S20 and myself are flying into DC for a couple of campus visits on November 1 and 2 (GW on Friday afternoon). I’m looking for some local recommendations.
We will be grabbing lunch b4 the tour, I know dining is a little disjointed at GW, is there a spot to get a feel for the college.
Anything that we should check out that’s probably not on the tour? We are open Friday after the tour.
I’m not really looking for the normal DC stuff. Thanks!!
the Basement of District house has a bunch of places, including Chic fil A. you will see a bunch of students there to give you a feel of where they eat.
I agree with @sdl0625 in eating in the basement of District House (H St or Eye St entrance between 22nd and 21st Streets). If the weather is really nice, you can even grab your food to go and eat outside in Kogan Plaza across H St.
I’m not sure what’s on the tour anymore, but some less-common things you can check-out for a “feel” of the school:
The Mount Vernon campus (accessible by the shuttle near 23rd and G St), in case it’s not on the tour it’s definitely something to see if your son is enrolling as a first-year (if he’s 20 then I guess it’s more likely he’s an upperclassmen and then the Mount Vernon campus isn’t necessary)
Depending on your son’s intended major, I’d check-out the corresponding academic building where they’d be taking most of their classes (Elliott School, Business School, etc).
I think it’d be a good way to get the feel of the campus by walking from the NW corner to the SE (or the other way, depending which is closest). The campus itself isn’t huge and this would be a neat way to get a feel for the size as well as soak in the scenery when you’re not being quickly ushered around in the tour. My recommendation would be to walk from the Foggy Bottom Metro to the Elliott School on E street (1957 E St). It doesn’t really matter which streets you take between, but since they’re offset east-west a few blocks you’ll have to zig-zag a bit.
@NHuffer thank you for the information. He’s a '20 grad, do checking out the “Vern” is a great idea. We might do that on Saturday to avoid the mass of humanity at the Mall during the Nationals parade.
@roper1313 , how did the visit go?
@EconPop I’ll be honest my son didn’t come away very impressed. The information session was fine, but the tour was not very informative. We just walk around 2 block of central campus and finished back at the welcome center. It is hard to say, but my son didn’t get a great feel from it. Some high points an low points:
We heard a lot about Whole Foods, Panera and Starbucks, but not much about the community. Our guide did really stress the location and it’s access to many internship opportunities, but that was a given.
We did walk around quiet a bit after the tour, and Friday night, and again Sunday afternoon (Captain Cookie!!), but I guess he didn’t fall in love with it. Which is good to know!!
My son got a tour of Gtown by a friend who is a senior, and we toured American on Saturday. Maybe that kind of urban campus isn’t for him, but I thought GWU would have tried a little harder.
My son liked GW a lot more after the tour than before, but our tour was nearly as scant as yours when it comes to actually seeing inside buildings. We saw the science center, too, and while he liked that very much, he’s not going to be a STEM major and he kept saying “this is nice, but I’ll never be in this building.”
Before and after the tour, we roamed around the surrounding area and my son liked that very much. It was enough to make up for the lackluster official tour.
I think I made a mistake not also signing up for the visit to the other part of the campus. We probably would have gotten a good look at the buildings there … I guess.
Our student guide was an Economics major, which is my son’s desired major. It was cool to hear him talk about his classes and ask him specific questions about that. Unfortunately, we didn’t get inside the Econ building or the Business building.
In the end, he kept GW on his list, but I think half the appeal is the location.
Honestly most of the buildings are not “spectacular”. Also being an Urban campus there is not really places that one “hangs out” except for the basement of District, maybe Shankman. There are tearing down the main dorm, Thurston, to rebuild it starting this summer. I will say that my D spends a lot of time in the Library.
Those who love this place, its really about the Urban feel and being in the heart of DC. First week of school most kids go “monumenting” where they put their feet up on the National Monument. The academics are great, and the internships and opportunities as well. But this is a place that you either like or dont.
@sdl0625 thanks for the response, do you know where they are going to be putting the incoming freshman? Doesn’t Thurston house nearly 50% of the first year class?
the are going to move more upper classmen into a hotel and probably use some of the sophomore dorms for freshman. They already have done that with one dorm, where it used to be a triple and made it a Quad for freshman. Many freshman end up on the Vern, so I dont know how they can increase that. They will also probably allow more juniors to live off campus. This means that more freshman will have kitchens, which is nice.
I agree- it’s either for you or not for you. My oldest who I thought would loooove it actually prefers American. The tour was more for him to figure out which one he would apply ED.
But my youngest one liked it and put it on his application list. Really is about preference and fit!