I just had a question if I would be a good fit in GW. I have a 3.4 unweighted GPA and deciding to send test-optional. I am applying ED I, and to the Political Science department. I am super involved in my school and community.
Most notably I have been very politically active my self. I campaigned hard for the Clinton campaign. I live in upstate NY, and about 20 other local Dems and I took a bus ride from a city where I live to Scranton, PA to canvass for Hillary.
I did this two times, as well as phone banking for her for countless hours. I have also joined a local young democrats group in my area as well. I strongly believe in fighting for people who don’t have a voice, who are left unheard. I know for a fact that GW is the school for me. But do they think so?
I appreciate this thread! I have two main queastions
I know there is no dining hall which has its pros and cons. How hard is it to manage the standard amount of money you get on your GWorld thing?
Note: I’m not a Starbucks every day kind of person so I wouldn’t be wasting it on that
I understand you are an international affairs major but if you have friends who are bio/chem majors or something similar. What do they think of STEM programs / labs being up to date and what not.
Thank you!
I tend not to play “chance me” games anymore. Most people I ended up giving similar advice, and your GPA / Test Score prospects can be easily googled. I’ve responded to you PM in more detail regarding your situation
I’ve never found managing my food budget to be that difficult. Freshman get $2050 per semester to spend, and older students get progressively less each year. The problem isn’t so much the amount of money, but rather people’s inability to budget and grocery shop. If you but active effort into not eating out every day and planning your finances, you’ll have no problem. If you don’t, then you’ll have a big problem.
If you would’ve asked this 5 years ago, I’d say to find another school. But now it’s a different story. GW is literally running into financial difficulties right now because of the amount of money we’ve dumped into our STEM programs. The Science and Engineering hall is the nicest building on campus without a doubt. In fact, I’m in it studying right now. While I still have PTSD from using the labs, I do admit that they are of high quality. If you’ve got specific questions, I can do my best and/or ask my STEM buddies for you. I’ve got good friends who are majoring in physics, chemistry, and computer science.
There’s a dining hall on the Vern if you happen to get assigned there. It’ll make the budget thing a whole lot easier than living on Foggy. Regardless, one of the best things you can do is look at how many days you’ll be living on campus (look at the academic calendar and take move-in to last day of classes, subtracting however many days you think you’ll go home for) and divide your total food allowance by that number to know how much money per day you have for food. I think someone’s recently done that and came out to about $17/day.
The short answer is no, but here’s more detailed information.
When you get accepted to GW, you get accepted into an individual college (Elliott, SEAS, etc). If the admissions committee decides to reject you from your primary school, you’re application is viewed from the ground up with regards to your secondary school. You’re major is only identified on your application in an attempt to diversify each class. GW doesn’t want 90% of Columbian arts and sciences college to be prospective political science majors, and inadvertently gut the math department, for example. Once you actually submit a deposit and enroll at your GW college, you will be an undeclared major regardless of what you applied as.
It’s important to note that some of GW’s colleges are significantly harder to get into than others. Elliott has an extremely competitive admissions department, followed in order by the journalism school, SEAS, and finally Columbian.
I am a junior this year and am being pushed by my parents to start a list of schools that I may want to visit during spring break. After doing lots of research I am extremely interested in GW. I have a few questions…
1- How well-rounded is GW in regards to the different schools/ majors? For instance, are the science majors/ departments equal to the political science type majors? How about the arts?
2- What majors is GW most well-known for?
3- Is biology a typical major for students looking to pursue medicine and attend med school after graduation?
4- Is majoring in a science and minoring in an art (theatre) a common thing?
5- I am in the full International Baccalaureate Program at my school with 4 HLs. Will this increase my chances of admittance?
Thanks for taking the time to answer my many questions.
Hey guys! I am a senior who applied to GWU Regular Decision, to the Colombian school. I know that Elliott and the SFS have super good reputations, but how would you consider the reputation of the Colombian school to be? Do people go there specifically for this school, or is GWU mainly known for its Elliott school? If it helps, I am either going to major in economics OR biology (with pre-med).
