George Washington University Top Questions

Although it is difficult to deal with the bureaucracy of GW's administration, the academics are for the most part of high quality. For the most part, professors truly care about their students. But, I have also noticed that in my department (School of Media and Public Affairs), professors care more for appearing on CNN and gaining fame than the academic development of students. That said, I never thought I would be as knowledgable about the political realm as I am. This is all due to professor quality. All are required to have office hours, and most are happy to see students. Some, however, view student meetings as a waste of time and sometimes disrespect students. Some classes I have taken are just mediocre and did not really provide me with an effective learning experience.

big lectures, not close wtih teachers. class participation not common. do not study or talk about academics outside class, dont go to class, just complain about it

There is a very good mixture of small and large classes. With classes on mount vernon being much smaller, it is up to you to choose the schedule and class type best for you. Students study a decent amount, but definitely play hard as well.

I'm in the honors program and because of that I know many of my teaches well. Our classes are kept small, as are most in the university, and most professors have a genuine interest in the students success.

4. Professors know my name... if its a big lecture and you go to office hours, email them and ask questions, liek i do.. they'll know your name or at least your face... Least favorite is a class like ECON11 or BIO11 where its a generic intro class where theres a strict 2 or 3 tests and tahts your grade and if you do bad thatjust sucks. My favorite class is a class liek Italian where you know yoru professor, its small, theres little nightly work that reminds me of highschool. Students study OFTEN. the library is a scene. Kids will go out tuesday thursday friday saturday nights but if they have a test or a paper is perfectly acceptable to pull an all nighter on one or all of those nights... kids are in the library at least 3-5 times a week. Class participation not so common. Some GWU students have intellecutal convos out of class... depends on your scene.. Students are not so competitive.. just because its undergrad.. and everyoesn taking different classes... there are a lot of unique classes especially for freshman.. dean seminars... one was on sonnets .. my roommate was taking a class on sex and learning about brothels and stuff.. pretty unique.. not much to say about my major im a freshmman.. outside of class YES .. office hours and random extracurricular events taht take place in DC are common GWs acadmeic requirements are simple if your in the columbian school but frurstration and rigid if your in the business school for example. education is geared toward learning for your own sake.

I hate lectures. Discussions for the lectures make up for it though as you develop a more personal relationship with your TA there. Students study ALL THE TIME. Class participation is unquestionable. Students here are super competitive.

Some Favorite class is Voice and Diction- easy. Least favorite is sociology- 8am and she takes attendance. Students study every day 2-3 hours average yes yes- politics yes arab-israeli conflict dont know much about my department sometimes i go to office hours they are annoying but make sense depends on which type of courseload you take

The nice thing about GW is that for the students interested in politics, there is always somebody to talk to about it.

A fair amount of my Profs know my name. I acctually really like the academics here. A lot of my friends tell me about classes of like 600. My biggest class ever was Intro to International Politics, it was less than 300 people, and we had smaller discussion groups. We play hard and work hard here. Theres a lot of studying, but most of us have jobs or internships, and are pretty active on campus as well. I don't get how half of the students do it all! We definately have intellectual conversations at GW, all the time. Most of us are PoliSci or International Affairs majors, so we keep up with the news. CNN plays 24/7 at our Student Union. The education at GW is a mix of learning for learning's sake and job requirements.

There are large lecture classes at GW but those are almost always broken down into discussion sections, which helps a lot. And there are plenty of smaller classes that have individualized attention from professors.

For most classes, students can choose their class sizes. For smaller classes, students take dean's seminars or courses on Mount Vernon. Teachers are very receptive to e-mails and meetings. I am in the honors program, so the students are competitive. The most interesting course I am taking is one of my honors courses entitled "Evolution of Modern Thought." We read works from all different cultures and times and try to find common threads. I am also in the School of Media and Public Affairs which is extremely competitive. There are a lot of requirements because this school is within the Columbian college, but it is definitely manageable.

