My turn to answer the email! :)
As for my favorite part about GW, it would probably be the classes I've taken and the professors I've gotten to know. I've had the chance to take some great classes here the past four years I know I wouldn't have anywhere else. Some stand-outs have been:
This class really delved into the issue of immigration, from the beginning of the 1900s with Ellis Island, to Cuban refugees today and its supporters and opponents over the years as well. Obviously the topic has a lot of correlation to issues today, but my favorite part was discussing how it was viewed and why in the beginning, and how supporters became opponents and vice versa, depending on the immigrant group in question.
Immigrant family on Ellis Island.
I know what you're thinking, a class on domestic violence? While some of the topics were sensitive and sometimes depressing to think about, it was a very interesting class that had great discussions as to the "why's" of familial violence, led by a former NYPD officer as our professor.
LLove CSI? NCIS? Any criminal procedural? Well, this class is for you. With a professor who was the head of a lab in NY, you get a firsthand account of how those tv shows get it wrong, as well as a great foundation in how science interacts with the law and law enforcement. If you're squeamish, be forewarned there are LOTS of photos of dead bodies and blood... my advice? Eat lunch beforehand.. kinda seemingly counterproductive, but it worked for me.. no nausea unless I had an empty stomach haha.
Heard of criminal psychological profiling? The tv shows Profiler or (my fav) Criminal Minds? Basically, those shows in the form of a class, taught by a professor who also teaches the same course to police academies in the area. Awesome, awesome class. Looked forward to waking up and going to it, even though it was at 9:35am.... very high praise from someone whose brain doesn't generally function til 11am or about 3 cups of coffee, whichever come first!
Basically early morning storytime with a career FBI agent who wrote the book, literally, on FBI counterintelligence, from its beginnings in WW2 to its future following the end of the Cold War. Intrigued by real-life spies? Definitely the class for you!
Again, another class taught by a former FBI special agent. We have discussed everything from origins of terrorism, the how's, why's, who's, etc. to different strategies to combat it. Very fun class- our big project was to research a domestic or international terrorist group and present to the class how, if we were them, we would carry out an attack, showing our strategy, what we would use, where we would get the funding, etc.
As you can see, I'm kinda into the whole "criminal justice" thing... and also classes that correlate to tv shows I watch.. never noticed that before... huh.
However, going hand-in-hand with my favorite thing about GW is also my least favorite... namely, how difficult it can be to get into certain classes you want and need. Many of the classes listed above I tried to get into once or twice before I actually was able to take them. Basically, the cool classes tend to fill up before underclassmen can register, which sometimes doesn't matter since the cool ones also tend to have prerequisites that you won't have til you are an upperclassmen.... so I guess it works out.
Or, in the case of the History 101 I mention above, not all classes are offered each semester, depending on the department and professor. A couple of times I have just gone to the respective professor and expressed my interest in their class and have gotten signed in, but, due to available seats and such, that didn't always work. There's probably now only one or two classes I would've wanted to take that I never got a chance to, either due to the class being full when I was an underclassmen or because that now when I could get in, I took a smaller class-load to make time for a paid part-time job and an unpaid internship and could only pick a few to take.
Hope this helps!
~Vickie
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