Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 20:32     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
No one from NOVA can get excited about it, just doesn’t feeling like getting away from home and is still a commuter college, no matter how boosters want to claim otherwise. I know kids there now and it was just “well this is the best I can do” typically after getting rejected from other va schools.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 20:31     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it is because it is a dense and compact campus with homogenous looking buildings in the middle of suburbia. Not a lot of local watering holes that appeal to young people. If you are a local kid, you probably do not want to have access to cafes, bars, music and art scene and do not want to live that close to your parents. So having good academic programs only goes so far. It can't compete with the look and feel of a sprawling campus with leafy trees, quads, old but pretty buildings, and a thriving off-campus cafe and bar scene.


+1

I really wanted to like it. My DD thought it was her first choice. Until we went there for visits. (yes, more than one). We live close by, and my DD prefers staying close. But we just could NOT get a sense of place. Like it was missing the sense of centrality... like a university central lawn. It's just so big and impersonal. And by god, NO ONE wants to hear loud band music at 9:30 a.m. at the Patriot center with some REALLY BAD SINGING on top of it! The Green Machine should be sent away, I beg you!

That said, my younger kid is assuming he'll go to GMU (he's never been there) for video game design. When the time comes, we'll go to the tours and open house day as well. If he goes there, it'll be for the academics, not the sense of community/university.

I think the academics are fully sufficient. It's all the hassle, impersonal-ness, and lack of identity/community that disappoints me.



What??? No way!

I posted on the sports forum a few weeks ago that I was going to the GMU basketball game because they were playing a team from the school my son wants to go to (Dayton.)
This was a game at 7 pm on a Saturday night--the arena was *maybe* 1/3 full and at least half of that was Dayton fans (I could tell because they were wearing shirts/hats, etc.)

The GMU band was the only thing lively about the "GMU side" of the audience. They were GREAT! At half time they did a performance of "This is how we do it" (circa 1994? 95? Whatever, it was "back in my day!") I would go back to a GMU game just for the band.


+1 They won number 1 pep band in the nation. They allow anyone who wants to play in. They rule. Even in covid days where the audience is slim, they are going strong.


It shows.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 20:19     Subject: Re:Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Commuter school. Little campus life.

The campus is ugly and is basically a bunch of rectangles surrounded by parking garages.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 19:31     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it is because it is a dense and compact campus with homogenous looking buildings in the middle of suburbia. Not a lot of local watering holes that appeal to young people. If you are a local kid, you probably do not want to have access to cafes, bars, music and art scene and do not want to live that close to your parents. So having good academic programs only goes so far. It can't compete with the look and feel of a sprawling campus with leafy trees, quads, old but pretty buildings, and a thriving off-campus cafe and bar scene.


+1

I really wanted to like it. My DD thought it was her first choice. Until we went there for visits. (yes, more than one). We live close by, and my DD prefers staying close. But we just could NOT get a sense of place. Like it was missing the sense of centrality... like a university central lawn. It's just so big and impersonal. And by god, NO ONE wants to hear loud band music at 9:30 a.m. at the Patriot center with some REALLY BAD SINGING on top of it! The Green Machine should be sent away, I beg you!

That said, my younger kid is assuming he'll go to GMU (he's never been there) for video game design. When the time comes, we'll go to the tours and open house day as well. If he goes there, it'll be for the academics, not the sense of community/university.

I think the academics are fully sufficient. It's all the hassle, impersonal-ness, and lack of identity/community that disappoints me.



What??? No way!

I posted on the sports forum a few weeks ago that I was going to the GMU basketball game because they were playing a team from the school my son wants to go to (Dayton.)
This was a game at 7 pm on a Saturday night--the arena was *maybe* 1/3 full and at least half of that was Dayton fans (I could tell because they were wearing shirts/hats, etc.)

The GMU band was the only thing lively about the "GMU side" of the audience. They were GREAT! At half time they did a performance of "This is how we do it" (circa 1994? 95? Whatever, it was "back in my day!") I would go back to a GMU game just for the band.


I'm going to assume that maybe the full band or the A listers go to the games. At 9:30a.m. on a Sunday morning in a mostly empty Patriot center, it was nothing short of PAINFUL.,, and the singers were PITIFUL. There was no way what you heard and what we were subjected to could have been the same. It was objectively awful. I wanted to leave the open house just because the Green Machine was so loud and repellant. Lunch, however, was good!
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 19:08     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's very local, suburban, and viewed as a commuter school


It also feels like a huge school in terms of how many people are on campus. Our kids toured it and hated how crowded it felt on the main parts of campus. They didn’t like how the [b]campus itself didn’t have the same physical space feel as other large campuses.


+1
[/b]


And apparently so ignorant that you didn't even FMU has three other Virginia campuses, including the high tech one in Manassas and the uber successful one in South Korea.


What does the fact that it has campuses in multiple locations have to do with how the main Fairfax campus feels? Many colleges have campuses in several locations and no one disputes that GMU provides a good education. But not all kids want a huge school feel without the acreage and traditional campus feel, which the Fairfax campus sorely lacks.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:48     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it is because it is a dense and compact campus with homogenous looking buildings in the middle of suburbia. Not a lot of local watering holes that appeal to young people. If you are a local kid, you probably do not want to have access to cafes, bars, music and art scene and do not want to live that close to your parents. So having good academic programs only goes so far. It can't compete with the look and feel of a sprawling campus with leafy trees, quads, old but pretty buildings, and a thriving off-campus cafe and bar scene.


