George Washington University Top Questions

GWU is a great school on paper. Everyone can recognize it as an excellent university. When i tell people I go to GW they assume that I am smart and wealthy to pay for it. I love the school and its accesibility to DC and everything DC has to offer. The students that attend GW are a breed of their own. Students at GW are the most driven college kids I have ever met. I am light years ahead of my friends from home because I attend GW. It is very cut throat, students love to talk about their internships and one up eachother on them. The faculty at GW is very credible, I am in the SMPA and I love each and every one of my teachers. They are absoutely brillant. I think there is a lack of school spirit for some reason. The morale of the school is low, for a reason I can not pinpoint. It could jsut be because a lot of the students are just into themselves, doing their own thing, and dont like to conform. I wish we had more land, and more grassy areas, but thats what you get for going to school in the city.

So much to do here in DC. As a senior, you focus more on all of the amazing jobs and internships rather than classes.

GW breeds mid-level government managers, and it shows. The administration has so many levels of bureaucracy it's unnerving. The location is great, right between Georgetown (the area not the school) and the White House, and everyone I know has great internships. We used to have a lot of school pride until our basketball team (mens) fell apart. The recent biggest controversy on campus was the last protest in Washington. We always host people for that.

No school spirit, excellent location, join Greek life

I love GW because of the urban environment. It is definitely in the city but it is not too overwhelming and there is a real feel of a campus at the same time. There are also so many great opportunities for internships and jobs that it would be stupid not to come. I love it!

perfect location, its walking distance to georgetown and dupont circle where the nightlife is and its the business district so afte 5 pm its only students around. its really like a bubble green campus, kind of a college town. you're in the city but all the buildings are right next to each other so its not like NYU at all. --- the size is perfect too. you can always see people you know and always meet new people. -- if you're a jap or like jappy kids then definitely go. otherwise be cool and come with cool kids. i was lucky and found some awesome people and so i love it.

A lot of people complain about the GW bureaucracy and how long it takes to get something done or a question answered. If you use your head and look up the proper place to go, you should get your question answered or your needs addressed. The school is here for the students, and while the students are the solid foundation that make GW great, the administration and faculty can be incredible helpful. I recommend getting to know one or more faculty members - a professor, a dean - really well so that you can always go to him/her for help and answers.

The best thing about GW is that its in a good part of DC. I mean Georgetown is in a good part of DC, but the school sits in a residential area and is kind of isolated on a hill. GW is in the thick of things, right in downtown near the mall, near offices (if you land an internship), near good restaurants, near the metro (subway), and better or worse, GW took over the neighborhood where people used to live so there are lots of students mixed in with working folks. We're not an isolated entity, but there are times when the residents of Foggy Bottom wish we were, like Thursday nights through Sunday Morning. Catholic is in the hood, Howard is in a hood that is undergoing substantial gentrification, American is isolated, but they have metro. People say that GW is a good school, usually because they don't know much about it. If they do know anything about it, they know that its expensive as hell. Its not like Georgetown which has immediate name recognition and reputation, so whatever. I spend most of my time on campus in either my place or a friend's place. Its not like there are any places that students just hang out in, though GW has tried to create that in the Hippodrome. I refer to GW's "college town" as GWorld (also the name of our ID cards). Its not just limited to Foggy Bottom, but GWorld is the totality of everything that is GW. Pentagon City Mall is part of GWorld, Dupont Circle clubs and bars, Adams Morgan bars and clubs, Georgetown bars and clubs. There are places that people will go and say "oh I know DC", but really DC is so much bigger than their concept of the city. GWorld is a mindset that if you go further than three stops away on the metro, its not worth going to. Students will hardly ever venture outside of NW DC, and will seldom discover some things even in NW like Tenleytown, which is on Wisconsin Ave, but beyond Georgetown. They will go to Adams Morgan, but not Cleveland Park, or down U Street. GWorld is buying an Ipod on your GWorld, or having a $400 impulse buy at Coach on a Tuesday afternoon with daddy's credit card. GWorld is getting EmerGed and not getting in trouble because your mother who is a lawyer in Jersey called to "smooth things over". GWorld is the complete lack of real-world consequenses because we keep ourselves insulated to our concept of "college life". Karl Rove was the biggest controversy on campus lately, but this is being rivaled by the commencement speaker who is equally polarizing on the other side of the political arena. Most people at GW are "too cool" for school pride.

GW is a great school! I love living in a city, being so close to Georgetown is great too! The night life is amazing! You can never get bored because there are so many things to do.

The best thing about GW is the social scene, as there's pretty much everything anyone could want to do here. Frats, clubs, protests...you name it, it's going on. Additionally, GW dorms are amazing. A bathroom split between 2-4 people as a freshman is the best thing ever. However, as exciting as DC sounds, Foggy Bottom is dreadful. It shuts down around 9 pm, and there is nothing to eat but junk served by the very WORST waiters you could imagine. If you can get out of Foggy Bottom the city is fun, and its easy to do with the METRO, but it's still a HUGE let down.