Hey! I have a few questions regarding GWU:
- Their website boasts about D.C. area and White House internships. How common are they?
- What is the student culture like?
- What are the pros/cons?
THANKS
It’s a really good school. White House internships are hard to get but the school is in the right spot to have the opportunity from time to time. There also the congress and other government agencies that take on interns. There’s plenty of opportunity.
It’s a NYU BU type experience. School in intertwined with it host city. No big sports rah rah but other unique experiences The culture is bit more focused on the going’s on of government. And you are surrounded by the nations greatest museums and historical reference points. It is a happening place for sure.
Pros.
Excellent school in many different areas. Especially public policy and international relations etc. but excellent across the board.
Located in the nations capital in the greatest country in the world.
Diverse and savvy student body.
Cons.
No real campus experience in the same way as some other noted schools.
No football or super collegiate sports as some other schools.
Expensive.
I don’t think that you can just walk up to the White House and apply for an internship. The program that I am aware of is full time and recruits nationally.so it is very competitive. It is not clear that going to GWU offers any advantage.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/internships/selection-process/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/internships/
The location is good for other government related internships, though.
GWU was removed from the US News ranking for a year for providing false information, so it is good to double check their claims.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Simply being in DC during the school year so that you can get semester-based internships with Congress or agencies is a big help because most students are out of area and competing for the summer internships. We know several DC area students who, because they could intern during the school year rather than only during the summer, were able to get some excellent Congressional internships. It’s not like they hand them out on a platter, you have to have the resume and the people skills to get them, but a DC area student’s availability during the school year means you are competing against a much smaller pool.
thanks. whats the party / dating scene?
So many GW students obtain internships on the Hill, so I would definitely say political internships in general are very easy to get if you want one.
Party scene: I believe GW has a very nice mix of if you want to find a party, you can find one, and if you do not want to party, there are plenty of people who will happily not party with you. DC itself generally has a good nightlife scene though.
- Their website boasts about D.C. area and White House internships. How common are they?
A lot of students George Washington, Georgetown and American intern on the hill- there are lots of prestigious think-tanks, federal agencies, consulting firms and investment banks out here in DC. Many students from DC schools compete for these internships; one huge advantage you get from attending George Washington is that you’re located in the middle of the city which is really convenient when it comes to transportation. I wouldn’t go as far as saying White House internships…the comment earlier hit it on the nail. Realistically, there are quite a few Ivy League alumni who come to work and live in DC after graduation so the pool of competition is still very fierce.
- What is the student culture like?
One common trait you’ll hear about George Washington students is that they tend to dress very posh. A lot of the students at George Washington are very internship oriented and pretty academically driven. You could say George Washington is a very sybaritic lifestyle… or at least it appears to be that way. I would personally say attending college here is a lot like a “lazy ivy league” in terms of the mentality of the students.
- What are the pros/cons?
The biggest con of attending George Washington is its enormous tuition; attending a well ranked private school in Washington, DC is by no means cheap. Other than that, there are other higher ranked schools (UCLA, UVA, UMichigan, UChigago) that you could attend for cheaper… not disparaging George Washington but merely suggesting it has its superiors. That being said, it’s still an excellent university to get you started.
4). What is the party scene like?
George Washington University quite obviously has the most animated party scene out of all DC schools. Because the main demographic here is upper-middle-class students from New Jersey you can easily imagine that students like to have a blast and spend a lot of money. Overall, though, the party scene here is quite different from being at a large state school and honestly caters to a different kind of person. George Washington University itself is a very small university so the party scene is really more broadly intertwined with nightlife in DC. That means that when you go out to explore nightclubs, restaurants, and bars in DC you’ll be intermingling with students from AU, Howard, Georgetown, Gaudett and just generally people living in the area. I personally prefer this dynamic to the large state school experience because its more of an open sandbox experience and more discrete. That means if I want to go out and have fun I can just go for a walk or take an Uber to a bar or restaurant and then come back to my apartment near the IMF for some peace and quiet. The absence of a campus really gives you more of an open-ended experience in the city. Now, speaking from experience, I still vividly remember the first time I partied in DC right after transferring into GW. I thought I died and went to heaven…
@Govegan1995 Your response is so helpful for me. If I am not from NJ or the northeast, will I have trouble fitting in?
@collegecurious49 No, I do not think you will have trouble fitting in solely on the basis of not being from New Jersey or the Northeast. I’ve met students from a variety of backgrounds at George Washington such as California. There are really a variety of ways that you can connect with people and there are many students organizations. It also just depends what your interests are both academically and nonacademically. If you are really into political science, prelaw, business or international affairs then you’ll probably really like George Washington. You have to remember you’re not restricted to just making friends with students from George Washington. Through internships and parties, you can get to know students from Georgetown and AU. In fact, I highly recommend you at least meet a few people from Georgetown and AU to give you a more diversified and less one-sided view of George Washington or DC in general. Because ultimately, as I’ve stated it’s mostly going to boil down to how academically driven you are, your political interests and personality that determine your social experience at George Washington.
@Govegan1995 Thanks. Ideally, I want to go to Georgetown but I don’t think I can get in. GW seemed like the next best thing!
@ collegecurious49 Georgetown is definitely the better school- my mom went to both GW and Georgetown so I can speak to both schools. Georgetown’s acceptance rate can definitely be daunting as it rivals the acceptance rate of schools like Cornell and Berkeley; however, you definitely want to still apply and take the application seriously. Even some highly qualified students get waitlisted or rejected each year so GW would definitely be a good safety- you can always take classes through the consortium, transfer or go to Georgetown for graduate school. Georgetown loves to take AU and GW students for grad school and sometimes that transition can be easier than transferring. Now, the culture is a bit different at Georgetown. Overall, the students at Georgetown are more intensely academically driven- the higher up you go in academia the more all nigthers, the more fierce the students and the more extreme measures students go to. That’s not to say people don’t study very hard at GW or that we don’t have students getting into top graduate programs or careers- just that the idea is that the higher ranked the school the more you’ll see people trying to pursue the same endeavors and studying more intensely for those endeavors and you’ll also notice a lot less goofballs who are just in college for the sake of being college. George Washington is definitely a great university to get you started, though. GW has some great professors here, with some overlap at Georgetown and strong nationally programs. I can personally understand where you’re coming from- I personally plan on pursuing an MBA at Yale SOM but can tell you that if you at least get into GW you’ll be fine.
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I won’t really speak to the internships as it’s been well-covered.
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As far as the student culture, I feel like the best descriptor is “passionate.” Students come from different geographic areas (primarily the northeast but plenty from the west coast, East Asia, and the Middle East) but seem to have little problem relating with one another on that fundamental level. And the areas that people are passionate about are also diverse: politics, government, the environment, social justice, sports (yes, I swear it’s true! lol), helping the poor and underserved, and even religion. Further, I think the student body adheres to the “work hard, play hard” mentality, as there’s never a shortage of people pulling all-nighters in the library, nor people blowing-off steam after an exam.
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Pros: internships, amazing city, lots of networking opportunities
Cons: cost, the financial aid department