@sdl0625 Can you elaborate upon the issue concerning Brady Forrest? If I am correct, he recently vied to be the EVP of the SA and lost. Thanks!
@liveyourlife26 I really appreciate the time that you’ve taken to answer my questions. As I stated earlier, student government is exceedingly important to me, so I appreciate your advice and perspective. I am a little dismayed by the policy of spring only elections for Class Council and SA – barring vacancies of course – but I understand that is currently the name of the game. I’ll certainly look into the other organizations at GWU – I know there will be a wealth of ways to engage with the GWU and at-large communities!
@Yellowstone307 will send you a PM
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@Yellowstone307 Election season for president and vice president has been completely insane for literally the past few years. As I kind of implied earlier, everyone cares about the SA during election season, but that is not so much the case the rest of the year. The day before voting this year, someone found/posted an anti-semitic post that Brady Forest had posted a few years ago. I am almost certain he would have won the election if that had not been found/released. A lot of people, rightfully so, were completely pissed at what he posted. He was a Senator at the time, so they tried to censure him, but there was not enough votes in the Senate to do so. Overall though, with experience on both the Senate and Cabinet, I strongly believe the Cabinet entails way less drama than the Senate. 
Yes, it is hard for transfers, but it is honestly necessary for elections to be in the spring because the president and vice president especially do an insane amount of work during the summer to prepare for the school year. There is definitely plenty of opportunities to get involved though, and I am sure you will find ones that you are passionate about.
Okay, so I need to take ECON 1011. Right now I’m signed up for Suranovic, but I would really like to take Foster. Her class is full but there’s a waitlist. However, if I wanted to sign up for that waitlist I’d have to drop Suranovic. That could risk me not taking an ECON 1011 at all. Add/drop just opened a couple hours ago, so I don’t think I’d be that far down on the waitlist but there’s no way of knowing. Should I risk it to get Foster or is Suranovic okay too? I just don’t want to go to ECON 1012 next semester (hopefully with Foster) completely or on a different page from everyone else. I also haven’t taken econ before so I don’t know how well I’ll understand it if I don’t have a good teacher. How likely is it to get off the waitlist for that class?
Also, I could probably wait until sophomore year to take it, but I know some classes are blocked off from upperlcassmen registration to save room for freshman on the big intro classes. Are Fosters’ ECON 1011 classes typically blocked off to upperclassman or would I be able to register for it as a sophomore before freshman can register?
@Rosebudd21 You’re an incoming freshman? So I can relate to the position you’re in as I’ve experienced this type of dilemma several times myself; one drawback of being at a small private school is that classes can obviously fill up very fast making it difficult to sign up for the professors you’re interested in. Have you made any attempt to contact a CCAS advisor or contact the professor? I had this situation when I was trying to hedge my risk by taking econometrics and regression simultaneously this summer; you’re basically trying to hedge your risks by securing a spot for ECON 1011 on GWEB rather than risking being on the waitlist for a popular professor and not being able to take their course. I would honestly say that Suranovic is comparably good to Foster. I took Foster myself for Survey of Health Economics, an upper-division health economics course, so I can personally speak to her professorial quality. One caveat about Foster is that she’s a very tough grader; you cannot afford to turn in anything late with Foster and she’s not really willing to compromise and accept late work- I really thought she should have been a lot nicer about this. Also, if you have any technical questions relating to formulas she just tells you to look it up in the textbook or that you need to brush up on your fundamentals. In fact, Foster started this whole thing at CCAS Econ where students now have to pass preliminary algebra tests before they even start any economics courses- that’s basically what you’ll be doing for the first couple of weeks of her introductory economics courses…learning or perhaps relearning linear algebra. Though, I will say when it comes to her actual readings and lecture notes I was very engaged with the material. In Foster’s health economics course, a very difficult course, Foster was always reluctant to help students out with technical matters such as how to draw graphs or solve an equation. Her homework was very difficult and not really anything you could easily find on Chegg or Coursehero; however, Foster’s lecture material such as her assigned readings and videos were super interesting. I guess you could say Foster is adamant about her students having a certain requisite level of math so that she can go ahead and lecture about the more interesting concepts and application.
Can you share typical stats for an admitted Elliott student? We constantly read that is it more competitive but how do these numbers vary from the average admitted GW student?
its hard to say. I dont think that Stats always tells the whole story.
Post on the general thread but will add it here also. Looking for experience or perspective on the honors program.
Right now, I’m torn between GW and a really small/not as prestigious institute and I would really value hearing your input on a few things. My intended track of study is International Affairs and although this question is somewhat specific, would I be an idiot to turn down Elliot for a school that doesn’t have as built-up of a program as GW? Also, do you feel that the cost of attendance is too high and is financial aid sufficient/easily accessible? Is the commute for the Vern inconvenient? I’m also a conservative, and I know that basically there’s a lot of opposition towards GOP and Christianity right now, but is the opposition overbearing at GW?
