<p>The main turning point for me between Georgetown and Duke is what the school spirit and closeknitedness is like at Georgetown. I love Georgetown and everything about it. I just don't know about it's student life. Duke is also great but I don't really like the area, but it DOES have great school spirit and closeknitedness. Can anyone tell me what it's like at Georgetown?</p>
<p>For a taste of school spirit, I give you exhibit A:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Georgetown Final Four Celebration](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2vLai-PiY&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2vLai-PiY&feature=related)</p>
<p>It’s not so much the school spirit as it is the closeknitedness. The reason why I didn’t like Penn was it felt to open and urban, that nobody really hung around on campus. This is obviously since it’s right in Philly. I was wondering if it was like this at Georgetown, being that it IS in Washington DC.</p>
<p>Anyone? 10char</p>
<p>From what i remember (2006 graduate, now a medical student), the undergraduate student body is very tight knit. Over 90% of what goes down in student’s lives, takes place on campus. The dense and smaller campus makes it so that you are always running into people you know, catching up with friends at the on-campus coffee shops, and studying in the campus’ nooks and crannies. In addition, most of the social events and parties occur either right on campus or a few blocks from campus. Georgetown has a very small campus feel, a bit of a bubble some would say. But if you want to, and many people take advantage of this, you have a world-class city just beyond the gates for bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, and museums. Also, if you are lucky to attend when our basketball team is doing well, that doubles the school spirit and energy you can feel on campus. </p>
<p>Have any other questions I could field? What areas of study are you interested in? What attracts you and turns you off to Georgetown?</p>
<p>I’m just scared the majority of the people are going to be going in the city that I won’t meet as many people compared to if they did stay on campus. That’s my main turnoff. </p>
<p>Also, I hear the drinking scene is huge there. Is that true? And I’m interested in premed, so hopefully I can attend medical school.</p>
<p>You won’t have to worry about students running off campus to have fun, whether that be to drink or not. More than 90% of students on any given weekend stay on campus to have fun.</p>
<p>Is the drinking scene a big deal at Georgetown. I would say yes and no. Is it any bigger than a school of its similar stature? No way. Recent drinking regulations on campus have probably lessened the amount of drinking that occurs on campus. I say yes and no because there are two populations on campus. The population of students that like to drink each time they go out for fun, and the population that drinks occasionally or not at all. A very large contingent of the student body does other things besides drink. Thats why DC is great. What else are people going to do down in Durham besides drink. There’s nothing else to do down there! At Georgetown, student body organizations and clubs throw non-alcoholic events each weekend (free movies, free sushi making parties, free ballroom dancing lessons, and other quirky things). </p>
<p>But if you do like to drink, or decide to, the drinking atmosphere at Georgetown is also ideal because of the lack of Greek life. Parties aren’t thrown by exclusive fraternities and sororities, they are thrown by campus groups and clubs. Almost all parties are free to enter, and you don’t normally need to know someone to get in.</p>
<p>Georgetown really does have both the drinking and non-drinking crowds covered.</p>
<p>So it’s definitely a very close knit student body then? Do the freshman-only dorms significantly help you meet a lot of people, even if you are a pretty shy person?</p>
<p>Also, do you know how the premed education is?</p>
<p>As for medical school, the 2008 senior survey (with a 58% response rate so take these stats with a grain of salt) indicate that the top schools to enter for medical school are the following. I’m sure other schools are represented (know of Columbia Med, NYU med, and UCSD med from some friends of mine who graduated my year), but only a handful go to each so they aren’t listed. I’m a huge proponent of the science here at Georgetown. The small portion of each class that is majoring in the sciences allows for extremely close attention from the faculty. And the small number of graduate students means lots of research for undergrads that are interested in it. Not to mention the medical school is right on campus and allows for even more avenues of research.</p>
<p>Georgetown University School of Medicine 11
Northwestern University School of Medicine 3
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine 3
Boston University School of Medicine 2
University of Massachusetts Medical School 2
Tufts University School of Medicine 2</p>
<p>To give a little background on myself, I graduated Georgetown undergrad in 2006, and now attend Georgetown University School of Medicine. I turned down Johns Hopkins and Haverford College to attend Georgetown for studies in the Biological sciences.</p>
