Yes, there's Foggy Bottom (the main campus) and Mount Vernon (the Vern, as it's usually called.) All freshmen will have at least one class on the Vern, so there's no escaping it, per se. To get between the two campuses there's a shuttle that usually runs every 5 minutes during core hours (8am and 6pm or so). The shuttle (known as the VEX) take about 10 minutes if not during rush hour. Rush hour is usually 30 minutes. With a little planning it's super easy to avoid the rush hour. As far as which of the two locations is "nicer," it depends. There is housing on both campuses that is relatively new, and there are dorms on both that are quite old and seem dated. Foggy Bottom, by far, has better access to the city and other things that students typically want. However, the Vern has everything students NEED, it's just not the prime location that many chose GW for. I, personally, lived on the Vern for my freshman year and don't regret it one bit. It had its annoyances, and sometimes I felt like an outcast, but overall it was such a great experience.
2.Yes, housing is guaranteed all four years. One thing worth noting, though (as itās a surprise to most parents) is that the cost of housing will continue to rise year after year as your student gets assigned to better housing. You can pull up 2019-2020 housing prices on the GW Housing website and see how much each room costs. I think itās a safe to plan for an additional $5,000/yr as an upperclassman (above what youāll pay as a freshman).
There is only one dining hall and it's on the Vern. If your son lives on the Vern then it will be quite convenient for him- especially for breakfast and dinner. If he has classes on Foggy Bottom around lunch time then he'll probably have to plan on finding food there. Speaking of Foggy, your son will have to "fend for himself" in that there's not really a single place to go to find food. District (one of the dorms) has several places to eat in the basement, Shenkman has a few in the basement, and there are several other stand-alone places to eat throughout campus. It's a steep learning curve but everyone figures it out. The main struggle is sticking to the approximately-$19/day allowance, which is easy when not buying $3 drinks with every meal.
Average highs for the winter in D.C. are upper 30s/lower 40s. Students can usually get by with a light jacket until Thanksgiving, then something heavier will come in handy. Jan-Feb can be bitter at times (lows in the 20s) and a hat/scarf/gloves are nice accessories. As far as the heat, it's still quite warm (80s/90s) for most of September. April will start getting into the 70s, and May is usually solidly into the 70s. As far as heat and AC, yes, every dorm is equipped with those, but because the campus is on an ancient boiler system (like many buildings in D.C.) they can't switch between heat and A/C, resulting in an awkward week in both October and April where it's either too cold in the room (October), or way too warm (April). It sucks but there's nothing the university can do about it.
Yes, students feel a sense of community at GW, but my assumption is that itās not as strong as at many other schools. There are plenty students walking around wearing GW swag, there are plenty of student orgs and the like, but at the end of the day, most students are very dedicated to success and that can mean locking themselves away somewhere quiet to get their work done. It also means that there are lots of students overly concerned with which internship they can acquire, and then spending much of their spare time there.
As far as minor/majoring across different schools, āit depends.ā Some schools are very difficult to get into in general, even if youāre already enrolled at GW, so thereās no guarantee theyāll let a student double major. Further, a lot of it depends on the requirements for the two majors. If there isnāt significant carry-over between school with respect to required classes, then one might not be able to take all the prerequisites.
@Massmomtothree Although Foggy Bottom does not have a dining hall, the university has dozens of partnerships that basically makes up our āmeal plan.ā You can see all the places one can spend their GWorld at here: https://dining.gwu.edu/where-eat
DD was accepted with $18K presidential for Civic House and she is still reeling from being WL at her top 2 choices. But I am seeing GWU as an awesome school and I think she would have a great experience especially with the Civic House thing (just reading about it now and sounds perfect for her personality and goals.) Her stats are 3.8/4.4 UW/W GPA (AP & IB), 33 ACT, top 8% of her class, Iād say average EC and essays/letters. Honestly reading about the stats of those who were not accepted, this whole process is just so crazy.
The George Washington University received more than 27,000 applications for admission this year, including from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nearly 150 countries.
Roughly 900 students were admitted through GWās binding Early Decision plan, designed for students who designated the university as their top choice for college. GW admitted about 11,000 students total to the Class of 2023.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions expects to enroll a first-year class of about 2,550 first-time students. Even though the number of applications is up approximately 2 percent, this number is about 300 students smaller than the class that entered in the fall of 2018.
I did the mathā¦ lets say for the 900 slots for ED, many were accepted so that RD left about 26000 applications for about 10000 acceptances. which is about a 38% acceptance rate. this is all from GWtoday
You can still go to the health center if you waive the student health insurance. You just have to pay about $30 to do so if you waive it.
I am not sure where you heard that about package delivery. I have always felt like my packages were āsafeā because you have to go to a certain building on campus and scan your ID card in order to receive your packages. The only time package delivery is horrendous is the beginning of the year where everyone is shipping items to campus, but that is the case for basically any campus.
