<p>Hey everybody,</p>
<p>If you have questions for a current student, post them here and I'll try to get back to you. (Congratulations students of the Class of 2010! I hope you accept GW's offer and become a proud COLONIAL!)</p>
<p>My s has been accepted to GW and is considering it. Wondering how the "campus" -- or lack of -- works out. Is there a sense of cohesion and belonging? How does the meal plan work for you? If I recall, there was no dining hall in the freshman dorm. Everyone seems to love GW, but I'm curious why. How would you rate GW against U/Maryland? Boston U? (I know GW is stronger academically, but otherwise?)</p>
<p>Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>As I'm sure you remembered from your tour, GW is in the city, but it also has a distinct campus. It's a very compact campus, so students are never taking public transportation to get to class. There are also a lot of apartment buildings in the area, so students not living in residence halls can still be active on campus.</p>
<p>You know when you're on campus and you know when you're off campus, so there is definitely a community. Join the Colonial Army - our basketball's student section. When we played Charlotte at home, the game was televised on ESPN and the commentators said that Duke's Cameron's Crazies had nothing on us (for that day). </p>
<p>For freshmen, there is $1,500 required minimum on their GWorld Card per semester. It can be used on campus at our various food courts or at area restaurants. That allows for a wide variety of dining options for students. There is a communal kitchen in each of the freshmen halls (except Fulbright where there are kitchens in each apt) so students can buy groceries with their card and cook back in their building. The card works at the bookstore, so one can buy textbooks, GW apparel, and various other GW gifts. You could also get your drycleaning done and hair cut on the card. The total amount on the card decreases as you matriculate into subsequent years. You are required to have a minimum amount when you reside in university housing and you're required to live in university housing for your first two years.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what your son or daughter wants out of a school and campus but for me (as you can probably tell from my other posts), I love GW's location. Being an International Affairs major and walking past the State Department every day to and from class, gets me really excited about my future career in international politics. The physical environment of GW is so unique and that draws a lot of students here. The opportunities of work experience like internships and co-ops also make GW attractive. Any major can find an internship or job in DC from politics to biology, engineering to english and arts to psychology. DC has a wealth of resources.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't know UMD or BU's campuses or programs, so I wouldn't be able to make a fair comparison.</p>
<p>Thanks for the questions.</p>
<p>... and thank you for taking the time to respond. Much luck to you.</p>
<p>Hey wats up. Even though your majoring international affairs, would you happen to know anything about the college of arts and sciences? Princetonreview says the building is "falling apart," and leaves much to be desired. I'm most likely going to major in bio or premed so I'm worried about that. What do you think of the building, and the program in general? Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>Classes under the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences are not housed in one building. You'll be taking class in any of the university buildings. The registrar's office doesn't segregate the classes. That being said, there are some older buildings. There are some brand new ones. When you register for classes, you'll see where the class is being held, so that can factor into your decision. </p>
<p>The university has been building a lot of new buildings recently. I heard that they're planning on building a new science center, but I'm not too sure when that will be completed. I'm also not exactly sure about the conditions of our bio labs.</p>
<p>Overall, I'm quite content on the conditions of the classrooms I've seen.</p>
<p>I applied to the Elliott School of International Affairs. I received an e-mail saying i was admitted to the unviersity but nothing about the elliott school...</p>
<p>"We are pleased to notify you that you have been admitted to The George Washington University. An official notification of this decision will be sent to you by mail along with information about becoming a GW Colonial."</p>
<p>I was then told by some girl that there is a chance that I may not have gotten in to the elliot school, but rather put into the arts & sciences school for whatever reason. Is this possible? I would think that since i applied to the elliott school that I would be admitted to that school. please clear this up.</p>
<p>hey current student. i just toured gw today and loved it. i was accepted to gw, u of florida, and penn state and was planning on attending a big state school until today. is there enough of a party scene for kids under 21 at gw? these are the kind of questions that tour guides seem to aviod and i was hoping for some inside knowledge before i make my decision.</p>
<p>i was going to get mad at you for blocking my question's answer but then i read your question and i realized i had the same question.</p>
<p>anyone know if there are plans to renovate the library? we were impressed with everything but that when we were there...</p>
<p>In response to Maharaj, when I was applying, they didn't send emails. The email was probably vague, so you should wait for the letter which specifies which school you were admitted to.</p>
<p>To nuts, DC has great night life. There are a lot of clubs that are 18 to enter and 21 to drink. So if you have a fake, make sure it's a good one. Either make sure it's scannable or make sure it's damaged enought that it won't be scannable. </p>
