<p>It's no secret that in the past GU has taken its share of criticism for being sub-par in the hard sciences. Does the opening of the new sciences building this Fall mark the resolution of that, or is it just a first step where it is going to take more time to beef up the faculty and programs to take full advantage of it? IOW, can the class of 2016 expect great science programs, or just a nice facility.</p>
<p>I attended Georgetown studying the “hard” sciences and premed. after transferring from Duke, where I pursued the same area of study. Georgetown’s undergraduate programs in the “hard” sciences (biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, etc.) are and were stronger than those I experienced at Duke in every way–the quality of the faculty, the focus on undergraduates, the opportunities for undergraduate research, the institutional support/mentoring/advising, the opportunities for curricular/academic enhancement in DC–in every way except the facilities. The completion of the new science center will now provide the state-of-the-art facilities/space/labs that the incredibly strong undergraduate programs deserve. I can tell you that even with our previous facilities, the program at Georgetown prepared me extraordinarily well for medical school at Johns Hopkiins (as well as my friends at other top graduate/professional schools). I think that as far as UNDERGRADUATE experience in the sciences, Georgetown will be hard to beat, as the university provides UNIVERSITY resources/faculty with a focus on UNDERGRADUATES–the best of both worlds–in a prestigious institution with all of the incredible opportunities (for almost every interest, academically, socially, or culturally) of Washington, DC.</p>