What is life like at GWU? What do students do for fun? Do they mainly stay on campus or venture off? What is the surrounding area like?Are the academics cutthroat, so much so that free time is rare? What do you think is the best thing about GWU and what do you think the worst is?Thanks so much!
With questions like these, I like to refer to a long reply I gave in the past: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17764251/#Comment_17764251
Overall, GW is pretty awesome. You have to put forth some effort, however. Don’t expect things to just come to you- you have to pursue as well. One of my biggest regrets (as are other alum’s, as well) was that I didn’t take advantage or more opportunities (social, academic, professional, etc).
Fun? Anything and everything. It depends on your interests. There are clubs, club sports, parties, spring break travel, touring the city, trying a new cuisine at DC restaurant… some days you’ll be content with hanging out in your room watching Netflix or maybe playing some video games.
Venturing off campus depends on the person. Plenty of people venture off campus, whether it be for food, shopping, night life, or to just see the sights. There’s plenty to do on campus, so if a person doesn’t feel comfortable venturing out they shouldn’t get bored.
What do you mean by the surrounding area? Like the Foggy Bottom neighborhood? Or are you talking about Georgetown, Dupont Circle, the Waterfront, etc? Or… maybe you’re even talking about NOVA (Northern Virginia) like Pentagon City or Old Town? In one word: diverse. You can find just about anything and everything without going too far. Personally, I loved hanging out in Old Town (20-min Metro ride away). It’s a great section of NOVA that’s quite safe and has a fun selection of bars, restaurants, and shopping.
Academics are what you make of it. If you choose something like International Affairs or Pre-med, prepare to have some tough introductory classes made to weed people out. If you can tough it out after that, I’m told it gets much better. With just about any other program, though, you can load your schedule down or pack it relatively light and take fun electives. It just depends on what you want to get out of it.
Best of GW? I would say the opportunities. You go to GW either because you want an urban college experience or (and) you want access to amazing internships. Take your pick: politics, business, international law, tech… there are so many great places in D.C. to intern, and I’ve heard of a lot of them ending-up in great jobs post-graduation. I must add, however, that internships aren’t the only “opportunity” that I was speaking of. You will also learn from world-renowned professors, have discussions with students from other cultures that will be sure to broaden your own… and what about all the great food D.C. has to offer??? lol
The worst? Things are expensive. There’s not many ways around it unless your family is wealthy enough to pay for everything or if you’ve gotten a great financial aid package (GW is rather generous in this regard). I chose to keep a part-time job throughout my 4 years so I’d have more spending money and be able to put a little towards my mounting debt. Not to mention that going out with your friends (depending how often this happens) can get expensive as well.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask!
-Nate (GW Grad '12)
@NHuffer how hard was it manage a part time job your first year? are there places to work near campus?
@gw2020 It wasn’t hard at all. Most places that allow you to work part time as a student will be super flexible with the number of hours you work as well as when you work. First year I worked 8-12 hours a week and I don’t feel like it impacted my schedule a whole lot. I was able to go to work right after my 2:20 class ended and out in 4 hours. It was also walking distance from campus so it was super convenient. I had plenty of time to get back to campus for dinner and then study for as long as I needed to.
As far as places to work, absolutely. If eligible you can get a federal work study for something on campus, or you can always try to get one of those jobs as a non-work study. All of these jobs, as well as plenty of others, can be found on th GWork website. That’s actually where I found my sophomore year job. As far as things that aren’t in GWork, ask other students on campus (word or mouth is a great way to find a job).
Good luck!
Dont go to GW
@aewryh can you please explain what was so bad about GWU? i applied there and don’t want to make a mistake in where I go
it’s confusing because GWU has such mixed reviews; some people love it, some hate it. I am confused.
foggy bottom is pretty awesome, and GWU’s campus puts you right in the heart of the city. we’re actually quite spoiled with the location, because, quite honestly, you’ll have to be making a decent amount of money if you want to live comfortably in that general area of DC after graduating from GW (comfortable meaning a decent apartment or townhouse without sharing with 4 other kids). being in dc, there’s loads of museums, monuments, exhibitions, concerts, events, restaurants, etc you can visit, plus a decent (albeit a bit pricey) nightlife scene. people tend to mix doing stuff on campus with their student orgs, events, and/or fraternities with the fun stuff off campus within the city. many students also tend to intern a lot off campus during the semester, since there are a bunch of opportunities in the area and because the most of the city is so accessible from foggy (the same cannot be said for georgetown, which is further west from the city center and lacks metro access). you’re not going to find that much difference in terms of free time between colleges. no matter where you go, you’ll probably find that you have much more free time than you did in high school, and a lot of adapting to college is learning how to manage your free and working time. GW students tend to be ambitious, particularly those studying politics, but i wouldnt say academics are “cutthroat” as you put it. honestly, i think you’d be hard pressed to find a US school that can easily be characterized as cutthroat - from harvard to arizona state, you will always find students that are try hards and students who are slackers.
i wouldn’t say international affairs has any specific “weed out” classes per se, at least in the same way that organic chemistry is a weed out for pre-meds. perhaps economics would be the closest thing, but i don’t think anyones really been that deterred from IR because of introductory economics the same way that orgo compels pre-meds to completely change their major