<p>Hubby is attending a conference in DC which includes hotel accommodations at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill for 5 nights, Sunday through Thursday, last week of June. We plan to come along and hang out at the hotel and see the sights. We live in NYC burbs and have made many visits to DC before including the big highlights, but there are sites like the Holocaust Museum we haven't been to as a family since S was too young to appreciate it or we were too rushed on previous trips. </p>
<p>And it's our 1st trip with D thinking about college--she's HS class of 2015. Last summer we did a tour of Cornell, spent a weekend at a conference at U of Scranton, and have gone to events at local schools--NYU, Fordham, Hofstra. </p>
<p>I'm wondering about tours of DC schools. D likes DC and when I said that we might do a couple of college tours she said that she might enjoy living there for college. </p>
<p>The question is, which schools? I don't know if Georgetown is worth our time as it would be quite a reach (even harder to get into than Cornell's land grant colleges which have a realistic acceptance rate for NY state residents) and I hear they're not generous when it comes to merit. American U and GWU are possibles, except that I read that GWU has lots of frats and rich kids, and of course there's the whole ranking scandal. I'm also wondering about U of Maryland--College Park since it's relatively affordable for OOS. Then there's Catholic U. D attends a Catholic college prep HS and according to Naviance all of the applicants from her HS are accepted at CU; from threads on this site it looks like she'd qualify for the Honors College and a good amount of merit scholarships there--but its rankings and reviews aren't great.</p>
<p>Any thoughts or suggestions, DC schools I might have overlooked?</p>
<p>I can tell you that two of my sons loved going to school in DC.</p>
<p>S3 just graduated from American and loved the culture of the school–a real campus, kids from all over the world that became his friends–and in DC with all it offered. He looked at GW but wanted a real campus–he wanted the experience of studying on the quad/playing frisbee on the quad/crossing the quad for classes–and the completely urban nature of GW was a turn off to him.</p>
<p>S2 just finished his MPP at American and also loved his experience there. Of course, he was not interested in things like the quad, etc., at his stage of the game. But for an MPP student being in DC is being in heaven.</p>
<p>S3 had a friend at Catholic and also a friend at Howard. Friend at Catholic ended up transferring because she was not happy with the location–she felt unsafe leaving the dorm at night unless in a large group. I cannot comment on whether her fear was rational or not as I have never been to that location.</p>
<p>If the student has any interest at all in Catholic U and/or the University of Maryland at College Park, I would definitely go see them because you might not like the surrounding neighborhoods. (I wouldn’t feel safe at Catholic U even in the daytime.) So the visit would gain you some useful information.</p>
<p>The neighborhoods surrounding GW and American are OK (though very different from each other). But you might want to visit them anyway if your daughter might ever do an internship in Washington. A lot of summer interns live in these schools’ dorms.</p>
<p>Howard would be worth visiting if historically black colleges and universities are on your daughter’s list.</p>
<p>If your daughter is seriously interested in Cornell but also interested in Washington, DC, you might want to look up the Cornell in Washington program on Cornell’s Web site and go see the area where its headquarters is located. The program could be an interesting way to spend a semester.</p>
<p>Check out George Mason, it’s in Northern VA- it’s not exactly in DC, but its relatively near DC. It’s considered a pretty good school and easier to get into than Georgetown</p>
<p>I may be biased because my D just finished her junior year at GW but we were laughing over the frat/rich kid thing. GW gets a bad rap. My D is the most liberal, non-conformist you could find - would never join a sorority, etc. and she has loved her experience at GW in DC. The opportunities with all that DC offers have been amazing. She has stayed in DC for her last 2 summers with great internships. Like any school of 10,000 she has found her niche and good friends and their are plenty of people she doesn’t care for.</p>
<p>Bottom line, keep an open mind and explore it. We visited Georgetown and she didn’t like it at all (not really sure she could have gotten in anyway). GW and Gtown have such different feels - city campus vs suburban campus feel. We went to UMaryland as well. Nice and worth seeing - too big for my D. Went to American but it just didn’t click for her. No idea on Catholic U, I’m sure its fine for some but a little narrow focused for my D’s liking.</p>
<p>If you have time and interest venturing a few hours south you can see James Madison (and even UVA). JMU was nice and interesting but a bit in the middle of nowhere for my D.</p>
<p>In the end she liked the diversity of GW. But the DC area is really an intersting place to study. Good Luck.</p>