Also, I applied to the honors college and I noticed they mentioned that accepted Honors Students get different housing. How does that work? Am I only allowed to live in these honors dorms (assuming I get accepted) or is it just an option?
Thanks!!
No, I wouldn’t say that your average science department is as well-rounded as the poli-sci or IA majors. However, there has been a huge injection of money into the STEM fields at GW, so they’re only going to improve (and are far from slouches now)
GW is most well-known for it’s Internation Affairs program, or anything in the Elliott School in general. Further, anything politics-related (science, communication, etc) are also popular as they get amazing internship opportunities.
While biology is a major that pre-med students study, it’s actually recommended to major in something else. You will not only be a more well-rounded applicant to med schools with other majors, but in the chance that you don’t make it to med school, you’ll have a major that’s more useful than biology (a B.S. in Biology will typically result in some research assistant position working under PhD’s)
No, I would not say that majoring in a science and minoring in an art is common. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not done nor is it difficult. Depending on the major you choose, there will be plenty of electives required for your degre, and you can use them to fulfill minor requirements.
I’m not very familiar with the IB programs or how they contribute to competitiveness. Hopefully @gdubya can weigh-in on this one.
@iwanttogetintocollege The CCAS’s reputation is good, but I wouldn’t say it’s nearly the attracting force that the Elliott School is. And I’m not so sure that people pick GW specifically for any program in the CCAS. If anything, they’ve decided they want to major in X and have learned of the amazing opportunities in the D.C. area for internships and employment in that field.
As far as Honors Students, yes, they have the option of being housed together. Check out the details here: https://honorsprogram.gwu.edu/honors-housing Basically, the Universty allows those students to house together because it understands the value in not only networking but surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals. It also remediates some of the stress over making new friends early on.
@NHuffer Thanks! Regarding internships and employment opportunities, do you know of any in particular for econ students or bio/pre-med students? Also, since the honors housing is not at Foggy bottom, do people who live there feel isolated from the main campus? Do you think it is “better” to stay on the main campus rather than the Mount. Vernon one?
Two of my close friends that were econ majors interned at DOJ and IBM. There are A LOT of places in general and I can’t really speak to many specifics. There are great resources on campus, though, as far as available internships.
Pre-med opportunities are plentiful as well given all the hospitals in D.C. You can take classes at GW to get-in on a research project of a medical school faculty member, intern at the World Health Organization, Red Cross, etc… lots of great choices.
As far as living on the 'Vern (that’s what we all call it), that’s totally up to your preferences and personality. I lived on the Vern as a freshman and enjoyed it very much. Most people I knew that lived on the Vern at least enjoyed themselves. There were also others that absolutely hated it, but I think it was more about their poor mindset and unwillingness to see the good in the situation and make the best of it. If you see yourself as a “social butterfly” and/or want to have easy access to a lot of parties, then you’ll be better off on Foggy. If you’re the quiet type, want a little adjustment period, or just don’t care all that much, then the Vern should be just fine.
@NHuffer did a good job of answering most your questions. I just thought I’d emphasize two things
GW isn't necessarily known for any particular program outside of the Elliott program, and maybe the journalism program. That being said, the Econ department and the Bio department are both quite good here, and you'll have bountiful access to internships for both. GW has its own med school and hospital, which are obviously huge pluses to premed students. If you go the econ route, there's more than I could list on a single forum post about those opportunities.
I'd like to emphasize that living in honors housing is OPTIONAL. One of my good friend during my freshman year was a part of the honors program and lived in thurston with me, for example. That being said, the reason why their housing is on the vern is because most of their special honors classes are on the vern. It makes things a little bit easier.
I’ll just answer your 5th question since @NHuffer did a fine job answering the first 4.
