GW Questions and Answers!

Hi everyone! I know the Regular acceptances just came out and I would love to help anyone out with any questions they have about GW as a current GW student.

Hi there! Really appreciate you making this thread. What are your favorite/least favorite things about GW? Do you find the social atmosphere to be more intellectual, pre-professional, or perhaps both? Thank you in advance!

Also any advice for standing out in the application process? Hoping to get a Pres Scholarship in order to afford this school haha

@idealistener I don’t know if the original poster will chime-in 4 months after the fact, but I’ll give my part:

Favorite things: Being in the city, the socioeconomic and geographic diversity of the student population, and the upperclassman dorms (some have amazing views of the city). Being in the city is great because of all it has to offer. You don’t have to go far to find fun things to do, and you’re never too far from some amazing internship opportunities. The diverse student body makes it so that anyone can find a group of people with similar interests. And the dorms… well, I was lucky enough to score an amazing room on the 9th floor of Shenkman Hall (formerly Ivory Tower) that had a view of the Washington Monument. Couldn’t believe I had such a view…

Least favorite things: Heating/cooling, late night fire alarms, some professors were brilliant but were terrible at teaching. Regarding the heating/cooling, most (all?) dorms have HVAC systems that allow only heating OR cooling at one time. So, if you have a heat wave in the winter when the has been turned on, the school can’t turn the AC on temporarily and the rooms get very warm. Same thing happens in the spring because the school has to wait for a certain number of days in a row of temps above X-degrees. Fans help but it was usually sucky for a week.

Advice to stand-out: solid GPA and test scores, and a diverse EC spread that shows a duty to your community. It’s great to get involved with your school and show how driven you are, but community service is something that GW seems to really favor. Alternately, if you have to work through highschool that can also help as it shows your able to pull-off good grades in school, community involvement, and a job. In addition… show interest in the school through a campus tour (if possible) and maybe an interview through the Admissions Office (I think they stopped them this last year but they might hold them again this fall).

Good luck!

hi! I’m currently interested in applying to GWU. Regarding their test optional policy, do you think it’s better to not send in a score at all if my score’s not that great? I have a 28 ACT single score and a 1990 SAT single score…

My son had a 31 ACT and sent his scores. He was advised not to send them though unless it was 30 or above.

My son had a 31 and did send his scores; however, he was advised by two counselors (not at GWU) not to send his scores unless they were a 30 or above.

@Nhuffer I’m currently a freshman at American U and want to transfer to GWU for the fall of 2017.

I’m currently taking 13 credits (withdrew from a math class) and I am aiming to get at least a 3.7 (so let’s use this as a hypothetical.)

I don’t plan on submitting my SAT scores

I took IB in high school and had a 3.71 GPA

I have had two internships, one at a PR firm in London & another at Keller Williams Real estate agency. I plan on putting both of these work experiences on my resume in the application.

Any thoughts?

Also I am a member of AU’s consulting club and volunteer at habitat for humanity.

@slaterhale
Why do you want to transfer? You seem to be doing well at AU and they are providing you with internship opportunities this early in the year. AU and GWU are not that much different. So why?

@slaterhale What are your reasons for wanting to transfer to GW? I ask because the school will want to know, too. Also, have you declared a major yet or know what you want to study? If so, it’ll be beneficial to have a couple of classes in that field on your transcript when you transfer.

In the end, I’ve always been told that it’s more difficult to transfer as a rising-sophomore. I assume the reason will be the biggest factor (as long as academics are strong, which yours look to be) when the admissions folks look at your application. But if GW is where you really want to be, I think you should go for it. If you don’t get accepted this year, try again for the next.