<p>Perhaps this has been discussed elsewhere, but I'd like to know the pros / cons / strengths / weaknesses / "vibe" of each of these places for international relations / political science. (Yes, I'm aware of the relative rankings and selectivity differences -- I'm trying to go beyond rankings here.)</p>
<p>pizzagirl, S is looking at American and GWU. He’s visiting with his grandparents this summer. Having spoken to alum of both schools, a difference that often comes up is that American is traditional campus whereas GWU is a city campus. </p>
<p>Sorry, I really don’t know much about Georgetown. S is not considering it. </p>
<p>Thank you for starting this thread, I’m really looking forward to reading it and will show it to my S.</p>
<p>I’d like to know too, we’ll be visiting all three in the fall, but haven’t yet. Pizzagirl, there was a good thread on American - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/698041-parent-opinions-american-u.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/698041-parent-opinions-american-u.html</a>.</p>
<p>PG - This may (or may not) be helpful. After visiting all three I’d describe GTWN as intense, GWU as high energy, and American as relaxed.</p>
<p>Visited GW and American with D this past spring break. She wasn’t crazy about either of them. She liked GW more than American - she felt there was more of a community feeling at GW than American (which is ironic given American has a traditional campus and GW does not).</p>
<p>4gsmom, S had the same reaction to GW and American. He liked the former much better, felt American was too small and that, despite its location, GW felt like more of a cohesive university.</p>
<p>S graduated from SFS/Georgetown two years ago. He absolutely LOVED his time there. It is a very intense program - mastery of a second language is a requirement, for example, but it was an amazing four years for him. A highlight for him was the course taught by M. Albright, but he said that every week, someone internationally known was giving a lecture on campus. I remember sitting at the SFS graduation awards ceremony feeling intellectually inadequate! It is a wonderful place to go to school. He made many dear friends and loved his G’town basketball.</p>
<p>Keep the comments coming – I want to hear “outside the Beltway” reactions!</p>
<p>I have visited GW and American (but Georgetown is off my radar - the atmosphere is too preppy for me and it just doesn’t offer a lot of the things I like to see in a university). GW has a more tight knit campus than American with what seemed to be to be better living options. In fact, all of the facilities at GW - even the classroom buildings - seemed better than at AU. AU has a lot of older buildings that seem like they could use an upgrade whereas GW seemed on top of things. GW is definitely an urban campus but it also has a distinct campus feel. GW is generally considered stronger overall academically but their IR/poli-sci departments are comparable. There are 10,000 undergrads (roughly) at GW and only about 5,000 or 5,500 at AU. When I was there, AU seemed a lot more homogeneous than GW.</p>
<p>S2 visited Georgetown this spring and was not as blown away as he expected to be. We were all a little surprised, as he has been to NAIMUN the past three years and thought very highly of the students and the campus. Part of his hesitancy w/the DC-area IR progams is that while they have very strong IR departments, they are a half-hour subway trip from home (except JHU, which is an hour). AU is only five minutes from my office! While I know he would not be home every weekend, it’s a little close for his comfort. </p>
<p>Are there stats anywhere for how many IR grads actually find jobs in the field? He has asked this at some of the schools he has visited and has been brushed off. Got such a brush-off at one school that it immediately came off his list.</p>
<p>My d. is entering her second year at American. She hated Georgetown at first sight, and didn’t even consider it. </p>
<p>I’m not going to compare the three schools. We have impressions of all three, but she just attends one, so I’ll just tell what she has liked about American. Firstly, it is very, very integrative. She is majoring in International Business (Accounting), with a minor in International Service (economic development), and taking four years of Arabic. The advising system is wonderful, and a very large number of students develop an integrative academic program like hers. The number of specialized abroad programs that American runs itself is awesome. (My d. was on an economic development study tour in southern Mexico over spring break, may be leading one in Brazil next spring, and may be attending AU’s business school in Nairobi the following fall.) About a third of the student body is in the School of International Service, making it the largest undergraduate international relations school in DC, with course offerings to match. There is a brand new business school building, an extraordinary $80 million arts center, and a new School of International Service going up to open next spring. The food is pretty good (my d. doesn’t eat much in any case.) My d. is also a concert pianist, and had an internationally renowned concert pianist as her teacher. The on-campus lectures - well, there’s one virtually every night.</p>
<p>She has a spectacular political science/international relations related internship this summer, and the career center (in the Business School) is incredible. (On the day before, she was offered an interview at 8 a.m. the next morning, and the career center arranged an emergency consultation for her that evening to help her prepare.) </p>
<p>She lives in an international dorm, where she gets to practice her Spanish, and gets help from a native speaker in Arabic with her homework. Physically, the dorms are mediocre.</p>
<p>PM me if you’d like more.</p>
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<p>This is definitely true. This sort of sucked because of my desires and needs from a room, but most students don’t spend a lot of time in their room.</p>
