What Do You Think About GMU? (Norfolk, Radford: 2013, high school, college)

[Cardiff Kook]

I'm in the process of finishing my second degree at GMU so I have a lot of first hand experience to offer about the school.

My first go around at the school from 2004-2008 was a lot of fun. I lived on campus freshman year and had a great time even though the school still had the heavy stigma of a commuter school.

Then the Final 4 happened and changed everything. New construction started popping up all over the place and the school started to get some national recognition. I remember being on vacation in Nevada in the summer of 2007 and I was wearing a GMU t-shirt and someone asked me if it was the GMU from the final 4.

I graduated and a lot of the construction was still in progress and was due to finish up in the following years.

Fast forward 3.5 years and I started attending for my second degree. This time I am going part time while working full time (not fun).

Anyways, I get back on campus and I feel lost. What was once a campus I knew like the back of my hand had completely transformed. I no longer knew exactly where everything was and felt lost while driving around patriot circle. So many new buildings and dormitories had popped up in the 3 short years while I was gone. Come to find out, GMU now holds the largest amount of on campus housing of any VA state school.

Still a commuter school? Hardly, even though there are still a lot of commuters (like myself) attending class, there are so many on campus students now that the place is always packed.

Also, its a good thing I attended GMU when I did because apparently you need like a 3.7 coming out of high school to get in now. I only had a 3.2 back when I graduated and there is no way I would have been accepted. source: http://www.princetonreview.com/Georg...niversity.aspx

I got my first degree in Finance/Management and am now getting my degree in Accounting and let me say that the undergrad classes are hard. You can't just breeze your way through these classes. I'm studying 30-40 hours per exam just to get a B. If you are looking for a challenge, then the School of Management is a good bet.

My biggest gripe with Mason has and always will be there parking services. They can go to hell, but other than that GMU is an excellent school

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by marie5v

Hone

GMU is traditionally a commuter school, and continues to offer a large number of professional and career-oriented programs, mostly in its grad school. While some of those programs are really good (like education and some of the humanities), some are just abysmal. GMU is not very competitive, for one, and that means that people who really have no business in college can go there and graduate. They have a guaranteed acceptance program with Northern Virginia Community College - anyone who can finish two years at NVCC can go to GMU. I know a couple of people with degrees from GMU that actually don't speak English well enough to have a conversation (and they don't read or write it, either). Their academic skills are nonexistent and the papers they turned in should have gotten F's by any measure, but somehow they passed (I was their tutor). Probably through really obvious cheating (paying for papers), which GMU professors conveniently ignore (and I mean really really obvious cheating that they could not have missed). I have to assume that the quality of many programs is very poor if anyone can get in and anyone can pass. On the other hand, I've worked with students in the education department, and that seems to be a pretty high quality, rigorous department, both undergrad and grad. So I guess it's a toss up depending on department, but I can't say GMU is that much of an asset as long as it hands out degrees like an upscale diploma mill.

this sounds like a misinformed post for the most part. cheating is taken very seriously at GMU (at least in the SOM). I personally know two kids who got caught cheating and their life was a living hell for the next year. I hardly think Mason hands out degrees. I had to bust my ass to get my first degree and am busting my ass for my second one.

[hilsmom]

I have a graduate degree from Mason...because it was much cheaper than the schools in DC. In-state tuition for the win! I very rarely had to go to the Fairfax campus, though - my classes were based at the satellite location in Arlington.

My husband got his engineering degree part-time from Mason. Since he went part-time as an adult, it was the most convenient way for him to get a degree. And since the gov't paid for most of it (thank you, GI Bill!), we were out of pocket only for very small things like books and parking fees.

I think things have changed a LOT at Mason over the past 10 years. They have made a real commitment to being a true university rather than just a commuter school. The program I attended was brand new when I began in 2001 - they stole professors from the DC schools to start their program. My husband was at the main campus during a lot of the construction.

I went to a school in the ACC for undergrad that is better known for basketball than football, yet MASON is the one of my Alma Maters to make a Final Four in my lifetime. Go figure.

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

I have a graduate degree from Mason...because it was much cheaper than the schools in DC. In-state tuition for the win! I very rarely had to go to the Fairfax campus, though - my classes were based at the satellite location in Arlington.

My husband got his engineering degree part-time from Mason. Since he went part-time as an adult, it was the most convenient way for him to get a degree. And since the gov't paid for most of it (thank you, GI Bill!), we were out of pocket only for very small things like books and parking fees.

I think things have changed a LOT at Mason over the past 10 years. They have made a real commitment to being a true university rather than just a commuter school. The program I attended was brand new when I began in 2001 - they stole professors from the DC schools to start their program. My husband was at the main campus during a lot of the construction.

I went to a school in the ACC for undergrad that is better known for basketball than football, yet MASON is the one of my Alma Maters to make a Final Four in my lifetime. Go figure.

