Are you or your kids happy with the school? Thanks so much.
As a parent I am very happy only because my child is happy and thriving and finding their way with lots of opportunties that they would not get elsewhere. As with any university you can have good and bad professors, but most of my childs professors have been very good. the social life is decent. Its not known as a party school, but there is plenty out there. For the environment, you have to want “urban”. This is what makes GW special. its not for everyone, but my child fell in love the second we did the tour.
@sdl0625 Thanks so much
@citymama9 I would generally say that George Washington University is a pretty good school…but really it depends on what on you’re doing there. A student attending the law school or med school may have a much different experience than an undergraduate in communications major. Overall, the university is ranked pretty high and is better than many schools. In terms of the quality of teaching, it really depends on what school you’re in. I can’t speak to some of the other schools, but I can definitely say that some fields where George Washington University really stands out from other schools are political science, economics, and business. I have taken classes in all three of those subjects and have to say that taking an upper-division political science course with a reputable professor is a MUCH different experience than taking a course with an adjunct communications professor. It would be pretty silly to turn down an offer to Elliot or the Business School here to major in something like communications. Not to criticize the reputation of communications majors, but just saying that you wouldn’t be getting the best educational experience at George Washington if you did that IMO. In terms of the social life, George Washington University actually has a pretty friendly atmosphere. You could say it’s basically like a “lazy Ivy League” in terms of the overall mentality of the undergraduate students here. Compared to an average state school say outside the top 50, George Washington University clearly appears to have more intelligent and driven students. Now, if you compare the students at George Washington University to University of Chicago or Yale then that’s a different story. The students at the latter set of schools are still friendly people, but you’ll obviously see that those students frankly tend to just study a lot more intensely. I’ve studied and taken courses at both universities (Yale University) and have met plenty of brilliant people over the years. There’s definitely way more to do in Washington DC than New Haven which attracts a lot of students; in fact, that’s one way George Washington has been able to pull students who have gotten into slightly better-ranked universities such as Northeastern or Berkeley.
@Govegan1995 Thanks so much for your response. As far as business goes, do you the course work is manageable for someone who is good at math, but not great at math? Also, are the classes mostly large? Thanks again
I would definitely say that the course load in the business school or even in the economics major in CCAS is absolutely manageable if you’re good but not great at math. That’s exactly how I would describe my own math aptitude You won’t need anything beyond calculus 1 for the business school unless you’re in the finance major; one caveat, however, is that the business courses can be hard in a different way. I had a classmate, for example, who switched from the engineering to the business school. I had met him in my upper-division financial management course. He had taken up to calculus 3; however, he still struggled to grasp the material not because he didn’t know how to do the math but because sometimes he didn’t understand the questions. He ended up doing fine in the class, but I think the moral of the story is that just because the courses are less quantitatively intensive that doesn’t mean they aren’t difficult. It’s a different type of difficulty really…it’s kind of hard to explain but if you make a Coursehero account you can see previous exams from specific courses at George Washington. That might be a better way to give you a realistic concept of what you’re in for in certain classes. The hardest mathematics class you’ll ever have to take as a business student is econometrics. Introductory Econometrics at George Washington, which is the upper-division statistics course you’ll have to take, actually doesn’t involve anything beyond Calculus 1. The class was very difficult because it was hard to understand the intuition behind the theories. In terms of the class sizes, they usually aren’t that large which is I personally think is great. Most of my classes have had under 30 people, especially upper-division requirement courses. I’m an advocate for smaller class sizes because they allow for a more intimate experience and also because honestly, it’s a lot less social anxiety when it comes to midterms and finals. The only large lecture class I had in the business school was markets and politics (BADM 2001) which had 50 some people. Also, the difficulty of classes can also frankly boil down to luck in scheduling your classes. In my business law class (BADM 4101), I was really nervous because I thought it was going to be a very difficult class. It turns out I got a really chill professor named Tara Radin…we only had one assignment the whole semester and the rest of our grade was just participation based on reading case studies. The only classes in the business school that really were as difficult as I would have imagined were financial management and markets and operations management. Even then, those classes weren’t necessarily mathematically difficult they were just hard because the material was not that interesting. At the end of the day, I would definitely say that George Washington is a great university to get you started and a privilege to attend. The school definitely spoils its students with an abundance of resources…so there’s plenty of opportunities to get a great education here.
@Govegan1995 You have been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.
As a freshman who has only been at GW for a little over a month, so far I am really happy at GW! Throughout my whole college application/decision making process, the two things I was most concerned with were the social life, and the level of education I’d be receiving at the school. As for social life, I’ve found my friends very quickly here. There are a ton of different people here (as with any college), but there is definitely a night life scene here. A large number of students go out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but there are also many who stay in/do other activities that don’t involve drinking. The nightlife mainly consists of clubbing (many are 18+) or trying to go to frats. There really is not much school spirit here (especially for sports), so don’t expect tailgates or people going crazy for basketball games, etc. As for the quality of teaching, I can only speak from my experience (which right now is having only had 5 intro level professors in mostly big lectures), but it is what you may expect in intro courses. They aren’t super passionate about the classes, but that’s completely understandable when teaching intro level classes. I’ve heard upperclassmen talk about how the further you get into college, the better the professors get. As for the environment, I love it. I live 5 minutes from the National Mall and can Uber to any museum in the city, usually for less than $10. There are so many opportunities, whether it be for internships or jobs. The social environment is good for the most part. Given that it’s a $70k+ university, expect some filthy rich kids wearing Gucci to class, but those seem to be few and far between.
@djm1999 Thank you!!! Would you say that most of the people you’ve met so far are happy with their decision to attend GWU or are you finding people regret not going to a more “typical” school with football games, etc? Also, for the money they are charging you would think they would hire profs who were passionate about ALL their classes. Anyway,it sounds like an exciting place to go to school, Oh, how do you feel about the food situation (no traditional dining halls) and Thurston vs. other halls for freshman yr? Thanks again.
I attended GW for my master’s and it is an awesome place to be! I loved my time there. So much to do and explore. Not a big party school but really fun places to go out, esp around Georgetown. I think it’s a town where you learn so much even outside the classroom.