I currently go to GMU, and last week I applied to transfer to VCU. I don’t personally care for GMU, I honestly only went because they have an outstanding English department, which was my original major when applying (also only applied to four schools and didn’t want to go to one, was waitlisted by another, and my top choice was incredibly expensive). After making the decision, I switched my major to Elementary Education, but this past fall I switched it yet again to Social Work. VCU has an outstanding social work program, which is why I want to go.
I’m going to be rather biased here, but I can list some pros and cons of GMU if you’d like!
Pros:
-The diversity is outstanding. Coming from a small town in southern VA, GMU was a bit of a culture shock to me, but I love it. Every class I’ve been has had students of all genders, races/ethnicities, and general backgrounds, and it really brings a new perspective to class discussions. The diversity at GMU was actually one of the reasons I was okay with attending.
-The English department is excellent. According to people I know, GMU also has a remarkable Computer Science and Criminology department. I don’t know very much about your intended major, but considering GMU is a liberal campus, I’m sure the program is pretty decent.
-If you enjoy going out, GMU is right by DC. There are buses that can take you to the metro station if you don’t have a car yourself. The metro is simple to figure out, and it’s about six stops before you reach DC. Definitely a fun place to go if you’re into that!
-Lots of clubs and organizations of every kind! Being a large school, this is one of the perks at GMU. You have such a variety to choose from. 
-The gyms are VERY nice. Like, incredibly nice. And, if you buy a gold pass, you get to not just take their regular fitness classes, but you’ll also be admitted to pilates, yoga, and martial arts classes. Last spring I started taking a Krav Maga class and I LOVE it. I have learned so much and made some amazing memories in that class, and I’ve improved drastically in just three semesters. In all honesty, krav maga is the biggest thing I’ll miss about GMU if I end up at VCU.
-The campus is quite beautiful. I love running on it, there’s lots of different routes you can take without having to worry about crosswalks. Also, Burke Lake Park is just a ten-minute drive from campus and THAT is gorgeous. I had a car this past year and for a while was going every weekend. Burke Lake is definitely another small thing I’ll miss about GMU, even though it’s not GMU itself lol.
Cons:
-The social life is dead on the weekends. It’s a commuter school, so no one is around. There are frats and sororities, but unless you know someone who can get you into a party, it’s “under the radar”, so to speak. They obviously exist, but they aren’t as visible as they’d be at a more greek life focused school.
-Personally for me and my experience, I haven’t been challenged academically. I’ve had some pretty great professors, but the classes were not hard. I didn’t make it into the Honors College, and my choice of major may play a role, but I just don’t feel challenged. Now, I’m kind of a geek for learning and my major may play a role (I would love to study Neurology, but I’m not science or math oriented), but this is just how I feel. Engineering and computer science students obviously have it hard, but that’d be true at any school haha.
-GMU is a beautiful campus, but it’s an isolated one. Unless you have a car (or want to spend the money for an uber, or have friends with cars), you’re stuck there. And it sucks. There’s nothing to do around Fairfax. Downtown Fairfax isn’t that exciting and seeing as I had few friends, I never went into DC. It’d be sad and lonely to go into DC by myself lol. But yeah, there’s just nothing ever going on around campus. One thing I like about VCU is that there are always art and music festivals on the weekends, AND the campus is embedded within the city of Richmond, so I can literally walk from my apartment to a cafe or whatever. I don’t have to worry about driving or ubering, especially once I’m 21 and want to go out and drink with friends. No DD for us, just the ability to walk back from the bar haha!
-According to my therapist, this is a theme for VA universities, but I had a poor experience with the counseling services at GMU. Now, I don’t want to get into detail so all I’m going to say is that if you have a mental illness, look into off-campus therapy because GMU will NOT provide you with free therapy. Nope, not at all. Also, if you go there and they deem you as needing “long-term treatment”, you ALSO won’t receive care. They’ll do their best to help you find someone off-campus, but my experience with that was ALSO awful, and throughout the whole time I was speaking with the office, I didn’t receive ANY treatment. So yeah…just be aware of that. If you are in need of therapy and you know this already, get that arranged before coming to campus (at the very least, it’s good to have a list of people to call if needbe).
There are more personal reasons why I want to transfer, but the main reason has to do with academic rigor and having changed my major since I started at GMU. I know my comment is long (#writerproblems), but I hope it helped!