Questions for a current GW student?

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<p>I’ve heard a lot of good things about the public health and journalism programs. Journalism is in the SMPA (basically a journalism school within CCAS), and that requires a separate application if you weren’t admitted into it as a freshman. Either way, the earliest you can take journalism courses toward your major is sophomore year. As for the STEM courses… generally, I would stay clear of GW in that field. There is a good bio professor for non-major, intro bio, but the class is pretty small (~30 students). A chem professor is also excellent, but again for non-majors. The math department is limited in course offerings, and professors don’t get the highest praise. However, the physics students generally seem happy with their programs and I keep hearing something about research in Sweden. That’s the most I have for you on that front. </p>

<p>From the majors you selected, I’d choose public health or journalism; it’s more bang for your back and a more pleasant experience overall.</p>

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<p>Those are on the Vern, as Wmurphy mentioned, and tend to be pretty quiet. Housing will love you for having those as your first choices, but be warned that the commute is a hassle.</p>

<p>For those living in Thurston, when you get on the metro, do you usually go to Foggy Bottom or Farragut West?</p>

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<p>Actually, they’re both equidistant from Thurston (~.5 - .6 miles), although Farragut is a bit farther away depending on the route you take. I’ve never heard of anyone getting off at Farragut West.</p>

<p>Is that the only problem with the Vern? The travel hassle?</p>

<p>It’s too late, since housing is done, but still I wanna know if there are any other negative things there.</p>

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<p>Adam, I didn’t live on the Vern, so I can’t give you a first hand experience, but I usually go up once a week or so. Here’s what I’ve gathered:</p>

<p>Pros:

  • New dorms, especially West Hall. West also has a gym, a blackbox theater, and a cafeteria that lets you spend J St money (trust me, this is a good deal) and has all you can eat brunch on Sundays.
  • Community feel; kids usually know each other on the Vern.
  • Priority registration for Vern classes.</p>

<p>Cons:

  • The Vern shuttle, especially in winter.
  • Forgetting something when you’re on Foggy
  • Very quiet; everyone the Vern leaves ASAP
  • 99.9% of social events/parties are on the main campus
  • Putting the Vern anywhere on your housing app and being placed there, or being placed there even if you didn’t put it on your app. That’s been known to happen.
  • If you get EMeRGed on the Vern, you have to be taken to Georgetown Hospital (nearest) using their ambulance, which costs extra.</p>

<p>I see. Some of those things could be annoying. Thanks for letting me know.</p>

<p>DC Bound versus CBC?</p>

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<p>DC Bound is a new program this year, but it seems like an extended version of CI, from what I can tell. The CBC people who participated really liked it, though.</p>

<p>when registering for classes is there anyway to chose which TA you get or find out which TA is in charge of each discussion section? basically I’ve been hearing for one of my required classes the TA will make or break your grade.</p>

<p>^ What classes are we required to take as freshmen? I have no idea how any of the class registration stuff works.</p>

<p>To add to everyone else’s registration questions, how do we transfer AP credits? Also, if we want to transfer AP credit, does the grade that we received on the exam affect our college G.P.A.? (for example, would our G.P.A. be different depending on whether we got a 4 or 5 on an AP exam)?</p>

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<p>It generally doesn’t say on the GW site or on Banweb, but once the professor posts the syllabus, it should be on there. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though. Grading problems are always reported to the professor, NOT the TA.</p>

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<p>University Writing is required across the board. For a school specific curriculum, refer to:</p>

<p>Business: [Bachelor</a> of Business Administration | Undergraduate Programs | School of Business | The George Washington University](<a href=“http://business.gwu.edu/ugrad/academics/fouryear/bba.cfm]Bachelor”>http://business.gwu.edu/ugrad/academics/fouryear/bba.cfm)
Elliott: [Intro</a> to the Major: BA, Asian Studies - Undergraduate Academics - The Elliott School of International Affairs<a href=“with%20enough%20AP%20credits,%20you%20can%20place%20out%20of%20almost%20everything%20except%20IAFF,%20which%20is%20a%20pain”>/url</a>
SEAS: [url=<a href=“http://www.gwu.edu/~bulletin/ugrad/seas.html]GW”>School of Engineering and Applied Science | The George Washington University]GW</a> Bulletin 2011-2012](<a href=“http://elliott.gwu.edu/academics/ugrad/general/intro.cfm]Intro”>http://elliott.gwu.edu/academics/ugrad/general/intro.cfm)
Columbian: [General</a> Education Curriculum | Columbian College of Arts and Sciences - The George Washington University](<a href=“http://columbian.gwu.edu/undergraduate/programs/gpac]General”>http://columbian.gwu.edu/undergraduate/programs/gpac)</p>

<p>I don’t believe Columbian requires anything outside of UW 1020 the first year.</p>

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<p>That’s pretty easy. You should have indicated GW as your school to send all scores to during AP week (it’s OK if you didn’t; you can still send your results for about $10). Unfortunately, you can only transfer in a max of 24 credits.</p>

<p>You don’t get a GPA, but you can see how your credits transferred in DegreeMap (which you can find under Student Registration in BanWeb), or on here: <a href=“http://www.gwu.edu/apply/undergraduateadmissions/applytogw/bringingcredittogw/apcredit[/url]”>http://www.gwu.edu/apply/undergraduateadmissions/applytogw/bringingcredittogw/apcredit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Use DegreeMap to track your progress throughout your time at GW: it tells you what courses you need to take, how you’ve progressed toward your degree, whether you can graduate early/late, etc.</p>

<p>How is the Math program at GW?</p>

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<p>It’s not the best. Classes, especially for upper level courses, are few and far between, and students generally aren’t happy with professors. There are exceptions, of course, but few, if any, people come to GW for math.</p>

<p>I took calculus in high school and decided to take single variable calc I in my freshman year. Let me just say that it was one of the worst classes I’ve ever taken. I got an A in my high school class and barely managed a B- in my freshman class. The teacher was not only boring but also seemed like he didn’t know what he was talking about. I went to other classes to see if I could have a better experience with a different teacher and none of the other options seemed any better. Maybe other people have had better experiences but I, for one, will never be taking a math class at GW again! I decided to stick with GW’s stronger professors in the polisci and international affairs departments</p>

<p>Sorry about that! I’ve been super busy lately. I’m applying for internships for the fall so I’ve been doing tons of interviews, writing cover letters, etc. Please let me know if I can help you out with any questions</p>

<p>The professors vary. Some are the best teachers I have EVER had, and others, well, suck. Read their reviews on ratemyprofessor.com…they’re usually pretty accurate. As far as advising goes, the advisors are very helpful if you actually go and talk to them. They won’t tell you what you should do (which some people look for when they go meet with their advisors because they’re indecisive) but they can help you figure out all of your options. I went to my advisor to talk about the possibility of doing a minor in english while still doing a major in int’l affairs. He was very helpful</p>

<p>Are all of the University Writing courses on the Mount Vernon campus? I’m looking at the schedule of classes and it seems that way.</p>

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<p>Yes, as of this year.</p>

<p>^ Very annoying.</p>