week for 18 months, and you’ll call it quits, and you’ll get a diploma and maybe you’ll go to graduation and that’s the only contact you’ll ever have with campus, with your faculty and beyond. That’s not how it works here. And so residencies are an opportunity for you to come to the nation’s alma mater, for you to come home, and for you to bump elbows and shake hands with the faculty that you’ve been working with in your courses, to meet with our executive partners, to meet with alumni, to meet with thought leaders, to meet with our deans, to meet your colleagues.
And if you’ve ever been to a residency, there’s nothing like it. The hype in the room is palpable. I just led a residency, actually, two days before we recorded this. Two days ago, I led a residency. We welcomed 80 students to campus. And the numbers change over time. We’ve offered three residencies this year, including one in DC, which is awesome. Eighty students came to campus this residency, and we did a crisis communication simulation. Now you tell me, what industry doesn’t require crisis management or crisis communication skills? Every single one. So it wasn’t just an online MBA residency. We had students from our Online Master’s of Accounting, Online Master’s of Science in Marketing, Online Master’s of Science in Finance. And all of those students came together, and they were mixed on teams. And we dropped a big, wicked problem in their lap. And from the time they got here, they hit the ground running, working on that crisis simulation. And by the end of it, they had not only solved the problem, they had met with the board of directors at the fictional company, they had done media interviews, they had managed social media channels.
Now, we don’t offer a class for that, right? Because there’s a lot of other skills that you’re gonna need throughout your MBA, but these are valuable too. What residencies allow us to do is to be responsive to the needs of the moment. So we’ve got one planned in the future on nonprofit management. We’ve run one on generative AI, we’ve run one on communicating with boards and the C-suite. We hear from our students, we hear from alumni, we hear from industry partners. What are the skills that our students need that we don’t have baked into our curricula? Residencies allow us to give students those skills in a one-off way, build community and get them home. And so there’s nothing like it. It’s an opportunity to have a higher touchpoint with our students.
Residency Weekend Feature
The fall 2024 Residency Weekend brought together students from three online business programs, representing 16 states, Canada and China, for an immersive exploration of artificial intelligence in business. Learn more about this valuable in-person component of the online graduate business programs.
Explore Williamsburg
Consider turning your Residency Weekend into a vacation. After the events of the weekend on campus, spend time exploring the area. Close to campus, you’ll find Merchants Square and Prince George Street, both offering coffee shops, cafes and restaurants. Students and staff especially favor Amber Ox Public House, Aromas, Blue Talon Bistro, The Cheese Shop and Precarious Beer Project.
William & Mary’s hometown is also known for Colonial Williamsburg, where you can step back in time to a lively 18th-century city. Further from campus, you’ll also find Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and the Jamestown Settlement.
More Than a Degree.
This Is Your Launchpad.
A William & Mary education is not just a degree but a unique connection to a tight-knit community of students, alumni, bold educators and driven, principled, connected leaders. Build your brand with a university known for breaking barriers, championing integrity and channeling academic grit since its inception.
The Raymond A. Mason School of Business imparts essential business knowledge and builds the dynamic mindset necessary to lead in today’s challenging and rapidly changing business environment. As an online graduate business student, you will:
✓ Graduate with the perspective to envision and enact positive
change
✓ Access mentorship and experiential learning opportunities
✓ Receive personalized career support
✓ Build a lasting network to bolster your career for years to
come
This will only take a moment.