If you have a top student who chose GMU, how did you get over the comments/looks?

[Anonymous]

Well.. Looks like an innocent questions has turned this thread into a DCUM common sense party!

Imagine wanting your kid to go to school 20 minutes away! Imagine going to college to study something that gets you a job, at the least possible cost! The Blasphemy! Wait until the "college is meant for exploration and not job training" crowd hears about this party and shows up in strength to break it up!

Congrats to your kid and your family OP! Mine is a junior and we are looking at in-state options. I'd be thrilled if he ends up there..

[Anonymous]

Your son is likely going to do great at GMU, get excellent opportunities and recommendations. GMU is an R1 university with top-notch faculty in a location with a LOT of highly visible, impactful opportunities--a really strong student there will have so many opportunities to choose from. The student population is really heterogeneous--academically, economically, racially/culturally etc. It's a great introduction to the real world. Just encourage him to go in looking for high impact projects that interest him, contact faculty for research opportunities early on, be focused on finding internships and not just coast through classes.

[Anonymous]

What are his friends and people saying? I wouldn't go by looks, people's expressions can be misinterpreted.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ facial expressions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well.. Looks like an innocent questions has turned this thread into a DCUM common sense party!

Imagine wanting your kid to go to school 20 minutes away! Imagine going to college to study something that gets you a job, at the least possible cost! The Blasphemy! Wait until the "college is meant for exploration and not job training" crowd hears about this party and shows up in strength to break it up!

Congrats to your kid and your family OP! Mine is a junior and we are looking at in-state options. I'd be thrilled if he ends up there..

LOVE THIS

[Anonymous]

Your kid is going to do so well at GMU just because of the right attitude. If nothing else he may inspire others to go where they want and not where they feel pressure for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well.. Looks like an innocent questions has turned this thread into a DCUM common sense party!

Imagine wanting your kid to go to school 20 minutes away! Imagine going to college to study something that gets you a job, at the least possible cost! The Blasphemy! Wait until the "college is meant for exploration and not job training" crowd hears about this party and shows up in strength to break it up!

Congrats to your kid and your family OP! Mine is a junior and we are looking at in-state options. I'd be thrilled if he ends up there..

Look, going to college like that is a luxury. If they can afford it, I'm not going to look down on them (even if they look down on me.) I can't for my kids, but maybe the next generation? Anyway, that's not something I worry about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well.. Looks like an innocent questions has turned this thread into a DCUM common sense party!

Imagine wanting your kid to go to school 20 minutes away! Imagine going to college to study something that gets you a job, at the least possible cost! The Blasphemy! Wait until the "college is meant for exploration and not job training" crowd hears about this party and shows up in strength to break it up!

Congrats to your kid and your family OP! Mine is a junior and we are looking at in-state options. I'd be thrilled if he ends up there..

Look, going to college like that is a luxury. If they can afford it, I'm not going to look down on them (even if they look down on me.) I can't for my kids, but maybe the next generation? Anyway, that's not something I worry about.

NP BTW

[Anonymous]

My DS will be attending GMU in the fall for the CS major. He turned down UVA 45K/year school of engineering and decided to attend GMU and live at home, and commute to school in his brand new 2023 Tesla Model Y.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS will be attending GMU in the fall for the CS major. He turned down UVA 45K/year school of engineering and decided to attend GMU and live at home, and commute to school in his brand new 2023 Tesla Model Y.

Ew.

(My kid is a CS major at GMU and very happy there, but Elon? Ew.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS will be attending GMU in the fall for the CS major. He turned down UVA 45K/year school of engineering and decided to attend GMU and live at home, and commute to school in his brand new 2023 Tesla Model Y.

Ew.

(My kid is a CS major at GMU and very happy there, but Elon? Ew.)

Not OP but I have a high school student who is hoping to be attending GMU some day.
But back to the "Ew" comments ... are you a 5 year old? How immature and how ironic given that this is a thread about the ridiculous things people say. Do better PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a top student. 1580 SAT. Also took ACT and scored 35. He was accepted to all the schools he applied to and he did not apply to many: GMU, Pitt, VaTech, JMU, VCU, UMD, and WPI. He wants to choose GMU Honors for (1) cost savings and (2) location. We live maybe 35 minutes away. He will live on campus. He can see us every day or never, it's up to him. He has ADHD. He likes his therapist and doesn't want to lose her, he doesn't want to worry about access to his meds, and he takes solace in us being near just in case he needs support. The problem is everyone thinks he is throwing his talent away and they look down on him for his choice. I've heard his friends tease him about it. Many chose UVA, VATech, JMU. W&M. I am proud of him for choosing what is best for him. How do I help him be comfortable and confident in his decision?

Is it you or "other people" that have a problem with GMU, OP?

[Anonymous]

He will graduate at the top of his class and the world will be his oyster.

BTDT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What on earth? GMU is a good school. He doesn't have anything to justify or explain.

+1

And in 10 years when he's getting paid lots of $ and is still constantly being recruited by headhunters, he/GMU will have the last laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a top student. 1580 SAT. Also took ACT and scored 35. He was accepted to all the schools he applied to and he did not apply to many: GMU, Pitt, VaTech, JMU, VCU, UMD, and WPI. He wants to choose GMU Honors for (1) cost savings and (2) location. We live maybe 35 minutes away. He will live on campus. He can see us every day or never, it's up to him. He has ADHD. He likes his therapist and doesn't want to lose her, he doesn't want to worry about access to his meds, and he takes solace in us being near just in case he needs support. The problem is everyone thinks he is throwing his talent away and they look down on him for his choice. I've heard his friends tease him about it. Many chose UVA, VATech, JMU. W&M. I am proud of him for choosing what is best for him. How do I help him be comfortable and confident in his decision?

I think that GMU is really the equivalent of a UK “plate glass university,” like the University of Warwick. It’s a top school in a top location. Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

WTH?? The University of Warwick is nothing like GMU — I went there. It certainly is not in a top location and it is very self-contained. Sinfully ugly, but one of the best universities in the UK. GMU is a suburban school and it’s fine. Nothing against it, but couldn’t be more different than Warwick.

It's the largest R1 University in Virginia with 27,000 undergrads and 11,000 postgrads. It's also the most diverse institution in the state. A lot has changed. It also has four campuses, include a huge one in Seoul Korea.

Research
George Mason University hosts $149 million in sponsored research projects annually, as of 2019.[100] In 2016, Mason was classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education among the U.S. universities that receive the most research funding and award research/scholarship doctorates.[101] Mason moved into this classification based on a review of its 2013–2014 data that was performed by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University.[102]

The research is focused on health, sustainability and security. In health, researchers focus is on wellness, disease prevention, advanced diagnostics and biomedical analytics. Sustainability research examines climate change, natural disaster forecasting, and risk assessment. Mason's security experts study domestic and international security as well as cyber security.[10