Questions about atmosphere, SFS, etc

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
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<p>i have a number of questions that have been going around my head about georgetown, so i thought i might as well ask them</p>

<p>when i visited georgetown i really liked it....except for one thing. there are airplaens overhead almost every 2 minutes! just during my 3 hours or so on campus i got annoyed by the planes. what do you (students) think about the airplanes? are they a nusance? do you get over them?</p>

<p>What is teh general opinion of teh school of foreign services? is it hard or easy? what type of classes do you take? how easy is it to transfer from the college to SFS and vice versa? what type of professions to people go into after graduating there (and what's the specific diploma that graduates get)</p>

<p>If anyone is taking any language classes (more specifically spanish or japanese), what is the language department at georgetown like?</p>

<p>also i remember that our tourguide said that housing is only guaranteed for one year. how much of an issue is that?</p>

<p>thanks :)</p>

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<p>OK, 1) About the airplanes: You get so accustomed to them, you just stop hearing them. 2) SFS IS THE BOMB! OK, so I love it, I think it is an awesome schoo, awesome advising, awesome profs, the classes are hard, especially econ, but they are so interesting and enlightening. 3) I take French, it's good, easy, because I'm Mexican, and pronunciation is easy, I have taken a Latin Amer lit class in spanish and thatw as so interesting. I loved it! 4) Housing is guaranteed for the 1st two years as is, but they are working on making it for 4 years, and most people chose to live off campus after junior or even sophmore year.</p>

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<p>i had a question for a currently attending student, for what places does the meal plan apply? i heard here its only for darnall and leo's, but on the site it lists those two, plus others like the Center Grill and Hoya Court. i just wanted to know so i could decide which plan to get.</p>

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<p>meal plan only applies to darnall and leo's
munch money applies to hoya court, vittles, and other places both on and off campus</p>

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<p>What is the best meal plan? Can the 14 one accomodate all you need or do you think the 24 meal one is better? I wish there ws one in between.</p>

<p>I've heard the food gets boring, so you should buy less meals on the meal plan and just eat more off campus. Is this true?</p>

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<p>i think im gonna go with the unlimited/24 meal plan first semester, and then probably switch to the 14 meal for 2nd semseter.</p>

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<p>I'm gonna go for the 24 meal plan... it sounds like it's the best. I didn't like the "Carte Blanche" one (by the way, they spelled it "Carte Blance" in the packet, lol) as much because there was no "Grab 'n Go" option. Ad 24 meals per week is more than enough.</p>

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<p>I'm going with 10 meals. I don't really eat that much normally anyway.</p>

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<p>I'm feeling the 10 meal plan. All the students I've talked to recommended it. I just don't see myself going to the cafeteria 3 times everyday. I have no restraint and will probably end up eating at the restaurants all around.</p>

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<p>For those of you looking at the 10 meal plan, consider the block 75. You can buy two of them for about the same price as the 10 meal plan - and they both equate to 10 meals/week (two block 75 plans is 150 meals - 15 weeks per semester is 10 meals per week). The advantage here is that on the 10 meal plan if you only eat 8 meals one week you lose the other two. The block 75 counts for the whole semester, not broken down by week, so if you eat 8 meals one week you could have 12 the next. They don't let you buy more than one block 75 at a time, but you can buy a second once you use up the first. It seems to allow a bit more flexability.</p>

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<p>Could we get to the questions abotu SFS?</p>

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<p>block75 is only for sophomores or above</p>

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<p>*What is teh general opinion of teh school of foreign services? *</p>

<p>General opinion is that it's full of international students, politics junkies, nerds, and absurdly driven people who plan to run for president, cure cancer, and bring peace to the middle east by the time they're 22. And then they'll go to law school.</p>

<p>is it hard or easy?</p>

<p>Uh, depends. SFS classes tend to have higher average grades in them but we like to think that's because we're smarter heh. The SFS core really isn't any easier or harder than the College one in my opinion, unless you really hate Econ. Once you get to the higher level classes, they're certainly very complex and challenging, but I think that's true for just about any concentration.</p>

<p>what type of classes do you take?</p>

<p>The green guide they send you over the summer has a sample schedule, and the website has some also I think. My schedule's probably not totally typical but here it is for what it's worth (core required classes are starred, ones that fulfill a core requiredment have #):</p>

<p>1st semester:
I. Proseminar*
II. Russian
III. Microeconomics*
IV. Russian History I#</p>

<p>2nd semester:
I. Political & Social Thought*
II. Russian
III. Macroeconomics*
IV. Intro to International Relations*
V. History of the Russian Language
VI. Map of the Modern World*</p>

