<p>I have heard some stories about GW not being a great place unless you come from money. How much socioeconomic diversity is there really? Do middle class kids feel excluded? I'm just worried about my fitting in because I don't have a Gucci purse.</p>
<p>I’m feeling sarcastic tonight, so …not gonna answer, except to say you heard wrong.</p>
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<p>Roughly 50% of students at the George Washington University receive some kind of need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>The upper-class (ie, those above $250k/yr) are very well represented at GW, but also that there is at least 1 in every 2 people that is going to this college because the cannot afford. Even then, I don’t think socioeconomic diversity has anything to do with the kind of people GW students are.</p>
<p>So i’d end in saying that GW is a great place to come to regardless of your socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>It feels very “monied” and wealthy.</p>
<p>There are some middle class and some poor people, too. If you look for them, they’re there. It’s not like 100% of GW students come from the upper elite. Some don’t.</p>
<p>In general, it’s easy to feel pressured to spend money on luxury goods here as your wealthy peers do. One Gucci? The “monied” kids crap out Gucci. I have a few friends who can hardly afford Ramen Noodle and are legit poor. I have more friends who can easily drop a few hundred a month partying it up, then later going to Banana Republic/Urban Outfitters/etc. and dropping more money. I also know some middle class.</p>
<p>The real rough thing about attended a school like this if you’re middle class is:</p>
<p>1) You’re middle class, not poor. As a middle class student, you’ll get SCREWED over with financial aide, and struggle to pay tuition. You’ll likely borrow $100,000 in private student loans, and suffer with years and years of college loan repayments. Scholarships? Forget it. You’re too rich for need based, and too poor to pay for college in cash. Maybe you can get the smaller scholarships for merit… it’s a penny in the puddle.</p>
<p>2) You see people buying luxury goods rather often. Northface, gadgets, Prada, Kate Spade, etc. It’s expensive to live in DC-- high rent. It’s expensive to eat out, go out. There’s no Walmart nearby. You want clothes, you can either catch a cab to the suburbs to find cheaper, or shop in the city at pricier places (Banana Republic, etc.). You want food? It’s eating out, or buying from the fairly pricey on-campus grocery stops, or venturing to the suburbs and buying cheaper groceries with cash. Transit (cabs, metro fares) can add up.</p>
<p>You see that sort of luxury spending and extravagance while you’re struggling to find get another student loan company that will loan you even more money, while you’re bumming Ramen noodles off a friend. If you want middle class friends, they’re easy enough to find.</p>
<p>I’ve known middle class kids, and also some who were truly the upper elite. One of my GW classmates owned a small island. A literal (small) island. You should’ve seen the lifestyle this person lived. Another friend had a single mom who was a teacher making under $30,000 a year. Another friend has a dad who is a media mogul… he bought her a condo to live in on campus and a beamer. Actually, several of my friends parents bought them city condos and nice cars. Lots of lawyer parents. You don’t often see parents in the, say, southern USA rural schools buying DC-priced condos ($200-300,000+) and nice cars. Small rural houses and cheaper cars, sure. DC-priced condos, not so much. Many of my friends go on nice vacations-- tropical, Europe, etc. once or twice a year or more. </p>
<p>With that said, it’s not that big a deal to be middle class-- you’re attending a ridiculously expensive school. You’ll see excess spending at any ridiculously expensive school. Similarly, you’ll struggle to pay for it-- too poor to pay cash, too rich to get financial aid. It’s not like your GW classmates will shun you for being middle class. Some are middle class. Plenty are richer, some are poorer. You can find friends in different income brackets. Your problem will just be affording to pay tuition and rent/dorm costs without going into obscene amounts of debt. It’s a pricey school in a pricey city.</p>
<p>I would be more concerned with how you’ll pay for college if I were you. Having $100,000-200,000 in college loan debt is a nightmare. On top of high monthly payments upon graduation, you’ll be nailed by student loan interest, making it take decades to pay.</p>
<p>Socially? No big deal to be middle class.
