Was Georgetown Worth it?

To get our graduation announcements, the university has each graduating senior fill out the Pulse Survey. They use this data to improve the university as well as part of the data that goes into figuring out how Georgetown ranks against other schools. One of the questions is: If you could go back and choose your university over again, would you choose Georgetown? So I thought I would share with you the five highlights and five complaints about my Georgetown experience.

5 PROS

1) I love my professors

I am constantly amazed by my professors. For the most part they are approachable. They are the top people in their field and they inspire me to do and be better. They are understanding when things are difficult and every single one of them is passionate about what they do. And it always puts a smile on my face when I am researching something or reading about China in the newspaper, that I see my professors name. My favorites - in no particular order - have included Father Gonzales, Michael Wall, Jim Millward, Carol Benedict, Joanna Lewis, Shareen Joshi, Philip Kafalas and Robert Sutter.

2) The dean's staff (at least in the SFS) is awesome

While my friends who are in the College constantly grip about the quality and access to their deans, I have had an amazing experience in the SFS. My dean, Maura Gregory, has been amazing. She hasn't let me fall through the cracks. She works with me to help me achieve my goals and when life is crappy the couch in her office is always open. There are times where I have sat bawling on her couch, overwhelmed by my classes and she tells me what I need to hear. Other times I come in to chat and we talk for an hour. If I see her on campus I get a smile and a wave. She knows my name.

3) Since of Community

"We are Georgetown." Is JTIII's favorite chant, and its mine too. We all know what Hoya Saxa means, and we all know how long its been. We work hard, we party hard. We can hold intellegent conversations and we are all up on the top 25 rankings in the NCAA. And we all agree that the Lauanger Library sucks as a place to study and looks nothing like a modern interpretation of Healy Hall.

Sometimes I walk up O Street just so I can walk through the main gates. This campus feels like home. It has since the first time I visited - that was actually the defining reason why I choose Georgetown. Everyone from the residence staff to the guy who plants the tulip bulbs in the spring work hard so this is a welcoming environment. It is home and come June I will miss it more than I ever thought possible.

4) My Classes have Prepared Me

Whether it has been my core classes or my major classes I feel like they have prepared me for whatever I do when I walk outside these gates. The SFS has a strong core - every student has to take everything from a geopolitical course to political theory, international relations to comparitive political systems, 4 econs, 3 histories, and be proficent in a foreign language.

I am blown away by my courses for my major. I was able to combine history, economics, sociology, international relations, and science/technology classes. My classes included: The Silk Road, Chinese Domestic Political Priorities, Chinese Foreign Policy, China & the US, Tiawan in the 21st Century, Minorities & Frontiers of Modern China, 20th Century Modern Chinese History, Energy & the Environment in China, Gender & Family in China, China & India: Global Technology Powers. I can hold my own about China any day of the week. Having said this there are a ton of classes I wish I could have taken, including classes on security and Islam/Catholicism in China, more literature and history classes too.

Additionally, I have grown myself. My 2 philosopy, 2 theology, and 3 humanities classes (one a research class), have helped shape me into a better person. These classes included: Marriage & Family in Developing Nations, History & Spirituality of the Jesuits, War & its Legay in Chinese Literature, Philosophy of the Mind, Human Rights. This is part of the cura personalities, or care of the whole person, philosphy that Georgetown abides by. I have come to realizations about my own spirituality, I came to have respect for other's religions. I am more compassionate and more understanding as a result. I am a better human being as a result.

5) Amazing opportunities

I met a prince. Prince Charles of Wales to be exact. I also heard a supreme court justice speak, and Former President Clinton. I got an internship at National Geographic which led to a paid position because 2 producers were auditing one of my classes. My crew team one our race at Regionals in 2006. In 2007 I went to Georgia to watch Georgetown compete in the Final Four! I studied at a top university in China. I met a prince... a prince... need I say more.

