<p>If you were to compare Georgetown to a handy pair of contrasting schools, say the U of Chicago and Northwestern, which one would it be more like? Highly intellectual and quirky like the U of C, or pre-professional and somewhat middle-of-the-road like Northwestern? Berkeley or USC? Or somewhere in between?</p>
<p>What about the frat influence, and the big-time sports stuff?</p>
<p>Pre-professional definately, SFS MSB NHS all are, and even the college kids are as well…</p>
<p>In terms of atmosphere, Georgetown has much more of a Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic/New Jersey and New England vibe than Northwestern does. It’s definitely careerist and professionally-oriented. Berkeley and USC are both huge schools, far bigger than Georgetown. A better comparison would be some of the Ivies or William & Mary, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Duke.</p>
<p>The frat influence is very low, since the school will only recognize co-ed fraternities, which means APO (the co-ed service fraternity) and Delpha Phi Epsilon (the foreign service frat, which also has an accompanying sorority). Social fraternities aren’t recognized, and while Sig Ep did just appear and there are some others, like the Business school and pre-law frats, they’re not very big. So the influence overall is really small.</p>
<p>As for the big-time sports stuff - Final Four, nuff said. It’s a basketball school through and through, and the entire experience is a major and highly enjoyable part of campus life. The lacrosse teams are always good and enjoy a dedicated following as well. Football has a new coach entering his second year and is looking to improve, soccer games can have some really good atmosphere thanks to a dedicated group of Hoya hooligans. The campus is pretty athletic, intramurals are popular, etc.</p>
<p>Georgetown also has a very politically-charged atmosphere, due to it being in DC and having a School of Foreign Service. It’s not uncommon to be out at parties on a weekend night, and find drunk people debating foreign policy.</p>