George Mason: ugliest campus ever?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a weird thread. GMU is certainly not a traditionally beautiful campus, but it's hardly ugly. Are you just intentionally wanting to talk smack about GMU?

Folks, we have a winner. Yes, the OP is just the usual GMU hater. Nothing new to see here. And I agree, GMU is far from ugly. It's actually quite nice looking, IMO.

OP was confused and was talking about the new Prince William Science and Tech. campus. 18 pages of drivel and she doesn't even know what campus she was on or near.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is GMU’s graduation rate only 67%?

Yikes. That’s atrocious.

I dunno--I think lowish graduation rates can be a good thing. It tells you a school is not a diploma mill, not just handing out degrees for showing up (or sometimes showing up).
GMU's rate is actually 69.2% for the most recent cohort (kids who started in 2012--they do it by 6 year rates) which is the average for VA schools. But it's the largest VA public and an R1 university. It has a large traditional entering freshman student cohorts--what is reflected in this data, but also even more transfer students, non-traditional age students and graduate students. GMU accepts a wide range of students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds --but it's also a rigorous, major research institution. If all those students were able to graduate I'd worry that it was rubber stamping degrees. There are many states that have public colleges that essentially do that--sometimes even the flagship.

Christopher Newport strikes me as interesting here -it's devoted to undergraduates and much smaller in scale. Just 10 years earlier it used to have graduation rates lower than GMUs --58% (which is somewhat damning since it ONLY serves undergrads and a much smaller population ) but it has really been growing them over the years in this regard so it's latest number is 76%--not as high as the highest (Washington & Lee at 94%, UVA at 93%) but edging in on JMU and VT who are at 81%. An interesting number also is College of William & Mary at 88.6%. I wonder if it's telling of W&M of being significantly harder than UVA--they attract similarly qualified students but have a lower graduation rate.
http://research.schev.edu/gradrates/grs10.asp

So then you’re worried about the rise in graduation rates as that indicates more rubber-stamping? Don’t twist yourself in a knot defending the crappy grad rate. It’s not a good thing.

No, I'm actually just unsure about the use of graduation rates as a great measure of school quality--especially when entering populations vary so much. I don't have a stake in the game re GMU--no one in my family is going/went there --I'm just vaguely interested in how we measure the quality of institutions. I worry that schools concerned about rankings/accountability measures that focus on grad rates will pressure rubber stamping--high stakes measures do tend to distort.

An amazing thing happened after it dawned on colleges that USNews was scoring them on graduation rates -- graduation rates went way up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a weird thread. GMU is certainly not a traditionally beautiful campus, but it's hardly ugly. Are you just intentionally wanting to talk smack about GMU?

Folks, we have a winner. Yes, the OP is just the usual GMU hater. Nothing new to see here. And I agree, GMU is far from ugly. It's actually quite nice looking, IMO.

OP was confused and was talking about the new Prince William Science and Tech. campus. 18 pages of drivel and she doesn't even know what campus she was on or near.

Gotta take you to some nice campuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a weird thread. GMU is certainly not a traditionally beautiful campus, but it's hardly ugly. Are you just intentionally wanting to talk smack about GMU?

Folks, we have a winner. Yes, the OP is just the usual GMU hater. Nothing new to see here. And I agree, GMU is far from ugly. It's actually quite nice looking, IMO.

OP was confused and was talking about the new Prince William Science and Tech. campus. 18 pages of drivel and she doesn't even know what campus she was on or near.

Gotta take you to some nice campuses.

If you compare pretty much any U.S. campus to Cambridge in the UK it is going to pale in comparison. But I think any assertion that GMU is the ugliest campus has no basis whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps, but it’s still ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps, but it’s still ugly.

Oh look, yet another boring Friday night in the UMD dorms. No, George Mason is lovely. OP was on the wrong campus. Here's what GMU looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpj5ZiJox-0

[Anonymous]

You think that looks good? Bwahahaha.

[Anonymous]

Real campus: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BFDvZKUhDuk

[Anonymous]

There’s something for everyone. My DS has not liked any of the colleges we have toured with our DD who is a junior. He does not like any old buildings. While he does not want to go to Mason because it is “too close to home” it was the only campus he liked (went to UVA, W&M, JMU, VT, and Elon, in addition to UMD, Notre Dame, and Northwestern). I love the beauty of old college campuses, but understand his point, as I would love to live in a non-cookie cutter house, but only if it was updated. Will be interesting to see where he ends up as he has a perfect GPA so far as a sophomore and scored 1400+ on his PSAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s something for everyone. My DS has not liked any of the colleges we have toured with our DD who is a junior. He does not like any old buildings. While he does not want to go to Mason because it is “too close to home” it was the only campus he liked (went to UVA, W&M, JMU, VT, and Elon, in addition to UMD, Notre Dame, and Northwestern). I love the beauty of old college campuses, but understand his point, as I would love to live in a non-cookie cutter house, but only if it was updated. Will be interesting to see where he ends up as he has a perfect GPA so far as a sophomore and scored 1400+ on his PSAT.