<p>Housing is moving to a new system where our equivelant of RAs (called House Proctors - really stupid sounding title) will be there for advising purposes only. They won't be reponsible for writing people up. From that you can definitely garner the fact that: yes, there is a party scene. Seriously, if there's a will there's a way.</p>
<p>Lastly, ever hear of the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover"? I agree, Gelman Library is not the most impressive-looking building, but the resources are more than adequate for the needs of a university. I don't have a problem with it other than the exterior.</p>
<p>GWCS--You're really selling up G-Dub. Good for you! But I go to G-Dub and there definely some negatives about it too.</p>
<p>If I talk about the negatives too much, nobody would come and our degrees wouldn't be so strong.</p>
<p>Actually, Gelman Library is a lot better than it looks. There are several floors to the library, and when you need to study or research, you can go up to the higher floors where it's really quiet. I pretty much lived there my sophomore year :-) </p>
<p>About the negatives, I definitely agree that there are negatives, and people should probably know about them before they go there. I mean, if they're not happy, they're just going to transfer anyway. However, I've attended a bunch of other schools after GW (not by choice; $$$ problems + inability to loan) and none of them have been comparable to GW (even higher ranked ones). I attended two tier 1 schools that were nowhere as good facilitieswise or academically. So, I really think the positives outweigh the negatives by far.</p>
<p>if you could shed some light on these "negatives" that would be appreciated. i am pretty certain i'll attend GW either way, but i'm curious to hear what the school needs work on. i am trying to decide where i'm going next year and i have been reading through thousands of posts, trying to get a real sense of what GW is about. Someone posted that the school lis "VERY VERY cliquey." Would you agree with that?</p>
<p>The price gets to you once and a while. You start thinking, "I pay $50,000 a year for this?!" despite the amount of financial and/or merit aid you get.</p>
<p>Sometimes the university will start to feel more like a corporation, but aren't all schools businesses at the core?</p>
<p>it's an extremely cliquey school actually--very high schoolish. i mean, if you have a strong personality, people will take on to you quickly because not too many people "stand out," in terms of being an indivdual. it's a quite social awakard school as well. kids can be quite unfriendly...i do have a few stories to tell too. plus, all the "good times" end after FROSH year (in order words, the open doors, dorm parties, vegging out) because at G-Dub everybody makes their main (and only at most times) friends that year/fall semester. i mean, it's very hard to meet "chill" people, since everybody trying to get to the top. (academically/socially) they exist, but you really have to look hard since a lot g-dubs tend to chill their friend from FROSH year. i mean, i've met some AWESOME people while at G-Dub because I don't limit myself to hanging with a "set" group of people. i have a bunch of friends from different walks of life and it works for me. again, you really have to look to find "non-tools" (tool--a term that you'll become familar with if you choose to attend G-dub). i've had good times at g-dub, but i wish chosen a more socially diverse university to go to.</p>
<p>GW is as "high schoolish" as you want to make it. It's only natural for people to group with those they feel comfortable with. If there's a personality that you don't mesh with, it's not like you'll be spending every moment of the day with them. It's college. It's a different social scene with different personalities. You're not expected to make the most amount of friends or be liked by everybody. There's 9700 undergrads at GW. If you're friends with every single one of them, you're quite the achiever.</p>
<p>i really don't agree with you, man, with all due respect. i'm not an overachiever, but a very friendly person who happens to enjoy socializing--which is pretty non existent after frosh year. I mean, G-dub is cool, but I do think there are some awesome people around, but face it--it's not the most socially "with it" unversity. you have your opnion and i have mines. there are going to be kids agree with me and there are going to be kids who agree with you. i think i'm being objective in my opinion. there are good things about g-dub and bad. but i'm not gonna act like it's the best and most open school in the world when it's obviously not.</p>
<p>Although I had friends from different groups, I did feel that it was very cliquey as well. However, I don't think the cliques were <em>exclusive</em> or snobby -- I thought it was more awkward than anything. I don't think people deliberately excluded anyone. </p>
<p>I think it's is a natural result of a school with a very bright student body. I've heard the same thing about Ivies / many "elite" schools. Everyone is very ambitious and very into school... Very few people were the "popular kids" of their high schools. Quite frankly, I liked it that way -- I thought it was awesome going to school with such a diverse student body.</p>
<p>I would disagree with the "high school" thing not because I doubt it exists, but because my high school was nowhere as tolerant or diverse as GW. In high school, people made your life hell if you were different. For example, at my high school, being smart was not cool at all, and if you had ambitions beyond your local state school, you were a complete outsider. At gw, it really seemed as if people <em>liked</em> or respected you for being different. That's how I felt, anyway :-)</p>
<p>I had to transfer to other schools my junior year (even though i just found out I'll be able to return to GW this fall), and I don't think other schools are more friendly by any means. They may not dress up as much or whatever, but it's not as if people at other schools go up to you and invite you places just because they're not clique-ish. You have to make your own friends wherever you go... It's not a GW thing</p>