<p>We would like to visit Georgetown, GWU and AU this summer. How much time should we allocate? One day per school? can we do two schools per day? In addition to the normal “campus visit” agenda, we also would like to visit ROTC offices at Georgetown (Army) and GWU (Navy/Marine).</p>
<p>Will a three full day visit do? We will be driving from NJ. Crack of dawn the first day and returning late night on the third day. Do you think this is sufficient or should we allocate another day?</p>
<p>Do you plan to do tours and information sessions? After a while they all start sounding somewhat alike, so we didn’t always partake in both… Unlike many of the above, though, we had an excellent information session at American. There wasn’t a single question the young woman couldn’t answer.</p>
<p>Anyway, three days sounds like plenty, and you’ll probably have time left over for sightseeing.</p>
<p>I have heard students complain that there weren’t enough healthy options, but according to the Hatchet, this should be changing in the next year.</p>
<p>My daughter just completed her first year at GW. She loved, loved, loved it! She totally felt like there was a cohesive campus enveloped by a city. I would highly recommend it to anyone!</p>
<p>We did American U one day, and then Georgetown and Catholic U the next. There was no tour when we went to American U, so ds had an interview and we went to the info session. Georgetown doesn’t do interviews, so the next morning we went to a tour and info session at Georgetown, and then went to Catholic in the afternoon for the info session, tour and interview. </p>
<p>Tours are important. I think we didn’t learn all that we could have about American because we didn’t get a tour.</p>
<p>HYEONJLEE–We visited UMaryland, GW and AU in 2 days and that’s adequate. Frankly, sitting through those info sessions is quite draining Contrary to other posts on CC, I think they are akin to timeshare meetings. The tours are very helpful, however, and if your questions are not too specific, the tour guide will probably be able to answer your questions.</p>
<p>hahahahah
You’ve put into words exactly how I was feeling throughout them! Sometimes they’re like verbal “look books”… not dishonest - but glossy and best-foot-forward-ish.<br> </p>
<p>We did GWU, AU, and CU in three days.<br>
Info session, tour, visit with a professor, sit-in on a class, and (where available) lunch with a student. Each day was jam-packed and D was pretty wiped out at the end of each day.</p>
<p>Mini, I think your D got some extremely biased or inaccurate information. None of this is even close to being true - though there is, in fact a well used food court. However, food court is but one option, as gwsenior points out. There is also a more traditional cafeteria style menu right down the hall from the food court (although not sure if it’s open on weekends and it would be nice if there were options closer to some of the dorms ). </p>
<p>Academically, even I was surprised by the extent to which most professors go out of their way to be accessible and helpful to students. D’s professors really encouraged students to make frequent use of office hours, and were very helpful to students on a consistent basis. My D had several small classes even as a freshman, and small sections of larger classes. Most of her teachers knew her name and got to know her well. </p>
<p>To address some of the other points - there was an extensive orientation program, which included guided tours around the city and even advice and instruction on how to use the Metro. On the first day House Proctors (an RA by any other name) and volunteers made move-in a piece of cake. House Proctors walked around and introduced themselves to students and parents, and were a very visible presence. They continued to be very involved and proactive throughout the year, including in one or two challenging situations - I was always very impressed with how things were handled. The school even keeps parents in the loop to a degree unusual in other places, IMO - I get frequent emails from parents service office that keep us informed about events on campus, family weekend, move-in and out procedures and more. When there were several cases of H1N1 on campus, the school sent out constant updates. Nothing inappropriate to the independence of a college student, but appreciated, nonetheless! </p>
<p>As far as there being no advising(?!), nothing could be any farther from the truth. Each student is assigned to an advisor within their own school and encouraged to make appointments to discuss scheduling or anything else on his or her mind- my D was able to make an appointment with her academic advisor anytime she wished and took full advantage of the opportunities to do so. There are <em>extensive</em> resources for finding internships , summer abroad programs etc. The related offices are obviously not located in the dorms themselves, not sure if that’s what you meant. </p>
