@NHuffer and @gdubya - Thank you for this information; it definitely increases our interest in GW.
@jellyjam123 The acceptance rate here is probably around 35-40% right now so it’s competitive but it’s not incredibly competitive. I highly recommend the business school or Elliot School of International Affairs. The business school offers solid degree programs and I think that it’s been rising in the ranks over the years Living in the city is also such a beautiful trade off and in my opinion I prefer it to being in a college town or rural area. And because you’re in the middle of a government town you’re basically surrounded by corporate America, which in a lot of ways motivates students to work hard.
GW sounds so good! Thanks, @GWYalie1994 and @gdubya! Sorry about messing up some facts – I just started researching more schools in the DC area. How would you guys categorize GW compared to other schools in DC? And is the curriculum flexible at GW? I heard someone say it was not ultra restrictive but not ultra flexible… And is GW a party school? Is it easy to get lost in the crowd? Sorry for all these questions; it is much appreciated!
I don’t mind the amount of questions!!! In case you couldn’t tell by me starting this thread and my lengthy responses, I like talking about my school!!!
- GW compared to other DC schools.
Honestly, I’m hesitant to answer this question without you being more specific… It’s hard to compare the traditional campus of American university to the prestige of Georgetown to the networking powerhouse that is GW to the rest of the DC schools. All of these places are very different and there’s a lot to compare. Is there something specific that you want to know? Campus feel? Academic quality in ______ major? Job Placement? Reputation and prestige? I’m happy to elaborate on whatever you want, but your phraseology is a little too vague fore me to understand what you’re going for
- Flexibility of curriculum
In my experience, my course of study has been very flexible. I’m an International Affairs student at the Elliott School, but have taken courses in both accounting and computer science as electives, for example.
If you want to pursue a minor, you can have a minor across all of the colleges with no restrictions, no matter how dumb the combination sounds. I know a guy who’s a history major with a minor in mechanical engineering for example. You’re allowed to double major in many fields as well, both inside and outside of your home school (though a couple of restrictions are placed). As a general rule, you can double major with any combination of degrees that are similar (i.e. business and economics, physics and math, etc).
The other important thing to note is your curriculum flexibility will also be determined by your chosen major. STEM fields tend to be more intensive and specific, for example. Liberal arts majors are a bit less intensive, and alternative courses are more abundant.
Another important thing to consider is AP credit or other college credit. AP credit at GW doesn’t just give credit hours, but can actually count as degree requirements too. Coming in with lots of AP’s can knock down the amount of generals you have to take, and may also test you out of some intro courses. Doing this can free up your time to pursue an additional major/minor, take electives of your choosing, or dive deeper into your path of study.
Overall, there are absolutely opportunities to study multiple fields of interest at GW.
- Is it a party school?
Saying GW as a whole is a “party school” would be an overstatement in my opinion. But if partying is your scene, then you’ll be please to know that there are swaths of people gathered around the greek houses and out at the DC area bars/clubs on the weekends. There are plenty of opportunities to go out and make questionable-at-best decisions with your friends. But if you’re like me and aren’t at all into that sort of thing, then by no means will you be distracted from a dominating party-culture, nor will you be an outcast in any way. There’s a little something for everybody here.
- Is it easy to get lost in the crowd?
I’ve never felt this at all after adjusting to city life. GW’s enrollment is around 26,000. This may seem big, but after getting rid of the med school, law school, and grad students (many of which are professionals taking night classes btw), you get an undergraduate enrollment of about 11,000. GW also keeps classes pretty small, and offers a lot of opportunity for personalized help from tutors, academic advisors, and career advisors. There are also an abundance of clubs where you can hang out with likeminded couple. Furthermore, if city life scares you, then DC is a good ‘warm up’ city… It’s much easier to adjust to than places like New York, Boston, or LA.
That being said, GW does have a much more urban and lively feel to it compared to most every other university, which I know can wear on some people. Furthermore, there isn’t much “hand holding” that you’ll receive as a GW student. You’re not always given the most detailed instruction, nor is there people to guide you every step of the way. It’s up to you to figure things out, a you’re expected to grow up quick and deal with your own problems. However, there are SO many people and resources available for help if you run into social struggles, academic issues, mental health problems, etc. But it’s up to you to seek them out. This for some people makes them feel “lost in the crowd”, but again, I’ve never had this problem personally.
@gdubya Oops, I was really vague there. I meant to say what makes GW different from other schools in terms of job placement (since city schools seem to find jobs more easily)? And how integrated is GW with DC compared to other DC schools?