<p>Do you have any other questions?</p>
<p>Yes the freshmen dorms do help in helping you meet other interesting freshmen. I was a very shy person when I entered college due to my lack of close friends in highschool and weight issues. My freshmen year I lost a lot of weight, and came out of my shell very easily at Georgetown. But even if you aren’t willing to de-shell, there are many quirky and are reserved students that make up the student body. Georgetown gets this rap for being a school full of Preppy jocks and rich girls. They do make up a portion of the class, but you will find the same at peer institutions, especially Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory, and some of the Ivies.</p>
<p>Is the competition intense / cutthroat?</p>
<p>Also about that freshman dorm thing…</p>
<p>One last thing. I’m sure a lot of people on these boards will say the pre-medical sciences are better at Penn or Duke when compared to Georgetown, and they are probably right. In the sense that they have some better facilities and more research being done. But you have to look at it from the other perspective. Of all the top 25 schools in the Us News rankings, I would bet that Georgetown has one of the smallest %'s of students applying for medical school. If you have the drive to shine, you can easily shine coming out of Georgetown. You won’t be competing with as many cut-throat pre-meds. Pre-med at Georgetown is just a completely different atmosphere than most other schools. Very tight-knit, and allows for the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. You’ve given me a lot of insight. One last thing, are the research and and volunteer opportunities plentiful? You mentioned that at other schools they’re more abundant but does that mean there are few at Georgetown?</p>
<p>For the number of students that participate in scientific research on campus, the research opportunities are very plentiful. On the undergrad campus alone, the biology department has recently began to expand its faculty and course offerings, and is conducting more research then when I was there, and back then I had my pick of several labs to work in. In addition, the new science building being built that will likely be done by the time you are a junior will bring even more opportunities. If you are interested in biomedical research, the medical school and its affiliates brings in $185 million a year (that’s more than many medical school ranked above it). </p>
<p>Not to mention the opportunity to work and volunteer at the National Institutes of Health, the mecca of biomedical research, which is just a metro stop away. </p>
<p>Volunteer opportunities are also plentiful. It’s a jesuit university that prides itself on it’s engagement with its own community and other communities through service and volunteerism. I volunteered at the Hospital on weekends in the Child Oncology ward. I got to play a lot of Nintendo. You can volunteer in pretty much any part of the hospital if you wish. I don’t know much about other volunteer opportunities (I know we have a big relay for life event each year, and dance marathons to raise money for research), since most of my time at Georgetown was spent researching.</p>
<p>Here is the link mentioning the relay for life event that raised close to $400,000!</p>
<p>[Vox</a> Populi » Georgetown’s Relay for Life results: $375,00 and counting](<a href=“http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2009/04/24/georgetowns-relay-for-life-results-37500-and-counting/]Vox”>http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2009/04/24/georgetowns-relay-for-life-results-37500-and-counting/)</p>
<p>Thanks again! I think I’ve made my decision. I’m just slightly worried about the closeknitedness still, like the ability to meet people easily.</p>
<p>Here’s actually two links from the front webpage that describe some research:</p>
<p>[Georgetown</a> University: Cow Genome Research Provides Clues to Evolution](<a href=“http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=41667]Georgetown”>http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=41667)
[Georgetown</a> University: Wetlands Gives Insight Into Changing Environments](<a href=“http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=41590]Georgetown”>http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=41590)</p>
<p>And news releases for the Medical Center:
[GUMC</a> News Release Archive - News Releases - Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC)](<a href=“http://gumc.georgetown.edu/communications/releases/]GUMC”>News Releases | Georgetown University Medical Center | Georgetown University)</p>
<p>And here’s a link to a recent story on ABC’s dateline about an amazing surgery that took place at Georgetown’s Hospital:
[ABC</a> News](<a href=“ABC News Videos - ABC News”>ABC News Videos - ABC News)</p>
<p>with video link:
[ABC</a> News](<a href=“ABC News Videos - ABC News”>ABC News Videos - ABC News)</p>
<p>Good. I’m sure that whichever college you choose will get you to where you want to be. Just realize that at this level, most of the schools are largely very good at all things and the student bodies are all full of intelligent and passionate people. Just don’t ignore your gut. I used my gut and chose Georgetown, and it worked out for me. Good luck in life!</p>