+1

I really wanted to like it. My DD thought it was her first choice. Until we went there for visits. (yes, more than one). We live close by, and my DD prefers staying close. But we just could NOT get a sense of place. Like it was missing the sense of centrality... like a university central lawn. It's just so big and impersonal. And by god, NO ONE wants to hear loud band music at 9:30 a.m. at the Patriot center with some REALLY BAD SINGING on top of it! The Green Machine should be sent away, I beg you!

That said, my younger kid is assuming he'll go to GMU (he's never been there) for video game design. When the time comes, we'll go to the tours and open house day as well. If he goes there, it'll be for the academics, not the sense of community/university.

I think the academics are fully sufficient. It's all the hassle, impersonal-ness, and lack of identity/community that disappoints me.



What??? No way!

I posted on the sports forum a few weeks ago that I was going to the GMU basketball game because they were playing a team from the school my son wants to go to (Dayton.)
This was a game at 7 pm on a Saturday night--the arena was *maybe* 1/3 full and at least half of that was Dayton fans (I could tell because they were wearing shirts/hats, etc.)

The GMU band was the only thing lively about the "GMU side" of the audience. They were GREAT! At half time they did a performance of "This is how we do it" (circa 1994? 95? Whatever, it was "back in my day!") I would go back to a GMU game just for the band.


+1 They won number 1 pep band in the nation. They allow anyone who wants to play in. They rule. Even in covid days where the audience is slim, they are going strong.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:35     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
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.




Why don't you read a bit before posting? It's the largest research university in the commonwealth with over 40,000 students. It's also the most diverse university. It has five campuses. It has the only Cyber-security and Game Design Major in the Commonwealth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:33     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think it is because it is a dense and compact campus with homogenous looking buildings in the middle of suburbia. Not a lot of local watering holes that appeal to young people. If you are a local kid, you probably do not want to have access to cafes, bars, music and art scene and do not want to live that close to your parents. So having good academic programs only goes so far. It can't compete with the look and feel of a sprawling campus with leafy trees, quads, old but pretty buildings, and a thriving off-campus cafe and bar scene.


+1

I really wanted to like it. My DD thought it was her first choice. Until we went there for visits. (yes, more than one). We live close by, and my DD prefers staying close. But we just could NOT get a sense of place. Like it was missing the sense of centrality... like a university central lawn. It's just so big and impersonal. And by god, NO ONE wants to hear loud band music at 9:30 a.m. at the Patriot center with some REALLY BAD SINGING on top of it! The Green Machine should be sent away, I beg you!

That said, my younger kid is assuming he'll go to GMU (he's never been there) for video game design. When the time comes, we'll go to the tours and open house day as well. If he goes there, it'll be for the academics, not the sense of community/university.

I think the academics are fully sufficient. It's all the hassle, impersonal-ness, and lack of identity/community that disappoints me.



What??? No way!

I posted on the sports forum a few weeks ago that I was going to the GMU basketball game because they were playing a team from the school my son wants to go to (Dayton.)
This was a game at 7 pm on a Saturday night--the arena was *maybe* 1/3 full and at least half of that was Dayton fans (I could tell because they were wearing shirts/hats, etc.)

The GMU band was the only thing lively about the "GMU side" of the audience. They were GREAT! At half time they did a performance of "This is how we do it" (circa 1994? 95? Whatever, it was "back in my day!") I would go back to a GMU game just for the band.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:32     Subject: Re:Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
It's been "up and coming" for 25 years at least. I think it's just in the shadow of U.Va and W&M for smart kids, and to a slightly lesser degree, V.Tech and JMU. That said, for cyber security (a hot field) I've heard it is the place to go around these parts.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:25     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Commuter school is the first thing that comes to mind. No thanks.

Now if my DC was a recruited athlete and GM offered a D1 scholarship, that would be a consideration.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:21     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
^ GMU. DS went there and was hired out of the Computer Science department by Microsoft before graduation.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:20     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's very local, suburban, and viewed as a commuter school


It also feels like a huge school in terms of how many people are on campus. Our kids toured it and hated how crowded it felt on the main parts of campus. They didn’t like how the [b]campus itself didn’t have the same physical space feel as other large campuses.


+1
[/b]


And apparently so ignorant that you didn't even FMU has three other Virginia campuses, including the high tech one in Manassas and the uber successful one in South Korea.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:17     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's very local, suburban, and viewed as a commuter school


And also skews conservative, which isn't appealing to many in the immediate DMV.


This is refreshing and one of its greatest appeals, especially as it applies to its law and business/ economics programs.[/quote]


+1. It's important that both economists and lawyers understand all sides of an issue or case. Parents do a disservice to their children when they send them to colleges that serve only as social justice warrior indoctrination camps. I don't hire those type of graduates.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 18:12     Subject: Re:Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
The law school, now called Scalia Law, is nowhere near the main campus - it's in Arlington - Ballston area. Aside from being physically separate, it operates almost 100% separately from the undergrad. Just pointing this out for those who see the law school as skewing conservative, which it definitely does.
Anonymous
Post 02/25/2022 17:42     Subject: Why is George Mason so often overlooked?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Because it's very local, suburban, and viewed as a commuter school


It also feels like a huge school in terms of how many people are on campus. Our kids toured it and hated how crowded it felt on the main parts of campus. They didn’t like how the campus itself didn’t have the same physical space feel as other large campuses.


+1