<p>I am considering applying to George Washington University but I've been reading some things about the campus I don't really like. Basically, that it's terrible because it's split, there's a lot of mon-college traffic (ie ambulances), and that it doesn't have a true campus vibe. Is all of this true? I have no problem with an urban campus, but I want something that is kind of self contained, that maintains that college campus vibe. Any insights?</p>
<p>GW is not a self contained campus. It is literally a section of downtown DC. Have you visited?</p>
<p>GW does not have an enclosed campus. It has buildings sprinkled throughout a very busy area of DC . Some students love that. My son wanted the traditional campus experience-- a quad, etc., along with the DC vibe and so chose American instead.</p>
<p>I’m planning a visit soon. I don’t want to waste the money on a plan ticket if it’s as horrible as people have said.</p>
<p>You have to go around the city saying “Is this GWU’s building or is this some random building ?”.</p>
<p>Well, as noted above, there really is no traditional campus at GW, and it’s not self contained. If you look at a map of the Foggy Bottom (main) campus (here: <a href=“https://www.gwu.edu/sites/www.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Foggy%20Bottom%20Campus%20Map.pdf[/url]”>https://www.gwu.edu/sites/www.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Foggy%20Bottom%20Campus%20Map.pdf</a>) you’ll see that it’s part of the city, not separated. The buildings are all basically together, but they are located on city streets, with the attendant traffic, and intermingled with some non-GW buildings. But it’s a very lovely part of DC, with a Metro stop right there. Not “horrible” at all, but not for everyone. The Mount Vernon campus is more traditional in style (I think it started life as a junior college), but most of your education would be taking place in Foggy Bottom. As for the vibe, I think urban campuses in big cities tend not to have a huge sense of community, since students have the whole city at their disposal for activities and entertainment and don’t need to rely as much on the school and its resources. That’s not to say that you couldn’t build your social life around GW if you chose to. And I think there can be a higher than average level of sophistication (or maybe pseudo-sophistication) among students that choose an urban campus. My S transferred out of GW when he realized he wasn’t happy in an urban environment, and some of the negative elements for him (and this was just a reflection of his personality) were the amount of clubbing and shopping that his fellow students engaged in and the way students tended to disperse over DC on the weekends rather than stick around the school.</p>
<p>If you are interested in the DC area but want a more traditional, contained campus, American University would be ideal. And of course UMD has a very typical large campus and is accessible to DC via the Metro.</p>
<p>I mean I like the integrated kind of campus. It is a nice area and it’s not like the buildings are miles away from each other.</p>
<p>Georgetown plug here though. Who needs American?</p>
<p>It’s a reasonable assumption that someone considering GWU might not have the credentials for Georgetown–but sure, it’s another option for a DC school with a campus.</p>
<p>GW doesn’t have a campus. It is like NYU in that the campus is built into the city office buildings. Nothing really worth visiting. D.C. is one of the nicest cities in the country though and a top 5 market.</p>
<p>From my understanding Georgetown and American , both of which are also in DC, have more traditional campuses. If you make the trip you might want to visit one of those schools as well so you can compare (only worth a visit to Georgetown if you are in their range of an accepted student, if not, I’d suggest visiting American). That said, my cousin went to GW and loved it.</p>
<p>Lol I’m some of that non-college traffic.</p>
<p>I’m chiming in on this. Those who say that GW has no campus probably haven’t been on campus, because there is a very defined 4x5 block radius (these are huge city blocks) of campus with pretty much all GW Students walking around. You can get from Elliot (the furthest south part of campus) to the metro (northernmost part of campus) in about 10 minutes walking, the campus is really compact. Everywhere you look there are campus brownstones, residences halls, academic buildings and such. On the surrounding parts of campus, you will find the World Bank… IMF… State Department on big Avenues where it will seem like you are just one person in a big city but on campus, you don’t get that feeling. Most of the apartment buildings like the Ave on F Street, the places that surround GW’s campus are mostly upperclassmen living in off campus housing. Thurston and Potomac, two of the biggest freshmen dorms on campus are right across the street from each other. I stayed in Thurston during orientation and even then I could differentiate between campus and city. There were only like a few summer programs, students living summer housing for summer classes, and some summer interns. But everywhere I went I saw students everywhere. </p>
<p>I’m really excited to be heading off to Foggy Bottom this fall! Being a 5 minute walk to the White House, 10 Minute Walk to the Kennedy Center, 15 Minute walk to either Lincoln Memorial of the WW2 Memorial… and taking the Metro to the Monument or Capitol Hill is just as easy. There’s a saying that the city is our campus, but on campus there is a community there. I’ve been to NYU. GWU and NYU’s campuses are two worlds apart. It’s more comparable to BU’s campus but instead of Commonwealth Ave… between Pennsylvania and Virginia Ave is Colonial territory. Use the street view feature on Google Maps and just go around campus and see all of the GW flags on campus that mark campus buildings. </p>
<p>I’ve visited on a formal tour to American, and have no animosity to any of the fantastic institutions in DC. Georgetown can be secluding, and while the section named Georgetown is full of history and cool shops along the Canal… the closest Metro station to Georgetown is actually GWU’s metro stop. Getting out of the ‘bubble’ at Georgetown, getting into the city requires a hefty taxi cab fare or a 20 minute bike ride. Walking 2 miles for 45 minutes can also get you to the National Mall. But the difference is that GW is right there in the heart of everything. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions (anyone looking in on this thread) about GW, just PM me. I’m not a talks person or rep from the University, but a future Colonial who thinks that the assertion that GW has no campus is really outdated. The University is always expanding, so much so that tensions with the Foggy Bottom residential community are very high because GW is ALWAYS building something. Go Colonials!</p>