Congrats to the Class of 2016!!!

Hey guys! I am back again, FINALLY!

Before I tell you my excuse for being gone so long, I would like to first and foremost congratulate all of you who have been accepted to GW!!! Watch your mail boxes closely the next few days for the beautiful admissions packages we send out. Hands down, out of the 26 schools I applied to, GWU was a.) the beautifulest admissions package I received (and it wasn't my only one, I promise :) ) and b.) was my cheapest option out of those schools I was accepted to. Sit down, relax, talk with your parents and consider your options as the acceptance letters flood in. I know you will make the right decision and know that GW has truly changed my life.

Secondly, the reason I have been gone so long is because I have spent all my free time taking over our visit and tour guide programs. I have a co-coordinator (who you will meet very soon as she is also a new blogger), but in the mean time, feel free to reach out to me for all overnight and classroom visit requests at gwvisit@gwu.edu. As well, when you have a wonderful tour on either Foggy Bottom or Mount Vernon, be sure to thank that wonderful student volunteers I oversee. 

I can't wait to see many of you as we reach our busiest visit time here in April! Be sure to stop by the Welcome Center to say hi and again always, feel more than welcome to reach out to me at brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu. Congrats again to all the new Colonials and know that GW is the land of your dreams!

Peace, Love and Hippos!

Brandon

The Spring Swing of Things for Me

This semester is bound to be one of the busiest, but most exciting ones in store for me. I am working on switching majors (yes, AGAIN!) to the School of Media and Public Affairs to study Political Communication. I have never taken a single journalism class so it is tough starting at one of the best journalism schools in the country, but hey, I’m just learning from the best!

Come visit us this spring and summer
and we can't wait for our new students to walk through
these gates

As well, I am working with the Admissions Office and going through training for the VIP (Visitor Information Program) through the Admissions Office to stay here for the entire summer and give tours. As if that weren’t enough, I will be interning for an Austin-based consulting firm. Finally, this is the heat of basketball season and I am busy with Colonial Brass as we cheer on our men and women's team to post season play. It is bound to be a great summer and even more exciting summer as I hope to get to meet more of you since traditionally many of you, like me when I went through the process, view colleges during the summer.

To those of you who applied ED and are anxiously awaiting, hang in there! Decisions will be made soon and should be headed out in the middle of February. For others who applied Regular decision, take this time to breathe after putting in your application and hold on until the middle of March. I wish you the best of luck, be sure to put in your FAFSA (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) and CSS Profile (https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp)  with the Financial Aid Office, and as always reach out to the Admissions Office or me if you have any questions/concerns. We are always glad to help our perspective Colonials.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Celebrating 2012 in DC!!!

Good luck in a bowl for one :)

So, I'm probably on of the earliest students to get back on campus. Although classes do not resume until January 17th, I returned on December 30th for a multitude of reasons. Originally, I was going to go see the ball drop with a friend in NYC, but that feel through right before coming back. But you know what...no big deal!!!! There is always next year and anyways, there were plenty of things to in DC. On New Years Eve I went out to Alexandria to catch some of their First Night festivities, but came back before midnight to watch Lady Gaga and the ball drop. You will see on the side that I went to the Foggy Bottom Whole Foods and picked up their last 2 ounces of black eyed peas to cook for myself.

Despite campus being a bit dead because most students are back home, I got to go to three basketball games and witnessed the Colonials get back on track with a decisive defeat of Delaware State University and the Lady Colonials go toe to toe with the #11 Rutgers University Scarlet Knights and then defeat cross town rival American University. I was a very happy Colonial and look forward to further success as both teams head into their Atlantic 10 conference stretches.

On a final note, the reason I came back early is to help in the Admissions Office and process the applications hopefully many of you will be sending to us in the next two weeks before the January 10th deadline for both Early Decision II (ED II) and Regular Decision. Please oh please feel free to call us with any questions or concerns because we are here to help you and get everything clarified before the deadline so you can be reviewed for the stellar student you are.