Also, this is totally unrelated to my questions above but kind of related on what you touched on earlier – if I wanted to experiment between majors like English, Film Studies, Pre Med, and International Affairs, (I do want to go into Film production at other schools, but I am kind of worried about job security later; plus, not all top film schools have what I am looking for in general), how easy it it to experiment without the core curriculum getting in the way? Or in other words, is the curriculum super loaded ( I know Columbia’s core takes up 1/3 of your time during your 4 years there)?
Finally, (although I might come up with more questions later, ) how good is financial aid and do kids on financial aid have trouble mingling in with non FA students? Like does the school offer stipends of money to FA students so that they can hang out in the city (at restaurants, museums, etc) with their wealthier peers, without having that financial burden on them?
Thanks again, legit you are saving my life with the whole college search!
That’s for the clarification! As far as being “plugged into” the city… GW is the best in that regard hands down compared to the other schools. We’re 3 blocks from the white house, 1 block from the state department, and the International Monetary Fund is an on campus building. We are literally an integrated part of DC. This influences socializing, as well as interning and networking.
In terms of GW’s job placement, it’s as good or better than any other D.C. area school because of us being connected to the city. We really pride ourselves on having stellar internship opportunities and networking connections, which leads to having great careers. Obviously, the quality of said jobs and internships can be dependent on your major. Business and tech people have more opportunities due to the demand for their skills, and IA/Poly Sci students get a lot of opportunity because of the nature of being in foggy bottom. Still though, you’re better off at GW than most every other school regardless of your major.
For you being largely undecided on your major, I wouldn’t fret that. There’s lots of opportunity to explore. Of the classes that you mentioned, most of them can be explored while taking your generals (I.e. Intro to Bio for pre-med, an English class for humanities, etc). GW’s curriculum is pretty flexible. There are other schools more flexible for sure, but most are much more restrictive I’d say. And as a side note, International Affairs will be harder to explore because it’s a seperate school, so there will be more barriers to entry. Elliott is also without a doubt the most competitive program at GW. If that’s something you’re interested in, make up you mind sooner rather than later. Same goes for pre med due to the quantity of required classes.
Finally, regarding financial aid… I’ve heard some people complain, but not many. Most people have a hard time with the high upfront cost in general, but the aid isn’t more or less generous than most schools from what I’ve noticed. Personally, I’ve had great experiences with the financial aid people at GW. Between a merit award, working on campus, and my need based aid, I’ve been able to make GW incredibly affordable.
I’ve never heard of a program that gives stipends to students to go socialize-- at GW or anywhere else. But a large portion of the student body does have noticible wealth, and truthfully that can make some students feel uncomfortable. But this rift is minimal at most. It made me uncomfortable originally, because I don’t come from a whole lot of money. But at GW I’ve learned to judge people based on the content of their character, not their money. First semester freshman year I was made fun of by a classmate dressed head to toe in vineyard vines for wearing “poor kid shoes” and being from a state where “inbreeding must be commonplace”. As a side note, this kid failed that class ;). But on the flip side, the kindest, sweetest girl I’ve ever met --at GW or otherwise-- was a girl on my floor whose dad is a Goldman Sachs investment banker. Not to get all preachy, but those are just my experiences :).
Feel free to keep on asking questions, I don’t mind answering!
@jellyjam123 Well most people consider the top three schools in D.C to be Georgetown, George Washington and American. Usually the ranking goes, from highest down, Georgetown, George Washington and American. Georgetown is harder to get into and consistently ranks among the top 20 universities in the United States. Georgetown has excellent academics and has the amazing School of Foreign service. From experience, I’ve noticed that Georgetown students’ tend to be more academically driven then George Washington and it’s also a more sober environment. Many George Washington students tend to professionally driven on the other hand as it is a very internship driven school. There’s a whole social dynamic to it but plain and simple the better choice is most cases is usually Georgetown. That’s not to say there aren’t a decent number of people , for example, who get into Ivy league schools for grad schools perhaps as a result of coming here to George Washington where they can stand out more and have a bit more relaxed academic experience as opposed to attending Georgetown. I’ve lately tried to stay out of the whole GW Georgetown polemic just because I’ve taken classes at both and so has my mom. My mom got into both…from community college after coming into this country as a refugee from Laos. She didn’t really know the difference so my uncle just told her to go to GW. But she enjoyed both.
Hi! Do you think you could chance me/ offer any advice? My anxiety this time of year is through the roof. Thanks!
