<p>While there are many great things about GW, I have the sense that the feeling of campus life - which most of us cherish long after we forget which classes we took - would be diminished. I've got an idea that it would be hard to tell when you're on or off the "campus" and who among those you see are or aren't students, and that the experience of reading a book under a tree on the campus "lawn" while friends stop by to visit would be just about non-existent. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>as far as the physical appearance gwu does not look like a college at all. there is no neo-classical or Georgian architecture and most of the buildings look like offices. however, when you are in the vicinity of gwu at the right time a day you can tell you're near a college; all of the people around you are young with backpacks, etc. there is minimal green space on the campus where you could perhaps enjoy a book, but better green spaces are located several blocks south of campus on the national mall, which beats the mundane college campus any day.</p>
<p>My daughter had the same concern because she had always pictured herself at a more "traditional" campus. She choose to live on the Mt. Vernon campus, which is about 3 miles away by shuttle bus ride. The "Vern" is pretty small, but lots of green with plenty of trees to sit under. It is lovely. When we dropped her off there I felt like I had left her at a country club - with soccer fields, tennis courts, an outdoor pool, etc. My daughter is very happy there - feels she has the best of both worlds living on the Vern and having classes in the city. She has also found that there is more of a campus feeling on Foggy Bottom than she was originally afraid there might be.</p>
<p>GW does not have a traditional campus but after walking around for only a couple weeks I definitely have a sense of when I am on and off-campus. If you only do a one or two day visit you will not get this sense so it's difficult to imagine it. I know where all the buildings are and I have a map in my head. The architecture is actually pretty cool - there are lots of little townhouses where many of the GW organization have their headquarters, for instance the GW Hatchet which is a prominent student newspaper. </p>
<p>There are tons of benches everywhere with "The George Washington University" nicely etched onto them for students to sit and lounge. There are also two big courtyards with tons of benches in a garden setting and one outside of Lisner Hall which has lots of green space to lounge/play on. I see people tossing footballs and playing frisbee here all the time. </p>
<p>Plus there are students everywhere - you don't feel like you're just in a city, you still feel like you are on a campus. If anything the normal professionals who every once in a while wander into the Gelman Library Starbucks look so out of place it's ridiculous. There are more students on GW's campus than anything else and you know it. </p>
<p>Of course being right next to a Metro you have access to just about anywhere a train will take you but if you feel like walking you can take a stroll past the nearby White House or Washington Monument. </p>
<p>All in all GW isn't for everyone, especially someone seeking a classic LAC education somewhere on a campus with green for as far as the eye can see. The small community college in Kentucky I transferred out of offered me the pretty landscape and I loved it. Now I'm looking for something different and GW fits the bill. The Mount Vernon campus can offer you some of that hilly greenery but it won't be completely the same. However, the concerns I shared with everyone regarding whether or not it would feel like a campus have mostly dissipated.</p>