<p>-Is the First Year Seminar instead of a liberal arts core or in addition?
No, it counts as a “free elective”, meaning you’re taking it for fun and not to meet any requirements. Liberal arts are usually easy to meet though if you came in with science APs or take some fun classes like psychology, sociology, or GPA boosters (rate my professor is your friend). Keep in mind that the MSB business core requirements are extensive and are curved, so people tend to sprinkle their liberal arts classes that aren’t curved with their business classes to boost their GPA.</p>
<p>-What percent does a final exam typically account for in a class?
Usually finals count for 25-40% of your final grade. They tend to be cumulative and people study VERY hard for them.</p>
<p>-How much writing is involved in Theology and Philosophy courses?
Depends. My theology class is a variety of small responses, then essays that are worth a bit more. My philosophy class was weekly 2 page essay responses, about 12 of them and 2 major essays (6 pages), and a final multiple choice test. English can be VERY writing intensive, but again it all depends on what classes you sign up for or get signed up for.</p>
<p>-How much harder is Georgetown compared to a competitive high school?
Much harder, be prepared to work MUCH harder than you did in high school. Getting As means you need to put the work in to get it, not how smart you think you were. For example, I had a 4.0 at a competitive private school, but had a 3.5 last semester because I didn’t put the time into classes. I thought I could not work hard and pull through it. Now this semester I crack down, go to the library when I need to and get all my studying done because I know it helps.</p>
<p>-How stressful is Georgetown?
It’s stressful in the sense that you will be surrounded by very accomplished and smart kids, and you feel you won’t measure up at times. But you will find that you have good qualities that differentiate you, and especially once you start joining student clubs and organizations (I recommend the investment funds, GUASFCU, Hilltop Consultants, or any other business-related activities) that you are you your own person. I would say it’s relatively more stressful in the business school because of the focus on jobs, which is evident even in the freshman class. People will eventually competing for jobs during junior year, so they are focused on getting that 5-8% As or 10-15% A- that MSB curve is known to give, as well as interviewing and getting into all the exclusive clubs on campus.</p>
<p>-Are course grades forced so only a fixed percent receive an A grade etc…
Yes, like said above, MSB means you should expect a B+ if you put in a very good effort, A- for people who are naturally smart and put maybe less effort because they understand material, but As reserved for many of the kids who have natural talent for the class AND spend an enormous amount of time studying. Some of my friends studied 36 straight hours to achieve the 93 for accounting exams. Again, it depends on you. But yes, the curve is set at 3.33, so say someone gets an A, It would balance out with another kid who got a B-. Average class size is 40 students, so say 15 get B+, then it allows about leeway for about 10 to get A-, 5 to get A, but similarly 5 getting a B, and 5 getting a solid C. That’s not accurate of a class, because many are smart but many find trouble with certain classes (aka accounting will be a class where many score in the 30s-60s, while management and marketing will more likely follow the above 40 person distribution (which averages to a 3.29). To sum it up, study hard and you’ll be guaranteed a B+, but the A- and As will require the extra effort.</p>
<p>-How does the amount of work compare to other undergraduate business degrees?
It’s very hard here compared to lower ranked business schools, but it would be on the level of schools like Wharton, Tepper, Olin, Carroll or Stern. Don’t be afraid of the work though, because as people said, you have a lot more time so you are expected to use that time to supplement the less amount of meeting hours per week. There’s enough of time to balance sports, working out, eating healthy, meeting in time-heavy clubs and studying a lot.</p>
<p>One more note: there are kids that focus very heavily on grades but others who realize that getting a job means meeting the cutoff point then focusing on other factors such as interviewing, how you present yourself, your personality and likability, and arguably most important: job experience. Internships will be crucial come junior year recruiting. Make sure your GPA is 3.5+, though 3.7 will get you every first-round interview. As you probably learned in econ, there’s much less utility you get from studying that extra to get the A vs A- in some classes.</p>
<p>Another tip: make sure you lock down the As in the liberal arts classes since they are not curved and solely focused on if you yourself performed in accordance to expectations for the class.</p>