<p>3rd semester:
I. Problem of God#
II. Intro to Logic#
III. International Trade*
IV. Comparitive Political Systems*
V. Russian</p>

<p>how easy is it to transfer from the college to SFS and vice versa?</p>

<p>Not very. A sizeable number of people want to transfer into SFS so they tend to discourage people from doing it unless you have a compelling reason. That being said, if you've done fine academically and can articulate well what it is you want to do in the SFS, you have a good shot. But it's not quite as easy as just filling out a form (which is what declaring and/or changing your major is)</p>

<p>what type of professions to people go into after graduating there
Some of the more common ones: Law school followed by law, NGO work like Red Cross or Medecins Sans Frontiers, Americorps, Peace Corps, government work in various agencies, Teach for America, business and banking (the Int Econ and IPEC people get job offers pretty quick as a rule).</p>

<p>and what's the specific diploma that graduates get
BSFS - Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service</p>

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<p>maybe they have changed it, but block 75 was available to freshmen in the 2003-2004 year.</p>

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<p>"General opinion is that it's full of international students, politics junkies, nerds, and absurdly driven people who plan to run for president, cure cancer, and bring peace to the middle east by the time they're 22. And then they'll go to law school." HUGE GENERALIZATION!! SFS people are very driven but not to thate xtreme, I don't plan on going to Law school, and in my opinion pre-med people are more absurdly driven. I think that yes, SFSers might want to change the world, but hey, that's a good thing. SFSers aren't crazy competitive. a lot of people are laid back, and very interested. dzleprechaun- YTour schedule is way off, I think, if they ahven't changed it. P of G is first semester, or second, depending on your last name, and A-M take PST while N-Z take P of G or any other Theo. At least that was my green book, don't attack me if it has changed. You have to take a non-regional history 1st semster two, Euro Civ or Atlantic History not History of Russia. That is afterwards. Many people also go to Grad school, and a ot of people take the Foreign Service examination.</p>

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<p>Yea hoyadan, of course that's a huge generalization, but there's no other way to answer a question like "what's the general opinion of the SFS" other than with a generalization. What I wrote down is pretty much the stereotype of SFSers, wouldn't you agree? Another good example of "general opinion" would be the Heckler</a> cartoon of the schools. That being said, of course there's alot of laid-back SFSers (except leading up to the MAP exam hehe).</p>

<p>As for my schedule: I got a 5 on the AP euro exam so that took care of the non-regional history, which is why I started off with Russian history. You're right about the Problem of God/PST thing, except for people taking intensive languages - those classes are six credits, so some people defer taking a class like Problem of God or Econ or something else until later in their career. PST you DO have to take your freshman year though.</p>

<p>My case is a little different since I placed into a higher-level Russian course (I'm Russian but I've lived in the states for a long time so my grammar was stuck at the 7th grade level or so) that wasn't intensive, but by that point my schedule had already been set and so I ended up with only 12 credits the first semester. But for those who are taking intensive languages like Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc, they may end up not taking POG until later, unless they want to take 18 credits their first semester.</p>

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<p>Interesting schedule! I ahve a friend that is graduating and she took Russian, she passed her proficency which made her really happy. You're right your schedule is very peculiar, but oh so interesting. I gguess you're right about SFSers, how did u do in map? Coz I just found out I passed even though I kinda didn't do much studying besides the maps. I assume you passed. I had never seen that cartoon before it is so awesome! I'm printing it out as we speak! There is a lot of truth there! :) I guess maybe I should post my schedule, just to show a different though still peculiar example (I think everybody's is really different. I felt like dying in PST.. ugh! Anyway here is my schedule:
1st semester:
P of G
History of the Atlantic World (Rothman rox)
Intro French I
Micro (killl me!)
Prosem ( LOVED IT!!!)
2nd Semester
Macro ( :p)
french intro II
Spanish American Contemporary Short story (hard but cool)
Catholic Imagination (Supposed to be easy A but wasn't)
Map, of course
PST (Please Stop Talking)
3rd Semester
Comparative Political Systems
Intensive Intermediate french
I Trade
History of Africa I
I'm from mexico, so i speak spanish that's how I took that spansh class! I'm done with theo and eng requirements (ye-ah!)</p>

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<p>When you say "3rd semester," you mean summer, right?</p>

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<p>What is the difference between a "certificate" and a major? Since I am apart of the College and I am very interested in East Asian Studies, I looked into an Asian Studies major and found that "certificates" are given. Is this the same as a major? Is it impossible to get a major in English and a certification in Asian studies?</p>

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<p>I mean sophmore year, calidan. Certificates are like minors but with thesis at the end. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they are only SFS. You can't get a certificate in SFS while in the COL, so I don't think you're plan would work.</p>