Agreed, but jeez, what a limiting way to select a college. Many (most?) old campuses have lots of fantastic new spaces and hardly any have no old buildings. And most excellent schools - and your son is obviously an excellent student who will have opportunities at lots of great schools - are old. His views will probably evolve. The “too much brick”/“the doors are too heavy” absurdity usually evaporates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something for everyone. My DS has not liked any of the colleges we have toured with our DD who is a junior. He does not like any old buildings. While he does not want to go to Mason because it is “too close to home” it was the only campus he liked (went to UVA, W&M, JMU, VT, and Elon, in addition to UMD, Notre Dame, and Northwestern). I love the beauty of old college campuses, but understand his point, as I would love to live in a non-cookie cutter house, but only if it was updated. Will be interesting to see where he ends up as he has a perfect GPA so far as a sophomore and scored 1400+ on his PSAT.

Agreed, but jeez, what a limiting way to select a college. Many (most?) old campuses have lots of fantastic new spaces and hardly any have no old buildings. And most excellent schools - and your son is obviously an excellent student who will have opportunities at lots of great schools - are old. His views will probably evolve. The “too much brick”/“the doors are too heavy” absurdity usually evaporates.

I agree that it’s limiting. He doesn’t really care about the looks - it isn’t the bricks - but did seem to care about aging facilities, lack of air conditioning, overly hot heat, bad dorm rooms, etc. He’s used to a comfortable middle to upper middle class existence and was not wowed when guides would tell him to picture himself there. I’m sure in the end he will choose what is academically best, but I also think he will be swayed by where he will enjoy living. He’s not impressed by tradition and is more concerned with whether a school will offer him opportunities. And his approach seemed to be he could find opportunities at all of the schools, “ugly” GMU included, so why not be comfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s something for everyone. My DS has not liked any of the colleges we have toured with our DD who is a junior. He does not like any old buildings. While he does not want to go to Mason because it is “too close to home” it was the only campus he liked (went to UVA, W&M, JMU, VT, and Elon, in addition to UMD, Notre Dame, and Northwestern). I love the beauty of old college campuses, but understand his point, as I would love to live in a non-cookie cutter house, but only if it was updated. Will be interesting to see where he ends up as he has a perfect GPA so far as a sophomore and scored 1400+ on his PSAT.

Agreed, but jeez, what a limiting way to select a college. Many (most?) old campuses have lots of fantastic new spaces and hardly any have no old buildings. And most excellent schools - and your son is obviously an excellent student who will have opportunities at lots of great schools - are old. His views will probably evolve. The “too much brick”/“the doors are too heavy” absurdity usually evaporates.

Going through top schools in my head, I can't think of too many that don't have significant older sections. MIT has been trying to push more modern forms for quite a while (perhaps to varying degrees of success). Yale has significant modern buildings, but it is still probably the colleges from the 1920s and 1930s that people remember best. In Virginia, I'd say UVA, William and Mary, and other schools have struggled with their modern buildings. The ones from the 1960s and 1970s were often bland and uninspired, and were really just flat roofed versions, non-decorated versions of what was already there. UVA is taking a wrecking ball to all the Alderman Road dorms from the 1960s (which actually had pitched roofs). I can't say I'm really taken with the replacements, but it is an improvement.

Anyway, I'd agree that you should never pick based on campus architecture. Sure, it is great to spend 4-5 years in a beautiful place, but kids should look beyond that.

[Anonymous]

This is a ridiculous thread. Mason is far from the ugliest and why should anyone pick college based solely based on beauty anyway?

Most Virginia colleges have something that could be significantly improved. JMU has an Interstate and railroad track running through it. VCU has some great older re-purposed but a lack of open space and bad newer buildings. ODU is kind of nondescript. UVA kind of loses the thread as you move away from the Lawn. VT has good and bad. Pretty much anything that was put up on Virginia campuses from 1955-1980 was architecturally questionable. Why single out GMU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a ridiculous thread. Mason is far from the ugliest and why should anyone pick college based solely based on beauty anyway?

Most Virginia colleges have something that could be significantly improved. JMU has an Interstate and railroad track running through it. VCU has some great older re-purposed but a lack of open space and bad newer buildings. ODU is kind of nondescript. UVA kind of loses the thread as you move away from the Lawn. VT has good and bad. Pretty much anything that was put up on Virginia campuses from 1955-1980 was architecturally questionable. Why single out GMU?

Would’ve been better just to let this thread die. But since you did...VT and UVA are gorgeous. You’re nitpicking. Mason is blah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a ridiculous thread. Mason is far from the ugliest and why should anyone pick college based solely based on beauty anyway?

Most Virginia colleges have something that could be significantly improved. JMU has an Interstate and railroad track running through it. VCU has some great older re-purposed but a lack of open space and bad newer buildings. ODU is kind of nondescript. UVA kind of loses the thread as you move away from the Lawn. VT has good and bad. Pretty much anything that was put up on Virginia campuses from 1955-1980 was architecturally questionable. Why single out GMU?

Would’ve been better just to let this thread die. But since you did...VT and UVA are gorgeous. You’re nitpicking. Mason is blah.

Grow up. Mason is lovely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpj5ZiJox-0. And my DD's dorm rooms looked like hotel rooms complete with enormous private bath w/ tub and kitchen. There are benefits to a campus with state-of-the-art buildings. GMU has five campuses, the most beautiful is the brand new one in Songdu, Korea. https://masonkorea.gmu.edu/