Enrollment: 10701
Average SAT: 620
Average ACT: 26
Regular Application Deadline: 01/10
Student Faculty Ratio: 13:1

Undergraduate Receiving Need-Based Financial Aid: 176
Average Freshman Total Need-Based Gift Aid: $25,467.00

Dorms Like Palaces
Great College Towns
Most Politically Active Students

Students Say - Academics
At George Washington University, it's all about "being in the center of the most powerful city in the world and deciding where to make your mark," where students can tap "the nation's capital, whether [for] sports, science and medicine, politics, or psychology." Politics are the primary drawing card; the stellar Elliot School of International Affairs trains tomorrow's diplomats, while solid programs in political science and political communication benefit from heavyweight guest speakers (one student writes, "DeeDee Myers came to my Washington Reporters class, and I got to go interview Bob Siegel of NPR-it's experiences like that that make GW special"), and access to incredible internships; as one student puts it, "GW is government's largest source of slave labor. It isn't uncommon [to] see people from your different classes in the halls of Capital Hill." GW doesn't begin and end with government though; the school also has "a wonderful business program with an abundance of internship opportunities," a "computer security and information assurance" program "that's one of the best in the world and is actually one of only a handful accredited by the National Security Agency," and numerous other strengths. GW's administration seems geared toward training future government workers; students describe it as very "bureaucratic." The school maintains a large adjunct faculty; while some love that the adjuncts "have other projects or jobs on the side that can give students firsthand experience with real issues," others complain that "we lose many great adjunct professors every year" and that the large turnover "would be avoided if we just shelled out a little more money [to take on more full-time faculty]."

Students Say - Campus Life
"Whether it's going to the Kennedy Center, [to] the 9:30 Club, or [for] a midnight monument tour...D.C. is at the center of a GW student's experience." Undergrads boast that "of all D.C. universities, GW is the best situated. Where else can you party, get drunk, stumble your way to the steps of the Lincoln [Memorial], and attempt to hurry back to get enough sleep to function at your internship on the Hill?" Being in D.C. "makes it easy to always have something to do, from the monuments to the museums...from just hanging out on campus [to] going to sporting events." Speaking of sports, GW basketball "is huge. [Other] than that, we're not much of a sports school. Students are much more interested in joining the College Democrats or the College Republicans." Many are also interested in partying, but a junior stresses that she'd "never call GW a 'party school.' It's definitely there if you want it, but it's not pressured on you at all. Same thing with frats and sororities: Those who want to be in Greek life can be, and those who don't, don't have to [be] in order to have a fulfilling college experience."

Students Say - Student Body
GW attracts "a lot of wealthy students" (its tuition is among the nation's highest), but there is also "a sense of diversity on campus." Jewish students make up about one-quarter of the undergraduate population; there are also "a lot of international students," "students from each of the 50 states," and, sprinkled among the wealthy, "plenty of middle-class students." At GW, undergrads say, you'll find "people that have disabilities and people from every race, religion, sexual orientation, and ideology." (While all ideologies are represented, it should be noted that "most students characterize themselves as Democrats.") Students tell us that GW isn't as much "a melting pot as a tossed salad, where people from different backgrounds, frats, and student org[anizations] all blend together." Undergrads here tend to be "very driven, constantly thinking about what their next internship is going to be and how they're going to get out into Washington more and things like that."

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