I have too many questions...

Colleges & Universities George Washington University
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I am highly considering going to this school but I have many questions before making a final decision:

1: It seems like there isn’t a ‘college campus,’ per sé; it seems to be part of the city. Does this affect the quality of the college experience?
2: I didn’t make it into the honors program for the freshman year, how difficult is it to get in for the sophomore year? (I was offered a $80k presidential scholarship so I think I have the grades to get in but I didn’t the first round…)
3: Is there a lack of school pride on campus?
4: Is there curriculum difficult or relatively easy for the political science degree?
5: As a centrist, politically, I want to hear both sides of political arguments to truly question my own beliefs. Is there a presence of Republicans on campus or will I get an overwhelming left-wing perspective (from students and/or faculty)?
6: What is the LGBTQ life like? Is there a large community and is it inclusive?
7: Is it practical to double-major political science and economics?
8: Is there a good music program in which a non music major (oboist!) can participate? (Quality of private lessons, quality of wind ensemble, scholarship opportunities?)
9: The political science undergraduate program states that most students study a semester abroad… Is there an increase in cost to do this, and what are some examples?
10: How easy is it to do research during any year at the school?
11: Does the proximity to all the federal political facilities have a great effect on internship opportunities, research, et cetera? (As opposed to school in CA, who offer internships to DC in study abroad programs)
12: How rigorous are the courses not in the honors program?
13: How social are the students? Is there a good balance between study and fun?
14: Are there too many lecture hall classes or does that only happen during the first few semesters?
15: What do you think I should consider about GWU?

Thank you so much for answering all of these… :smiley:

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  1. no, not really
  2. don't know, and don't really see it as necessary unless you really like the honors program. just shoot for latin honors.
  3. not really that big on sports pride aside from maybe basketball, but there is somewhat of a common gw identity
  4. that depends on what you personally consider easy. one person might think it's easy, another might not.
  5. yes to both, primarily liberal, but a very vocal and influential conservative minority
  6. literally one of the most LGBT friendly schools in the country. some people jokingly refer to "GW" as "Gay Double-Jew" because of our large LGBT and jewish communities
  7. very practical
  8. no idea
  9. no, in fact you are probably going to save a few thousand dollars if you study abroad. you can go anywhere you want in the world. (there are some programs that have partnerships with GW or are directly administered by GW if that tickles your fancy, e.g. GW Spain)
  10. that's up to how pro-active you are in terms of interacting with professors or finding research internships
  11. yes, you have a massive advantage going to gw in this regard. internships are abundant and fairly easy to acquire. during the summer, you have intense competition for internships with students from every university in the country. during the school year, on the other hand, students from GW, georgetown, and american have an oligopoly on a lot of the good internships. kids from other schools outside of the dc area will have to take a semester off or take a semester "abroad" (i.e. go to DC) if they want those same internships during the school year.
  12. pointless question, completely and utterly depends on the professor and course. some "non-honors" courses will be exponentially harder than some honors courses, and vice versa.
  13. yes
  14. like any college, freshman classes (aside from your columbian dean seminar thingy) are usually big lectures, and upper level courses are smaller. however, it is likely that you'll have at least a couple small classes even in your freshman year. one of the smallest classes i ever took was during fall semester freshman year
  15. we are better than american
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Thank you for your perspective… Does anyone else have anything to offer?