Insights on Mason for Potential Incoming Freshman

[Anonymous]

Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

GMU stopped being a commuter campus in 2010/2011 when the Carnegie foundation reclassified it as primarily residential. All freshmen live on campus unless they have filed a waiver and it was accepted. Yes, many of the grad students commute but go look at all of the dorms available for undergrad (My DS's second year was like a hotel room, with full, nice private bath and kitchen). My DS lived on campus all four years. His roommates were OOS and international. He had a great four years. Game Design major. Anything computer is terrific there. Be sure to visit the tech campus out near manassas. AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

Person with ADD here. A program like this would have been so incredibly helpful for me.

But you say CNU was chosen especially for the small environment, and I did a grad degree at GMU 10 years ago and the school felt huge and impersonal to me. But perhaps your DC would be able to find his people in his program and things would be good for him socially.

[Anonymous]

GMU is much larger than CNU.

[Anonymous]

If you live in NOVA, GMU might be nice in the sense that your kid can come one easily whenever he wants (which could be helpful).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

GMU stopped being a commuter campus in 2010/2011 when the Carnegie foundation reclassified it as primarily residential. All freshmen live on campus unless they have filed a waiver and it was accepted. Yes, many of the grad students commute but go look at all of the dorms available for undergrad (My DS's second year was like a hotel room, with full, nice private bath and kitchen). My DS lived on campus all four years. His roommates were OOS and international. He had a great four years. Game Design major. Anything computer is terrific there. Be sure to visit the tech campus out near manassas. AMA

I’ve read about the Carnegie designation, but wondering exactly what the criteria are for that. US News states that GMU only has 6200 undergrads on campus, among 27000 total. That’s not a lot though in comparison to about 5k total at CNU, it’s more than comparable. Also, I understand that a lot of students live in off-campus housing nearby.

Did your DS do the Game Design major that’s arts/fine arts focused? I believes there’s that (BFA) along with a Game Design concentration within the CS major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

Person with ADD here. A program like this would have been so incredibly helpful for me.

But you say CNU was chosen especially for the small environment, and I did a grad degree at GMU 10 years ago and the school felt huge and impersonal to me. But perhaps your DC would be able to find his people in his program and things would be good for him socially.

Thanks.huge and Impersonal was what we felt about VCU. I guess one difference was VCU being in the city vs GMU being a suburban campus. Of course, the executive functioning program, at least at first glance, feels like it could be very beneficial for DC. He actually had an opportunity to attend a private school for HS that had a similar program, but he declined as he wanted to to stay with his middle school friends. Turns out, many of them didn’t and up attending his HS and the ones that did, he never saw because they weren’t in his classes.

Did you stay on campus for the grad degree? Wondering if a grad program would feel very different from undergrad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in NOVA, GMU might be nice in the sense that your kid can come one easily whenever he wants (which could be helpful).

We do like that feature. If he goes, while he is always welcome to come home, our push will be that certainly - at least for the first semester/year - he resists the urge to come home too frequently and tries to acclimate to campus life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

Person with ADD here. A program like this would have been so incredibly helpful for me.

But you say CNU was chosen especially for the small environment, and I did a grad degree at GMU 10 years ago and the school felt huge and impersonal to me. But perhaps your DC would be able to find his people in his program and things would be good for him socially.

Part of the decision is that we’re talking about a small more personal campus, further away from home, with a pretty homogenous student body and no specific supports programs to help him master his ADD/exec functioning challenges, versus a large campus, close to home, with a very diverse student body (what he is used to in HS) and a specific program designed to help him with his challenges.

[Anonymous]

OP here. An interesting thing about DC is that they are very personable and only slightly socially awkward on rare occasions. They are just very self-conscious and overly self-aware, with nerdy tendencies without being a a “full nerd” (if that makes sense). A small campus could be beneficial in terms of making friends, but it also could feel stifling at times, as DC would frequently see folks on campus and be forced to socialize, and perhaps deal with cliques. (Not sure if this is a thing at CNU, though I know there’s a frat and athletics culture there). Whereas a large campus could provide more opportunities to “find their tribe” and sometimes hide and recharge, which we know DC needs sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in NOVA, GMU might be nice in the sense that your kid can come one easily whenever he wants (which could be helpful).