I hate you! Not only do I live in Arlington and have to go all the way out to the fairfax campus twice a week, I'm stuck paying for all of this out of pocket.

Fortunately I'm able to afford it and don't have to take out loans but I still cringe every August and January

[JD984]

Originally Posted by GMUAlum08

Also, its a good thing I attended GMU when I did because apparently you need like a 3.7 coming out of high school to get in now. I only had a 3.2 back when I graduated and there is no way I would have been accepted. source: George Mason University

The Princeton Review article notes that the average GPA for admitted students is now 3.65 - 3.70. You don't necessarily need that GPA to get admitted if you have good SAT or ACT scores, and the average GPA for students who end up attending GMU is surely lower than the GPA of admitted students. But the admissions rate now is only slightly above 50% and there are plenty of students in this area who do not get admitted there. Some students who get into JMU, Tech or Mary Washington, for example, may get rejected by GMU now (and vice versa).

Just as adults are moving to the DC area to take advantage of the job market, more and more students from other parts of the country are looking at GMU to get a toehold in the area. They have definitely been building a lot of new dorms there.

The irony is that the OP asked about GMU's relative lack of "panache" among schools in the state. GMU doesn't have the history of U. Va. or W&M, but in terms of actually announcing big plans to grow and then executing on those plans, GMU arguably has shown more "panache" than most schools in the past 10-15 years. They also seem to attract a lot of really high-profile professors (although I don't know how much time those professors actually spend with undergraduates).

[Cardiff Kook]

^^^i know that, but the kids I've talked to on campus and co-workers who have kids applying to the school say they know certain kids that got rejected with GPA's north of 3.5. its no joke to get in now. its right up there with VT as far as competitiveness. I know I would have gotten rejected with my 3.3 or whatever it was

[hilsmom]

Originally Posted by GMUAlum08

I hate you! Not only do I live in Arlington and have to go all the way out to the fairfax campus twice a week, I'm stuck paying for all of this out of pocket.

Fortunately I'm able to afford it and don't have to take out loans but I still cringe every August and January

I paid for my graduate degree mostly out of my own pocket. I lived in Arlington at the time when I was looking at graduate programs, so when I found out the public policy program was opening at the arlington campus for 1/4 the price of GW or Georgetown...it was a no brainer. Plus, they allowed me to apply without having to take a GRE - I think that has changed now, but it was a plus in my book at the time.

My husband was in the military when I met him. He started taking classes when he was stationed in Hawaii, got an associates through that program. Then when he came back here and wanted to complete classes for a BS, he had to start back to NVCC as almost a Freshman because the military training (practical) part of his associates degree didn't count. So, he took a couple years of community college classes at night, then 4 years of classes at Mason. He started those right after our daughter was born.

So, anyway, it may all sound like a sweet deal, but we both much would have preferred he NOT have to be in college for almost 10 years while working full time and not seeing much of his daughter's first few years in the process.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by JEB77

The irony is that the OP asked about GMU's relative lack of "panache" among schools in the state. GMU doesn't have the history of U. Va. or W&M, but in terms of actually announcing big plans to grow and then executing on those plans, GMU arguably has shown more "panache" than most schools in the past 10-15 years. They also seem to attract a lot of really high-profile professors (although I don't know how much time those professors actually spend with undergraduates).

I grew up near UC Irvine and it's about the same age and for a long time was also largely considered a commuter school. It's now very highly regarded within that system, particularly for its professional programs, and is quite difficult to get into. I see parallels between it and GMU, though GMU is bigger. UCI also never had a football program.

Virginia has such a strangely organized and seemingly cobbled together system of higher education. There doesn't seem to be much of an overall master plan that places schools into set tiers or purposes. It's kind of left up to the education consumer to speculate about.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Virginia has such a strangely organized and seemingly cobbled together system of higher education. There doesn't seem to be much of an overall master plan that places schools into set tiers or purposes. It's kind of left up to the education consumer to speculate about.

Yes, there is nothing official but I have my "perception" of the tiers:

Top Tier
UVA
W&M

Second Tier

Virginia Tech

Third Tier
JMU
GMU
VCU
CNU (and I'm being kind of generous)

Fourth Tier
Radford
ODU

These are just generalizations, of course, and individual colleges within each university might top another's corresponding college and jump tiers. One example might be the comparison of engineering programs between UVA and VT.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Yes, there is nothing official but I have my "perception" of the tiers:

Top Tier
UVA
W&M

Second Tier
Virginia Tech

Third Tier
JMU
GMU
VCU
CNU (and I'm being kind of generous)

Fourth Tier
Radford
ODU

These are just generalizations, of course, and individual colleges within each university might top another's corresponding college and jump tiers. One example might be the comparison of engineering programs between UVA and VT.

Here's my perception:

Top Tier
UVA
W&M


Second Tier

Virginia Tech
JMU
GMU


Third Tier
VCU
CNU


Fourth Tier
Radford
ODU