hey all!
today begins my last week of being in DC at the end of my freshman year at GWU. so basically, i’ve been done since friday when i had my LAST final of freshman year for my freshman fundamentals class called ‘time and light’. so today i wanted to hop on macarons and must haves to talk a little about my freshman year.
so a few things about me!
i am a 4-year student who started in fall 2018 at gwu. i came from los angeles, CA and i’m majoring in graphic design at the corcoran school of the arts and design which falls within the columbian school of arts and sciences which is the largest school at GW with the most majors, aka most of the people you meet will come from columbian aka CCAS (i will refer to it as this from now on).
i lived in a thruston quad with one person who i picked and two people who i didn’t pick. i am involved in greek life on campus, arts organizations and i’m hoping in the next year to get involved with the hatchet to progress to my ultimate goal of working at a magazine. i went to a small all girls high school and had many friends and a great community at home before i left for school.
what i did
as previously mentioned, i got involved with greek life and i’m a member of the pi beta phi sorority on campus where i am the ‘scholarship chair’ assisting in running the study hours with my sorority as well as making sure all my fellow sisters maintain a high level of scholarship at GW. i have a big and attend almost all activities as i love the people i’ve met and friends i’ve made through the process.
in addition, as previously mentioned, i joined some art orgs here and also joined some orgs dedicated to fashion as that is where i see my path going.
one thing that i did which i would say highly made my first year experience is the fact that i actually explored around DC. there’s a lot of talk here about the ‘foggy bottom bubble’ and i’d say its pretty real because i know some friends and classmates who have had this issue, it is essentially that many first year students feel ‘stuck’ or don’t make the time or energy to get off campus. foggy bottom is a pretty great place i’m not gonna lie, but it can feel cramped and so stressful sometimes its just better to get off campus and enjoy yourself. part of the reason i decided to come to GW is the fact that there were so many amazing things to do all the time in DC, it truly is an amazing place and many people will go all four years without doing the most important things, so unlike many of my classmates, i made it my mission to explore and enjoy myself. some things that i did that i loved: visits to museums, georgetown shopping trips, trips to union market and eastern market and getting lunch on U st.
another thing i did was getting really involved with my projects for the corcoran. i don’t mean to call anyone out but i think a lot of people i went to classes with honestly just phoned everything in and didn’t worry about the classes because they weren’t in their specific disciplines. but thats the wrong way to go about the freshman fundamental courses. for those who are unaware, the corcoran BFA students are required to take 4 ‘freshman fundamental’ courses that highlight 4 different visual art forms, we took drawing, sculpture, interaction and time and light. i put my heart into these four classes and definitely got a lot out of them, which i can’t say the same for all my other classmates, and basically it was super easy to tell when people didn’t care or try – which for some students was every project but i really wished that everyone got the same things out of the experience that i did.
things i wish i would have done
actually taken my work study job. yeah i said it. i sorta forgot to do this. SORRY MOM AND DAD. i don’t know why it kept slipping my mind but i kept meaning to do it, and kept forgetting for the entire first AND SECOND semesters. this was something that i wish i took advantage of and i honestly should have gotten my stuff together but didn’t and i’m really sorry about that just because it would have been an awesome opportunity to meet new people and work AND make money going towards my tuition but as you know, things happen and this is one of my biggest regrets.
i also wish i had looked for internships. sorry if thats the most cliche GW thing i will say in this whole g-d darn article but yeah – i said it (again). i wish i had gotten myself sorted out to at least have an internship for second semester doing something graphic design based. it would have been an awesome way to pad my portfolio with great stuff and set me up for an awesome summer internship and felt better about myself. i mean, i didn’t need a paying job but another thing for my resume/CV would have been great. also not to be ‘that guy’ but so many other people were always either talking about getting internships or talking about the internships they had and i was always a little bit jealous and wished i could get in on that whole conversation.
gotten involved with more student orgs. the only reason i didn’t get as involved with these is the fact that the whole org fair process is so overwhelming especially as a freshman who doesn’t know that many people. its intimidating and clustered. its not a good way or system to have freshman really get to know what they want. instead i wish GW promoted a website where all the clubs were required to write about themselves, their members and make a video about what they do and it would be separated into categories so before students went to the org fair they already knew where their interests lay.