<p>CountingDown - If you go to the Georgetown site and under the search if you type in senior survey and a graduating year, you can get a report/survey from the Career Office that details each individual student (no names), but lists majors and where they are employed or are going to grad school. Very interesting report, but not all are listed, just those that responded to the survey.</p>
<p>S2 likes American for the same reason he likes his older brother’s school – we got the vibe of a student body with an outward, global focus, and a nice mix of all kinds of students. Their internship program is a big plus for him too. Must stop reading mini’s posts, though – we already have our hopes up…</p>
<p>Our brief and shallow impression of GW was that it was a bit too cosmopolitan and/or sophisticated for our taste (NOT that that’s a bad thing - just a personal preference), and also felt that the lack of green space, trees, etc. would quickly become an issue. Should have tried to see the Mt. Vernon campus.</p>
<p>GeorgeTown is a bit more intense academically and also very preppy. GW is very urban, diverse and also good academically. American has only 5,000 students, more of a campus than GW but not as good academically.</p>
<p>I hope this thread gets a lot responses. S2 is an army ROTC hopeful. He is a HS sophomore now.</p>
<p>We are eying on these three schools. I think Georgetown is a bit of a reach for him. GW probably a match and American safety. He wants to serve in the Army upon graduation, and then enter a public sector career, so DC seems to be a good place to come out of.</p>
<p>Any army ROTC parent/student out there in the DC area going to one of these schools?</p>
<p>hyeonjlee - Our older son is a junior and in ROTC (near Boston) and probably has future plans similar to your son’s. He loves his school and so do we, but can’t help but see the amazing opportunities for students in the DC area - especially those looking towards a future with a govt agency. I don’t think your son could go wrong with any of these schools.</p>
<p>We looked at all three DC schools and G’town would have been D’s choice of the three schools is she hadn’t gone to a school in the Northeast, followed by GWU and then American.</p>
<p>G’town is the most intense academically. Something that may not matter to most students is that it <em>is</em> Catholic, though of a Jesuit bent and in many ways quietly or not so quietly subversive with respect to the Church hierarchy…if this means nothing to you, just ignore it, others for whom it might be important will understand. One of the funnier/sad thing we saw during all our college visits was a horrifed mother, telling her daughter, “There’s a crucifix in the classroom!” “Shut up, mother, I’m going here not you.” Despite its Catholic roots, it seems pretty ecumenical in many ways, e.g., Hillel seems to be both large and active; the ecumenical nature is completely consistent with notion behind the founding of G’town for what it’s worth.</p>
<p>I like the Political Science department at G’town a <em>lot</em>. I figured out a couple of decades too late that I should have gone to G’town in political science instead of UC in engineering. Gorgeous campus, imo, with a lot of construction when were there.</p>
<p>GW has the urban campus, or rather the lack of a clearly defined campus, which bothered D. Otoh, if not as “pretty” as G’town, the location is very convenient to lots of things, including the Metro (which doesn’t run to Georgetown), the White House, etc. It’s also one of the most expensive schools, or was, up there with USC and NYU. GW boasts that it actually does a better job than G’town in things like placing interns on the Hill and in various Federal agencies…don’t know what’s real and what’s propaganda on that score. For my D, major disappointment was that the only ballet courses were intro and intermediate; G’town didn’t have any ballet but at least Washington Ballet, a pre-professional company, was up the street a short bus ride away.</p>
<p>I’ll stipulate to all the positives that Mini gives about American. Its great reputation for International Business and International Relations seem to be well deserved. </p>
<p>All three of us hated it. The campus is like a glorified high school and the dorms made us shudder in their tackiness. The info session was damning: I’m pretty good at reverse engineering a presenter’s outline. Lots of emphasis on how safe it was. Lots of emphasis on how they didn’t tolerate even low-level drug use and cooperated with the DC police in busting students for marijuana and suspending or expelling said students. “Academic quality” was the seventh bullet point on the presentation, the first note of any academic or intellectual interest.</p>
<p>As it happens, D is currently taking a course at American as a pre-req for graduate school. Of the class of 15-20 students, all but one other are grade grubbers with no interest in the material…and this is a “gateway” class to several others; the difference in vibe about academics is a shock to her after her LAC.
I wouldn’t pay the money for American (for a full degree) myself. Okay, I’m a snot.</p>
<p>I guess it’s a good thing we raised our kid with a high tolerance for tacky! And my husband thought no good could come from the pink flamingos in my garden…</p>
<p>I would love to get more details on what people didn’t like about Georgetown. It is pretty high on my daughter’s list at this point. She has visited and attended several classes, thought the classes were good, she likes the campus, is OK with the crucifixes, is not sure about the ‘preppiness’, and thought the students were very friendly and welcoming. We know it is expensive and won’t give good financial aid but that is OK with us except to the extent that it might curtail socio-economic diversity on campus. </p>
<p>Perhaps the “anti-Georgetown” folks here can elaborate on what is wrong with Georgetown?</p>