Last yearās was 41.8 percent. If @sdl0625 's math is correct, that means another another 3% drop this year. It seems like the admittance rate at EVERY school that my son applied to over the past few years has been falling. Yikes.
Thurston renovation maybe slated for Fall 20ā¦not sure about thatā¦you can go to the Health Center, but check you family policyā¦we saved $1,100.00 this year by putting her on the GW Aetna planā¦Package services is goodā¦the main complaint is ānever send a card type envelopeāā¦those are what goes missingā¦even if mailing a card, put it in a padded envelope and it goes to package services not to their mailboxesā¦
@Massmomtothree I know some other people already replied to you but hereās my perspective as a current freshman
The dining plan basically works like a debit card. If you child enrolls you will put $2,300 each semester on the dining card and they can use it at any resturant that accepts GWorld. This includes resturants on campus, a few off, and places like Whole Foods, CVS, Safeway, and Starbucks. My friends have been all over the map in terms of having money left over or running out early. Iāve noticed that generally the kids who grew up with mom and dadās unlimited credit card donāt really know how to budget so they run out either at the end of the year or just before it ends. I had a surplus from last semester but I only buy dinner everday (protein shakes for breakfast and I make sandwiches in my dorm for lunch)
I do not feel a sense of community at GW, that more comes from student orgs. Sports game attendance is virtually zero to be honest. There are people who wear GW gear but an equal amount who wear stuff from other colleges as well (not sure if thatās a thing on other campuses). That being said it hasnāt really impacted my social life at all. I made most of my friends through class or CI.
From my experience, if you donāt have a lot of AP credit itās hard to double major. However, I donāt have a lot of experience with this. I know for some schools itās virtually impossible. One thing to note is that you cannot double major in business, only minor in business administration
@familyfromLI
Happy to answer! Hereās my perspective
I don't live on the Vern but I have one friend who did (and moved to Foggy in October) and one who currently does. Honestly, it's a massive inconvienence. The shuttle can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the time. My friend who still lives on the Vern has been late to class because of the Vex. In my opinion, the worst part of the Vex is that it only leaves every 30 minutes during non peak hours. So when I'm hanging out with my Vern friend on a Saturday night she has to plan out when to leave and things like that. The dorms on the Vern aren't nicer than Foggy ones with the exception of West Hall.
@NHuffer is wrong on this one. From GW's website: Fourth-year students are not required to live on campus, are not guaranteed housing & should only complete an application if they wish to live on campus
However, off campus housing is cheaper than on-campus housing if you get roommates
I copied and pasted this from above: The dining plan basically works like a debit card. If you child enrolls you will put $2,300 each semester on the dining card and they can use it at any resturant that accepts GWorld. This includes resturants on campus, a few off, and places like Whole Foods, CVS, Safeway, and Starbucks. My friends have been all over the map in terms of having money left over or running out early. I've noticed that generally the kids who grew up with mom and dad's unlimited credit card don't really know how to budget so they run out either at the end of the year or just before it ends. I had a surplus from last semester but I only buy dinner everday (protein shakes for breakfast and I make sandwiches in my dorm for lunch)
This si my first time living in the Northeast so I'm not sure how it normally is. Winter this year was really cold for me as it was regulary between 25-35. We do have ac and heating. Though my room specificially has a problem with the heater. The heater is so strong that I have to turn on the AC during the day or my room is unbearably hot. Unfortunately GW told me there's nothing they can do (balancing with the AC works but I feel bad for the carbon footprint)
@Kd6410 - thanks for the answers! Itās good to get more than one opinion as not everyone feels the same Weāre in NY so the DC winters sound pretty good to me lol!
I have another question based on your answer to someone else re: insurance - if you take the school GW health insurance, does it cover a doctor outside of the health center, or a walk-in center, or heaven forbid an ER too?
@Kd6410 Thank you, your input was very helpful. Do you know if the Trails club is active? It looks good on the website, but wondering if it is in reality, Also is there a music scene on campus?My son enjoys performing/listening to other musicians on a coffe house type atmosphere. He wants a city campusā¦ but also needs to escape to nature. Sometimes these details donāt come out on campus tours and visit days, we appreciate your inside perspective.
@familyfromLI I know that the insurance is through Atena so you get their in network providers. It includes most of not all GW Hospital affiliates. My friend went to the ER and ended up paying a few hundred dollars so it covered a chunk of it. One thing thatās good about being on Foggy is that youāre close to an ER. The aforementioned friend went into Anaphylaxis in my dorm and we walked 5 minutes to the GW Hospital ER. Thereās also a lot of doctors around GW, both my dentist and ENT here are within 8 minutes walk
