If you know how to make your own fun, then go to George Mason and go beyond your safety zone to really advertise yourself and your interests and find people who will join you in your pursuits. This is critical. The enormous commuter and/or part-time student population at GMU creates a horrendously lackluster social environment on campus in the evenings and on weekends, but if you are creative enough then you can keep busy as a residential student. Unfortunately the meager offerings of weekend activities on campus (terribly melodramatic emo bands, unfunny comedians, subpar magicians) prompt many students to party some place off campus to feel more "active" and eventually return to campus drunk and obnoxious. However, there are enough people who attend the school and are smart enough not to drink underage and get in trouble and who actually care about their scholastic progress, physical health, and social wellness to avoid such crass activity, but they are in the minority and you really have to find them. The majority of these Alpha Lambda Delta-esque students commute to campus, though ...

Very specific clubs provide a lot of opportunity; I will say this. The Catholic Campus Ministry is one of the very few in which I involved myself and met a lot of people because it was constantly busy; the people there, although friendly, are exceedingly conservative, however. I am straight yet very much advocate gay rights and promote contraception, but they really contest against such issues. I also joined the Filipino Cultural Association, but it generally became an exclusive clique. I was very busy with homework and could not attend enough of the initial FCA meetings, and by the time I attended a meeting mid-semester I already felt incredibly left out of the group.

Academically, well ... the professors are fantastic. Your classmates may not be so much unless you are in the honors program. The majority of students who actually participate in class, answer a professor's questions in class, and/or actually do their homework are typically the older, more mature, thirtysomething nontraditional students who return to college part-time while working full-time. The more traditionally-aged teenage/twentysomething students always seem less motivated to succeed; maybe this was just coincidence among every single one of my classes, but I personally did not like it at all.

Overall, my opinion of GMU is obviously a mixed one. I know so many people who only go there because they have to go there. Either they did not get into any other university (typical GMU students will always be biased and say, "Admission to this place is getting more competitive," but frankly, SAT scores in the 400-500 range of each section of that exam still are not very impressive ... and neither is having an average high school GPA of 3.3 to gain admittance), or they could not afford the cost of room and board elsewhere. Personally, I went to GMU because my parents wanted me close to home and because I had health issues, although I lived on campus. The few people there I call my friends are truly my best friends, and they stand out intellectually and socially from the rest of the typical GMU population. I am happy that I met them at GMU ... but I eventually got fed up with the negatives of the school and transferred out. I now attend a university that is at the very least among the top twenty public universities in the country, and so far I have had a blast here, except that I miss my best of best friends back home.

But carefully weigh your postsecondary options, and good luck on choosing a school that's right for you! :-)

Sincerely,
"Velvet Smash"

Stats
-GMU-BS in economics with a minor in French.
-Lived on campus
-International Student
-Female

Overall the experience I had was very good.
-The teachers were excellent and very motivational.
-There are plenty of opportunities to get involved (Broadside,
Fraternities, Clubs).
-Very diverse campus.
-Proximity to DC makes it great for culture and gastronomy.
-Got a summer scholarship to Georgetown through the Econ Dept.
-Did summer program at the Sorbonne.

In terms of partying I would not recommend it. My friends and I were continually in trouble with the Resident Adsivers and the Campus Police are terminators. BUT the partying you do get away with will be extremely memorable.

As long as you are motivated and willing to get involved GMU is a great school.

There are definitely ups and downs to GMU. I can only speak as a commuter student, so here goes:

Pros:
1.) I don't know where you live currently, but I love being able to remain near my family and friends. It's a nice balance--you make new friends at school, but you still retain all your old friends from high school and work. (At least I did.)

2.) All the faculty I've run into are pretty awesome. We have a TON of awesome professors, who really take a personal interest in your success as a student. I'm an English major, and most of my classes are really intellectually stimulating AND practical for my career, without being too hard or homework heavy.

3.) There's a lot of ways to be involved on campus, something I wish I had learned sooner. If you're into radio broadcasting, you can work at the radio station. If you love music, our music department is awesome. English majors have newspapers and magazines and websites. Business majors have...well...whatever business majors have. :) But, because this isn't a huge party school, people are forced to build friendships outside of alcohol and partying (which, in my opinion, is healthy). Which brings me to my next point...

4.) If you want a party school, don't come to GMU. Like other people have said, the Fairfax police don't mess around. BUT, there's fun to be had, if you know where to look. Getting involved in what's going on campus is easy and fun.

5.) If you're not from the area, Northern Virginia is a GREAT place to further whatever your future career may be. It's one of the fastest growing, wealthiest areas in the country, and it's close proximity to DC offers students tons of internship opportunities and jobs.