While its true that IB programs are more intense compared to a standard High School, its also true that the intensity of IB programs vary from school to school (as I’m sure you’ve noticed). GW will take both of these facts into consideration. Getting high marks in an IB program will look great, but you’ll be compared to others who are or who have applied from your same program, so they can compare who the best amongst your peers are.
hi! i’m a prospective transfer student and was wondering if you could offer any advice/insight into the transfer process and how to distinguish myself? also… do students find the ‘dining dollars’ plan to be cumbersome or more liked than a regular cafeteria option? I’m at a TINY LAC in a suburb of Philly and thoroughly am not enjoying myself… it’s dead on campus all the time and i’m a city kid so i really look forward to sending my application!
Sorry for taking my sweet time responding, break time has been nice
Regardless, the transfer process is fairly easy. Honestly there are really only three things that you should make sure you discuss in your application
prove you’re a quality student (GPA, research, etc)
prove you’re not a dunce (join a club, talk about your involvement)
show a good reason on why GW in particular is the school for you.
Regarding the food here; nobody finds it ‘cumbersome’ in my opinion. Some do complain about how quick they run out of money, but those people are simply terrible budgeters. It’s different, you have to do some planning, but it’s not restrictive by any means
Hey! This is such a helpful thread! I appreciate it!
I’m currently a junior in high school, and GW is my one of my top schools, right behind Georgetown, which is definitely a reach school for me. I read that you said double majoring was difficult if the majors weren’t closely related, but do you think that applies to premed too? I want to major in political science while being on the premed track. Does that seem reasonable? Do you know if there is there a strong premed program at GW?
Also with the application process, would you say that it was difficult? I’m relatively a good student. I have a current 4.02 weighted gpa, which doesn’t include any ap’s since we aren’t allowed to take any until junior year at my school, and after this year I’m expecting about a 4.17 (with 3 ap’s). I’ve taken the psat just once and I got a 1340, so I’m going for a 1400 at the very least, and I’m taking the ACT’s next month, but unsure of what to expect on them. I’m on varsity track, founded my school’s democrat club, I am president of a volunteering club, and I work at a local grocery store. Also, I will be the first generation in my family to go to college and I’ll be moving out when I turn 18 on my own accord (probably will write my essay about this), not sure if either of those are helpful or worth anything.
Sorry for the abundance of questions and information haha, I’ve been looking into GW for soo long and I have had the hardest time finding this information! Thanks for your help (:
At the end of the day, we’re only human and we can’t be experts at everything. Trilingual software engineers are hard to find, brilliant fiction authors tend to not be mathematicians their spare time, etc. So yes, it is hard to pursue unrelated majors due the difficulty, and also because of the sheer volume of coursework that you’d have to do… you can’t take more than 17 credit hours per semester.
This logic applies to a premed, political science major as well. It will be difficult to read about various 9th circuit court decisions and write 15 page papers dissecting why Jefferson and the US founding fathers changed John Locke’s coined term of “Life, Liberty, and Property” into “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” while also having organic chemistry labs and needing to dissect cats every semester. GW will allow you to pursue it (and I actually once briefly met a girl who did) but academic advisors would likely advise against it. If you want to be a doctor but have a an interest in politics, get a poli sci minor. If you want to go to law school or work for lobbying firms yet have a heart for science, then get a bio minor.
As far as your chances of admission, I don’t like to play the “chance me” game for a variety of reasons. Mostly, its because its no secret who colleges look for. SAT/ACT Scores and average GPA’s can be googled easily, and its impossible to weigh the rest of the factors against each other by reading a mere forum post. The other reason is that I don’t want to get somebody’s hopes up nor crush anybody’s sprits. The college admissions process isn’t very predictable in the first place. I was denied from Ohio State but got into Cornell. The process doesn’t make sense sometimes. That being said, I can, have, and am happy to talk about specific questions of the application process if you’d like.
Best of luck.
**Edited for grammar errors and to add an extra thought
