College Decision problem

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

GW and American are two schools that cater to a very specific type of student - those who want to work in the DC policy world.  You'll have a great opportunity to work and network within this community as a student there, but you're setting yourself up to be somewhat of a one-trick pony.  

I would argue that they offer slightly more than that. If you're looking at law school or really any postgraduate program, both GW and AU offer a solid undergrad program plus unbeatable connections.

If you want to do anything in policy/law/government/international affairs/etc., doing undergradin DC offers quite the competitive advantage. GW and AU (plus Howard, Georgetown, and UMD) give you access to internships on the Hill, K street, and dozens of federal agencies you can't get anywhere else. If you do enough of these, your resume is way more impressive than someone who just has an undergrad degree from a non-DC top 20 school. I cannot underemphasize how big of a deal this is.

When you look at where people at top lobbying firms, on the hill, at State, at think tanks, and at top law firms did undergrad, they often have more GW and AU grads than Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford.

I don't disagree with you.  AU and GW grads are definitely well-represented in the D.C. policy world, but what about outside of that?  I bet well over 50% of the AU/GW alumni base remains in the D.C. area, and it's very strange for a highly-selective private university to have such a small geographic footprint.   AU or GW credentials aren't going to disadvantage anyone applying for most law or grad schools, but there's going to be almost zero graduates from GW/AU that go-on to study things like medicine, business, computer science, or accounting.  Such a narrow breadth of interests among the students/faculty just seems like it would take a lot out of the university experience.  

Plus....do you really want to go to school with 25,000 kids who all think they're the next Josh Lyman?  lol

IIRC, about 75% of GW grads remain in the Northeast Corridor with DC and New York represented roughly equally. I don't know about AU.

I'd add that IR/poli sci/public policy/econ students are maybe one third of the undergrad population, with the remaining two thirds spread across everything else. Obviously, this is different from most schools but not quite the picture you paint. Certainly GW is more of a slightly-above-average university for non-government-majors than a top-tier university, so the caliber of students does vary. But I do think you misrepresent the school.

Having gone to undergrad at one DC university and grad school at another, I wouldn't have it any other way. Although I do post on talk elections dot org so...

[Former President tack50]

My small piece of advice is honestly that it boils down to these 2 options:

Stay at home with your parents for at least 2 years and go to a CC: This will be very bad for your social life (you will still have friends and fun, but moving out is a lot more fun, won't lie). However, you will be way, way better off financially

Move to a 4 year college in another city: Infinitely more fun (and per other posters, apparently better for networking too). However also infinitely more expensive too.

If I was in such a position, if you can do a 4 year college, without taking any debt (whether through scholarships or having an insane amount of money saved up), I'd take it. You will be much better off in terms of fun and you also get better networking I guess. If you would need to enter debt to do that (or your parents do not want to pay which is not the case); then I'd stay home and go to CC.


Honestly despite me having been on Atlas for 3 years and talked with several people of HS age here; the HS and college experience is one of the least relatable things to me (probably because it is something so personal)

From tuition costs, to classes (both in HS and college) to even the general experience, there is almost 0 things I find relatable. Even the general "teenage anxieties" present themselves in different ways.