<p>numbers:
gpa: 3.2 (we don't have a weighted grading scale or class ranks at our school)
act: 21 (sophomore)</p>
<p>a moderately difficult high school w/ toughest classes available (college, ap)</p>
<p>ec's:
1 year baseball,2 years track,2 years cross country, i also run marathons.
i am the yearbook editor and will be again next year.
500+ hours of community service.
year round job.
organize concerts in my community.
organize the annual enid music festival.
mayor's youth advisory council.
roots/sap.
hoby ambassador.</p>
<p>I would say you have a very solid chance. Your extra ciriculars are very nice. I had a 3.14 GPA in high school and got accepted 2 years ago (I've since transferred to Virginia Tech). Although I've heard it is getting to be a bit harder to get into b/c of the final four ordeal.</p>
<p>Just write up a good essay/personal statement and I would say you're in. I'm not sure how good your ACT's rank up, but I only scored a 1040 on my SAT's and got in.</p>
<p>It's a good school, I know it's good for business (there may be other specialties i'm not sure about including their graduate business/law school). It should gradually climb in the rankings. Their undergrad business program moved from 108 to the 90's this past year. </p>
<p>It's kind of hard to experience the typical college life at mason. Don't get me wrong, you definitely can, but it's a bit harder. There's just not as much going on as other colleges. If you live on campus that is deifnitely a plus. I guess if you put a little effort into having a great time you'll have a good time. Try to get involved in as many things as you can. That was my mistake. Try and see if you can live on campus for at least a year so you can get to know some people and not have it feel like high school all over again (drive to classes, drive go home).</p>
<p>Honestly, for me, most of the reason why I transferred is because I wanted the prestige of a VT degree (and hopefully make money $$). Also, just to get out of the area and experience something new. Also, I didn't really get to meet too many people (which is a mistake I blame mostly on myself). Their undergrad business program is ranked quite a bit higher than Mason (37 as opposed to 96 I beleive). Another plus for VT is they have awesome career services. We were ranked in the top 20 in the US for our career center/job placement after graduation, or some category similar to that. </p>
<p>A good thing about Mason though is the endless amount of internships/jobs you can get during the school year (if you want to work during the school year) with the DC Metro area/Fairfax close by. Also, most the buildings at Mason are newer and it's a really nice campus. The Johnson Center (JC) is a freakin awesome building. I wish tech had a similar building where you can just chill and get some homework done in a casual setting. Tech does have a very beuatiful campus also, though.</p>
<p>what exactly do you mean when you say "hard to experience the typical college life"? can you give me any examples and do the majority of george mason students say the same thing? i'm from oklahoma and am used to large state schools where everyone lives on campus and the college towns are completely isolated from cities(norman and stillwater are in the middle of nowhere). I'm expecting gmu to be different, but how different is it. i really want to be in dc, and have a great college experience. will this be difficult?</p>
<p>Well it's not a college town. Most mason students commute, so they aren't experiencing the "typical college life". Blacksburg (where I am now) is a small city and the perfect example of a college town. </p>
<p>It won't be difficult to have a great college experience, it'll just be a tad bit harder. But as you said it's in a great location, and the campus is awesome. If you want to have a good time you'll have a good time. President's Park is the housing community they put all freshman in - it's pretty sweet (buildings were built fairly recently). I also hear they're building a bunch of new dorms which are opening very soon. One thing I would definitely recommend is to look into greek life over there. Greek life is pretty big for on campus students at Mason (as opposed to other huge, state universities where you can be a party animal without joining a frat/sorority). You'll have a great time.</p>
<p>My D is at GMU & loves it! She's pledged a sororiety, gotten a job, enrolled in the New Century College Program & has really found a lot to do even on weekends there.</p>
<p>Could you tell me a little bit about the New Century program--it's something my son is very interested in. He applied to George Mason over a month ago but his high school is very slow in getting transcripts out this year. Is the schedule different than that for the school as whole--he was talking about 6 week increments, but isn't sure about how it synchronizes with the school calendar.</p>
<p>New Century College is a program that gives a "small college" experience within the large university. Students are guareteed a double room (many freshman end up in triples) not in Presidents Park (typical housing for freshman with a lot of partying). You take integrated classes with one professor from 10-12 & 1-3 Monday -Thursday. My D went from August 24th to Oct. 11th...had off until Oct. 23 and started with a new professor with the same format for 2 more classes. She'll have 16 credits at the end of the first semester. She initially loved it but has a "boring" lecture prof. for her present classes and is beginning to question her lack of being able to choose her own classes and professors. Reply to me directly with any more questions!!</p>
<p>What about the student body do you want to know?</p>
<p>New Century College is an odd program. Your schedule is pretty much set Mon-Thursday. It's like high school--you have the same basic schedule each day. You have the same people around you. You generally live together. You go on field trips. The classwork is very different too. You get some nice long breaks and there are fewer tests--but you have essays every night and large portfolios to put together now and then. Several majors, like education, require the participation in NCC. Most people get out of NCC after the first year.</p>
<p>Mason Topics is just a series of linked courses. You can keep going for the full two years, or drop it after one semester. I did the 'american experience' which included linked courses like Govt 103 (US Politics) and Comm 104 (Presenting with Technology)--linked means the classes often have a field trip or a shared project or something like that. As with NCC, you usually are assigned to live with the people in the program.</p>
<p>These programs are kind of nice if the classes fit your schedule. It's nice living with people who are doing the same assignments and have a similar schedule. </p>
<p>Overall, get involved. I highly recommend Fraternity & Sorority Life, Student Government, and anything else you might be interested in. There's a student organization for everyone. </p>
<p>When people say campus life is lame, they usually mean you can't walk around drinking a 6-pack. Dorm parties are a very rare thing. Open parties you can just 'go' to are incredibly rare (they weren't back in 2002...but they are now). But if you just want something to do--there's always something. You just have to seek it out. They don't hand you a college experience--you have to go and get it. The main reason people don't enjoy GMU is because they live off campus and leave right after class. College Life and classes rarely have anything in common.</p>
<p>fromoklahoma - The student body is incredibly diverse. That's the only real description. Rich and from the South? Just moved to the US from South Korea last week? From a farm in central Virginia? Suburban kid from Fairfax County? There are hundreds more of you, no matter who you are.</p>
<p>corsulian, how large do classes get? Did you have professors or TAs with English language barriers? Do you need a car for those field trips/projects? Do you know the % of OOS students? Do they offer merit aid to OOS students? Thanks.</p>
<p>corsulian- is New Century a way to get gen ed credits completed in a smaller class setting. My D would like to avoid as many large classes as possible. Also is the caliber of student in NCC different from the overall GMU student.</p>
<p>Did you get your core courses done via NCC or Mason Topics?</p>