Financially? A big deal with little to no financial aid.</p>
<p>Gwgrad, I’ve read some of your other stuff on here, and it seems like you’re still pretty PO’ed about the lack of financial aid you got at GW. I do agree that it’s a problem – several students are taking leaves of absence due to financial aid, and a huge number of people transferred out (for both financial and personal reasons), but I never felt the school was as “monied” as you described. I’ve never felt “pressured” to have luxury goods; I don’t really know anyone who has.</p>
<p>I know a lot of kids who went to public schools, came from solidly middle class areas, and enjoyed their time as much as anyone. There were people from the opposite end of the spectrum who were dissatisfied with their GW experience, too. </p>
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<p>OK, you’re making me scared here. It’s never been a ‘eat the lobster from the overly expensive restaurant or die’ type atmosphere. The biggest problem I’ve seen people have is budgeting their money. Yes, you will run out of money very quickly if you buy $7 - $9 sandwiches three times a day from Carvings. If you buy a prepaid Visa with your GWorld, buy a huge box of Frosted Flakes and eat a bowl of cereal in your dorm with a yogurt in the morning (get them from J-Street, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, though, not the CVS across from Marvin; that place robs you blind on cereal) or buy some fruits/veggies/hummus and do dinner/potluck in your room with some buddies, and are generally smart with your money, you should be OK.</p>
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<p>That’s true. GW is definitely NOT worth six-figure debt. It’s a good school for the right type of person (“fit” and all that), but be warned: if you have any doubts about financial aid, get out ASAP.</p>
<p>If you want to live on a box of cereal, yes, you can cut your food expenses there. If you eat out, go out, or use transit, those costs add up. Dorm and rent costs add up too.</p>
<p>There definitely are some middle class kids here. But, compared to state school or most average (not expensive like this) private schools, GWU is very monied. There are some average kids and some poor kids, but you’ll see more kids here with far more wealth than at most no name schools, state schools, or average priced private schools. Our version of “middle class” or “I’m broke” is very different from those kids. I know far more people that can easily drop a few hundred and up on Northface, Apple, Kate Spade, Toms, etc. products or simply eating/going out or entertainment expenses than people I know who eat ramen for a whole month and can’t afford any Metro fare. The majority of undergrad GW students don’t hold full-time jobs. Plenty don’t even have paying jobs. Our version of “I’m broke” is not eating out or shopping for a month or waiting a few weeks to buy textbooks. Or, rearranging our finances. Real “I’m broke” is nearly getting evicted, not being able to afford Ramen noodles, shopping clearance racks at the thrift store for clothes once a year, not having a phone/cable/internet/PC, and having $10 for entertainment expenses a month if you’re lucky. What we consider “luxury” goods are far different than most people. I don’t know a great deal of GW students who work 70+ hours a week while attending classes full-time just so they can afford cheap rent and food. We are monied compared to most students, if not most people. Go check out a true middle class or working class state or affordable private college, or even community college. The differences in wealth, paying jobs (or lack of), and spending is dramatic. There’s a lotta money here.</p>
<p>A box of cereal? Sure, you could get cereal, ramen, etc. and not go out or use transit to drastically lower expenses. I’m talking average food expenses here with an average amount of eating out.</p>
<p>A person from any class can be happy with a college that is a good match for them- so long as they can afford such a school.</p>
<p>Whoa . There’s a lot of extrageration here. FA at GW is really a chance thing. I’m middle class (or upper-middle class?) whatever. GW covers almost everything for me to come to school. My roomie, same thing. middle class EXCEPT GW covers almost NOTHING for her. It’s seriously a crapshoot. </p>
<p>yes, there are a TON of people here with designer things and all that jazz but they dont rub it in your faces and a lot of people dont even talk about money here. I made lots of friends here and it’s only last month that I saw that one of my friends lived in a megamansion. I would’ve never known she was rich if I never saw that house. </p>
<p>Things are expensive here, yes but its a city. Expect it. And its a lot cheaper than NYC. Your GWorld money will run out quickly if you dont manage your expenses but thats why you get a job (like I did). </p>
<p>You’ll have no problem fitting in at GW. No one cares about your socioeconomic background unless you keep pushing it in peoples faces that you’re broke or rich or whatever. Don’t let that stop you from coming here. But don’t let that make you take up lots of debt either. It’s not worth it.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with gwgrad, based on my two sons’ accounts. Also, the students who we end up hiring as interns or clerks for our firm we find out later tend to be, as gwgrad puts it, “monied” (e.g., have family-owned businesses, law specialist parents, medical specialist parents, executives of multinational corps. from abroad, etc.). They also tend to be well-mannered and not spoiled (of course, not all, but most). </p>
<p>Of course, that is not to say that all are “monied”@GW. It just so happens that my perception is based on the above, which appears to be consistent with gwgrad’s observation of “monied” kids @GW.</p>
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<p>That’s true. Those of my friends that complained about being “broke” (from eating out two times a day or something) never had a job, work-study or otherwise.</p>
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<p>That’s true. The kids who flash their stuff the most are, in my experience, the kids who came in with preconceived notions of what rich kid school GW is, and feel like their have to do it to fit in.</p>
<p>Euro, you have to remember, gwgrad is older than me and adababy. She’s a frosh, from what I can tell; I’m a sophomore. GwGrad… I’m not sure if he still goes here, but he might. Grad students live a totally different life.</p>
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<p>So true. You don’t find many law firm interns or Starbucks workers at other colleges with the kind of money-- or at least family money-- that GW kids have. There sure are a lot of kids with big family businesses, top law firm partners, dignitaries, and all sorts of privileged background. Unpaid interns for firms or congress having swanky apartments/cars/luxury goods their parents pay for is not uncommon. It’s not like 100% of GW students are monied, but those who are monied are very monied. There are some poor students too. It makes me giggle when people think GW is the norm of students and “middle class.” It’s not. You must need a passport to get to the south these days. Check out state schools in rural areas, then return to GW. Note the privilege.</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, it’s a relatively “monied” school across the board compared to “normal” colleges. GW is a pricey school and a pricey city to say the least. Compare tuition to the average income for a family of 4 in, say, Alabama. Or, for that matter, a middle class person’s average.</p>
<p>half of the population is pretty well off. the other half gets financial aid. the former usually pays full boat and subsidizes the aid for the latter. GW gives great need based aid. you’ll find a lot of middle class people, but, like others have said, you’re too rich for need based and too poor to pay out of pocket.</p>