<p>for those who go to gwu or visited..what do u like and dislike about the university</p>
<p>I'm a current GW freshman who hasn't posted on this forum in quite some time. Please remember that I've only been here for 7 or 8 weeks.</p>
<p>Academics: I feel as though my HS prepared me very well for college - I took all honors/AP courses possible and it has paid off. While many others are staying up throughout the night studying for a test the next day, I feel very comfortable with my workload. The key is not taking too many difficult courses in one semester. One of my roommates is taking a new language, organic chemistry, and calculus all at once - and he is regretting it. I'm taking Spanish (which I took throughout HS), philosophy, psychology, global politics, and astronomy - not an EASY workload, but it's not calculus and organic chemistry. It's challenging, but not overwhelming. The teachers I've had so far are quite good, especially my philosophy and spanish teachers. The smaller the class, the better the experience I'm having with the overall learning and professor interaction (my smallest classes are philosophy and spanish).</p>
<p>Campus: Upscale, clean area of DC. Within walking distance of the monuments and Georgetown. I like the fact that you have to walk to classes merely because it balances the bad diet and has kept my weight relatively stable since I've gotten here. The buildings are really nice and they are constantly building new ones (a business school building and new freshman dorm should be done by next year I believe). Not the traditional college campus, but it has everything that a traditional one does except for the grassy knolls and imaginary bubble from the real world. The freshman dorms are above average. From what I hear and have seen to a limited extent, some of the upper class dorms are VERY nice.</p>
<p>Social: Here is where I must become a bit of a Debbie Downer. Moving away from a close group of friends back home, I have found it very difficult adjusting and making new friends in college. There are a lot of preppy kids here, there are a lot of stuck up kids here, there are a lot of closed-minded kids here. It could very well be because I live in Thurston (the "wild" freshman dorm, of which I think gets too bad of a rap sometimes), but I don't know. I've joined a few clubs and have met quite a few friendly folk (don't get me wrong, not EVERYONE here is stuck up), but many (I would even venture to say most) are upperclassmen - for some reason they seem to be much nicer than the freshmen. I get the feeling that some people try to hard and make it obvious they are trying to "re-invent" themselves since leaving HS, and that kind of rubs me the wrong way too. The first 3 weeks or so were absolutely terrible. I flat out hated college because I was homesick and wasn't too successful at making friends. Since then, I've met some nice kids that I hang out with one weekends, but it's still not the same as back home - and I think that's just a personal preference that might never change - you can't have bonfires in your friend's backyard in college nor can you invite 10 friends over to your house to have a party - here, you party with 50-100 kids that you don't even know their names.</p>
<p>With all that being said, I'm considering transferring to a school where I might be a better fit at and would be closer to home. At the same time, I would never transfer to a worse school just because of a CURRENTLY below-average social scene - the school would have to be equal to or better than GW and the price would have to be right (unlike many of the kids who go here, I don't come from a rich family who gives their kid a credit card for college to buy whatever they want). I hope it wont come down to that, as I've already landed an internship on a campaign in VA, have had a good academic experience, and have enjoyed many aspects of GW, but I figure I have nothing to lose in APPLYING to transfer (besides a considerable amount of time, blood, sweat, and tears - but those are all expendable).</p>
<p>Hope this helped a bit.</p>
<p>Is there pressure to drink/party?</p>
<p>There definitely isn't pressure, but if you live in Thurston, many, many people do drink and party. If you arn't of the partying type, I would suggest living in ANY one of the other freshman dorms.</p>
<p>thanks a lot grkam!</p>
<p>any other views?</p>
<p>Social: Here is where I must become a bit of a Debbie Downer. Moving away from a close group of friends back home, I have found it very difficult adjusting and making new friends in college. There are a lot of preppy kids here, there are a lot of stuck up kids here, there are a lot of closed-minded kids here. It could very well be because I live in Thurston (the "wild" freshman dorm, of which I think gets too bad of a rap sometimes), but I don't know. I've joined a few clubs and have met quite a few friendly folk (don't get me wrong, not EVERYONE here is stuck up), but many (I would even venture to say most) are upperclassmen - for some reason they seem to be much nicer than the freshmen. I get the feeling that some people try to hard and make it obvious they are trying to "re-invent" themselves since leaving HS, and that kind of rubs me the wrong way too. The first 3 weeks or so were absolutely terrible. I flat out hated college because I was homesick and wasn't too successful at making friends. Since then, I've met some nice kids that I hang out with one weekends, but it's still not the same as back home - and I think that's just a personal preference that might never change - you can't have bonfires in your friend's backyard in college nor can you invite 10 friends over to your house to have a party - here, you party with 50-100 kids that you don't even know their names.</p>
<p><em>Ding, Ding, Ding</em> I totally agree with you. Especially about the kids trying too hard to make friends. It's too bad that you're transferring because you seem like a cool kid. Well, good luck to you.</p>
<p>Well, I'm happy to say that I'm a rising sophomore at at GW. I decided to stay at the school, and let me tell you, I am VERY happy that I did. The social scene improved for me a ton --- looking back on it, I feel like I would've had the same tough transition at any school. Yes, there are some closed-minded people, yes there are some people who tried to re-invent themselves, but it isn't nearly as bad as I made it out to be or thought back then. Once I found a few friends, I was introduced to their friends and so on. A lot of them have become close friends that I've stayed in touch with over summer and visited a few times. And also, when I wrote my last post, I largely experimented with frat parties (which I've come to dislike, unless the frat is merely 'hosting' a party at a local club or bar), hence the 50-100 people reference. For those of you into the party scene, you'll find that most of that will be done with your friends.</p>
<p>All in all, I'm extremely glad I stayed. Even some of the people who I, to say the least, was not on the friendliest of terms with early on, have become close friends. My advice: give it time, act yourself, and you'll find your niche (and hope it doesn't take as long as it did for me haha).</p>
<p>Feel free to ask any questions...</p>
<p>Great advice!
Good luck to you!</p>