<p>My son was recently accepted EA at Georgetown University. In researching about the school, he has come across several articles on the internet concerning Georgetown's apparent rat and vermin problem. It seems that students have complaints about seeing rats, as well as mice and roaches in some of the dorm buildings and other campus areas. The articles are relatively recent, last one from 2011. Has anyone else heard about this? Thanks.</p>
<p>I friend of mine had a son who lived in the university-owned townhouses. His room in the basement flooded and a rat floated by.</p>
<p>Thanks for your answer burry. From our reading, it seems that this is a real problem at Georgetown, much more so than at other universities in d.c. area. I am disappointed to say the least.</p>
<p>During my time at Georgetown (07-11), I definitely did see some rats. But almost 100% of the time outside and very late at night. It’s definitely not a deal breaker for a student considering Georgetown.</p>
<p>My friend’s son is currently enrolled. Last year in order to deal with an infestation the students had to vacate the dorm (I don’t know which one), move all their stuff into the gym for the weekend, and then move back in. Definitely not a fun way to spend the weekend.</p>
<p>My D reported seeing rats outdoor in the night back to dorm from library. Very annoying. The school should do something about it.</p>
<p>Sent from my Nexus 7 using CC</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses. This seems to be an ongoing problem at Georgetown. I am quite surprised a school of this stature would allow this problem to continue for years.</p>
<p>It seems to me that critters sort of come with the territory when talking about a campus set in a major population center. I wonder if rats are more of a problem at Gtown than at other urban campuses, such as NYU, Columbia, Harvard, USC, etc.?</p>
<p>They used to say of the D.C. area that all apartment buildings have roaches and all houses have rodents. I guess things haven’t changed much in that regard.</p>
<p>Sadly, it seems that the problem at Georgetown and the surrounding area is more prevalent than at other urban campuses. I wonder why it is so difficult to eradicate.</p>
<p>@WCAS & Omzac,</p>
<p>There is a good joke about politicians here somewhere. I can taste it.</p>
<p>@scswickman, LOL!! Political jokes aside, for the mom of a prospective Georgetown student this is pretty serious.</p>
<p>Really? How bad could it be? My ds was accepted EA, and it doesn’t bother me at all. Of course, I’m from the South and contend with scorpions and all kinds of critters. ;)</p>
<p>Unless one is truly torn between Georgetown and another school, I wouldn’t take the rat problem into my consideration.</p>
<p>@Omzac, I know moms tend to worry alot but, honestly, there are things in college life that are far more dangerous to daughters than rats (such as drugs, alcohol poisoning, rape, etc). In those regards, Georgetown is a relatively safe campus.</p>
<p>IMO, unless the rats are the size of Harvey the Rabbit, their presence is not even on my radar as a factor in choosing a school. Others may differ, but that is my $.02.</p>
<p>@scswickman LOL!! Agreed. However, I find the rat problem disturbing, since I haven’t read of a comparable problem in another such highly ranked school. In my mind it is indicative of other problems such as poor sanitation and maintenance and possible health hazards. College students and parents paying lots of money shouldn’t have to contend with these things.</p>
<p>I did summer school at Georgetown the past two summers and lived in two different dorms (Southwest Quad and Village C), both of which were very clean and well-maintained (especially SQ), as was the campus generally. I can’t say that I ever saw a rat or roach. Compared to some of the large public universities that I have checked out, Georgetown is pristine. Compared to the other, similarly-sized private, urban universities, I would say that Georgetown is above-average in terms of cleanliness and safety.</p>
<p>So there are lots of rats at Georgetown… Is this really a problem worth a post/ a consideration? I mean so what if Georgetown has rats? Its not like the students are suffering from the bubonic plague… There are rats/ mice in the dorms and I’m sure there is a gigantic colony living under the campus BIG WHOOP- if you see one kill it/ or contact a exterminator…</p>
<p>A number of years ago I went to school in DC - cross town from Georgetown, and I frequently saw rats and roaches on campus. Every vacation break, the school would aggressively treat for them (mostly roaches) in the dorms. I then lived in DC for a while and came to accept the pests as part of urban life. My son is now a freshman at Georgetown and absolutely loving it. He has seen a couple of rats at night, but nothing that freaks him out. As far as a school of Georgetown’s stature having rats, I doubt the rats have a firm grasp on the stellar reputation of Georgetown. Perhaps if someone took the time to point out Georgetown’s academic prowess and its low acceptance rate to the rats, they would migrate to a lesser institution. Absent that, maybe a campus-wide rat exorcism could be performed. Picture all the rats pouring down the Exorcist Stairs onto M Street!</p>
<p>Hoyamom, that cracked me up. Maybe the rats are fully aware of Georgetown’s stature and choose to live there and breathe in the rarified air. ;)</p>
<p>But I have to agree with omzac in that you’d think the school could figure out how to eradicate them.</p>