<p>Is the only difference: one is in the city and the other one isn't?</p>
<p>Mount Vernon is in Fairfax County, VA; It's George Washington's estate. Foggy Bottom is in downtown DC; George Washington Univ. is located at the Foggy Bottom metro stop. (and it's not too far from Georgetown)</p>
<p>Is Foggy Bottom more enclosed or spread throughout the city? It Mount Vernon an enclosed campus?</p>
<p>Foggy Bottom is like an urban neighborhood--high rise buildings (for DC--there's a height limit), commercial, etc. Sidewalks and streets. In between "downtown" and Georgetown. Mount Vernon isn't a campus, it's a wonderful historical site on the Potomac River.</p>
<p>So, could I say that GW offers both types of campuses, city and suburban?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there's a part of GW called Mount Vernon that's different from Mount Vernon the historical site. I vaguely recall seeing a sign and a few brick buildings somewhere along Foxhall Road (I live in the area), but I'm not sure. Have you looked it up on the website?</p>
<p>Yeah, the GW Mount Vernon isn't in Virginia, that's the historical site (I also live in the area). Mount Vernon is a residential neighborhood in DC. On the tour they told us that it's about a 10-minute bus ride away, and the only difference is that it's more like the traditional ivy-covered liberal arts colleges in terms of its looks and size. They said that mostly freshmen choose to live there, and you can choose to have classes there or not.</p>
<p>There was a small college in the Mt. Vernon area of DC that folded. GW bought the property. Graduates from the former college now get GW alum info and their kids are considered GW legacies for admissions purposes. There is a free shuttle that constantly runs between the 2 campuses.</p>
<p>i stayed at mount veron for a summer program, and it basically is just a smaller (by alot), less urban, more surburban, setting than foggy bottom but still in DC. There are a few residential halls, and most of them are nice large rooms with two rooms sharing one bathroom. there is a pretty small dining hall, i think a library (we wernt allowed in there), a pool (we also went allowed in) and some sports fields. There arnt as many classroom buildings on the mv campus tho, as i can remember. There is a small quad area tho, and I think there is also a post office, but i cant remember for sure. </p>
<p>Overall, it seemed like a more quiet alternative to foggy bottom. I don't know what its like during the school year; In the summer, the campus looked dead, so im not sure about the social life. It's only a short ride into fb tho.</p>
<p>The biggest advantage of the Mt. Vernon Campus (MVC) are smaller class sizes. Every department offers classes on Mt. Vernon. The largest class room on MVC seats about 40 students. If you're looking for smaller classes, courses on MVC deserve some consideration.</p>
<p>Housing on MVC is almost all doubles and triples. On the Foggy Bottom Campus (FB), there are room and suite configurations that sleep anywhere between 1 and 6 students. About 500 students living on MVC while over 5000 students use the campus for classes, events, sports, meetings, etc. My friends who have lived there say it's a nice place to "come home to." If you don't know that urban living is right for you or are coming from a small town/rural environment, MVC is a great way to transition into living in Washington.</p>
<p>If you're sports junkie, MVC has GW's softball diamond, tennis court, soccer and lacrosse fields and outdoor swimming pool. When a team isn't practicing, the fields are open for general student use.</p>
<p>In one semester, can you have classes at both?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you can.
People have suggested taking classes you have more difficulty in (such as a math class if you're not a math person) at MVC because of the smaller class sizes. Although if you live at Foggy Bottom, I wouldn't suggest a morning class at MVC as you do have to take a bus there so it takes a bit longer.</p>
<p>Since everyone else has ostensibly covered the bases, here are a few sites you might want to peruse over.</p>
<p>Student life:
<a href="http://gwired.gwu.edu/mvcl/living/%5B/url%5D">http://gwired.gwu.edu/mvcl/living/</a></p>
<p>New Campus:
<a href="http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ebygeorge/120804/mvc.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gwu.edu/~bygeorge/120804/mvc.html</a></p>
<p>Map of the Mount Vernon Campus:
<a href="http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/visit/vernonmap.html%5B/url%5D">http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/visit/vernonmap.html</a></p>
<p>Student Housing:
<a href="http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/campus/hall_vtour_frm.html%5B/url%5D">http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/campus/hall_vtour_frm.html</a></p>
<p>Cole
Clark
Hensley
Merriweather
Pelham</p>
<p>There is an editorial in a recent edition of the GW school newspaper saying that living on the Mount Vernon campus is really a pain during finals week.</p>
<p>why is it painful?</p>
<p>I think the points in the editorial had mainly to do with buses. Something like if you are at mount vernon, you can't study with friends til late at night, it is hard to get to finals that start during rush hour, and you can't go to the special late night pancake breakfast because of the way the buses work.</p>
<p>It’s painful because the shuttle ride is often much longer than the 15 minutes that they quote, and because it’s harder to stay out studying on Foggy Bottom if you have to go to the shuttle stop, wait for the bus, and then ride the shuttle back to the other campus. The library on the Mt. Vernon campus closes at 12midnight (!!!), so if you don’t leave campus to go to Foggy Bottom, your only choice is to study in the dorm. The ForRide (or FourRide?) service that GW talks about that you can use if you feel unsafe at night won’t transport students to the Mt. Vernon campus.</p>
<p>My child did not preference the Mt. Vernon dorms at all, and still got placed in a small dorm there. GW housing would not help her switch out - they repeatedly referred her to the room swap process, which is exactly what it it labeled - you have to go to the list, and you email people until you find someone who will swap rooms with you. Didn’t happen after over 150+ emails. Mt. Vernon was a total pain in the rear - my student didn’t want to be a commuter student, which is exactly what she was. Her classes weren’t offered at Mt. Vernon, so she had no choice but to commute to the Foggy Bottom campus. With the traffic, etc, she had to allow 45 min to get to her classes. As the Housing official put it to me - “living on Mt. Vernon is a risk you take when you come here”. I thought it was a rip off to have to pay the same amount for housing as other kids who were not commuting,etc. Also, the larger dorm on Mt. Vernon has a gym and a couple of large community rooms with tvs, etc. My child’s dorm had neither a community room nor a gym, and she could only access her own dorm building. Again, those kids were paying the same amount and had lounges and a gym?? Not right.</p>
<p>eastcollegemom - I’d be interested to know if your child was ED vs. RD and how did they rank their housing preferences. I’ve never heard of an incoming freshman who “requests” Thurston (FB) not to get it.</p>