Best departments?

fairytoes
Fri, 07 Jan 2005 21:55:14 +0000

i’ve been both impressed and disappointed by GW academically.
last year i actually chose gw over a prestigious liberal arts school, a decision i don’t regret, though i can’t say i don’t occasionally think to myself “what if” sometimes. however, i think every freshman feels that, and honestly i can’t imagine being anywhere else. GW is an awesome place and i’ve made friends that i know i want to be friends with for life.
so- to answer the question- yes, the poli-sci and int affairs departments are good (duh), and the psychology department is very strong as well. the 7 yr BA/MD program is very competitive, and there are both stellar and not so stellar professors in the liberal arts. i should note, though, that the Maori author- can’t remember the name right now-of the book Whale Rider (that inspired the movie) has been chosen to teach at GW this year. so that kind of stuff is exciting. also, joel trachtenberg (GW prez) is a big cheese in the business/real world, and has amazing connections to all sorts of powerful politicians. john kerry and howard dean have spoken at GW, and CNN crossfire is filmed at GW, so gw students can attend for free every day if you want (frankly, i’m with jon stewart and tucker among the other hosts of crossfire annoy me, so i pass on that offer).
i’m actually in the school of media and public affairs (SMPA) and applied completely on a whim. in fact, i sent the application a couple of weeks late when i realized i needed more safety schools. i had no idea what the caliber of SMPA was in the arena of media and journalism- only since i got here have i been informed of how competitive it is and that it’s not common to get accepted into SMPA as a freshman. what made me ultimately accept GW’s offer was a presidential scholarship ($20 grand) plus generous grants. GW has been very good to me, so i don’t have much to complain about.
i’m still not too sure how good SMPA is, i don’t even know if i really want to major in journalism, so i guess i’m pretty ambivalent about the whole thing and maybe you shouldn’t judge by me. but then i’ve only completed a semester so we’ll see how the courses past the introductory course are like.
however, one key thing that canNOT be overlooked about SMPA is the opportunity. intern at crossfire, with national geographic, US news and world report, etc etc etc. if you want to go into political communications or journalism, THIS is the place. no doubt about it.
if you have more questions concerning good departments or just GW in general, i’d be happy to answer them.