5 CONS

1) Bureaucracy

Georgetown resides in the nation's capital and sometimes I feel like it is by osmosis that Georgetown has become so bureaucratic. It is frustrating. Parts of the university don't talk with each other. And sometimes it feels like you even need to have an add/drop class form filled out in triplicate - oh yeah, you do.

Housing on campus is a mess. Gosh forbid you go abroad, or want to switch with someone, or move back on campus. Not going to happen without you loosing all your hair first.

2) Listening to Students

There is not much interaction between administators and students. I have never met the university president Jack DiGioia and I doubt I will, until I become a wealthy donor. Most communication comes between the uniersity administrators and the incompitent, ill inspiring, and just as bureacratic student government.

I don't feel like I am being listened to and I think the best change the universty could make is to sit the University President and the VP of Student Affairs Todd Olsen on beach chairs on Healy lawn for an hour once a week. Even a walk through visit to the library or the cafeteria every so often would appease me. I just think the aministrators are out of touch with the average student and it is frustrating.

3) Cost/Tuition

Georgetown is expensive. It's $37,536 a year. With a 2.9% hike for the 2009-2010 school year (which is better than the 5.5% hike we saw before the start of this school year).

That is a lot of money. And it doesn't include each semester: $4,500 for housing, $1,800 for a meal plan, $1,100 for health insurance, $155.50 for mandatory gym membership (classes are $2 more a class), $38 for residential communication fee, $50 student activity fee, $60 per language or science class, AND at least $500 a semester for books. Books aside that's another $15,000 a year.

So all in all $50,000 a year. $200,000 for your degree if you graduate on time. When you think about it that way, does my education have a $200,000 value? The answer is I am just not sure.

4) Impossible to minor

In the SFS it is impossible to minor. You can earn a certificate, but you must write a thesis. And if you want honors in your major you must right a thesis for that too! How many people do you know that are up for writing two theses? The list of available topics to get a certificate in are small. I am not sure why a student can't cross over and just get a minor with the college oh yeah - see #1 - the Georgetown Bureaucracy.

5) Inconstancy between teachers and classes

My largest complaint is how that there is a real inconsistancy between professors and between syllabi of professors teaching the same mandatory course. If a course is mandatory should the subject matter covered be consistant for every student. Often it is not. Comparing my experience with the course comparative political systems with my friend Christina's, mine emphasized revolutions. Her's actually compared different systems. This was discussed in the student newspaper as pertaining to the infamous Problem of God course.

When grad student T.A.s or even worse upper classmen (which is a phenomenon here) guide recitation courses students by and large get frustrated because no one has taught these "teachers" how to teach.

Lately there has been a debate on campus between adminstators, professors, and students. Professors want laptops banned from class because they feel students are being destracted and aren't paying attention. Students feel that the lectures are boriing and they should be allowed to multi-task. As a student it is frustrating when the material that you are required to have prepared and read for the class and reiterated and not expanded up on in class.

Readings should compliment the lecture. Then students won't feel that if they do the readings they don't need to come to class, or visa vera. Plus if you test on material from the classes and the readings, students have to do both. My World History course with Prof. Wall was probably the best utilization of this "Compliment the Lecture Strategy." And in reading travel logs about the time period we studied, we were able to see the time periods we were studying in a deeper manner. Plus the professor has a Colbert sense of humor.

Laptops in class are not the problem, they are a symptom. If classes are interesting students will pay attention and participate. Plus if surfing the web is the problem, they should turn off the spotty wireless access the university has worked, and worked, and worked to install.

To recap...

Top 5 pros: I love my professors, the dean's staff is awesome, there is a definte since of community, my classes have prepared me, and there have been some pretty amazing opportunities available to me.

Top 5 cons: Georgetown is way, way, way too beaurcratic, the university does not listen to students, tuition and costs are through the roof, impossible to minor, and there are inconsistencies in the mandatory classes.

And the answer, if I got to go back knowing what I know now and repick my college world I choose Georgetown? Yes, for all its ills, I would come back and do it again in a heartbeat.