University Honors or Merit

<p>Quote from admissions website
"Approximately 23 percent of freshmen receive merit based financial assistance."
there's no way that that's true</p>

<p>What's your experience of aid- why do you think this claim is false- do more/fewer kids recieve aid in your estimation?</p>

<p>i feel like it is very difficult to get aid at GW....they seem to have and all or nothing approach to aid. either you get the presidential scholarship worth half tution upon admission or you don't. there is literally only one scholarship (presidential) that you can get with admission.i really really love gwu, its my favorit school by far....but there is no way i'm going to pay 210,000 for a freakin BA there. the dilemma really frustrates me. i saw on the class of 2010 website that they offer aid to the top 10% of admittees- i don't know i guess i high % of those people accept the offer</p>

<p>According to a response on the GW message board from an admissions person, the university awards more aid than they have, expecting a certain number will turn their admission down.</p>

<p>soooo...is there any value to listing GWU first on the national merit finalist sheet, or would it be better to list another college first that I am also interested in where listing them first does seem to matter more?</p>

<p>How does any one person know about all the aid GWU gives out. If you don't like your aid package, don't go to GWU. If you think GWU is bad, I hope you didn't apply to NYU.</p>

<p>Get accepted to both schools. I got a presidential scholarship, and honors at GWU. But I chose to give it up to go to Stern at NYU. NYU's finacial was less than half of GWU's. Although I used my GWU offer to appeal my NYU offer. NYU then gave me a little more moey, coming in at about 50% of GWU.</p>

<p>But I really wanted to go to NYU and live in the city. GWU was my third choice, behind NYU and Emory. For GWU, I liked the compact campus and the city, but for my major finance/international finance, I thought NYU's program was the best for me.</p>

<p>How is the level of difficulty in getting in to EMory vs. NYU ? Thanks.</p>

<p>is it possible to get into the honors program after you've been accepted, i've heard conflicting answers before and am not sure. i regret not applying for honors now after i was awarded a presidential scholarship and was just curious.</p>

<p>You can definitely apply to the Honors Program once you are at GW... I did so, and was accepted as a sophomore. According to their website, </p>

<p>"To apply, you will need to have attended GWU for at least one semester, have a cumulative GPA of 3.40 and above, and have a strong recommendation from a current GWU faculty member." ( <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Euhpwww/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gwu.edu/~uhpwww/&lt;/a> ) </p>

<p>SO, its too late to take part in the Honors Program as a freshman, but sophomore or even junior year are still possible. Make sure to get to know a professor for your recommendation!</p>

<p>Side note: I don't know what major you are in, but after I found out I wasn't accepted to the Honors Program freshman year, I applied to the Politics and Values Program. It is the equivalent of an Honors Proseminar, the professor is challenging and will write you a GREAT recommendation, and everyone who was in P&V and then applied to honors got in. It's alot of work--but if you are doing polisci or international affairs, the reqs it covers are substantial and worth it.</p>

<p>It might be too late to apply though, so I'd look into it quickly!! (And you can always send the professor an email if you are interested and have questions--he's very helpful)</p>

<p>krocket, I checked out the Politics and Values program. It looks great. Is it possible to be in both the Honors Program and it, or does enrollment in the Honors Program preclude being in the Politics and Values program?</p>

<p>Yea, my roommate was in the Honors Program as well as Politics and Values. P&V replaces your Honors Proseminar (you would have WAY too much work otherwise) but you still get all the other advantages the Honors Program has to offer, suchas advisng, events, etc. P&V is very demanding... I did more writing than any of my friends at any school, but you only have 4 classes and its a great way to get close with a small group of people in a big school(everyone--we were 17--is housed together... this means no honors housing though). I highly recommend it if you're truly interested in the subject matter!! Feel free to ask me any more questions about it</p>

<p>Thanks, krocket. I'm helping scope out programs for my son who loves that kind of thing. Political theory and philosophy are his passions. He is an excellent writer, and would enjoy the chance to get to know others so well. The only downside might be the weather. He just spent a week in DC on a program and got his first experience of heat and humidity combined. He's going back for another three weeks, and hopefully will get a bit more used to it. During the school year, I'll bet it is much more pleasant.</p>

<p>Yeah, dc in the summer is unpleasant... but it is nothing like that during the school year. My dad lives in Maryland and I always avoid DC during the summer, but the fall and spring are beautiful and mild, while the winter is pretty cold but not horrendous.</p>