<p>I posted this in the Penn forum, but I decided I should post it here too, to see what you Georgetown folk have to say. I was accepted into both schools: Georgetown College and UPenn's College of Arts and Sciences. I'm interested in pre-med and hopefully going to medical school. I loved both campuses equally and could see myself spending 4 years at either. I'm not the most outgoing guy in the world but I'm not a bookworm nerd either and I could easily make the most out of living in DC or Philadelphia. I know both schools are phenomenal but I'm torn. I'm looking for a great premed education while maintaining a healthy social life. If this helps, I'm not really a drinker. Can anyone shed some light on which school would be a better fit for me because I could go either way at this point.</p>
<p>Go to UPenn.</p>
<p>And just thought to let you know, there are four hospitals surrounding the UPenn campus. :P</p>
<p>The main thing determining which school I choose was the social life. No frats/sororities at Georgetown REALLY interested me, but then I heard that despite this, there is a giant drinking party scene there. Is it easy to find a group to fit in with at GTown?</p>
<p>lol having 4 hospitals doesn’t enhance the pre-med experience. a large percentage of georgetown students do drink, however it may be less than at Penn, where there’s also Greek life. Georgetown also has Living Well options where you live on a floor with others that decide not to drink or smoke, for religious, health, etc. reasons.</p>
<p>Georgetown has an early assurance program where you can apply to Gtown Med after sophomore year and if accepted, you won’t have to take the MCAT. Georgetown has Georgetown EMS, which has two ambulances and is completely student run (and they not only respond to the Gtown campus but the surrounding community as well). Also because Gtown has smaller science programs, it’s easier to find research. Penn most likely has better science facilities.</p>
<p>I don’t care about other students drinking. In fact, I’m quite open to it. I just never drank in high school. </p>
<p>The thing about the Georgetown EAP is that it’s VERY competitive and difficult to get into. I just want to go to a school where I’ll get a good pre-med education while not experiencing TOO much competition. I didn’t really know what the competition was like at GTown. I assume it’s less than Penn since GTown is focused more on International Studies and Politics.</p>
<p>haha ok. I didn’t drink in high school either, and started near the end of first semester freshman year. No one pressures you, and I actually made the decision to start. But a large percentage of students do drink.</p>
<p>Yeah EAP is very competitive. I think part of the reason is that to get in through EAP, you need to have real reasons as to why you want to get in early. Whether it’s going abroad, doing research, etc., you need to have real reasons. This is probably why most people don’t get in. One person I know of last year didn’t get into the EAP, but she’s now at Harvard Med. I think that is an example of how it’s not just about having top grades, but having a plan as to what you’ll do instead of applying to med school.</p>
<p>Pre-med at Gtown is great because it’s not that competitive, everyone helps each other out. The pre-med courses typically have under 200 people (I’d say around 150 is normal), and many of the professors in science courses add in health related correlations as they recognize that the vast majority of students in these courses are pre-med. Yes Penn has better facilities, but Gtown has decent ones (the Organic Chemistry labs are completely new), and a smaller pre-med population, with no real cutthroat environment (not saying that that is what is at Penn). And of course there are other interesting science courses if interested, like Genetics, Biology of Cancer, Neurobiology, Biochemistry, Human Functional Anatomy (with Gross anatomy lab), etc. The Nursing and Health Studies School also has courses in anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, molecular and cellular disease fundamentals, public health courses, etc. Especially if interested at all in international health, this is an area that Penn might not have. Both have EMS programs, but Gtown’s is more established and has ambulances, providing a more real pre-hospital medical experience, if interested.</p>
<p>What are you majoring in btw?</p>
<p>200 kids in a class, on average?! That’s really big. At Penn, classes are around 20-25 kids. I’m majoring in biochemistry.</p>
<p>What’s the advising like at either school?</p>
<p>haha that’s an average for the pre-med courses (The average you listed for Penn is the overall average, which is most likely similar to Gtown). For pre-med classes (the intro level classes for Biology, Chemistry and Physics), the average is about 150 students. At schools like Hopkins or Cornell, there will be much more students in these courses, for obvious reasons (General Biology I at Hopkins has a cap of 320 for example (yes I just checked, haha)). Intro Biology I at Penn has a max of 300.</p>
<p>Biochemistry is probably the hardest science major at Georgetown, and the major with the most rigorous requirements in the College. It’s a small major (I’d say 15 people max), so you’ll have lots of time with the faculty and research opportunities. You’ll have a pre-med advisor in addition to a faculty advisor, and pre-med is strongly supported at Georgetown, including a Pre-Med Society. From my observation (I was pre-med, involved in GERMS, so I was surrounded by a lot of pre-med students from various majors), Biochem is very rigorous and because of this, biochem students are accepted at a higher rate than biology majors.</p>
<p>Check these websites out:</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to the Georgetown Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program - Gervase Programs: Learning to Lead](<a href=“Georgetown University Honor Council | Georgetown University”>Georgetown University Honor Council | Georgetown University)
[Pre-Medical</a> Studies - Georgetown College](<a href=“http://college.georgetown.edu/programs/premedical/]Pre-Medical”>http://college.georgetown.edu/programs/premedical/)
[Pre-Medical</a> Studies at Georgetown - Georgetown College - Georgetown University](<a href=“http://premed.georgetown.edu/]Pre-Medical”>http://premed.georgetown.edu/)</p>
<p>Are there any particular advantages of attending Georgetown over Penn? Because like I said earlier, I could go either way at this point.</p>
