Washington DC Part II

All righty, so now comes the second part of my trip to DC. Right away I can tell you that it wasn’t nearly as exciting as the first part. Sorry for the spoiler, but I promise this; it was pretty funny! After going to Georgetown, I had a feeling I would be underwhelmed by the other campuses I saw (I was right).

Mom and I went shopping in Georgetown, did some sightseeing on the National Mall, saw South Pacific at the Kennedy Center, and then walked around George Washington University.

 Now for those of you not familiar, GW is a very urban school, similar to NYU. The university buildings looked fine, the dorms too, but I couldn’t help but think “why is this place so attractive to people?” A year at GW costs $42,905, not to mention the extra costs of living in an expensive city. According to a study in 2009, GW graduate with an average of $31,300 in debt; that’s ridiculous!  Money is one my biggest concerns when deciding on college, and while I see the draw to city living in college, how would I ever pay that much back?! I didn’t get to talk to any school reps and only one student (who only talked about his massive debt- the poor bastard) so maybe I’m overlooking something, but, truly, I can’t let myself be sucked in without an amazing financial aid package.

Final stop: American University. This was where shit got interesting.

We went to the Arts Center, where we were COMMANDED by the stoplight to “WAIT!” and finally found our way to a meeting with an admissions officer, including Madre and I with two other “family units” of moms and two guys. Let’s call them Beevis and Butthead.

Beevis was really interested in American. He snagged all the brochures. He asked thoughtful questions. He giggled with anticipation when he thought I couldn’t hear.

Butthead, on the other hand, was an ass like you read about. He pissed and moaned. He was completely silent in the meeting, picking his nose and facing away from the admissions officer. AND HIS MOM WAS ASKING QUESTIONS AFTER EVERY OTHER SENTENCE! This kid obviously could not care less, and she obviously was going to be writing all of his applications for him. Do you know a Butthead? I have a sinking feeling that these are much more common than anyone wants.

After the meeting, we walked around campus. The buildings at American are all concrete, and while the newer ones look pretty cool, the dorms and older ones just looked “meh.” Mom absolutely hated it, but I think it’s something I could deal with. And for the record, the guidebooks have it wrong; American is near Embassy Row and the VP’s house. It is by no means in the heart of the city, which is why they have free busses to the Metro station (which, also for the record, have the longest, creakiest escalators, going down a dark tunnel that makes you feel like you’re descending into hell!).

Unfortunately, AU had already gone through finals and the students were all gone. I might go onto some online forums to hear what people actually have to say about American.