Hey everyone. I’m an incoming junior at GU bored this summer because I’m waiting to go abroad in a few weeks. Feel free to ask me whatever questions you have about the school, though tbh I don’t think I’d be much help on a chance me thread. Happy to help 
MODERATOR’S NOTE;
Any student/alum/parent/friend is free to answer questions as well.
What is your favorite and least favorite things about Georgetown?
What do you know about Georgetown now that you think would have been useful to know when you made your decision?
Other than the five main clubs, is the stereotype of a really competitive student body prevalent anywhere else?
I’m looking to go into business, so if you are a MSB student, what do you think about the program so far?
Ooh good questions.
With respect to my favorite things, (call me a nerd) but I have been beyond impressed by my classes and professors at Georgetown. I’m currently an English major/Econ minor (though planning to bump up to a double major this year), and have had great experiences with both departments. The English department has a huge array of fantastic and small classes that are worth taking even as an elective, and while the Econ department can seem a little less personalized as you are in its giant lectures early on there are loads of opportunities to seek help and guidance from teaching assistants and interesting professors. You’ll find yourself learning a ton, improving your skills, and truly widening your perspective on the world.
On the more social side of that, another great thing about Georgetown is the number of incredibly welcoming and warm people to become friends with if you make an effort. I was a bit shy about joining clubs my freshman year which kind of hampered my social life early on, but by sophomore year I was in two great clubs with a ton of great people and having a blast.
While clubs are in many respects the highlight of my experience at Georgetown, the larger “club culture” at the school is probably my least favorite thing about it. I have siblings at Boston College and the University of Pittsburgh and a good friend at the University of Chicago, and I get the impression from them that clubs at most schools are a much more low key affair. Most people’s friend groups revolve around the clubs they’re in, and it’s easy for a lot of people to commit to a ton of groups and subsequently overwork themselves. That being said, the situation is what you make of it, and if you involve yourself in just one or two groups that you legitimately enjoy and make sure to prioritize your own wellbeing, you’ll do fine.
Aside from the five main clubs, I don’t think I would classify the student body as competitive so much as driven. There are a number of students who feel like they need to major/minor in every department they can, join every club that might look good on a resume, and apply for a billion internships from the fall of their freshman year. This is really just a vocal minority of students, however, and if you do your own thing there’s no pressure to “compete”. Better to happily excel in a few things than to burn yourself out on a thousand.
Academically, however, people are more than willing to help each other on assignments and with studying. Pretty much my whole floor freshman year would do our microeconomics homework together even though the Econ department grades on a curve. That being said, the MSB I believe has a stricter curve so that may feasibly more competitive, but honestly most of the MSB students I know are some of the more low-key students I’ve at Georgetown.
Once everyone’s gotten over not being accepted to the main clubs their freshman year, they typically realize there are ton of really great clubs that are happy to take just about anyone and do activities more aligned with their actual interests (in comparison to giving canned speeches around campus and making shitty coffee). Ultimate Frisbee, Running Club, College Democrats, College Republicans, and GIVES (a random act of kindness club) are probably some of the largest organizations on campus, and are great groups to party with and make friends. In addition to those there are so many small clubs for people to find their niche in. I’m in Creative Writing Club, which I love, however, I’ve also heard great things about Quiz Bowl, Nomadic Theatre, The Voice and so many more.
As I’m in the College, I can’t speak as much to the specifics of the MSB, however, my friends in the school seem to really enjoy it and apparently it has great job prospects. You guys also get free printing and personal access to probably the best study space on campus.
Overall, Georgetown has its ups and downs, but if you come in confident in yourself and with the kind of experience you want to have, you’ll do great and have an amazing time.
Could you explain the study space that is only for MSB students?
How is the food? Is there a variety of options?
How would you describe the sports and school spirit atmosphere?
How is a typical class run?
Is the homework overbearing? Do you still have a lot of free time to enjoy yourself?
MSB students’ gocards can unlock the doors to the Hairiri building, which is basically where you will have all your business classes. It’s one of the newer buildings on campus and has 3 or 4 floors of conference rooms, group study rooms which you can go to or reserve to study or do group projects. Along with that there are a large number of comfy chairs and tables with booths that people love study in. To get an idea of what it looks like, just do a google image search for “georgetown business school”, and you’ll see it’s pretty cozy looking. Non business students will go there too, but we have to rely on unlocked doors during the day or our business school friends.
The food itself I believe is standard fare for most colleges. I never had much an issue with it as there are plenty of options (grill station, panini station, wok stations, pasta stations, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free etc), but wherever you go it’s going to get tiring after a little while. I will say the food has improved steadily and they are always seeing what areas can be improved on. This past year the quality went up drastically because Aramark, the dining company, was in the process of renewing their contract. The started serving grilled salmon on Thursdays and giving elaborate Sunday brunches with eggs benedict, smoked salmon, chocolate fountains, pineapple, and fresh blackberries. It seems the contract got renewed, so lets hope they keep up the quality.
