<p>My son is accepted at GU, Williams, Bowdoin. Tough deciding between them. Likes international relations, languages but also likes bio and may want to go on for med school.</p>
<p>GU most expensive by far. Aid is very skimpy compared with Bowdoin and Williams. Will be over $10K more per year for GU.</p>
<p>Why choose GU over Williams and Bowdoin? Second, I've heard Williams and Bowdoin have very high med school acceptance rates, but not sure about GU. Lastly, how does IR at GU compare with Williams and Bowdoin?</p>
<p>Williams and Bowdoin are more alike in terms of environment. Williams is arguably the most selective of the three if that matters to your son. GU is not really known for its pre-med. Unless son has a strong “fit” reason to chose GU, it’s not worth the extra money esp. given the med school possibility. IR would be great at GU (SFS) or Williams, but I am not familiar with Bowdoin.</p>
<p>If I were going to medical school, I would choose a college affiliated with a medical school that favors its own in admissions. </p>
<p>As to IR, Georgetown has no serious competition from any other institution. It is the place where people live, eat and sleep IR not just study it. No other insititution has the budget, the research institutes, the alumni connections ,and faculty connections that GU has. You can’t study with a former Head of State or cabinet member at Bowdoin or Williams, at GU you can. To me, that is beyond being worth $10,000 more. Like the commercial once said, that is priceless.</p>
<p>Georgetown has a strong pre med program. Georgetown University Hospital is located right on the edge of the campus and there are many opportunities for volunteer and assist in research projects at the hospital.</p>
<p>As for international relations, there’s no place like Washington DC. There are numerous opportunities for internships and the quantity/caliber of international speakers that drop by the school is very impressive. Life at Georgetown is like having a ring side seat to world affairs. </p>
<p>Would the relatively remote locations of Williams and Bowdoin be too limiting for your S?</p>
<p>You may have read in my Georgetown v. Amherst post that Georgetown is a student centered research institution which means that it emphasizes undergraduate teaching in a traditional environment (like a LAC) while at the same time offering many of the opportunities found at a large research university in a major city. Your S would be giving up next to nothing by choosing Georgetown over Williams, and stand to gain much more. For this reason Georgetown is a difficult match up for LACs which tend to have comparative advantages over large prestigious research oriented universities like Hopkins or big research oriented Ivys</p>
<p>Well, the decision came down in favor of Georgetown. Toughest decision for our family ever. Williams is so hard to pass up, but in the end it was clear:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Where else can you be in an environment with close proximity / internships / research with Senate, Congress, NIH, Smithsonian, etc etc. Priceless.</p></li>
<li><p>LACs are nearly peerless when it comes to undergrad teaching quality, but at GU due to size and LAC focus you have it too. But, you are in a true research university with a medical school and law school.</p></li>
<li><p>The new science building will be up and running next year. All new science facility. That means a lot for future science programs, and we suspect will increase ability to draw in high caliber science students and faculty.</p></li>
<li><p>Access to so many different people from so many different countries. DuPont circle? Embassy’s? Can’t touch that in rural Mass or Maine.</p></li>
<li><p>Life / school balance. Easy to get off campus to blow off steam. How to do this at a small LAC? M street, National Mall, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>Easy access to DC. Low cost direct flights from W Coast. At Williams, have to change flights to get to Albany then drive a couple hours or to Boston (very expensive from W Coast) then drive 3+ hrs. </p></li>
<li><p>World leaders dropping by to give speeches, as well as around town in DC.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Williams is absolutely a fantastic school with so very much to offer an undergrad, but many important things GU has to offer no other school could at any price. That is the deal clincher…</p>
<p>Hoya Saxa! Sounds like Georgetown is an excellet place for your son to explore his academic and professional interests. Although Williams would have been awesome it sounds like he will get more bang for his time and money at Georgetown. Time to sign up for that United/ Jet Blue/ Virgin America Frequent Flyer card.</p>
<p>Thanks! We feel comfortable with the decision, and my son loves GU and DC!!</p>
<p>In the end, IMHO if my son knew 100% he wanted to be a science researcher or a MD a LAC like Williams (or Bowdoin) is the best choice. It’s well known that GU is weak in the science area (I counted profs for bio as an example, and Williams has 23 and Bowdoin 18 if I recall, versus 15 at GU and a much bigger undergrad class size 7K vs 2K).</p>
<p>In our case, he isn’t completely sure if he wants a hard science future vs IR/Politics/Business. In that light, he will become more well rounded at GU due to the environment around him there and in the entire DC area. The networking and social involvement portion of an education cannot be easily quantified but is truly invaluable. GU is priceless in this area.</p>
<p>BTW - I read an interesting article from the student paper on the whole science issue. Appears GU has been promising their scientists a new building for many years as the old one is horrendously outdated. They are indeed building a new one which is great, but the size is the same and they will not be able to add more profs because of this. Some profs are already housed in the old / out of use observatory due to lack of space! The hope is the existing science building will be gutted and completely refurbished, but the money isn’t there so it’s off in the distant future. </p>
<p>Seems GU is caught in a catch 22. They are world class for their IR / SFS school, but get dinged heavily in terms of ranking and size of endowment due to the science issue. Why? Science prestige draws money and top students. The bigger/better the science program, the more the money flows in. They need to spend money to get money, but it’s nerve racking. Refurb the old science building for example, and bring down the endowment. In the meantime, take a hit in rankings so draw in fewer kids. It’s a tough situation, but seems like the approach of a half-way step is the best scenario for risk management.</p>