<p>Hello current students! I have a couple questions for you all about student life before finalizing my college decision. ;)</p>
<p>1. How's the food on campus? Off campus? Is it really expensive? Is there a good chinese or mexican place closeby?</p>
<p>2. How are the dorms- in terms of space, proximity, and sociability?</p>
<p>3. How's the social life in general? Good? Bad? Does it focus around drinking or what? How's DC?</p>
<p>4. How much time/work do the classes require (especially the req'd courses)? Are you able to fit in an adequate social life/enough time for relaxing, or are you usually too busy to just "hang out?"</p>
<p>OK, to number 1: The food on campus, is honestly, just caeteria food. It's not special, it's not bad, it's just repetitive. It really isn;t disgusting but you might get tired of it. A lot ppl complain about it, but you will always find something to eat, whether it be a sandwhich, or pizza, or some of the entr</p>
<p>personally, i like the caf food. i think it is pretty good. but there are LOADS of places nearby to get food, delis like wiseys,booeys, pizza places, johhny rockets, many chinese restaurants, etc.
all takeout places are pretty cheap...like you can get good food for under 10$. there are also proper restaurants on M. you also have chipotle on m street. plus, there are two hookah bars near by with arabic/desi food. very good,lots of fun.</p>
<p>the dorms are pretty ok. harbin i think is the best dorm. new south isnt too bad either. vc is a dump, but it will be renovated over the summer..darnall is far away, but people who live their like it. it also has its own caf, but it has weird timings and no breakfast. the quad is also nearby. apart from darnall, all the dorms are nearby, and their is no prob in walking around.</p>
<p>the social life here is pretty good. i am a muslim, so i cant drink, but on w/ends i just hang out with friends, and go down to m, eat out, catch a movie etc. going around dc is very very simple. metro is amazing and convenient. walking to rosslyn is lots of fun...its a 10-15 minute walk and its good if you walk with friends.</p>
<p>the work load is not too demanding. as dan said it is all up to you. right now i am supposed to be preparing for my spanish oral exam, but am not! :) haha....there is lots of time for everything else....just depends on how much you procrastinate and all....no body studies on fridays....so you have fridays off to study...and people party usually on fridays and saturday....and study all day sunday!</p>
<p>Can someone please post their 1st semester and 2nd semester schedules (if you think it is a "typical" freshman's schedule), just so we can see what to expect? ;)</p>
<p>SFS 1st semester:
Proseminar
Microeconomics
French
History of the Atlantic World
Prob. of God</p>
<p>2nd Semester
French
Political and Social Thought
Macroeconomics
Latin American Contemporary Short story
Catholic Imagination
Map of the Modern World</p>
<p>ALL OF MY CLASSES ARE TAUGHT BY PROFESSORS!!!!!!!!!! SO ARE ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!! Only Recitations are taught by TAs, whcih tend to be effective but you really haveto give in order to receive from TAs. Profs are awesome, and extremely knowledgable, some are a little more boring but still very interesting.Gtown isn't as much of a party school as is maybe some big state school, but there is definetely a Work Hard, Play Hard mentallity, it's definetely very lively on the weekends. The difference is that we are a relatively small school so it's not as LARGE as bigger schools party scenes, but I thiink it is enjoyable here. I had a few big classes, mostly econ, but this semester my Latin Am. Lit was 16 ppl, prosems are about 18, Languages are always small. Econ lectures, and PST lectures are prety big, but they are intro classes.</p>
<p>Hm... I thought the normal courselaod was 4-5 classes. Is having 6 classes difficult? Or is that normal? Any reason why you decided to do that?</p>
<p>BTW- thanks! This is really helpful. :D</p>
<p>EDIT- anybody in the College care to list their schedule too? Thanks.
Also, is it relatively easy to change majors? i.e. I applied as a French major, but I think I want to be a French minor and major in something else.</p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions, but I have to make a decision by Saturday!</p>
<p>All freshmen in the SFS take 6 courses in the spring semester bc they have to take Map of the Modern World. Testing out of it is rather difficult...but not impossible. Usually only 1 or 2 students are able to test out every year.
Classes the first two years are rather large...econ was definitely my worst. Once you get into your major everything changes though...the biggest class I've had in the last two years was probably 30 people...if that. Most of my classes stay around the 10 mark.</p>
<p>Oh, so since I'm in the college I'll probably be taking 4-5 courses per semester then, right?</p>
<p>Copied from above so people see it:
Can anybody in the College care to list their schedule too? Thanks.
Also, is it relatively easy to change majors? i.e. I applied as a French major, but I think I want to be a French minor and major in something else.</p>
<p>Testing out of Map is quite difficult, I came very close w/a 72, 76 was passing this year. But the class is AWESOME!!!!!!!! Really worth it. I love it, it's like my favorite class, I have learned so much, it is really grea, I haev learned so much about the world, I just feel like I can really speak knowledgably about the news now. Changing majors is really easy, the major you applied with is not set in stone, it can change very easily, I mean, really easily, a couple of signatures and a form at the most. Nothing bad. Minors are even easier to change, many times people just end up with minors, especially with languages, because it only requires a certain amount of classes in that lang. In the SFS there are NO minors, only certificates, which require a Thesis and fluency in the language of the region in which you are getting your certificate. I myself want to be a Latin American Studies Certificate, and my major is most probbaly going to be Culture and Politics, so if anybody ahs any q's. Just ask away. BTW Calidan, it's no prob, it's hard to chose, so just ask away!</p>
<p>Hrm. Hoyadan, did you test out of English? (AP or otherwise?)</p>
<p>How is the Map of the Modern World class? I'd like to think myself pretty proficient in that area, but if it's extremely hard, I won't even bother.</p>
<p>I tested out of gateway which is like eng 1, but I still had an english req, I took latin am. lit instead, in spanish, b/c I LOVE latinamerican lit. It's awesome! Map is a great class, it's pass/fail, it meets once a week, big lecture, lots of reading, but what you elarn is amzing. Unless you think you can name every island in the south apcific, and the regional history of the ex-USSR, then I would take the class because it stays as far away from the the western hemisphere, it's about expanding your horizons, I would recommend you took it. You have to if you are in SFS. The prof now is retiring, he is very awesome, I don't know anything about the new one. Pirtle, the current prof, is legendary though.</p>
<p>I have aprox, 20 hours of class a week, I work 12 hours at Uncommon Grounds, the ret is split b/w sleeping, procrastinating, and HW. I just meant to say that you have to know a lot about the world, and about the most obscure of places, I don't doubt that you could probably tell me where the countries are, but can you briefly expplain the ethnic/boundary conflict b/w Azerbajan and Armenia? If you can, props! If not, don't feel bad, that's why Map ROCKS!</p>
<p>When you make your schedule up, do you go by number of classes or by credits? I'm going to be pre-med, so I'm going to have to take bio and chem, both of which are a lot more credits than regular classes. I'll also probably be taking an intensive language course. Should I expect to take 4 classes, or will they make me take 5?</p>
<p>Hoyadan: I know very little of it, except for the fact that I know Armenia has a military presence in Azerbajian.. (1/5th or 1/6th of the country) </p>
<p>I hear even Iran's getting into the mix and Azerbajian recently has had problems w/ Georgia.</p>
<p>Other than that. <em>shrug</em> Don't know much about that region. Which is why I'm planning to take the course. :)</p>