<p>-smaller science programs=more access to faculty, easier to do research
-service learning options for various classes if interested
-early assurance program if you have a high GPA and real interest in pursuing something instead of applying to med school
-Georgetown EMS provides the full pre-hospital clinical experience
-sciences are less competitive/cutthroat and smaller (150 versus 300+ for pre-med core, once you’re in your biochem/chem courses, you’ll have 6-20)
-lots of public health and health studies courses if interested</p>
<p>What about besides academics, like social life and clubs and everything else? lol</p>
<p>haha, Georgetown is in a much nicer area than Penn. There are bars, clubs, restaurants, stores, a little mall, etc. all near campus. There are lots of on campus parties, and off campus parties also happen in the surrounding communities of West Georgetown and Burleith. There are various performing arts groups, such as the usual symphony orchestra, choirs, and a cappella groups. Georgetown has a couple popular cultural performances, such as Urban Fare. Various famous people come to speak at Georgetown regularly (Obama is speaking tomorrow/today). Clubs are very active, and are very important to the social life at Georgetown (especially because there aren’t any frats or sororities). The Corp is the largest student run organization in the country, and they run the various coffee shops, convenience stores, etc. available on campus. While Penn has Locust Walk, Georgetown has Red Square, and clubs table, chalk, and flyer in the Square daily. The Grilling Society also grills in Red Square during the warmer months, as well as at various late night grilling “sessions”. And of course there’s Hoyas basketball, which really unites the school, no matter how badly they played this season, haha. Midnight Madness is always sold out, and the games are always well attended.</p>
<p>There are bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. at Penn too. The campus is in Philadelphia. You got me on the sports, though.</p>
<p>How well would you say someone who isn’t too much of a drinker, but open to it (like myself) fit in? I know this is a vague question but like I said earlier, the social life and where I’ll fit in the best are the main determining factors of where I choose.</p>
<p>yeah, that post wasn’t a comparison to Penn, however the area surrounding Georgetown is arguably more vibrant and safer than that around Penn (NW DC is the wealthiest, most gentrified part, for what that’s worth).</p>
<p>To sum up my points, Penn has a larger campus, larger pre-med courses, better science facilities, Greek life, etc. Gtown has a smaller campus, smaller pre-med courses, more accessible science faculty and research, early assurance, Gtown EMS, safer/vibrant/more beautiful surrounding community, Hoyas bball, no Greek life, not as good science facilities (new Organic labs however).</p>
<p>Hope this all helps!</p>
<p>oh and as far as pre-med acceptance (saw something mentioned on that on the Penn board), from the College’s website-“Georgetown students are admitted to med schools at a rate 20 to 30 percentage points above national averages.”. Can’t find the national average, but I believe it’s around 50+% or so. Don’t quote me on that though. Last year there were students accepted to Harvard, Northwestern, Georgetown, Tufts, BU, NYMC, NYU Med Schools, among others. I’m sure the list is similar at Penn, and that shows that for a school not known for sciences, the curriculum is strong and students do well post-undergrad.</p>
<p>Also here is what another poster said about biochemistry at Georgetown-"I’m a Junior Biochemistry major in the Honors Program (most chem/biochem majors are in the department’s honors program). As part of the honors program, I get to join the lab of any professor in the department and undertake a 1.5-2 year long research project, write a thesis and present it orally to a faculty committee. My research takes place on both the main and medical campuses, which are adjacent to each other. Recently, I was given the opportunity to do research this coming summer in a lab at the NYU School of Medicine, one of the top 10 in the country, that also studies malaria treatment. My final thesis will incorporate the work I will have done at both Georgetown and NYU, under two leading scientists in the field.</p>
<p>My experience is not unusual. I hardly think Georgetown science is overrated. Whoever said calc 1 was a sinch (the subject is easy no matter where it’s taught), wait till you get to orgo. Georgetown orgo is one of the hardest versions of the course in the country."</p>
<p>Hey i’m in the exact same dilemma trying to choose between the two!
But i think i’m going to choose georgetown. It’s slightly less prestigious (at least thats the impression i get) but its definitely the better fit for me.</p>
<p>A lot of my decision had to do with the fact that i’m studying poly sci (DC!!!) and that i like the catholic school feel better than the ivy feel. I think it’s a more down to earth and fun loving campus. Penn is awesome though and that wouldn’t be a bad choice either. I just felt that Penn was so huge and didn’t have nearly the spirit that Georgetown did.</p>
<p>Penn is definitely the more diverse campus though, so if you’re looking for that, then you should probably go there. I was kind of just looking for somewhere like my high school, so Georgetown was the closer pick haha.</p>
<p>you should def. pick upenn. people are much nicer there. upenn, in my opinion, is not as pretty as georgetown, but it is better to be around a group of people that are welcoming towards you. this is a link to the newsaper on campus april fool’s edition. its very degrading and sums up what georgetown is. <a href=“http://thehoya.com/files/pdf/HoyaAprilFools09.pdf[/url]”>http://thehoya.com/files/pdf/HoyaAprilFools09.pdf</a></p>
<p>Do you really think it’s fair to evaluate the feel of a campus based on an april fools issue of the campus newspaper? …</p>
<p>Are you actually basing all of Georgetown on a stupid crude newspaper issue that a few students wrote up? That’s unbelievably offensive to the student body at Gtown who definitely did NOT approve of that issue.</p>
<p>I really don’t know how you can say the students are nicer at one school or another, it doesn’t really sound like you put too much thought into that statement.</p>
<p>From someone who just attended accepted students day at both… Georgetown seem much nicer and more welcoming and friendly.</p>