@R984377 I just did on your thread. Take some deep breaths man. It’ll be ok
@R984377 Well make sure your breathe man- maybe try to relax a little if you can. All I can say is good luck and I hope you get in…you’ll probably be fine. Waiting for acceptance letters is a stressful time so try to empathize with yourself but also tough it out and of course don’t take it out on anyone unless they deserve it because that’ll probably be bad karma.
Thank you so much, I truly appreciate it, as right now I’m freaking out that the school I’ve always dreamed to attend- may or may not accept me. Do you think you could chance me? Thanks again!
I mean you probably have a relatively high chance. Maybe like 80%? I’ve never really understood how there are these students with very high SAT scores and stats who get rejected, at least as evidenced by annual official regular decisions threads. Speaking to the reality of it all, I remember questioning the aptitude of my classmates during my first day in my transfer student course at GWSB. I was really not impressed by my classmates in that course and many of them were far less accomplished than a number of students I had seen rejected on the threads here. I’ve come to think that CC is quite obviously not accurate. But I guess it goes to show you if you really want to attend to George Washigton then there will be a way. When there’s a will sometimes there really is a way. If you are accepted to George Washington and decide to attend then I would highly recommend matriculating into the Elliot School of International Affairs or GWSB (business school). I seriously wish you the best of luck because I know how it feels to be working up towards attending your dream school and how people’s condolences and sometimes attempts to undermine the magnitude of getting accepted into school so that’ll you be numb to the idea of rejection has no true effect on your mood. You want to get in and I hope you do.
Totally unrelated to the posts above but would you say GW is kind of like bubble? I’ve seen schools that just kind of stick to themselves that by the end of the school year, everyone is tired of each other. Is this true for GW? And is it super liberal or is it somewhere in the middle? I wouldn’t mind going somewhere that has both conservatives and liberals but I’m hoping that wouldn’t be the main thing of the GW campus. Right now I go to a super liberal school and honestly, sometimes it is tiring, although I AM a liberal lol.
GW doesn’t really integrate with other campuses in the DC area like American or Georgetown, so we do kind of stick to ourselves in that regard. However, DC offers so much variety, there are so many GW niches, and DC offers such a lively lifestyle that I’ve never heard anybody saying their “sick of each other”. The closest thing I’ve heard is several people say that once and a while they just want to not think about politics anymore.
And the campus is extraordinary liberal. Not to say that there aren’t conservative students; there are plenty. But overall there isn’t a whole lot of tolerance amongst the culture students and staff for strong right wing opinions. It can get extremely tiring, especially for students with conservative viewpoints on the world.
GW feels safe in terms of politics then, I guess, haha. Would you say the campus feels big? As in that people can talk to new people and make new friends without it being awkward it’s the middle of the school year?
The campus feels sort of big, but not too big at all. Most people meet in classes, in clubs, or in their dorm halls. But there are people you see daily who you’ve never known. So could you meet new people in the middle of the year? Absolutely! Does this happen frequently? Not quite, but that’s only more or less because few people switch dorms, join clubs, and switch classes at random times.
@jellyjam123 The campus itself isn’t really that big- it’s just a bunch of buildings. And I would say that it’s actually fairly easy to socialize and meet new people. One thing that I really like about attending George Washington is that I’m not confined to the campus all day- some days when I really need to study I don’t go out very much. Because George Washington has an open campus you inevitably meet the whole swath of society: lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, professors, students from American and Georgetown. One thing you may quickly notice at George Washington is that the professors actually have awesome lives themselves and many of them are quite rich. The only downside is that you won’t get huge frat parties like you do at big state schools such as the University of Virginia or UCLA. It’s basically a trade off- you can either be in an environment with a lot more grown ups and professional people or you could elect to go to a big state school where there are massive frat parties. I personally love the city because I grew out of the whole frat scene just by going to parties at my friend’s university George Mason. Another thing I really love is that the students here know how to have fun but are also very smart when it comes to preparing for life after college. I’ve become acquainted with a number of students here, not a whole a lot, but a good amount who are already applying to grad school and are taking or have already taken the LSAT and GMAT. George Washington is definitely school where people are smart at getting themselves into career paths early on and I can honestly say a fair amount of students I’ve met here actually have realistic goals and dreams. This school or Georgetown will actually prepare you and give you a good chance of getting into an Ivy League school for grad school. George Washington and Georgetown’s Law and Business schools are already top 30 schools. There are tons of people at the business school applying for internships at places like Goldman Sachs, Mckinsey and Company and Deloitte btw. Washington D.C is lovely because you have all these night clubs with hot grad students, professionals you can connect with, students from other universities in D.C and all sorts of other people. Then there’s the whole idea of the pecking order among D.C Students Georgetown>G.W> American> U.MD> everywhere else.