Watch Out

Introduction
I feel like UPD is a big presence on campus so it makes me feel safe. There’s always MPD around. My dorm Thurston is pretty close to the White House, so if you go to 7-11 which is next door, you’re going to see a combination of secret service, MPD, UPD, so you’re always safe at 7-11. But around campus in the freshman dorms there are UPD officers at the desk, like in Thurston. And then you see them around patrolling, there are blue lights all over campus. I think a lot of other campuses have that too, if there’s an emergency, they’ll be there in like 15 seconds or something. You have to swipe to get into all the buildings and to get up the stairs, up the elevator. I’ve never had a problem, but especially at night I try to be in a group or be with boys or take 4 ride if I’m going somewhere. I definitely think girls have to watch out more than guys, but I feel like that’s the case anywhere, as unfair as it is.

Campus Life and Social Life
I think my experience with GW has been really good on the whole. I’m really happy that I’m here. I’m having a great time; I found a great group of friends, activities to do on campus. I work for WRGW, the GW radio station, so I’ve met a lot of cool people doing that and doing other activities on campus. Like I went on a thing called project exploration, which is a program for freshman before school starts that you go on a rafting trip in Virginia. And it’s a great way to meet people. The only thing that’s been I guess a bit of an issue is the food because there’s no dining hall. Sometimes my friend and I, we’ll all cook in the Thurston kitchen and have family dinner but I’m looking forward to next year when I’ll have a kitchen in my room and can cook all the time instead of eating everything out. I definitely feel like kids who want a campus feel will fit in here, just as much as the kids who want a city feel. Academics
I feel like we have a lot of school spirit. Maybe it’s just because I know people who are really into sports and really into the school, but you don’t meet a lot of kids here who don’t like the school. You walk around and you can tell that people are happy here. We don’t have a football team so we don’t have that sort of same school spirit that everyone thinks about it in that sense. But the men’s and women’s basketball team, the men especially, people are into that.

Student Body
I think it’s a really good thing for freshman to get involved in on-campus activities. I think they’re about 200 student organizations, so whatever you’re interested in. I know a lot of people who give tours here and that’s like a cool thing to do. I work for the radio. There are groups- women’s groups like Voice for Choices, like whatever you’re interested in. There’s going to be a student group that you can get involved with an at Colonial Inauguration, C.I., which is our orientation program during the summer, there’s one day when there’s an activities fair and you get to sign up on an email list serve for any of these clubs.