Why is George Mason so often overlooked?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure it is overlooked, it just doesn't generate a lot of questions. I would expect many VA kids already have it on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's basically like a bigger version of NVCC.

Not many people want to pay a university price for a community college experience.

I've not met anyone who graduated from there who would also allow their kid to attend.

What nonsense. It is way better than NVCC. I have a half dozen friends who graduated from there and are quite gainfully employed in this area, thanks mainly to the connections between GMU and surrounding businesses. Everyone is very happy with the experience, although they are pretty career-focused people and didn't care about the typical college drinking and partying experience.

[Anonymous]

It's a good enough experience, a good enough school for some people.

[Anonymous]

My son who went to HS in FCPS went there for computer science and had a job at a top FAANG before he graduated. He is out on the West Coast now. He also had internships starting the summer after his freshman year. All of his internships were local. Some were with small companies that are not well known, but they gave him great experiences. He lived on campus his first 2 years and then roomed with some friends the remaining 2. He stayed with us during his first 2 summer jobs and stayed in his apartment the final summer. It was inexpensive to attend GMU and prepared him for a six figure job at 20 years old. His birthday is not until Sept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son who went to HS in FCPS went there for computer science and had a job at a top FAANG before he graduated. He is out on the West Coast now. He also had internships starting the summer after his freshman year. All of his internships were local. Some were with small companies that are not well known, but they gave him great experiences. He lived on campus his first 2 years and then roomed with some friends the remaining 2. He stayed with us during his first 2 summer jobs and stayed in his apartment the final summer. It was inexpensive to attend GMU and prepared him for a six figure job at 20 years old. His birthday is not until Sept.

Same here. Multiple friends and relatives with very high-paying jobs, who went to GMU. I went to UVa and I make diddly squat.

[Anonymous]

It is overlooked from NoVA largely because it is right there. The campus is OK, but in retrospect they probably missed a chance to create a campus like CNU that is new, but conveys a sense of history and a more "traditional" campus. They also might have missed a chance to play the Virginia Tech role in the Amazon campus. Not sure how that played out.

GMU has a long way to go, but people should remember that when UCLA was founded only a little over a 100 years ago, it was only the Los Angeles extension of Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is overlooked from NoVA largely because it is right there. The campus is OK, but in retrospect they probably missed a chance to create a campus like CNU that is new, but conveys a sense of history and a more "traditional" campus. They also might have missed a chance to play the Virginia Tech role in the Amazon campus. Not sure how that played out.

GMU has a long way to go, but people should remember that when UCLA was founded only a little over a 100 years ago, it was only the Los Angeles extension of Berkeley.

GMU actually will have the only undergraduate programs connected to the Amazon site--they are developing the Arlington campus site around digital innovation. VT in Arlington is grad programs only.

[Anonymous]

Still having trouble shaking the commuter school/13th grade rep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is overlooked from NoVA largely because it is right there. The campus is OK, but in retrospect they probably missed a chance to create a campus like CNU that is new, but conveys a sense of history and a more "traditional" campus. They also might have missed a chance to play the Virginia Tech role in the Amazon campus. Not sure how that played out.

GMU has a long way to go, but people should remember that when UCLA was founded only a little over a 100 years ago, it was only the Los Angeles extension of Berkeley.

CNU's architecture comes off as fake to a lot of people (my architect spouse will go off on this, but I've heard it also from friend's kids that it feels a bit mall-like)--not necessarily an appealing look to copy.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is overlooked, but to many it doesn't seem likely to provide an experience that will match what they might be looking for at UVA, W&M, or VT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's basically like a bigger version of NVCC.

Not many people want to pay a university price for a community college experience.

I've not met anyone who graduated from there who would also allow their kid to attend.

What nonsense. It is way better than NVCC. I have a half dozen friends who graduated from there and are quite gainfully employed in this area, thanks mainly to the connections between GMU and surrounding businesses. Everyone is very happy with the experience, although they are pretty career-focused people and didn't care about the typical college drinking and partying experience.

It's more like a closer version of JMU.

It's probably the best deal around here in terms of ROI.

6 figure salay in no time hanging around there for 4 years for a CS degree.

[Anonymous]

Commuter school, and no real sense of community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's basically like a bigger version of NVCC.

Not many people want to pay a university price for a community college experience.

I've not met anyone who graduated from there who would also allow their kid to attend.

What nonsense. It is way better than NVCC. I have a half dozen friends who graduated from there and are quite gainfully employed in this area, thanks mainly to the connections between GMU and surrounding businesses. Everyone is very happy with the experience, although they are pretty career-focused people and didn't care about the typical college drinking and partying experience.

It's more like a closer version of JMU.

It's probably the best deal around here in terms of ROI.

6 figure salay in no time hanging around there for 4 years for a CS degree.

It couldn’t be less like JMU. Also, everyone just keeps talking about how kids can graduate making six figs with their CS degree, you do know that not everyone wants to do that? Yeah sure we would all like to make that much but many kids are not interested in CS, so what do non CS focused grads do at GMU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's basically like a bigger version of NVCC.

Not many people want to pay a university price for a community college experience.

I've not met anyone who graduated from there who would also allow their kid to attend.

What nonsense. It is way better than NVCC. I have a half dozen friends who graduated from there and are quite gainfully employed in this area, thanks mainly to the connections between GMU and surrounding businesses. Everyone is very happy with the experience, although they are pretty career-focused people and didn't care about the typical college drinking and partying experience.

It's more like a closer version of JMU.

It's probably the best deal around here in terms of ROI.

6 figure salay in no time hanging around there for 4 years for a CS degree.

It couldn’t be less like JMU. Also, everyone just keeps talking about how kids can graduate making six figs with their CS degree, you do know that not everyone wants to do that? Yeah sure we would all like to make that much but many kids are not interested in CS, so what do non CS focused grads do at GMU?

They get BAs, BSs, and BFAs in other disciplines and do fairly well as a group--GMU has excellent ROI, especially considering it's not a highly selective school. Graduates work in policy, in industry, with non-profits, as teachers and other public positions, go on to grad school in law, medicine, and other disciplines etc. just like every other major university. The DMV location is excellent for internships and connections in a lot of fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is overlooked from NoVA largely because it is right there. The campus is OK, but in retrospect they probably missed a chance to create a campus like CNU that is new, but conveys a sense of history and a more "traditional" campus. They also might have missed a chance to play the Virginia Tech role in the Amazon campus. Not sure how that played out.

GMU has a long way to go, but people should remember that when UCLA was founded only a little over a 100 years ago, it was only the Los Angeles extension of Berkeley.

CNU's architecture comes off as fake to a lot of people (my architect spouse will go off on this, but I've heard it also from friend's kids that it feels a bit mall-like)--not necessarily an appealing look to copy.

Well, that is a couple of data points, but I have seen CNU start to show up on most beautiful campus lists and people say it is a nice campus.