It’s not an hour to Lincoln Center on the Ram Van at Fordham unless traffic is completely stalled. Metro North station is right at the edge of campus. Half an hour to Grand Central/42nd Street.
If you love AU, what’s the problem? What difference does it make how competitive it is in relation to anyone else? When you’re in class, that will be irrelevant. But in reality, AU’s acceptance rate for last year’s freshman class was 47% and GW’s was 44%. Pretty comparable.
If you want to work in policy, the best choice would be Maxwell/Syracuse undergrad and then on to law school. If you don’t want law school, then gwu and intern like crazy. Note that most non-international policy in Washington is made by lawyers or economists. Other schools can lead to policy in Washington, but the two above are the most certain pathways. Maxwell is up with Kennedy, sipa, and the policy school at Princeton as a policy school.
I would not worry about the internship percents between GW and AU. They may not be collecting/reporting the data the same way. If you want an internship in DC they are there for you between the gov, non-profits, associations, lobbyists firms, etc… and your logistics to get them are easier because you are there instead of just being in DC for the summer or a semester. Good luck with your choice!
When we toured both these schools we were told pretty much the same thing at both of them, which is that pretty much anyone who wants an internship in DC can get one. So this difference in % might just reflect the fact that, for whatever reason, fewer people at GWU look for one.
But I also get the idea from what you say that you like AU the most. (I’m a little confused about your no food comment though?)
Believe it or not- notwithstanding the CC fetish with internships- not every college kid wants an internship. Some of them have jobs. Actual, paying jobs. And many of these jobs lead to full time employment after graduation. These internship statistics are so sketchy. Kid has a job with a lobbying firm in DC doing data entry. That leads to a better job (slightly higher paid) doing data analysis. That leads to a much better job tracking legislation by state. And an offer of fulltime employment after graduation.
That kid will not show up in the internship statistics. Nor will his friend who worked as a temp for the Appropriations Committee answering phones and making copies- which led to a paid part time summer job for one of the committee members researching net tax revenue by district. Which led to a full time, professional track after graduation on the legislative team of that member.
Seriously…you have a full ride at LSU. That’s a win-win for literally everyone. Considering the financial aid money you’re getting, I suspect parents don’t have unlimited funds. Plus you don’t have to stay in Texas. There are plenty of liberals at LSU. It’s a big school. Graduation from an honors program is a tangible accomplishment you can put on a resume or law/grad school application. It’s something that would trump any brand name school on the list.
But…. LSU was already having financial challenges and program cutbacks even before the current government aid cuts. Could be a concern . 'We don’t have any backup': Louisiana schools face uncertainty amid federal funding concerns | WWNO
Not meaning to start a debate at all but I wanted to weigh in on this point because it’s close to home for one of my D’s best friends. Her friend attended Fordham Lincoln Center as a freshman and lived in a dorm there. She found the dorms to be empty on weekends and felt somewhat isolated. She tried to address this by joining a team sport at the Rose Hill campus that she was very interested in and well-qualified for. She was told that they do not accept students from the Lincoln Center campus (due to the difficulty getting between campuses in a timely manner on a regular basis). She ended up transferring after her freshman year and is extremely happy at her new school.
Again, not debating…just giving a real world example that happened last year where the split campus ended up being the reason Fordham was not the right place for this student. It’s a valid consideration along with so many other factors.
Historically, anyone at a DC university who wants an internship can get one. I wonder how that will change this summer/next year considering the current upheaval at all the government agencies.
The Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses of Fordham will provide different college experiences. For a student looking for more traditional campus life, RH is likely the better fit. FWIW my S graduated from RH (loved it) – a friend of his actually transferred from LC to RH after freshman year and was glad she did. Of course YMMV.
ETA: S used the Ram Van, subway, and Metro North to get to Manhattan – just depended where in Manhattan they wanted to get to.
GW is my pick. You seemed to like it quite a bit except the dorms. It has TERRIFIC political science options. It has smart/competitive student body. You can explore DC and take the train along the corridor with your classmates to Philly, NYC and Boston. The dorm will be fine. It’ll give y’all something to complain about.
Yes, I’m a Texan as well and went to U of Houston. My kids go to SMU and while there are many on campus that are not into Greek, sports or conservative, it’s a minority that isn’t at least one of those. My kids love SMU and didn’t want to do Greek before enrolling but have both joined Greek organizations (DD went traditional sorority and son went with Christian frat that has a house). My daughter is older and many of her friends didn’t go Greek. However, she’s conservative and is meh about sports except if it involves hanging out with friends.
Good luck w/ your decision. GW, Fordham or Lafayette are all excellent options. Yes, you are fortunate that your parents will pay the bill but you’ve earned some nice scholarships as well.
Having nine schools is a great reason to use this:
It is kind of awkwardly designed.
Choose any category on the landing page - “Other” is easy (it doesn’t change anything other than the page design)
Put all the schools in the “list” section and then hit “add”
You do NOT need to “save” before moving to the next step, and you don’t need to create an account. Just click RANK on the top row (it will be highlighted) then you get to rank each of them head to head.
I find it illuminating.
What did you decide?
Curious what you decided. If you are full-pay, I hope you will choose a private school – Lafayette (for the best overall education - if you are a serious student - gorgeous campus, and easy trips to NY and Philly); American or GW if you really want to be in DC. You will get so much more for your money at these schools. For example - Lafayette would have a fund to help students with living expenses if you take an unpaid or low-paid summer internship (double check on this – we’ve visited a lot of LACs – but i believe LF offered this), and MOST political internships in DC are unpaid or low-paid. American or GW could hook you up with internships for class credit, so you’d get on the job experience during the school year. American is in a beautiful neighborhood with a peaceful campus and is literally a 10-minute Uber ride to Dupont Circle. The Metro is a mile away but there’s a shuttle that runs every 15 min and there are buses that are more convenient. However, GW is a lot of fun, and has more prestige. You can play frisbee and volleyball in the shadow of Lincoln Memorial, catch the free concerts at 6pm at the Kennedy Center, pick up snacks at Trader Joe’s, etc. (You can also do this if you go to American, but you’ll have to taxi/Uber with your friends!) Both American and GW will put you in a community where many kids are passionate about politics and history, even if it’s not their major, and that creates a lot of lively conversation and debate. I don’t know why American is always rated as super liberal…that was not my experience.
hey guys!!! last update: i committed to gwu!! thank you for all the help! in the end, i decided that, in the future, i would like to be a more outgoing person, and i think gwu would make me that! just being in the city and the hustle. also great for poli sci + i got into the wlp (womens leadership program) though not sure if i will join it yet. thanks team!