The proofessors always know my name. Even if it's a class of 100, the professor somehow knew it- it sort of scared me. But most of my classes are small and you get an intimate learning environment ripe for knowledge. teachers that have an additional job and know how to teach are the best. they provide another aspect of learning which makes is much more interesting. I see so many students study and i know they're idiots. personally, i study enough but not too much and maintain a 3.6. Not many people participate in class which i think is stupid because it's so easy to. i think a bunch of people have intellectual conversation outside of class. not many students are competitive at gw. The most unique class i've taking is abnormal psychology. the professor was a clinical psychologist so brought so many good stories in the class and made you want to learn. He wasn't easy either, you had to work for an A. This was a psyc class (my major). Most of my professors are good teachers. they are always available for me if i need extra help or have questions. GW acadmemic requirements are just right. I have a major, minor, and pre-med option, and I feel like i'm using the best of my academic time here. Education is geared to what you make of it at gw. You are the person who decides the outcome. the professors are there to help. However, sometimes i feel like i don't have to try enough to get an A. so most of hte times i don't try at all because i stop caring.

Maybe not freshmen year, in huge lectures, but generally, professors know your name. Some of my favorite classes have been Women in Western Civilization with Bonnie Morris. She's an inspiring and amazing woman, the reading is so interesting, and the discussions in our sections were great. I also love Freedom and Equality with Professor Kelts. He's completely nuts and totally brilliant. It's a tough but great class. My least favorite was Hebrew Scriptures with Hostetter. It was so boring, and really didn't need to be. You could get people inspired to have really interesting debates when the topic is the Bible, but he didn't. There are always people in Gelman! Students here definitely study a fair amount. Class participation is definitely common. GW students definitely love to talk about intellectual things outside of class! There's so many political science and international affairs majors here, and all we talk about is what's going on in the world. That's one of the reasons I wanted to come here! Students are definitely competitive with each other. The most unique class I've taken was a Dean's Seminar called Washington Sex Scandals. It was amazing, and Mark Foley's sex scandal happened while I was in that class, which made it even more interesting. The professor was Chad Heap, who was great. I haven't declared my major in political science quite yet, but it's a really popular major here, so I'm sure the department is good. No, I've never spent time with professors outside class. I think GW's academic requirements are a little bit unfair. For example, political science majors and international affairs majors are in two different schools. Even though their fields are really similar, polisci majors have to take 3 sciences, while IAFF majors only have to take one or I think even none! Three sciences and two maths is too much. Whatever career I have, I can promise you I'm never using biology or chemistry. One science and one math should be the requirement for all liberal arts majors.

In some classes, my professors know my name, in some they don't. It all depends on the class size. My least favorite class was Introduction to American Politics with Christopher Deering, who is the head of the department. It was one of those huge intro classes that tries to weed out the students. Plus, I really do not like that professor and I was disappointed because the class really sucked and that was what I wanted to major in. I'd have to say this semester I really lucked out on classes. Definitely take Human Geography with Joesph Dymond. It depends on what school you are in to how much you study. I think it's really a personal thing. I know people who are always in Gelman and I know people who never study. But your grades definitely correlate to how much you study. Class participation is definitely common. We have lots of intellectual conversations outside of class. Students are not competitive, but students are definitely driven and motivated. The most unique class I've take is Human Geography. I am frustrated with some of Gw's requirements in the Columbian College and they are the way they are because of the bureaucracy and politics within the college. I think it depends on what your major is and what school you're in for whether or not it's guranteed toward getting a job or not. I think that it's definetly geared toward both. One thing that is frustrating is that at GW hardly anyting is curved, but at Johns Hopkins everything is curved.

some professors know my name, but only the ones who take the time to learn it. i think there are students who have intellectual conversations outside of class, but you really have to look for them. most of the conversations i overhear are really stupid. i think students are very competitive, but you will find that anywhere, whether it be a school or a company. i think the education is definitely geared toward getting a job - especially in the business school.

