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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a parent of a college freshman.  My husband went to Georgetown for grad school and we lived in DC suburbs for 8 years.  We are Pitt undergrads.

I agree with the upthread characterizations of GW vs. AU.  They both used to be more hometown schools for DMV kids...but provide access into the DC job market.  There are many professions where that applies...pre-law, politics, and int'l relations among them.

I don't think either school stands out from the pack of good options. unless Washington is a preferred locale for college or post-college jobs.  That might be the case, but it seems your search is still broad.

I would recommend that you also look at Pitt (similar to GW in many ways) and Syracuse while you are looking at GW and American.  Simply because I think they check some similar boxes.

Broadly speaking, there is also some DCUM crossover with the University of Rochester and this type of school.

I'm sure American offers a good education but it is currently having some financial issues.  That precedes the issues the Trump Administration has caused with all the big R1 universities.
[/quote]

How on earth are Pitt and GWU "similar in many ways?"  Cut me a break.  [/quote]

Why don't you tell me why they are not?  The main difference is the DC location and DC job market.  If your goal does not involve living in DC after graduation, and does not involve one of the fields (such as international relations) where it makes sense to go to school in a capital city, these are very similar schools.  I've lived in both Pittsburgh and suburban Maryland.  I've known multiple people who have cross-shopped these schools. My maid of honor went to Pitt and her sister to GW.  My cousin's child looked at Pitt but decided on GW. And I've known people from outside DC who have come to take a look at DC schools and often decided against.  Because DC isn't particularly relevant to their life plans.  It happens.  We lived there and left.  It still is a fun place to visit with many smart people.

There.  You may take your break now.[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about? I’m talking about the universities. Not the city of Pittsburgh versus Washington DC.  AI has it right:

The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and George Washington University (GW) are both highly regarded universities, but they differ in several key aspects. Pitt is a large, public university with a strong focus on research, particularly in health sciences and engineering, while GW is a private university known for its location in Washington, D.C., and its strengths in political science, international affairs, and business.

You may disagree with AI on this, but it’s a lot more persuasive than “my maid of honor went to Pitt and her sister went to GW.”

[/quote]

I do disagree with AI.  AI oversimplifies and stresses the obvious.

Pitt was at one point private, and is not a full state university (it is considered state related, and still has qualities similar to a private university if you would like to define what those are beyond funding).  The schools have many of the same majors in the areas I am familiar with.  Both are urban, but not located right in the core of the center city.  Nonetheless, both are well connected by transport to the local cultural attractions.  Pitt is a university with deep emphasis on liberal arts classes beyond STEM (despite what AI says).  Liberal arts college undergrads dramatically outweigh the number of engineering students (10K vs 2K-ish), ensuring a focus on all of the liberal arts.  Pitt is also strong in humanities, social sciences, and business, and has a graduate school of international affairs that has produced some notable graduates. It is not in DC, but not everyone's political goals involve DC, which is why I think DC interest is a sufficient and distinguishing reason to select GW, but Pitt might be of interest to others.  Pitt is likely to be less expensive.  There are also buses at breaks to the NY metro area.  Pitt attracts students from the NY metro who want to leave their home area for college, as many do.

My point was that they are similar enough for a New York family with the stated criteria to consider.  I know people who have cross-shopped these schools because they fill similar niches for students.  Also know MoCo students who went to Pitt because they didn't want to stay home for college, which would have likely meant GW/AU/UMD.

Your disbelief does not negate my experiences. Perhaps you aren't as familiar with Pitt as I am with GW.[/quote]

You’re wrong about GWU’s location.  GWU could not be more centrally located in DC.  You can practically spit on the White House and National Mall from its campus.  It’s half the size of Pitt, it’s private, and it attracts a much wealthier and more geographically diverse student body than Pitt.

67% of Pittsburgh students are from Pennsylvania.  Only 5% are from New York. Almost 15% of GW students are from New York, and only 5 percent are actually from Maryland.  In other words, you are both wrong in suggesting that lots of New York students choose Pitt, just as you were wrong and suggesting that GW attracts many Maryland students who stay home.  It doesn’t and never has.

The bottom line is that there is virtually no overlap between GW students and Pitt students, and none of the schools that OP has identified as schools of interest remotely suggests that Pitt is a fit.

[/quote]

Foggy Bottom is off to the side of the core of DC.  I have lived in the DC area and I worked near the Capitol and commuted by Metro for 8 years.  If you are at Foggy Bottom, you will be staying in that area unless you are commuting to a job on the Hill.  People generally spend a lot of time in the vicinity of their dorms and classrooms, and I personally don't think the Foggy Bottom area is very attractive and it sometimes feels a bit unsafe (as urban areas are prone to feeling).  When we toured the campus on a quiet December day with my older kid (then junior), there were homeless people out wandering and yelling.  The campus has improved a lot from the 1990s, but it's not lovely.

Half the size means nothing when you are talking thousands of people. You can only meet and hang out with so many, and both schools have tens of thousands. Neither of these schools are tiny SLACs.  What really matters is the size of your cohort in your major.  Many of Pitt's humanities majors are a nice size to get personal attention without having too small of a faculty base to be effective.

Perhaps the top students at Pitt/Honors College students were a bit more diverse than the general student body...but that was the crowd that I hung out with.  When I was in school, the undergrad student body president was from South Africa.   Pitt's webpage says that in 2023-24, 3,200 international students from 112 countries were at Pitt.  And there's currently about 500 undergrads from NY and NJ - certainly enough to give the sense that there are NY metro people there. (The NJ people I knew were mostly either from NY suburbs or near Philly.)

PP, you seem really bothered by drawing an equivalency between these two universities...is it just that GW's student body is "wealthier"?  That would follow, because the tuition costs are higher.  Also international students tend to be full pay.

Not as different as you think.[/quote]

You never lived in DC.  You worked near the Capitol — which is nowhere near Foggy Bottom — and commuted into the city by Metro from the ‘burbs for eight years.  And you find the area around GWU to feel “unsafe,” which is laughable and says a lot about you.

I live in Ward 1 within walking distance of GWU and have for many years.  If Foggy Bottom isn’t considered part of the city core, then I don’t know what is.  You couldn’t possible place a university in the District of Columbia in a more central location.

Funny too how you now have to add NJ to support your NY numbers.  But ok, fine, all that means is that the overwhelming majority of Pitt students are from PA, NY and NJ.  GWU students, in contrast, are from everywhere.  [/quote]

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