<p>On the eve of definitely ruling out Georgetown SFS...
As I live in India, I have to send my forms tomorrow if I want to go to Georgetown.
I'm pretty sure that I want to do International Relations, but not 100% and Georgetown doesn't seem to offer much more for me than that. By all accounts, the social life is not my style at all (i'm laid back, hippy, but passionate about international issues and basically exactly the SFS curriculum) and there's not enough of a subculture to avoid the majority mentality very easily.
So, back to the title, am I being stupid by thinking that Brown or McGill would be better, even though McGill doesn't even have my program?</p>
<p>NO, georgetownn is not all uptight politicians, people here are passionate about international but still laid back around each other. The notion that georgetown is a school for white northeast republicans is a complete farse, there are people of all walks of life hre. Turning down a school for another tha doesn't even have a program is a VERY bad idea in my opinion. SFS is the best place to do IR in the country, if that's what you want to do, you shoudl definetely come here.</p>
<p>Whoever told you that it's impossible to avoid the majority mentality here is WRONG...especially when you're in DC</p>
<p>Go where you think you'll be happiest.</p>
<p>fly...I am from pakistan...and i love it at gtown...
its now definitelymy second home and i can assure you that you will not be bored at all.
i take it you have lived your entire life in india?
coming to gtown will be amazing for you.
if you do come i will meet you at iPo :)</p>
<p>You can see my dilemna in the Political Science/International Relations thread in the McGill discussion if you're interested. Have you found an open-minded community at Gtown? That's one of my major concerns. I don't want to be surrounded by people trying to make connections and climb to the top.</p>
<p>Gtown is definitely not like that...I'd say that categorization applies to maybe 5% of the students here...MAYBE</p>
<p>I ahve found so many open-minded people, I consider myself to be so. People are driven, but they are VERY open-minded, and being driven does not equal unfriendliness or cut-throat competition. It is just that people work hard but play hard too.</p>
<p>Just as a tester...I saw pictures of someone's orientation week and definitely didn't see myself fitting in. Would I, in my usual sarong, free T-shirt, and rural public school upbringing stand out?</p>
<p>When we visited their on sprng break, we saw a whole bunch of representatives from the middle east, far east, africa and the like...Washington DC is a very international city. Students that go there want that kind of environment. SO don't worry. You would probably fit in better than someone from Montana in flannel...</p>
<p>ONE perosn's pictures of NSO are not representationla of the netire student body. Gtown has people from every walk of life, including people that wear sarongs, polos, or nothing at all! (j/k lol). If you really have a bad gut feeling about Gtown, don;t come, you're better off. Your gut feeling is the best test there is.</p>
<p>flyonwindshield--you sound like an interesting person. come to gtown so that at least you can keep me company.</p>
<p>Man this stuff is making my head spin...The problem with my gut feeling is that it's not based off of much, but it's really strong.
By the way, classwarrior, are you already at Gtown? Because that's kind of a worrisome comment.</p>
<p>yeah i'd avoid classwarrior for sure. for me the final decision came down to which school would prepare me better for my career and where i'd be happiest—go with your gut feeling and don't look back. if you don't like it you can always transfer...</p>
<p>transfer INTO the SFS? for some reason i think i've only got one chance to go to the SFS.</p>
<p>screw you, spoilsbury.</p>
<p>flyonwindshield--i'm a prefrosh, actually. i was just trying to say something nice, but apparently it backfired or something. </p>
<p>anyway, you should keep in mind that there's little chance the Brown IR program is going to be better than gtown SFS. gtown is the only school in the country where you will be taught diplomacy and international relations by people who have actually practiced it themselves--a former secretary of state, former heads of state, former ambassadors, people who work on the National Security Council and Capitol Hill, etc. </p>
<p>As for the social life, keep in mind that at a school with an undergrad population of six thousand, and a freshman class of about 1500, there's absolutely no way you won't find people who are like you. it's almost mathematically impossible. but if the social aspect still bothers you, in the end you have to ask yourself what a fair price to pay is for the best undergrad IR program in the country. </p>
<p>i had the same concerns as you, and in the end i chose georgetown. i have no regrets so far.</p>
<p>Sorry for misunderstanding you, classwarrior. I have about 2 days left, so I'm understandably jumpy. I still have 3 schools to decide between.</p>
<p>I guess I kind of don't want to be in the minority during college. I see college as a time when I should be able to custom pick my environment, one of the last times I'll be able to do that. My gut is just telling me that I wouldn't be happy at Georgetown and that I would kick myself every time for not choosing one of the others. I'm just not willing to sacrifice the social aspect so much during undergrad. I still want to explore other areas of interest, etc. So, I think I'll stick as closely to the Georgetown curriculum as I can at either Brown or McGill.</p>