Most students’ issue with Aramark is not so much as the food as it is their policies. It’s a swipe plan, so you can only enter the dining hall if you have a meal plan or pay an expensive door rate. Freshman can choose meal plans that are either unlimited, 18/week, or 10/week which I found kind of annoying. I eat breakfast so picked the 18/week, but rarely used the whole 18. If you don’t use the whole week’s worth the leftovers don’t carry over. I remember getting annoyed during finals when I ran out on a Saturday night, and feeling like with the amount I actually used over the course of the semester, I shouldn’t be turned away for a meal. Once you’re a sophomore though, you can sign up for block plans which are much more reasonable.
Sports is a little weak compared to most schools. I think most of this can be attributed to the poor performance of the basketball team the past few years, because I hear from the graduating seniors that basketball was HUGE when they were freshmen. If you’re into the sports scene and actually go to the games, they’re a lot of fun, but they don’t play on campus so it’s easy to forget about them. Students also will turn out in droves to support the Men’s Soccer Team which is very good. I worked in Athletics as a freshman and recall nearly being trampled by Georgetown fans entering the student section for a tournament game. Blue and Grey is another popular club of students trying to drive attendance for the less appreciated sports, and they seem to have a lot of fun. Club and intramural sports are also extremely popular. Even if the sports scene can be lacking at times, school spirit is still pretty high. Students are always wearing GU apparel and are proud to be at Georgetown.
Classes are hugely varied. I’ve never taken a business class, but I hear those are largely seminar-ish classes with a lot of group work. I imagine they’re fairly small, though I don’t know how big classes like Accounting might be. Aside from that, class sizes are mostly going to depend on department and course level. Language classes, and especially upper level language classes can be quite small. My freshman year Spanish class just had five students in it. My Econ class, however, was a 300 person lecture. In general though, course size is what you make of it. Though the intro Econ lectures are large, there are a ton of resources (recitations, tutoring, TAs, your professor(!)) that do a fantastic job of making it feel a lot smaller.
In terms of how they’re run, courses like English, History, Philosophy, Theology etc. are usually going to assign more reading and the class will focus a lot on discussion. These courses will probably have 2-3 papers or exams throughout the semester, and possibly occasional small participation assignments like blog posts. Larger classes you typically won’t have to do much ahead of time, but you should be taking good notes and reviewing the material. Language classes on the other hand will have smaller more frequent assignments, along with regular homework, a midterm and a final. Large classes like intro level Econ typically have weekly homework, 2 midterms and a final. In a lot of large classes, professors will drop your lowest midterm score. My Middle East History professor gave 2 midterms and a final and would grade you on the best 2 of 3. Because of this, you could skip the final if you had a good enough score on your previous exams.
Thanks for answering my first five questions; here are five more that I would appreciate if you could answer.
Is there a free fitness center for all students?
How would you describe the average Georgetown students?
What other schools did you consider and what were the reasons for choosing Georgetown over those other schools? Did you find those reason to hold true based on your experiences?
How should a student get involved in their freshman year?
Do you have tips for the essays or application in general?
Great questions and answers! Very helpful for an incoming student!
I have two questions to add:
Do students from NHS integrate well with students from College, SFS, MSB or are they somewhat disconnected?
What percentage of students would you say are regular partiers vs. non-partiers?
Thanks!
Yes there is a free fitness center. It’s called Yates Field House.
Not sure how I’d describe the “average” Georgetown student. I’d say that a very large number of students are pretty driven and ambitious, often politically minded, but we’re a varied bunch overall. A large portion of the student body is somewhat preppy, but most students just dress in what they’re comfortable in. I believe Georgetown is more diverse and internationally minded than a lot of schools it is frequently compared against, Boston College in particular.
I admit my top choice school was actually the University of Chicago, but I wasn’t admitted. Once my acceptances were in I narrowed my choice really to Georgetown, Boston College, and Rutgers and picked Georgetown for its academics, location, and personal considerations. DC is really a great college town, and Georgetown is really much more in the thick of the city than BC is in Boston. I realize now though, that Boston College has a much nicer and close knit campus than Georgetown does. I picked GU largely for academics, and still think its coursework has a much more expansive and less eurocentric focus than BC’s. The university as a whole has a very international tradition, and you’ll get to understand perspectives and issues a little further from home. Personally, I also had a large number of family members who had attended BC and one sibling who is studying there currently, so I picked Georgetown in part to get away from that.
To get involved, I suggest just trying out a bunch of different clubs and organizations at first and seeing what you like. Don’t bank on the selective ones and don’t sweat it if they don’t accept you or if you find you don’t like them. While in the long run you’ll want to narrow your focus, early on just try out all sorts of things. Don’t be shy. Invite people to lunch/breakfast/dinner. Talk to people in your classes. And during Orientation there’s going to be a bunch of events that might be silly but are actually great ways to make friends. A lot of people think they’re “too cool” to go to those, but honestly you’re only too cool to go to those things if you actually have better plans.
For the essays and application, I recommend being honest with yourself, which during college app season is actually a pretty tall order. Don’t think about what admissions wants to here, what might be unique and new and special, and focus about what you actually have to say. To do this, you have to relax. I recommend taking a few days to just not think about the whole college process and when you answer your questions later, answer them as if you were explaining them to a friend. That’s where the creativity will be.
