Campus Visit: Marymount University

<p>My daughter is going into her senior year, and she is thinking about studying Biology at Marymount University, in Arlington, Virginia. We live in Stafford, Virginia and I like that she can get a "real" campus experience but is close enough to come home occasionally.</p>

<p>Anyways, my wife and daughter and me took a tour of campus yesterday (August 23). We got there in the morning, so traffic was pretty bad. The main campus is in north Arlington off Glebe Road (four or five miles from the Key bridge into Washington), and its right next to a country club and surrounded by some nice looking houses. My wife’s friend is a realtor, and she told us that the average price for a home in the neighborhood is $1 million plus. Parking was ok, since as our tour guide told us students had just started moving in. The campus is in a really nice area, and we saw that they have their own security guards on campus, so I feel pretty safe about my daughter going there.</p>

<p>The campus is pretty (for the most part) and the tour guide took us to two big new white buildings across a walking bridge from the main part of campus. One is a dorm for upperclassman and the other has some labs and nice looking class rooms. The freshman dorms she showed us weren’t as nice. They were smaller and a bit older but seemed decent enough -- a nice surprise, the rooms were air conditioned! </p>

<p>They gave us lunch in the cafeteria, and it was GREAT. The guide told us they rennovated the whole place and it shows! The food was good, too. They had the usual stuff, pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads – but they also had sushi (I did not try it but my wife liked it) wraps and made to order items. I was surprised how friendly folks were there. Of course the Admissions folks were nice, but even in the cafeteria and walking around campus people seemed genuinely friendly.</p>

<p>After the tour, we took the shuttle down to Ballston where Marymount’s business school is. If you dont know, Ballston is a neighborhood in Arlington where there are a bunch of high rises and restaurants. Its about a ten minute shuttle ride from Marymount’s main campus, and the shuttle will take you to the business school or the Ballston Metro subway stop, which is a few more blocks away. The business school is pretty dated – a groovy sixties blue. But the inside looked much better and more professional, since I think its all been rennovated in there too.</p>

<p>That’s about all we did. I thought it was a nice place, and my daughter seemed to like it, but you can take a visit and see for yourself. Hope this was helpful.</p>