Make a great decision to start of 2012
and apply to GW using Common App or
the GW Application

I hope you have a had a phenomenal Winter holiday season and wish you a happy, safe and prosperous 2012 and for many of you, I hope you make the right decision by sending us your application and then choosing to attend GW. As always, email me with any questions about anything under the sun and I will get back to you soon :)

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Putting Down the Books to Pick Up Some Pancakes

Servers wore construction hats
instead of hair nets. Cute!!!

This past Monday the GW community continued one of its longest traditions, Midnight Breakfast, to kick off the two weeks of finals for the Fall semester. For its 26th year, GW professors, coaches, administrators and staff have gotten together to serve students a nice evening breakfast before we continue to pull our all-night study sessions. Although studying may not be the most fun thing you do in college, at least at GW we get to it on a full stomach :)

GW Women's
Basketball Coach Bozeman
and President Knapp help
serve students a great breakfast

This year the theme was "Trespassing Welcome" and there were themes all around the renovations going on around campus. There were showcases of the new Aimes Academic Center on the Mount vernon Campus, plans on display about the construction of the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) near Whole Foods and sadly the closing of the Hippodrome and 5th floor Bowling Alley. President Knapp joined students as the signed a wall of the former Hippodrome before it is constructed into a new office space for student-run organizations. Some friends and I played pool for the last time in the Hippodrome before hitting the books again in Gelman Library.

The beautiful new academic space at the
Mount Vernon campus

As well as eating and looking at the projects at hand, we also had the opportunity to see various groups perform at the Midnight breakfast like Balance, GW Troubadours, Ballroom and Capitol Funk.

As always, let me know if you have any questions about anything and congratulations to all of you who joined the Colonial Community through the Early Decision I program! Your hard work has paid off and I can't wait to see you on campus

Peace, Love and Hippos!

Brandon Moore
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Internal Transferring and Studying Across Schools!!!

They call me the master of transferring and I am still on my game!!! In my freshman year, I switched from the Elliott School of International Affairs to the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. This year I have transferred from Columbian into the GW School of Business.  A few days ago we received a question along the lines of if it was possible to switch from Columbian to Business and I am here to tell you that, and almost any other move, it is completely possible within your first two years.

There are 6 schools here at GW which are as follows: Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Elliott School of International Affairs, School of Media and Public Affairs, School of Engineering and Applied Science, GW School of Business and the School of Public Health and Health Services. A student generally can transfer around easily withing their first two years if the maintain a 3.0 GPA. However, the Elliott School GPA requirement tend to be a bit higher (around a 3.5) and some schools will want you to have taken certain courses before transferring in order to make sure you stay on track to graduate within four years. The process is as simple as filling out the following form http://www.gwu.edu/staticfile/GW/Admissions%20-%20Undergraduate/transferreadmit.pdf , meeting with advisers in both schools and bring the form to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Another thing to note is that it is very easy to study across schools. If you wanted to study Business Administration in the GW School of Business and were say a Sociology major in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, you could complete a Secondary Field of Study in Business Administration so you would not have to transfer to that school. Secondary Fields also exist in the School of Media and Public Affairs (Journalism and Mass Communication), the Elliott School of International Affairs (International Affairs) and any minor in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences is eligible to be completed as a Secondary Field in that discipline.

I hope this answered all your questions about moving around schools and studying across schools, but if not always feel free to e-mail me and I will give you an answer or find you one. To all ED 1 applicants, decisions will be out before you know it here in mid-December.

Peace Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

GW Men's Basketball Off To Impressive Start

Raise High has been chosen as the theme for this basketball season and The GW Men’s basketball team is off to an impressive hoping to raise not only our school colors high, but also our hopes of achieving national dominance. The GW Men’s team has out of the gate begun an impressive season.

In the first game of the regular season they dominated the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at the Charles E. Smith Center with a 64-48 win.