Yeah, there are Cons, but I guess I'm not as conspiratorial as other people. Parking can suck, but if you know how to beat the system, you'll be fine. (Tip: Wait at where the people leaving enter the parking lot, smile pretty and ask where they're parked, and usually they'll take you to where their car is. The parking situation really brings people together! And, yes, I'm optimistic.) I can't think of anything else I really loathe about this campus. A football team would be fun, but I don't require it as a part of my college experience. (If you love football, we're so close to University of Maryland and Tech and stuff, so you can get your fill.) Greeks aren't really a huge huge player here like on other campuses, but again, that doesn't affect me.

I hope this helps! I think one of the biggest things that will help your decision is actually come tour campus!

Here are my top reasons for why students should go to GMU:

1) close to DC: plentiful opportunities for internships and jobs that pay VERY WELL

2) close to DC: where the fun is

3) diversity:

You come into contact with students who will teach you much more than you think.
Most Mason professors teach from a global perspective.
And the variety of food is just great.. kabob, sushi, is not bad at all.

However,

If you're looking for a good party school, avoid Mason. Fairfax/Mason cops will find you, and the residential advisors will feed you to the cops.

That's probably my only complaint.

All the best.

Personally, I stopped sharing my opinions on how bad Mason truly is (even though I will here), because people tend to respond in two ways- 1) They don't care what you have to say and blow you off, or 2) They quote useless stats and random "justifications" for how "great" this school truly is.

This school has issues, and no one seems to want to address them. You could go through the list of them ALL, but it would take forever. The biggest problem is that no one speaks up. They just skate through the four years (or 5 for some) and take the diploma and leave. Those who do try to get the word out are shut down by hopelessly blind students, nameless faces on the Internet, or the Administration (piece of advice, NEVER post something on the SG Forum that is critical of the school. The Administration patrols the site and uses what you say to make your life HELL. I could go in-depth, but I don't have the time right now).

What I find laughable is the recent "recognition" we got as the "#1 Up and Coming School!" It's based on the amount of MONEY spent to improve the facilities on campus, and the areas of academics that were ALREADY successful; IT, Engineering, and Bio-Chemical research. Other then that, there isn't much to brag about. 35% of our students transfer after the first year, 5% of our alumni give back to the school, we have the LOWEST Endowment fund for any school of our age and size in the country, and 75% of our first year students are on some form of academic punishment after their first year.

Hell, have the reason why most people like me STAYED the whole time, was because we couldn't afford to transfer, or "gasp" Mason's credits aren't very transferable to BETTER schools because half the colleges don't know what in the HELL those classes really are. Try using your degree that is outside of IT, Engineering, or Bio-Chemical research to get a job in DC- YOU WILL GET LAUGHED AT. Mason is the safe school for Northern Virginia students, and out-of-state students whose GPA's and SAT scores couldn't hack it anywhere else. This school under-prepares you for life, and most of the degrees are practically WORTHLESS. I am so glad I got my IT degree, even though I wanted to get the hell out of here after two months but couldn't, and I don't plan on EVER coming back.

There is one underlining positive that this school has, and even I can't deny that. Most of the teachers are superb, the best in their fields. But a lot of them are being forced out due to budget cuts forced on the school by the state of Virginia, or because Virginia under-funds Mason based on it's peer group. I have been asked a total of seven times by seniors in my hometown high school whose parents know me, as to whether I enjoyed my time down at Mason and away from our state. I tell them to do their own research, because they need their own opinions, but if I had to give a complete and honest opinion, I told them to NOT go. To be honest, I don't see this ever changing. I will probably ALWAYS tell people to stay far, far away from Mason at ALL costs.

(FYI- I was a Mason Ambassador and an RA during my time at Mason. Trust me, we more then just "fluff" things, we are known to be flowing an Admissions mandated set of "talking points." I can tell you, with complete honesty, Dean Flagel in Admissions has had his fights with President Merten over whether he can tell the "truth" about Mason or not, or if it is ethical to continue to "stretch" the truth about the school.)

No.

Even if you're not into parties, there's still no social life to speak of unless you want to conform to a frat/sorority, but even they don't have a row for parties, so all they really do is hold lame "events" and wear stupid shirts.

The trick is to get really good grades/SAT scores and go to a snooty private liberal-arts school where you learn a lot and have lots of fun. Mason is neither of those, so we get the rejects from other schools and old people trying to get degrees.

I currently attend GMU as a second year transfer and personally I like mason but I can see that there are quite a few things people disagree with.
1. not a very big party atmosphere
2. commuting and parking (terrible)
3. no football team