<p>The school has the rep of being the most expensive, but tuition is frozen at the rate you pay freshman year , so very comparable over the course of four years to any other (expensive!) private out there. Like socalmama’s D, mine also loves, loves the school and finds the students a diverse, friendly group, with something there for everyone. She gets a lot out of being in the city - it’s in a VERY nice area of DC, and one of the safest. It’s just blocks from the Kennedy Center, the Watergate, the White House. Due to the proximity of the school to many sensitive locations, you probably can’t go for a minute without seeing campus security, DC or federal agents on a corner or driving by. It’s not a stretch to say its probably among the most monitored several square blocks of any campus anywhere on the planet. </p>
<p>There is definitely a campus feel, IMO, even though it’s the city. Students everywhere and lots of energy. Some people make use of the grassy ,wooded, rolling hill Mt. Vernon campus ( a former women’s college campus bought by GW about 10 years ago) a few miles down the road - there are dorms and some classes held there - shuttles run between the two. As far as the freshman dorms - nobody HAS to live in Thurston, the “social” freshman dorm - you can get more luxurious housing, a quieter hall and greater privacy by choosing to be elsewhere - but many want to, anyway. There are lots of large quads with private bathroom and 2 large walk in closets , full size fridge and microwave included. A few doubles and two room suites of six. Did I mention the weekly maid service and the fact that freshman have their own in suite bathroom? After first year housing options are among the nicest at any school. </p>
<p>Academically, D has found the classes interesting and the coursework appropriately challenging. She has also been very impressed with the competitive caliber of the students in her classes. Most of her friends take their work seriously, and find time to enjoy school and the city, as well.</p>
<p>We never looked at GW, but we spent a day at Georgetown and my son really liked many things about it-- he was particularly impressed by the student run corporation that manages the on campus retailing.</p>
<p>In the end though, he chose to attend the least selective school that admitted him- American. He spent 5 days at UVA on a scholarship weekend and was horrified by the place–instead of boarding his flight to come home, he hitched a ride on the international student shuttle to DC and visited American on his own. What American offered that the others did not was a wider diversity of kids from around the world, racial mixing on a social level (the de facto segregation at UVA was a huge issue for him) and an impressive internship program.</p>
<p>We do worry that it may not have the academic challenge of his other choices-- but he is in the honors program and will be housed on an honors floor. His advisor has already been pretty active with him, suggesting courses and explaining the ap/ib credit program.</p>
<p>“Mini, I think your D got some extremely biased or inaccurate information. None of this is even close to being true - though there is, in fact a well used food court. However, food court is but one option, as gwsenior points out. There is also a traditional cafeteria right down the hall from the food court (although not sure if it’s open on weekends and it would be nice if there were options closer to some of the dorms ).”</p>
<p>There IS a well-used fast food court - that was our complaint. The traditional cafeteria was closed when we were there (as in closed, closed), and at that point there were no plans to reopen. There were no residential advisors in Thurston (which the tour guide told us with pride), and no members of other classes with whom one could gain advice about professors, internships, assignments, etc. (I happen to think that separate first-year dorms, at ANY school, are a major disadvantage.)</p>
<p>Our tour guide couldn’t name his advisor. That might just have been him. When we tried to find out from folks in the business school about how to integrate majors/study programs across schools, they just shrugged. I am SURE one could do it, I am positive it is done, but I am also just as certain that it wasn’t very transparent. </p>
<p>Of course, (as I wrote in my first post), my d. isn’t there, so it is hardly fair to make comparisons. I can only be reasonably sure of accuracy in posts about the school she attends (and even about that, who knows? ;))</p>
<p>In the big picture, the comparison between these two schools, other than the fact that they are both in DC, is forced. At GW, with an undergraduate population of almost 9,800, 55.2% (5,394) of students are in the college of arts and sciences. That’s about the same size as AU all-together. Elliott (IR) has 2,058 (21%), Business (15.5%), and media, engineering and public health (exercise science, athletic training, etc.) making up the rest (under 10%).</p>