<p>We have done this with two kids (vacationed in DC and visited colleges at the same time). With D1 we went to Georgetown, GW, and American. With D2 we went to Johns Hopkins and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. SMCM is the public honors college of Maryland – it is a couple hours south of DC, in a remote but beautiful spot on the St. Mary’s river. A bit like a summer camp. That was my personal favorite of all the colleges we visited in the area.</p>
<p>Second George Mason. It’s a two-mile shuttle-bus ride from the DC metro system. A lot of students are commuters, but there are a LOT of students – it’s the biggest university in the Virginia system – so the ones who aren’t commuters make up a fair number, too. But it’s very suburban – great if College Park feels dangerous to you, but not so great if you would really rather be in a city.</p>
<p>Honestly, all of the DC schools are fairly different, so it doesn’t hurt to go wander around campus and at least see if the size/architecture/environment of the school fits for your D. GMU feels more commuterish, Gtown more ‘Ivy League,’ GWU more urban campus, American pretty suburban, Catholic more suburban, and Maryland more Big 10. At the very least, it’s another data point to narrow other choices down</p>
<p>A third for GMU. Of three kids in our neighborhood who attend GMU, two live on campus. So even local kids live on campus. Add it to your list. (I live about 15 miles from the campus).</p>
<p>You mentioned Cornell Land Grant Colleges. What are your daughter’s interests? Knowing of course that they can change, I would focus on those institutions that would be a match financially and offer majors in areas that she would like to pursue. It is good to see different types of colleges at this point. I have one friend whose daughter is at Georgetown and will apply to law school, she has had wonderful internships in Congressional offices. Another’s daughter is pre med at GW and loves it. My daughter has a friend at Catholic U, she travels home to CT on the train with classmates from HS, it doesn’t seem that she has had the diverse experiences that other friends have had.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas. I have to admit that because of personal prejudices I didn’t even consider a couple of schools and will have to look into them: JMU (I visited a friend who taught there; she & her husband loved hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains but otherwise hated Harrisonburg and couldn’t wait to find another job) or GMU (my uncle used to live in Fairfax County and I remember visiting without a car and feeling trapped; my cousins went there as commuters & didn’t enjoy it) I don’t know that UVa is a real option, too much of a reach (even though I would love D to go there) considering the OOS tuition and low acceptance rates for non-VA residents. And another VA school I’d forgotten about–my niece went to U of Mary Washington and liked it there; we’ve spent time in Fredricksburg a few years ago and would put it on a list of possibles.</p>
<p>Marian, the Cornell in DC program does look interesting and a great way to escape from an Ithaca winter, thanks for pointing it out. </p>
<p>D is not really sure on majors yet; in 8th grade she won her middle school’s award for Science and last year she did well in the SAT Bio Subject test, but this year she’s been just average (B/B+in Chemistry) She’s been doing very well in English and History. Still, she’s been wondering about majors like environmental science or medical research. At Cornell I think her best choice would be the College of Human Ecology .</p>
<p>As for the Catholic U and Maryland-College Park neighborhoods, I’ve been to the CU neighborhood and do remember it looking seedy (as well as the whole DC NE area) so will keep that in mind. </p>
<p>Johns Hopkins is a great school but I think too much of a reach and even if she did get in she’d probably end up paying full tuition, $42K.</p>
<p>If you haven’t visited the Newseum during your past trips to DC, be sure to go–I don’t know anyone who hasn’t loved it. And have the macaroni and cheese in their terrific cafeteria (man does not live by college tours alone…).</p>
<p>My S left GW after one year–decided he wasn’t much of an urban type and never felt like he fit in with the hard partying (ambulances every weekend night at the big freshman dorm for alcohol overdoses) and conspicuous consumption (lots of designer duds and expensive clubbing) of so many of his classmates. Ended up at a small LAC and was happy there. My D just graduated from American, which gave her a very generous merit scholarship. She is more of a city mouse, so was really happy in DC, but also appreciated the suburban vibe of the AU campus. She also spent some time at UMD visiting a friend from home. A very different place from the other two, but her friend, who grew up in a relatively affluent suburb, never complained about the neighborhood. I think the students’ world revolves so much around the UMD campus that the surroundings are not a big issue. So I’d recommend checking out all three. Chances are one will resonate a lot more than the others, and your D will get a sense of what kind of environment she likes, which will help her in deciding what colleges to visit in other areas.</p>
That was my personal favorite of all the colleges we visited in the area.</p>