Thoughts on Georgetown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went there for grad school (MBA)

The sfs and the b-school undergrad are great. Beautiful main campus and quad, but the dorms are a bit older. It’s very close to home for any DC area students so it’s not much of a change and I think that’s a detractor. It’s also in a very weird bubble, white, touristy part of town (my friend from out of town didn’t realize until almost her end of two years of grad school that the city is majority black) that is not very metro accessible, except if you walk to Foggy Bottom or Rosslyn. Parking is horrible and rent off campus is horribly expensive.

It’s not Greek so that might be a plus. There’s only a small amount of students undergrad (1,000?) so again that might be a plus or minus.

Because it is $95,000 a year, it tends to attract rich international students or rich US students. Not exactly my kid’s social strata.

Isn't that the price for every private school, give or take a few grand? Why do I hear this complaint about Georgetown more than others?

Yes. It’s because they give less financial aid.

Exactly this. They are known for stingy aid, and don't even participate in QuestBridge. The result is a very affluent student body, which is evident in the vibe some have commented on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:middling private for the price it seems with no real stem quality or offerings. SFS is unattractive given the state of DC.

Is this true? Even with the med school and hospital affiliation?

[Anonymous]

Any more info on stem, Georgetown for premed? Can undergrads get research positions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:middling private for the price it seems with no real stem quality or offerings. SFS is unattractive given the state of DC.

Is this true? Even with the med school and hospital affiliation?

It's decent for pre-med, in terms of course offerings and hospital access, but is not known for research opportunities and advising is weak.

[Anonymous]

I’m a Georgetown professor. In my experience GU students are (almost) all very sharp and hard working but they are not all openly intellectually curious. I think many students are so focused on getting on to investment banking/consulting/med school that being in school is just a hurdle to clear like all the ones they cleared to get into Georgetown, so they do the minimum they need to get As and move on. That being said there are some deeply intellectual and curious students and they are able to work with professors if they want - we actively support undergraduate research and I’ve had amazing undergrads I’ve worked with.

The campus is constrained because of space and neighborhood relations. If you visited recently there’s a lot of construction in the main areas. Lots of new dorms are going up and students tell me they are very nice. Food isn’t great from what I hear.

I posted in another thread that I went on the tour and thought it was not awesome. My belief is that being a tour guide is prestigious and hard to do so students do it for the resume rather than the joy of being at Georgetown.

Our big advantage is our location in DC. We get many great speakers and visitors and the off-campus opportunities are fantastic. If you are from DC this isn’t apparent but I’ve hosted many friends kids on visits and they love the idea of being here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went there for grad school (MBA)

The sfs and the b-school undergrad are great. Beautiful main campus and quad, but the dorms are a bit older. It’s very close to home for any DC area students so it’s not much of a change and I think that’s a detractor. It’s also in a very weird bubble, white, touristy part of town (my friend from out of town didn’t realize until almost her end of two years of grad school that the city is majority black) that is not very metro accessible, except if you walk to Foggy Bottom or Rosslyn. Parking is horrible and rent off campus is horribly expensive.

It’s not Greek so that might be a plus. There’s only a small amount of students undergrad (1,000?) so again that might be a plus or minus.

Because it is $95,000 a year, it tends to attract rich international students or rich US students. Not exactly my kid’s social strata.

Isn't that the price for every private school, give or take a few grand? Why do I hear this complaint about Georgetown more than others?

Yes. It’s because they give less financial aid.

It’s pretty lame that they don’t provide any merit aid. It’s pretty hard to justify $95k even for SFS when the cohort is not as consistent as top schools. Also, I’d imagine most of the SFS students would pursue grad programs eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went there for grad school (MBA)

The sfs and the b-school undergrad are great. Beautiful main campus and quad, but the dorms are a bit older. It’s very close to home for any DC area students so it’s not much of a change and I think that’s a detractor. It’s also in a very weird bubble, white, touristy part of town (my friend from out of town didn’t realize until almost her end of two years of grad school that the city is majority black) that is not very metro accessible, except if you walk to Foggy Bottom or Rosslyn. Parking is horrible and rent off campus is horribly expensive.

It’s not Greek so that might be a plus. There’s only a small amount of students undergrad (1,000?) so again that might be a plus or minus.

Because it is $95,000 a year, it tends to attract rich international students or rich US students. Not exactly my kid’s social strata.

Isn't that the price for every private school, give or take a few grand? Why do I hear this complaint about Georgetown more than others?

Yes. It’s because they give less financial aid.

It’s pretty lame that they don’t provide any merit aid. It’s pretty hard to justify $95k even for SFS when the cohort is not as consistent as top schools. Also, I’d imagine most of the SFS students would pursue grad programs eventually.

Georgetown is meet-full-need, which means no merit aid, but they also simply don’t have the resources of peer schools. So the result is FA packages that include loans.

[Anonymous]

Schools like Georgetown can sink in rating, first slowly and then suddenly…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

Yup. 41% Catholic students vs.more than 80% at Notre Dame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

Sure but if a college is REQUIRING my DS/DD to take "The Problem of God" (THEO-1000) or "Introduction to Biblical Literature" (THEO-1100), we're NOT going there.

As an optional course, sure do what you want to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

Sure but if a college is REQUIRING my DS/DD to take "The Problem of God" (THEO-1000) or "Introduction to Biblical Literature" (THEO-1100), we're NOT going there.

As an optional course, sure do what you want to offer.

That’s because you’re affirmatively anti-religion.

For a Catholic school to require two religion classes that clearly aren’t even Catholic focused is nothing.

What the hell do you expect a Catholic school to do?

Weirdo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

Sure but if a college is REQUIRING my DS/DD to take "The Problem of God" (THEO-1000) or "Introduction to Biblical Literature" (THEO-1100), we're NOT going there.

As an optional course, sure do what you want to offer.

That’s because you’re affirmatively anti-religion.

For a Catholic school to require two religion classes that clearly aren’t even Catholic focused is nothing.

What the hell do you expect a Catholic school to do?

Weirdo

LOL - religious nuts are the weirdos! You're just proving my original point - it's a very religious school. period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do DC folks think of Georgetown these days? We were a bit underwhelmed. I mean, it’s an excellent school, but compared to similarly selective schools, you wonder why it’s so selective.

very religious

Not our impression at all. Plenty of non-Catholics attend.

Sure but if a college is REQUIRING my DS/DD to take "The Problem of God" (THEO-1000) or "Introduction to Biblical Literature" (THEO-1100), we're NOT going there.

As an optional course, sure do what you want to offer.

That’s because you’re affirmatively anti-religion.

For a Catholic school to require two religion classes that clearly aren’t even Catholic focused is nothing.

What the hell do you expect a Catholic school to do?

Weirdo

The first class sounds great, from the description: "show awareness of distinctive traditions of thought; are attuned to the differences among scientific, symbolic, mythical, and metaphorical uses of language; and show a sophisticated appreciation for recurrent human questions and the answers provided by various religious traditions." Second course also sounds fine: "The Bible is more interesting, more complex, and in the end more “weird” than most people expect. Come see for yourself."

Sounds like both courses are historical and focus on critical thinking. No problems here. Non-religious kid would find interesting.