Student Profile
Renee
- Class:
- Major: International Relations
- Gender: F
- High School:
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Mason is technically the biggest school in Virginia, but it frequently feels tiny. The campus physically is a great size: not too small, but not overwhelmingly large. Perhaps because the on-campus community is smaller, it often feels like a small school where everyone winds up being liked a lot more closely than you think. Basketball is the big sport here, especially since we went to the Final Four a few years ago. In my opinion, nothing will top that season, and our success was due mostly to the quality and combination of players that particular season, so basketball games have somewhat lost their appeal since that year. The professors at GMU are good, but much of the other faculty members are less than satisfactory. Good luck finding a competent advisor. I've actually found that some of the other members of the department may be more dependable advisors than the "advisors" themselves. Good luck with traffic. Construction is everywhere. The school is a lot of fun if you find the right people for you, and if you make an effort to make your time here worthwhile. It's not a campus-wide drunkfest every Saturday night like Penn State, but you can find parties (or have your own) and definitely have a good time.
Academic Life
The university itself is actually decent good academically, especially if you enter it with the intentions of getting a quality education and pushing yourself. Also, most of the faculty has a lot of real-world experience that is meaningful in a classroom. The university is also constantly improving its academic status, and it is really trying to make a bigger name for itself. Unfortunately, a lot of the student population does reflect the stereotype. However, there is a wide spectrum of students at Mason, so you'll find a lot of intelligent and driven people here as well.
Student Body
Mason is "known" for its diversity. However, a lot of students would say that that diversity does not affect them very much. Unless you are part of intercultural clubs or have a really dialogue-focused class, people pretty much just stick to themselves. It all depends on who you talk to when you first come here how much diversity will really affect you. Like I said before, you'll find all kinds of people here, so it just depends on whom you find, whom you click with, and whom you stay in contact with.
The Best Things
COST
The Worst Things
it depends on what day you ask me--anything from the area (NoVa sucks), the traffic, academics, and social scene