Also, if at GMU and some issue arises, God forbid, then you can respond much more quickly. If at CNU, you are 3-4 hours away.

Either way, probably would be best for DC to live on campus all 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in NOVA, GMU might be nice in the sense that your kid can come one easily whenever he wants (which could be helpful).

This seems like a negative. The kid should be developing independence not running home frequently.

[Anonymous]

GMU has great job opportunities with the proximity of so many companies. My cousin went there for computer science and had a job lined up by the start of his senior year. He’s had no trouble applying for, and getting, jobs up the ladder and improving his career as well. GMU has great job connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DC was just admitted off the waitlist to GMU’s computing and engineering school. He is committed to CNU for comp sci, and is deciding if he should rescind that commitment and go to Mason.

He is an IB student in a very diverse FCPS school, and has had an IEP since 5th grade for ADD (inattentive). He came up through the FCPS AAP program, taking high school math since 7th grade. His grades have spanned the spectrum from A’s to the occasional D, with his biggest challenges around writing.

He’s especially bright, but struggles with executive functioning. We believe Mason’s Executive Functioning program (at additional cost) would really help him navigate the college academic experience.

He chose CNU over VCU (and two OOS schools with substantial merit) because he thought the smaller school and the opportunity to know his instructors and they know him, would be a better environment. Theres a lot we like about CNU, and not to overemphasize “rankings, but it doesn’t have the reputation - overall and in Comp sci - of Mason. Mason also has a large internship network, which is critica in a technical field.

He would live on campus at GMU and Although smaller, we expect CNU would be more of a “traditional” college experience than Mason, as the latter has a fair number of commuters. However, he’s never really been interested in the experience, and is more focused on what his degree will provide. That said, we (and he) believe he needs to build his social skills and friend base, as he struggled “finding his tribe” in high school.

Anyone with experience at Mason (or CNU for that matter), I would welcome your input as we try to make this decision.

GMU stopped being a commuter campus in 2010/2011 when the Carnegie foundation reclassified it as primarily residential. All freshmen live on campus unless they have filed a waiver and it was accepted. Yes, many of the grad students commute but go look at all of the dorms available for undergrad (My DS's second year was like a hotel room, with full, nice private bath and kitchen). My DS lived on campus all four years. His roommates were OOS and international. He had a great four years. Game Design major. Anything computer is terrific there. Be sure to visit the tech campus out near manassas. AMA

I’ve read about the Carnegie designation, but wondering exactly what the criteria are for that. US News states that GMU only has 6200 undergrads on campus, among 27000 total. That’s not a lot though in comparison to about 5k total at CNU, it’s more than comparable. Also, I understand that a lot of students live in off-campus housing nearby.

Did your DS do the Game Design major that’s arts/fine arts focused? I believes there’s that (BFA) along with a Game Design concentration within the CS major.

j




DS did the BFA major. Those that entered the program knowing how to code gravitated to the CS major. BTW, GMU has 40 different types of dorms, townhouses, housing 6100 students. DS was concerned he wouldn't get an campus dorm the last year but did. Some of his friends moved off nearby but he wanted to stay. I was very impressed with all of the facilities. So much is new therefore state-of-the art.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GMU has great job opportunities with the proximity of so many companies. My cousin went there for computer science and had a job lined up by the start of his senior year. He’s had no trouble applying for, and getting, jobs up the ladder and improving his career as well. GMU has great job connections.

I served on an advisory board for GMU computer science and was very impressed woth the faculty who met with us and the large companies on the Dulles toll road and I-270 monthly to ask what needs the companies had and matched students up
accordingly. My DD had internships all 3 summers and a permanent job lined up
very early