<p>At AU, the college of arts and sciences is less than 30%, with resulting much higher percentages in the schools for international service, business, public affairs, and communication. I imagine that once you take out the foreign language majors at CAS (most of whom have double majors in the other schools), the liberal arts are even smaller. I would hope then (and I expect) that just as AU is more highly ranked in business (Business Week) and international relations (Foreign Policy Mag), GW would do much, much better in the liberal arts and especially sciences, with more resources, faculty, and opportunities devoted to it. They are just different places.</p>
The cafeteria (J St. Cafe) was undergoing renovation last summer, but it’s up and running now. You must have misunderstood your tour guide; there have ALWAYS been people that are equivalent to RAs in EVERY GW dorm. The only difference between House Proctors and RAs are that House Proctors don’t write you up for violations (that’s the job of the University Police, who regularly patrol the dorms). Also, I simply cannot envision a situation in which a freshman would have no upperclassman to talk to about the issues you listed. Besides my House Proctor, I met upperclassmen in the student organizations I was involved with, through CCAS peer advising, my CI guide, and in classes themselves.</p>
<p>
To be sure, GW and AU have different academic strengths. I don’t go to AU, so it’s hard for me to talk about their academic programs, but I can say that GW has one of the most well-regarded International Affairs programs in the country. But I think GW’s biggest strength is that its education extends beyond the classroom. AU students do have internships, to be sure, but it just doesn’t have the same emphasis there as it does at GW. By my sophomore year, I was taking my classes on 2 days per week and working at a paid job at a federal agency the other 3 days, and many of my classmates had similar schedules. This work/studying balance by far was the best preparation GW could have offered me for a real-world job.</p>
<p>“AU students do have internships, to be sure, but it just doesn’t have the same emphasis there as it does at GW.”</p>
<p>I think the data would show the opposite, but not because there are fewer internships available to GW students (there certainly aren’t!) but because a much higher percentage of GW students are in the liberal arts, and, especially in the sciences. The integrated articulated nature of AU programs is what they pride themselves on, with 80% of students having one or more internships while they are there. But, obviously, if internships are your thing, DC is probably the best place in the country to pursue them.</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t want to turn this into a GW vs. American argument (like I said, each school has its strength and weaknesses), but more GW students do participate in internships/jobs- 92%, to be exact (see [GW:</a> Something Happens Here](<a href=“http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/city/internships/]GW:”>http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/city/internships/)). I literally do not know a single person who went through undergrad without having some type of work experience. And there are PLENTY of students in the Liberal Arts that have internships too.</p>
<p>just saw D’s friend from GT yesterday. She isn’t strictly interested in public policy but interested in international disease and is currently working a full time internship at a cancer research center in Seattle.I didn’t think that was too bad for a recent freshman- didn’t ask if she gets paid, but she said she has a nice office.
;)</p>
<p>Once again, Georgetown is in a league of its own.
AU and GW are comparable for IR, PoliSci, (and maybe other majors I’m not familiar with) and Internship opportunities. There are pros and cons for each school. The biggest difference is size, cost and location. Whatever feels right for you is the right choice.</p>
<p>Thank you gwsenior for clarifying things for mini! I too believe they misunderstood or were misinformed by their tour guide. Always house proctors (aka RA’s) around if you needed advise or assistance! Furthermore, I ALSO had a GPS advisor my freshman year, short for Guide to Personal Service…a GW employee who was willing to assist me with navigating the GW community and adjusting to the experience of freshman year. I really appreciated this support. GW is a large school so you have to be independent and seek help when needed. Advisors are def available. Loved living in Thurston…no one forces anyone to drink, party, etc… and if you prefer quiet, others will respect that. Also, despite GW’s urban location most GW students feel like we have a cohesive campus.<br>
Took a class at Georgetown the summer prior to applying to GW. The atmosphere was way too intense for me and I knew that I needed more of a balance both academically and socially. I did not like American’s location or the campus, so I never applied.</p>
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