The men then hit the trail to Berkley, California where they took on the then 24^th-ranked Cal Berkley Golden Bears in the first game of the CBE Classic and despite playing a close first 10 minutes, dropped their first game of the season 81-54. This game against Cal was part of the larger CBE Classic tournament sponsored by Progressive and took the Colonial men to a Subregional Tournament at Bowling Green State University where they faced the host school, Austin Peay State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. In this tournament, the Colonials blasted out Detroit Mercy as well as Bowling Green, but played a very close game with the strong Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay before emerging victorious with a 54-52 victory. The Colonials finished this part of the tournament as the Bowling Green Subregional Champions!

 

In the upcoming days, the Colonials will travel to play the Big 12 powerhouse Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas to start the month of December. They will then come back home to the DC area to take on the 2010 Final Four local foe, the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams, in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic in the Verizon Center a few blocks away from campus in DC’s Chinatown.

Tony Taylor and Aaron Ware
named BGSU regional MVP's

Be sure to look for the Colonials on the big screen and in the rankings. I think we are off to a great start and have a great season ahead of us. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

On an admissions note, we were so pleased with all of our early decision applicants and our officers are busy reviewing your applications. We hope you had a fantastic (and relaxing) Thanksgiving break and look forward to making your day soon! As always, shoot me any question or reach out to me if I can assist you in any way. I am more then happy to help or find an answer for you if I don’t know it for some reason. Until then, I’ll keep you posted on out NCAA tournament bound Colonials!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon Moore 

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Weekend of Fantastic GW Sports

When you think of DC, the first thing that comes to mind is not usually sports. However, GW has changed that concept for many opposing college athletes this weekend.

For starters, the Men's basketball team started off the weekend with their first decisive regular season win against the University of Maryland- Eastern Shore. At a packed Smith Center following a 3 hour tailgate that closed the street in front of the arena, the era of Mike Lonergan here at GW began with a 64-48 victory. The GW men are now in Berkeley, California, warming up before tonight's big game against the PAC-12's #24 ranked California Golden Bears. The men will be playing at Haas Pavilion and this will be a huge first test for them. Try and catch the game if you get ESPNU or listen for what is bound to be an upset win in the newspapers tomorrow. Raise High the Buff and Blue!

Secondly, the Men's soccer team won a huge semi-final match in the Atlantic-10 Conference tournament Friday night by defeating the La Salle Explorers 2-1 in double OT. The tournament, being held in St. Louis, concludes after today's (Sunday's) 2:00 championship match between GW and Xavier. This is bound to be a good match that hopefully ends in GW's favor and propels our squad into the NCAA tournament. 

Finally, the GW Women's Volleyball team concluded their regular season by upsetting the Fordham Ram's at Rose Hill on Senior Night in a huge 3-2 win. This final win of the regular season is expected to propel the women to the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to be held at the University of Dayton in 4 days with GW entering as a 4th seed. This will surely be a tough couple of matches in "enemy territory," but it is a feat our ladies can handle. Congratulations on achieving a 20 win season ladies and we look forward to more post season victories. 

So as you watch ESPN before bed or open your morning news paper, be sure to look in the headlines for GW. We are bound to be there...where we belong. 

As always, if you have any questions about any part of the admissions process feel more than happy to e-mail me. Thank you to all of you who have submitted ED 1 applications! Best of luck to you and we look forward to receiving the rest of your applications.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Have you heard about GW Basketball???

GW and the DC Metropolitan area are often known for their incredible college basketball environment. In this area, we have the Big East powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas, the NCAA qualifying George Mason Patriots down the road in Fairfax, along with the American University Eagles and a little ways away, the Final Four Men's Virginia Commonwealth Rams. But enough talk about our foes! The George Washington Men's Basketball team finished the 2010-2011 season on the cusp of an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament appearance (with a 5th place finish), but lost in an upset qualifying tournament game to St. Josephs, finishing with an overall 17-14 record. In addition, the GW Women's Basketball team had a rebuilding season, advancing to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Lowell, MA where there season ended with a loss to Dayton.