I would say NHS students integrate just fine. I have a number of NHS friends that I met in various classes and clubs. That being said, it’s a very small group and I think NHS students will often make friends with other NHS students as most of your classes I think will be together. You guys kind of get the best of both worlds, because there’s a very close knit community inside your school, but you obviously have the freedom to branch out and make friends in any other school.
That is actually a pretty difficult question to answer, because as you can imagine, the students who party every weekend are going to be the ones you notice every weekend. That being said, there are always parties going on during the weekends, so if you’re into that, you’ll find your people. However, if you’re not into that, there’s plenty of other people who aren’t either. If you don’t party, however, you might want to just make a conscious effort to connect with people to do other things on the weekend. A big mistake that a lot of freshmen make is to assume that everyone else wants to party and so shut themselves in their rooms not realizing there are likeminded people all around them. Georgetown also isn’t Penn State, so while most partying goes on from Thursday night to Saturday night, it’s not going to be a mad house the rest of the week.
What are the perks of different dorm halls? I am interested in the perks and downsides of Village West C in particular.
Do regular students (like non-athletes) have access to a pool for exercise swimming?
I lived in Village C West my freshmen year, so most of my info will be about them. VCW has it’s own bathroom, which is convenient when it comes to privacy, brushing your teeth, accessing water, being sick, etc. but is inconvenient when it comes to cleaning it (as every blue&gray tour guide will tell you), buying supplies, waiting for your roommate to finish their hour long shower. Honestly the cleaning isn’t that bad, and the bathroom is a huge plus, but the biggest drawback is that it makes the living space of the room much smaller. Of all the freshmen dorms, VCW has the smallest desks and the least storage space. That being said, it has a much larger common room and the fewest rooms per floor, which with the right bunch of people can make for a cozy little community. Because the floors are small, there are RAs only on every other floor, which again can be a good thing or bad thing depending on the maturity of the people on your floor. I probably painted VCW a little more negatively than it deserves. My floor was slightly infamous my freshman year for being a complete disaster, but most people who live in VCW really like it. The location is very nice, as it’s right across from Healy Hall and is pretty much a stairwell away from the dining hall.
New South is considered “the party dorm” of campus. While this is true, if you’re more of a quiet sort of person, I wouldn’t let it worry you if you get picked to live there. It’s got the biggest floors of all the dorms and the biggest rooms, so naturally parties will happen there, but it won’t be that much if any more disruptive than any of the other dorms. Every room in New South is also equipped with a sink, which is pretty convenient.
Harbin is a pretty cool dorm with floors organized by same-sex clusters. Each cluster has a bathroom with a few stalls and showers and sinks. Don’t think there’s really any bad side to Harbin. The rooms are bigger than VCW, but a lot of students bunk their beds to get more space in the room itself. I think it has to do with the dimensions of the room. Harbin has the biggest closets and I think the clusters tend to get pretty close.
Darnall is generally regarded as the ratchet dorm of Georgetown but everyone I know who lived there loved it. It is much further away from the dining hall and academic buildings, but considering the compactness of Georgetown’s campus it’s really not that big a deal. Once the NE triangle construction finishes this summer, the walk to main campus should probably become even faster. Also, because it’s so far away from the other dorms the people who live there get very close. It’s right next to Epicurean, which is a 24 hour food place, which, depending on the hour is either filled with medical students or drunk undergrads. Freshmen in Darnall love to waste their money there instead of going to the dining hall.
Yup, there’s a pool in yates field house.
Does McDonough undergrad students get any perks like free printing (that’s what I have heard but wanted confirmation)?
You guys do get “free printing” however I think there’s a small fee included in your tuition.
I’m really nervous about fitting in. I’ve always worn jeans, sweatshirt, and a tshirt to class (i’m a girl). My family is pretty low income so we can’t afford the luxury brands. Will this be a problem for me? Should I invest in some Sperrys or something?
I wouldn’t worry about fitting in. Most students wear jeans and tee shirts to class, and you’re not going to look out of place without sperrys or some other fancy shoe. Though Georgetown has a reputation for being preppy, people just wear what they’re comfortable in. I imagine it’s actually a minority of students who own let alone regularly wear luxury brands like Ralph Lauren or Vineyard Vines. I’m a girl whose worn jeans, tee shirts, and sneakers to class nearly every day for two years and never felt out of place. Just relax. You’ll do fine.
What’s the farthest you’ve had to walk to class? Can you get anywhere you have to be in a reasonable amount of time?
Would you say that Georgetown is more technologically advanced than other colleges?
How popular are club/intramural sports and how experienced should you be for each level?
Do you always feel like you’re in DC or does that feeling die down after a while?
Do you have any regrets whatsoever about your decision to go to Georgetown?
Do we have a place to cook in Village West C?
Rising senior here.
To 1zogden1:
To aznstate98:
Are there any recreational areas available to students such as a room full of pool tables or something like that?