Disappointed with Georgetown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really loved Georgetown back in my day - I ended up at Princeton, but it was for sure my number 2. Just saying no sour grapes here, got in and liked it.

Toured recently with DC. Then did a GW tour after - we were both more impressed with GW than Georgetown. It's funny to me that someone said ND was about a "storied sports program" bcs that was what Georgetown was in my day. I think not having that any more is a loss - even for me, who cares nothing about sports.

We also went to Penn on that trip and realized very quickly the schools with a 15% acceptance rate are not in the same universe as the schools with the 5% acceptance rate.

Again, your son has not been accepted at Georgetown, so your opinion is meaningless.

DP. That’s ridiculous. It doesn’t matter. No one knows whether OP’s son would have been offered admission, but the point stands: highly qualified students, the likes of whom *are* frequently admitted to Georgetown, are turned off by the school and not even bothering to apply. My highly qualified DC had exactly the same reaction. FWIW, I have had multiple family members attend Georgetown, so I have always had a favorable opinion of the school, but I agree with OP. Georgetown is resting on its laurels. Geography keeps the SFS relevant, but that is increasingly all that Georgeotown is known for.

DP here. No, PP is correct. You are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

OP, can you not think of anything else to do? Does your job know how much time you spend on this board?

At least post about something other than comparisons of colleges you clearly know nothing about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming those who are commenting against the OP are all Georgetown boosters, I am appalled at how relentless and desperate these people are to have to keep coming back to this thread. Is this the typical GU alum/parent? Scary.

Welcome to GU! We defend our own.

🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🎃🎃🎃👠👠👠

I always wondered where Bill Clinton got his boundless self-satisfaction. Mystery solved.

Yep. Georgetown alumni seem to want to give Duke alumni a run for the title of “douchiest alumni.”

It’s also where he got his Rhodes Scholarship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown gets a major boost because there aren't any great universities in DC. If Johns Hopkins had been founded in DC, not Baltimore, Georgetown would have the same reputation as BC. Put reputation aside, and Georgetown is really on par with BC.

No, BC is a tier below Georgetown.

Not really. Pretty much the same. BC has been rising while Georgetown is falling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown gets a major boost because there aren't any great universities in DC. If Johns Hopkins had been founded in DC, not Baltimore, Georgetown would have the same reputation as BC. Put reputation aside, and Georgetown is really on par with BC.

No, BC is a tier below Georgetown.

Not really. Pretty much the same. BC has been rising while Georgetown is falling

In what universe?

[Anonymous]

Come on, Georgetown was a 2-trick pony. After John Thompson left it has been down to one trick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown gets a major boost because there aren't any great universities in DC. If Johns Hopkins had been founded in DC, not Baltimore, Georgetown would have the same reputation as BC. Put reputation aside, and Georgetown is really on par with BC.

No, BC is a tier below Georgetown.

Not really. Pretty much the same. BC has been rising while Georgetown is falling

In what universe?

+1

OP is obsessed. And the basketball diatribe is as ridiculous as OP's post. It is mostly athletes that care about college sports, unless down south - in the south, all that matters is collage sports and greek life. OP has their information all wrong, which is how you can tell OP was not considered as an applicant for Georgetown (or many other schools).

[Anonymous]

I didn’t read this entire thread because my kids are in 3rd and 5th grade, but I think JHU/SAIS offers the best alternative to Georgetown. It isn’t Catholic but kids can attend mass at all those same beautiful churches downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Assuming those who are commenting against the OP are all Georgetown boosters, I am appalled at how relentless and desperate these people are to have to keep coming back to this thread. Is this the typical GU alum/parent? Scary.

Welcome to GU! We defend our own.

🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🧙‍♀️🎃🎃🎃👠👠👠

I always wondered where Bill Clinton got his boundless self-satisfaction. Mystery solved.

Yep. Georgetown alumni seem to want to give Duke alumni a run for the title of “douchiest alumni.”

Haaaavard entered the chat

[Anonymous]

I am a graduate of both Duke and Georgetown (undergrad and law school). I am not sure what data exists to support the claim of douchiest alumni - not that data matters to a snarky emotional thinker. I was the unusual poor kid at both schools and the wealth was intimidating. I have been entirely on my own since age 18 and was heavily recruited for athletics for undergrad. Paid for undergrad with athletic scholarship and law school trading on the CME. I was amused by my classmates who relied on their parents for money. I didn’t really care about the wealth factor at both schools as I could intuit that social mobility didn’t involve seeking pleasure or going to a dream school or any other extraneous factors. What went on in the classroom mattered. I found Duke more challenging but that could have been a maturity factor. When recruited, Georgetown was ok but did feel closed in and small. My high school rival from Long Island went to a Catholic high school and made the same observation about the Georgetown campus but nevertheless was drawn to the Catholic environment. Everyone has a different view. One thing I liked about the law school was that it did have a nice chapel where students of all faiths could chill out. The priests were dedicated and good people. I didn’t find law school stressful in the least (compared to trading or top level D1 athletics) but appreciated that a large and impersonal professional school had a human side.

I was on a committee with Big John Thompson. I completely disagree with the notion that the basketball program’s demise is a reflection on the university. I know athletics, and there was no better college brand than the Big East in the 80’s. Georgetown was just one of many stellar Big East programs. Football killed the Big East - just destroyed it. Thompson had an advantage in that his teams played great defense well ahead of programs like Indiana. That advantage dissipated over time and Georgetown has not adjusted. Like many successful organizations Georgetown made the mistake of hiring their own and continued to play a game centered around big men - not the game if today. Villanova adjusted and has won with positionless basketball - the right coach could make things better but GU can’t just try and grab DC and Baltimore guys and must recruit swing guys who can play all positions and do so nationwide like Duke. Hard to do because GU does not have Power 5 football money - so a different landscape in the NCAA today. GU should work the portal because a grad year at GU is very valuable and could work for them.

[Anonymous]

Vanderbilt, Duke, Johns Hopkins

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids don’t want LACs, size is too similar to high schools. But if that is what your kid wants, go for it.

Yep. I went to a NE boarding school. Our college counselors told us that LACs would basically be 4 more years of high school.

Same experience & same advice from our very elite NE boarding school. The most popular LAC was Amherst College, but few chose LACs. Sent almost 30% of each class to Ivy League schools.

[Anonymous]

Georgetown University does very well placing undergrads in high paying fields. Wall Street/IB type placement is superior to many Ivy League schools.

Georgetown University is a great school for pre-professional training & placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown gets a major boost because there aren't any great universities in DC. If Johns Hopkins had been founded in DC, not Baltimore, Georgetown would have the same reputation as BC. Put reputation aside, and Georgetown is really on par with BC.

No, BC is a tier below Georgetown.

Not really. Pretty much the same. BC has been rising while Georgetown is falling

This is true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great post OP !

Agree completely! As the spouse of someone who went there I am not overly impressed with my spouse’s college friends’ outcomes. They are lovely people but most have done things that are not super impressive (neither have I, but I went to BU). Few of them had close relationships with their professors. These are friends we have been close to for years and I have spoken with them about this as our kids are getting older and we all are thinking about college options. (My spouse struggled to find professors to write recs for grad school even just three years out of college, even though he did well while there.)
I love the people I know who went there, and many are intelligent and good, decent people, but nothing about what I have heard about their college experiences, or have observed about the outcomes of many graduates, makes me think it deserves the hype. Thanks for the refreshing post, OP!