Since I'm a freshman, most of the general classes that I've had to take are large lectures where the professor won't know your name. But, the TAs here have been exceptional and do know your name. Also, most professors are more than willing to meet with students outside of class, either for questions or just discussion on the subject matter at hand. The worst class I have taken has been my intro to International Affairs course, which I have been told by older students that it is not a reflection of the courses to come and are more than satisfied with other international affairs courses. Students here range from never ever setting foot in the classroom to never leaving the library (most fall into the middle of that range). But, some people here are so intelligent that they really don't need to study excessively, so whatever works for them. Most people here are pretty chill about grades, that is to say they aren't going to be cut throat with other students about them, which makes it a lot easier to focus on how you are doing and enjoy school. The International Affairs school at GW is highly ranked at the national level and its courses definitely reflect that. Not everyone here is going to be a straight-A student, because if it were it could not be considered so rigorous. They want to challenge the students and make the course topics as relevant as possible. It is also helpful that a lot of the professors work[ed] in these fields and have excellent resources for their students to gain access to. All in all, they want you to get a job (GW is a major source of recruitment for public service and foreign service jobs) but that doesn't take focus off of learning.

intro classes are large, with smaller discussions with ta's. upper level classes can be small, especially honors classes can have as few as 4 people. some students are competitive, some aren't. generally, most professors are not excessively difficult if you get the work done. intellectual conversations do continue outside of class, but not to an outrageous extent

Academics are definitely rigorous, though manageable. Many classes during the freshman and sophomore year are GCRs and large classes where the professor and student do not interact a lot. However, many classes stress using the city and its resources, and there are a lot of classes that are designed to orient you to DC and GW that are very effective. Education at GW is absolutely geared toward getting a job, probably because with the amount of tuition people pay, they expect a significant return.

Classes are challenging. Some people don't go to class but I always do. I even take class at the Vern-- they're smaller and there's no GTA discussion period. The General Ed requirements for Columbian College are pretty fair, except I think there is too humanities and way too much lab science.

Professors: Yes, my professors know my name, write my recommendations and got my an internship at an embassy that turned into a paid job. Favorite Class: Intro to Political Science - part of class was to get an internship using professor's connections throughout the city, visited Embassy's weekly, often hearing from the Ambassador. Least Favorite: Spanish Film - teacher wasn't engaging. Class Participation: Very common Intellectual conversations outside of class: Yes, a lot of discussions about politics, current events, what the person did in the city that day or at their job. Competitive: yes. Unique Class: Chinese History - we had to write 15 papers each discussing 1 topic with 3 details using 3 academic sources that had conflicting accounts/facts. Showed the arbitrary nature of history and provoked discussion. Major: I'm a French Major. All of my professors know me very well. One wrote my letter of recommendation for Teach For America, one offered me a job at the Embassy of France, I was the paid TA for one professor. Each has strong personalities, the classes are small and personalized, I meet once a week with the senior French professor and one other students to discuss specific works. They have positively pushed me in my academic, personal and professional life. Professors: I spend little time with professors outside of class, but we do communicate often and they are very accesible. Academic Requirements: I am getting a very comprehensive education, the Elliott School allows for a lot of flexibility and I feel like I am getting a good humanities education and practical/professional/applicable skills. Job or Learning: I think because of the location of GW it is hard not to connect what you are learning with what is going on in the real world. So, my answer is both.

For the most part, the teachers know your name. In big classes, that's obviously harder, but you just have to make an effort. Most students study in the library, but many like Starbucks, as well. The academic program is definitely geared towards getting a job, and they put a lot of pressure on this from the beginning.

Most of the classes at GW are small enough that you can talk to professor. There is usually plenty of room for discussion, and while most of the school is pretty liberal, there is a variety of views present on campus. A lot of kids here focus on political science, international relations, or business. There are a lot of internships available, and many of these translate into jobs. Overall the classes are not too difficult, although there are definitely professors here who know how to challenge their classes.

It depends on the student. Many are very driven, and are academically committed, and some don't. It also depends on what they are studying, as some programs are better than others in the school. EXCELLENT International Affairs program, one of the most respected in the nation.