Does this article from The Hoya, dated 3/21/18, concern anyone?
Yes. Check out the Rats at Georgetown thread as well. My girl was waitlisted, so I don’t have to worry about this stuff just yet, but I am aware.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/georgetown-university/2003109-rats-at-georgetown.html#latest
Rats at Georgetown thread
Freshman dorms will not be luxurious no matter what university or college you attend.
Nevertheless, there’s no reason to worry. After you put up your posters and decorate, your room will be just fine. More importantly, the friends you make and the fun you have in your dorm will matter most of all.
But hey, if your parents are really concerned, there’s always the Ritz Carlton 15 minutes from campus. 
@espenser I am the parent, not the student, so it’s been about two decades since I decorated with posters I appreciate the fact that most freshman dorms will be far from luxurious at most colleges. But, as a parent I worry that the school doesn’t seem to have a great track record with responding to legitimate maintenance issues. My D has allergies so the mold and water issues mentioned in the article concern me. I checked out the instagram mentioned in the article…the pictures and videos seem to lend credence to the article.
Maybe the Ritz is a good suggestion! Haha!
For information and 360 degree videos of first-year dorm rooms: https://residentialliving.georgetown.edu/communities/firstyear/vcw
For general information about the first-year housing process:
https://orientation.georgetown.edu/preparing/residential-living
For a new student guide to first-year housing:
http://newstudent.thehoya.com/category/housing-2/
For adopting a cat :):
http://capitalcats.org/
I think you just consider yourself lucky if you GET housing. They used to guarantee 3 years, then 2 years, then is it back to 3 years or just 2?
Doing OurBest,
I just wish I could stay at the Ritz Carlton when I visit my child at Georgetown!
preppedparent,
Subject to exemptions, on-campus housing is required for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. (See https://residentialliving.georgetown.edu/apply/upperclass). Some seniors live on campus as well.
@DoingOurBest In my experience, Georgetown maintenance seems to respond very well to problems that could cause legitimate health issues. For example, our heater wasn’t working back in November, so we put in a work request–it was fixed the next day. The problem that comes about is for minor things like a broken shower or an elevator not working–those can take a while to fix.
The georgetown.hotmess instagram is great for entertainment though… unless you’re one of the unfortunate people being featured, lol.
Thanks @masquerade98 that is helpful!
Just looked at the instagram. Those photos/videos of water pouring down from the ceiling through/next to electrical fixture isn’t to funny but downright scary and dangerous.
I think GU students should use their collective intelligence and get this out to the press. It’s embarrassing and negligent on the university’s part. I never knew Georgetown was a slum landlord.
Or protest or something. A lot of you are poli sci/IR students or future lawyers, right? Put those skills to work!
Agree with @masquerade98 – maintenance is pretty responsive to anything actually serious.
A large contributing factor to some of the maintenance issues is the fact that students frequently don’t report things until they become a serious issue. And of course, students are pretty hard on furniture/spaces.
That being said, Georgetown does have a generally pretty old and dilapidated housing stock. They’ve been slowly working to address the issue with new building (FJR/Jes Res and Arrupe) and renovation (Village B, which is being gutted and renovated in phases), but overall it does leave much to be desired.
Part of the problem is funds (Georgetown has a small endowment), and part of the problem is a lack of additional space. Georgetown can’t just build a new dorm while they renovate an old one, which makes it difficult to keep up with because they are basically using 100% of the spaces 100% of the time (often even during the summer).
I will say that the new spaces that they’ve built/renovated over the time I’ve been here have been realllly nice…like “college students live here?” nice, so they’re working on it.
@espenser I checked out the view of the freshman dorm you posted and it looks EXACTLY and I mean exactly like my freshman dorm did when I started at GU in 1989. I think even the closet/dressers are exactly the same!
Georgetown’s endowment at 1.3 billion is a lot of money but shockingly small for one of the best schools on the planet. Maybe because of all the career civil servants. CIA State Deprtment. White House President Clinton should build a dorm. He is certainly wealthy enough