i REALLY wish that i went to all those events for freshmen. i’m not saying this lightly but GW has so many events, and just because its not a ‘traditional’ campus many people don’t take advantage of all the free and awesome things going on. there’s a reason they send us all those newsletters – take time to actually read them and don’t worry if no one else you know will be going, maybe make an effort to invite them or just go alone and put yourself out there, you definitely won’t regret it.
i also wish i had made more friends. i know this sounds superficial and probably stupid, and like i am complaining that my friends aren’t good enough (which couldn’t be further from the truth) but i wish i had put myself out there more and at least tried to be friends with more people. so many people i know had so many friends and i wish i had made more effort in those early days of school to meet more people and get closer to the people on my floor because there are people who i wish i met earlier in my college career who are awesome people now.
what i loved
as i mentioned before, i loved exploring, my friends, my major and my sorority. i also loved being in DC.
what i would have changed
columbian advising. yeah i’ve had loads of issues and most of my friends have had loads of issues too. it comes down to the fact that there simply are not enough advisors for the amount of students in the school. and thats the fact. i’m not saying that the advisors are no good (although i have plenty of people you can talk to if you wanna know about that) but rather if they adequately hired enough help for all of their students to be assisted in a proper way there wouldn’t be as many issues.
the gworld card system. yeah, sorry this is a big topic and i’ve kinda been there and done that with this one (read here if you wanna know my input) but the whole thing essentially comes back to the fact that the options are too expensive and the whole process is sorta a mess. its ‘more adult’ than a cafeteria style system, yet there’s too much privilege within in. when we get real jobs outside of college we aren’t gonna be getting a budget like this, so i’m not sure what could be done about this, but its an issue.
the entire culture of the school? is it bad that i’m saying this? probably. am i still saying it? yes. cause it needs to be said. there are many issues with GW, and no school is without its flaws but theres an attitude of the students here (which i sometimes take part in) of superiority. which you think, as a school of basically 45% georgetown reject-ees would be more humble, but there’s a real attitude among the students here which is undeniable.
my advice
with all this being said. make the best of it all. its possible, and i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, it can be done. and here’s some stuff i have to say about GW to make your first year be amazing.
make a budget for your GWORLD and you won’t run out. i’ve done the math before, but regardless, i know that everyday i can spend up to $18 on food. so think about it before getting starbucks for breakfast, chik-fil-a for lunch and sweetgreen for dinner because if you don’t budget you’ll end up with no money for the last month. if you aren’t as organized as me (thank you google sheets) and/or you don’t care that much, just make a mental note about how much you spend, and get the GET app to calculate your spendings.
don’t take math and politics. look at the meme page. they don’t lie. i took this class and although i ended up with a very high B+ and i understood most about the class don’t just assume you aren’t like everyone else and that you can do what others couldn’t. just take an actual math class, i’m BEGGING YOU.
pick a better UW. this was true to my experience and lots of my friends too. actually try to take a UW which subject actually interests you. mine wasn’t that interesting and i know many people who said the same thing. so there are 1million topics, find one that you’ll enjoy and FIGHT your way into that class if you need to.
take an LSPA. they’re an awesome way to make friends and an awesome way to get in exercise and beat the freshman 15. i took yoga this semester and LOVED IT. they really are worth your time.
leave the foggy bottom bubble. i’ve said it earlier and this article and i meant it.
be humble. hi you are a person. your crap does stink. understand that and don’t look down upon people before getting to know them.
learn to put yourself second, its not always about finishing first
finally, give GW a real chance. if you don’t like it, don’t automatically transfer right after the first semester. if you asked me after my first semester at GW i would’ve said that i was still considering a transfer. i know that GW is not for everyone. but give yourself a chance to meet people and make friends before deciding it isn’t your cup of tea, because it really does get better.
alright, i hope you enjoyed this insanely long article. and i hope it helps, just a tiny bit.
xoxo, kate!
