George Mason University Top Questions

The cost is still really high per credit. It is hard for part-time students to pay for school.

George Mason University claims to have many opportunities for scholarships and financial aid. However, most of their opportunities are only for women in nursing or minorities. They do not offer and equal amount of opportunities for a Caucasian male.

Sometimes the school seems rather uncohesive. It's like there are so many small organizations and groups that we aren't even at the same school.

I would consider the worst thing about George Mason university would be that the surrounding area of the campus is not very college town. The area around the school is very subaraban which isn't the best for college kids.

Parking, since the school is so large, parking is always an issue.

The worst thing about my school is that a good portion of our student body commute so the sense of community is not as strong as it could be. With people commuting, the sense of community is lessened becasue the people you see in class leave campus and do not get to make connections and friendships that those who live on campus do. Living on campus allows you to live with your friends and get to know them; they become your extended family and give you a sense of home.

The worst thing would have to be how big the campus is. Don't get me wrong I love and nice big campus, but it could be inconvenient when walking from your dorm to your classes. On your first day you're going to have to estimate how long it takes you to walk from your dorm to each class and also make sure that coincides with the time you wake up also keeping in mind that you may possibly have to shower and eat breakfast if that is what you plan to do in the morning.

The worst thing I consider about my school is the lack of school spirit. No one is really bothered about being a Patriot.

The worst thing about my school is at times I believe it lacks a sense of community. The dynamic created by the large number of students who commute makes it different than other residential colleges in that there is less of a bond and connection with my fellow classmates. Only at large, widely promoted events do we have the turnout one would expect of a campus filled with school spirit.

When I attended Mason there was very little community outside of the dorms due to the student population being primarily commuters. I found that the people in my dorm freshman year became my closest friends (with the exception of a few upperclassmen that reached out to me) and those friendships were largely what sustained me through those four years. Also, many of the professors at Mason take a fairly liberal tack with their teaching style.

The worst thing about my school is some of the food options in the JC. They're not the best of food options. The food isn't to great and needs to be run more efficiently. Sometimes the food doesn't even look healthy.

It is a school with many commuters. This doesn't make for a very school-spirited community. Also, the police on campus are ridiculous. Most schools turn a blind eye if they find someone who has been drinking alcohol (I'm not talking beligerent--just had a few drinks), but George Mason cracks down on this.

Dorm quality needs extreme improvement, especially in the area of older dorms. There are numerous leakages in ceilings and uncontrollable mold in some areas as a result of backwall leaking. These are gradually being improved, but it seems that renovations are occurring in the opposite order that they should.

I have only been here a short while the only thing I consider wrong with this school would be the disorganization of the school with financial aid, but that's all school's other than that no complaints.

I think the worst part of George Mason is the fact that there is high school tendencies to exclude groups based on their year. More specifically freshman, because freshman don't get included in a lot of activities based on the fact they are freshman, which happened a lot in high school. It's frustrating especially if you want to get to know somebody but they don't want to know you just because you are a freshman. This isn't Mason's fault but mostly the upperclassman that make up Mason.

A disadvantage I would see for George Mason University would be the lack of quiet locations. Due to the high amount of enrolled students, it is difficult to find a silent area on campus, thus making it difficult to study. For example the most popular library, the Johnson Center, is in the center of the campus and attracts a large mass of people because the cafeteria and all the important offices are located there. As a result, I believe way to improve student life at mason will be to increase quiet areas.

I don't have anything bad to say about my school.

Mason is still largely a commuter school, leaving it rather dead on the weekends.

The worst thing I would consider is the financial aid. Originally, I thought I wouldn't have to pay for anything, and acutally have some of my grant money refunded. However, because of the high amount of people applying for aid at GMU, they re-evaluated and cut back on everyone else's aid and I ended up having to pay a lot of it myself. I'm happy that so many more people are looking into attending Mason, but I just didn't like the fact I had to "share" the money.

George Mason University's greatest flaw is parking. We have a large, beautiful campus, but there is not enough space to accomidate all the students' and staffs' vehicles. It is difficult for commuter students to find parking before their classes.