George Washington University Top Questions

I'm in the school of business and it's been an interesting experience. Although it took a while to decide on my concentration I find that the professors are caring and overall extremely intelligent.

Smaller classes are better. Math and sciences are a joke, but international affairs, history, and political science classes are top notch. Professors always make time for the students--always the busy ones. Students usually don't take enough advantage of the Professors!

Dean seminars are wonderful classes taught by upper level professors on specific topics that they are really interested in. They are only available for classes and they are really small. They are the best classes that I have taken at GW.

I have enjoyed all of my classes at GW. Obviously there are giant classes that are GCRs for everyone and these professors do not know my name, but my TA does. I favorite class is Soc 801: The Sex Industry. It is a course only for Freshman and is capped at 18. In classes like these, people with the same interests can take these specialized classes. I study a lot. Most students from what I know do not study as much as I do. Class participation depends on the class and especially the size. Not all students have intellectual conversations outside of class and in my opinion most students are not competitive. I throughly enjoy meeting with profs outside of class, but I don't think many students do. As a Freshman, I do not know enough about the academic requirements yet.

The classes are small and the professors do know my name.

My smaller classes such as my discussions are the most interactive. My professors know me by name and usually know how I am doing in the class. My larger lectures consist of more independent work. And going to class is a must. I wouldn't say that people are competitive. Other students are always trying to help you if you need it.

Some of the bigger classes are somewhat intimidating at first but even the biggest lecture has no more than 100 students. Most teachers (from my experience) reach out to see if students need help. Depending on which school you're in (Elliot, CCAS, Business, SMPR) the intellectual discussions outside of the classroom vary.

because i am still a freshman most of my classes were introductory classes and so were quite large. i did not get to know any of my professors; however, i did get to know many of my TAs. i am looking forward to classes with fewer students so the interactions with the professor can become a more regular occurrence. university writing, a freshman writing class, was one of my favorite classes this year because of my professor. she is one of the most interesting and fun people i have ever met.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the academics at our school. The professors are great, all of them have had some kind of cool work experience. My econ professor would talk about calculating the Nation's Gross Domestic Product - and then he'd go do it that afternoon for the government! So many students get internships through their professors (I'm doing one this summer from one of my journalism professors) because all the professors have such great connections in DC. Discussion and participation in class is key - it usually counts for some kind of points even in my accounting class (the last place you'd expect participation to count). Class sizes are great too; I have had maybe four lecture size classes (greater than 70 students) but for the great majority I have 15 kids in every class.

I have had some horrendous teachers, a vast number of good teachers, and several fantastic teachers that have changed my life. I almost transferred after freshman year, and the professors were the one thing that kept me here.