But this year is a whole new season!!!!!

The GW Men's Basketball team has a new face. The new head coach of GW's mens team, Mike Lonergan,  is the former head coach at the neighboring college of the Catholic University of America before serving in his most recent post as the head coach and catalyst of an emerging strong basketball program in Bennington, VT with the American East Conference's University of Vermont Catamounts. The GW men's team will face a tough schedule this year, traveling to Syracuse (#5), UC Berkeley (#18), Harvard, and Kansas State, along with taking on strong conference opponents like Richmond, Xavier (#15), Temple and Duquesne. On top of it all, the men will be taking on the VCU Rams in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic hosted at the Verizon Center here in DC's Chinatown. GW's Tony Taylor was selected to the A-10 Pre-Season first team and will be a great leader for a tough season ahead. It should definitely be an exciting season so look for GW on the headlines and on ESPN and such.


The GW Women's Basketball team will have a schedule that keeps them closer to home, so that just means that much more action for us to see here at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Women will play local foes like Georgetown, UDC, American, George Mason, William & Mary, but also take on foes from larger conferences like the Auburn Tigers, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mike Bozeman will lead these ladies to what is sure to be a fantastic season here in his 4th with GW and I am so pleases that I will get to see more of the games now that ALL of the band will be at ALL of the Women's games :)

If you are coming up for a tour, make sure you buy some tickets so you can go catch some of the action and feel what the sports environment is like here at GW. Come root alongside the Colonial Army (the student fan section that fills up a side close to the floor level) or watch from home and cheer, root on, and raise high your Buff and Blue!!!

I will continue to update you on the basketball season as I a.) love college basketball and b.) am a part of the band (Colonial Brass) and at every game. Feel free to ask me any questions and best of luck to those of you applying Early Decision about now and for those of you working on your applications. Keep up the good work and reach out if I can help you in any way!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

National Coming Out Week

So this week is National Coming Out week and GW is taking part in this very important celebration of diversity at our campus. This is a great time when LGBT students (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer) are able to celebrate their diversity, remember their community and embrace support for even further change. GW's LGBTQ group, Allied in Pride, has sponsored many events this week and has a very sizable LGBTQ population that is taking part in these events.

An aerial view of the Mount Vernon's Hand Chapel

Tonight, I went to an interfaith service with my amazing friend Abby at the Hand Chapel on the Mount Vernon campus. The Hand Chapel is absolutely gorgeous and has a beautiful view into the wooded area that surrounds the rolling hills campus tucked away in the hills of Northwest DC. At this service, about ten students (allies and LGBT students) showed up to listen to a Father from Dignity Washington (group for LGBT Catholic persons) and an Emaan from a very liberal Islamic sect speak about the strength, divine acceptance and equality that the LGBT community was entitled to and possesses. The message presented by both presented a powerful message using water to illustrate that all people, gay straight, white or non-white, depend on this source and through this "recycling" process, we as a people are all one.

I am looking very forward to the rest of the events the week has to offer and will be sure to make it to as many as I can. To give you some insight as into what the rest of National Coming Out weeks involves, here are some of the events:

1. LGBT Study Abroad and International Careers Information Session
2. Glee Night (I mean isn't that just amazing!!!!)
3. Out of the Closet and On to the Screen: The Changing Images of the LGBT Community on Film and Television
4. LGBT Family Friday: Dessert and Mocktails (Since this weekend is Parent's Day weekend here at GW)
5. OUTing to Town (which is a very popular local LGBT bar here in Northeast DC)


As always, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to contact me with any questions and I will give you an answer or find you an answer if I don't know it right off the top of my head. Best of luck to all you Early Decision students and I look forward to continuing to help all of you :)


Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

GW Law School Fair 2011

Howdy guys!!!

Although Monday's are probably one of my busiest days of classes, I found way to make it to GW's Second Annual Law School Fair. It was an absolutely amazing event that I was able to cover in two one-hour sessions between my Youth & Delinquency class and Chemistry evening class. Over 120 law schools were in attendance, even including 17 of the top 20 law schools (which by the way includes GW law) Look for yourself : http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings

Go to GW?