I seriously doubt there is a lot of “opposition towards Christianity” anywhere in the US. You need to separate propaganda from reality, especially when making a college decision. However it sounds like you really want to go with the smaller school but feel you “should” go with GW. Given the timing of this post I assume you don’t actually have an offer from GW yet? Have you visited the campus and got your own feel for it?
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@SJ2727 I visited the campus and had a meeting with my admissions rep (she came to my school for a 40 minute session and I ended up asking her questions to the point where she was there for about an hour an 15 minutes) and completely fell in love with the school, just as I did with the other school. For me, GW felt like home in the sense where I stepped onto campus and was intimidated but captivated, intrigued, and comforted (extremely contradictory, I know). I am going back to DC this weekend to revisit just to confirm that this is a place that I am still strongly considering. I have not received an offer from GW yet, but I do want to prepare just in case.
That sounds like a lot more love for GW than the earlier post 
hope the next visit goes well and that you get an offer!
May I ask what specifically about the smaller college attracts you?
** My intended track of study is International Affairs and although this question is somewhat specific, would I be an idiot to turn down Elliot for a school that doesn’t have as built-up of a program as GW? **
It totally depends. If you’re 100% set on International Affairs, and GW is that much better than the other school, I think you should have a very good reason for choosing a lesser school. Not wanting to be far from home, not liking the urban campus, cost, etc.
Also, do you feel that the cost of attendance is too high and is financial aid sufficient/easily accessible?
Affordability is relative. If a person is required to take out loans, I think the average cost (in student debt) is around $60K. A student’s desire to take-on that much debt will vary. I, personally, wouldn’t attend a school if I had to incur more than $30K in post-graduation debt. I have friends, however, that have gone into $70K debt to attend GW. It all depends. The biggest question, in my opinion, to answering this, is to research job prospects post-graduation and work-out a legit budget. A $50K salary might seem like a lot, but if you’re living in GW and paying $1,700/mo in rent, that salary doesn’t go very far. Having a $700/mo student loan payment would be crippling.
Is the commute for the Vern inconvenient?
Yes, but it’s not that bad. Is it as convenient as walking out your dorm and being two blocks from class? Absolutely not. But the 15 minute (average) shuttle ride isn’t that bad. If you can do your best to avoid the evening rush hour then you won’t have many issues.
I’m also a conservative, and I know that basically there’s a lot of opposition towards GOP and Christianity right now, but is the opposition overbearing at GW?
I’m only on campus right now for grad school, but it doesn’t seem any worse than it was when I was there for undergrad. As a Christian, myself, I never felt discriminated against. There is a handful of faith-oriented student groups (Newman Center, GW Hillel, etc) and they all have a good number of members. My undergrad roommate spent a lot of time with the Newman Center (and I tagged along a few times) and never had any complaints. The only “anti-faith” sentiment I ever noticed was the opposition to Westboro Baptists’ demonstrations; but in my opinion, they are an extremist group and not actually Christian, and I didn’t see anything wrong with opposing their hateful speech. Students never denounced Christianity in general, just the hypocracy of Westboro Baptists.
What is the academic environment like at GW? What is the workload like for you personally (I know this varies by major)? I come from an extremely difficult high school with very competitive and stressed out peers who are constantly comparing themselves to each other, and I don’t really want a repeat of that environment in college.
Does anyone know about the environment in the classes? I heard that a lot of their classes are taught by TA’s so people don’t like it so I just wanted someone’s opinion on it. Also, I don’t know much about TA’s so if anyone could describe what it’s like having TAs teach and why it is so negative that would be great! GW is a top school for me so I’m trying to ask around about the drawbacks of the school I heard about.
From what I know from my D, the kids she hangs out with, do work together and collaborate. Yes, it can be hard, but not overbearing. Also from the TA standpoint, so far there have been a professor for lectures, and then an assigned TA for smaller group once a week. I have heard of a TA filling in for the professor , but not teaching an entire class. Note that my D was in Elliott and now is in Columbian and poly sci.
@s9841210 the workload will be highly dependent upon your major. As a physics major, I had a relatively light load with respect to number of required courses. Granted, the classes themselves were quite difficult, but I didn’t have to take 17+ credits every semester like some of the programs at GW. Also, none of my peers were ultra-competetive and stressed-out… just very inquisitive and determined. From my observations, the most competitive and/or stressed-out groups of students were the International Affairs types and engineering students. I know that there are others, and I’d assume that they’re the fields that many students intend to go on to grad school and need the higher marks.
@art651 What you’ve heard about the TA’s is incorrect. Most classes at GW will be taught by a professor. Like what @sdl0625 said, TA’s are typically only used for labs and recitations. And as far as why people complain about TA’s teaching, it’s because when they “spend so much money” on an education they want to be instructed by PhD’s, not students. But again, it is very unlikely that you’ll experience this at GW, so no need to worry.