My daughter was accepted into this program as a Freshman (1st year you could apply as a freshman), her other options are UMD and Wisconsin. Could anyone give some insight into the program, size of classes, types of internships, study abroad and post jobs. My daughter is coming from a elite Private school in LA and is very concerned she will feel like she is still in that high school environment. She is Christian and probably more moderate politically but obviously still figuring it out.
She is interested in Greek Life, and would like to attend basketball games and any other sport events.
Any info you can offer would be great.
For Greek life, that wont be a problem. My D went greek and loves it. I dont think the sporting events are very well attended though. We do have basketball teams. Also the majority i would say are leaning left, but there is a contingent of moderate and right leaning students.
GW offers so much in terms of internships and study abroad. I cant speak to jobs, but I feel like that do very well there as well .
Could you give me a pro and con list of the school from your perspective…my daughter would be coming from OOS so would be staying on campus a lot
Welcome!
Regarding her concern of the school feeling like a competitive private school, I would say with 100% certainty that will not be the case. There are lots of driven students on campus, but the campus does not have the preppy, stuffy atmosphere that you’d experience in a private school. A better comparison to that would be an Ivy school like Georgetown. GW is very much laid-back in comparison.
Further, from a fellow moderate Christian perspective she’ll be fine with campus politics. Yes, the majority of campus is left-leaning, but there are those in the middle and right. And I’m not sure if your daughter is denominational at all, but there is a Catholic group on campus called the Newman Center that gets together for all kinds of social events. The best one is free dinner every Tuesday (free food is great for college students!)
And if you’d like a pro/con list, here’s my perspective (coming from an alum that graduated in 2011 and more recently started grad school at GW)
Pros:
Campus location (convenient for jobs, internships, exploring the city)
Awesome upperclassman dorms (it’s like apartment living in the city)
Great networking opportunities (through professors, internships, and even other students entering the same field)
Many unique class opportunities (taught by current experts in the field, world dignitaries, etc)
“Open campus” meal plan (this is a con for some, but most students love the flexibility of getting food from so many different vendors)
Cons:
The main campus always feels busy and a little loud
Not much school spirit
The cost (it’s not uncommon for students to graduate with $60K+ in debt, and that’s crippling for most new grads)