The tables covered the entire floor of the Charles E. Smith Center, GW's main indoor sports arena right in the heart of campus if you haven't heard Christie or me mention it before. Some of the tables I checked out were the University of Alabama Law, Michigan State Law, UC Irvine Law, Yale Law, Columbia Law, William & Mary Law, The University of Texas School of Law, NYU Law, George Mason Law, Georgetown Law, Vanderbilt Law, The University of Maryland Law, Cornell Law, Santa Clara Law and last but certainly not least The George Washington University School of Law. I was very impressed with all the information I gathered on these schools as a sophomore in college and have a great knowledge of the opportunities available to me both locally and nationally as I go to these events and see the schools that are anxious to get GW graduates.

This is an amazing opportunity for GW students as it was held on our campus and attended by not only GW students, but other local college students and even local DC workers looking to go back to college. It was amazing to have this resource available to me all afternoon and speaks to the life of a GW student- going to career or professional school fairs between classes.

As always, please feel more than welcome to ask me any questions and I am thoroughly enjoying those of you I am currently assisting. Keep your grades up, stay involved and work on those essays!

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

The Hardest Time of the Year to be a Texan in DC: Football Season

It is not the inches of snow, buckets of rain, or extreme humidity that the Mid-Atlantic endures that is harder on this man in his cowboy boots and burnt orange regalia. Instead, it is the lack of football lights, Friday night fever and football tailgate parties that makes my life a tad more difficult. BUT luckily, there is an alternative.

Although GW does not have a football team, there are three places a GW student can fulfill his/her football needs.

Maryland's new uniform that has caused so
much controversy. It is modeled after their
state flag

1. You can watch your team on TV. For me, I can catch a Longhorn game almost every week or at least a radio broadcast or watch the many local games with new squads like UNC, UVA, VT and Navy. GW dies provide you with free cable in your dorm rooms, so you can always be close to the game.

2. If your craving the lights, the halftime shows and band music filling the fall air, you can always catch a game with the Atlantic Coast Conference's (ACC) Terps up at the University of Maryland-College Park just a few minutes off the Green line here in DC's metro system. As well, Catholic University, Georgetown University and Galladuet University all have football games too with usually cheaper tickets.

3. Go watch the Washington Redskins!!! Although I should be a Dallas fan since I am from Texas and all, it is hard not to support this local squad. Although these tickets do range from $70 to $100 usually, it would be a nice gift from home for maybe a birthday :)

I hope this has made you feel a bit better about fueling that football fever here is DC. It is worth your while to leave the football stadium for a premier education and I can attest to that, but it still doesn't make it easy. But given the DC community that surrounds you, I know you will find a way to survive.

Hook 'em Horns!!! P.S. Women's Volleyball is on their way to improving to 9-0 this evening and will take on Georgetown this week!  Keep up the fantastic work Christie and GO COLONIALS!!!

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything GW and I will reply quickly. Good luck this year and you are ahead of the game looking at colleges this early :)

Peace, Love and Hippos!


Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Back to the books….and fun of course!!!!!

Hey readers! Your favorite Texan is back on campus and busy as ever. Today marks the first day of classes for the fall semester and after an earthquake following my landing and surviving the “hurricane,” it is a really gorgeous day here in the District.

I am very fortunate with my course schedule this semester because I start class every day at 11:10 so as a sophomore, NO MORE 8AM CLASSES!!!! All freshmen at almost any school will have them, but you will make it through and usually sophomore year on you can sleep in, but thank goodness I’m done. I do have classes five days a week, but with only one on Fridays and two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays its really not a bad schedule.

Beyond the first week of class, all of my student activities are really kicking off too here on campus. Yesterday was band practice before the Student Performance Showcase tonight in Lisner Auditorium to show new freshman all the amazing performance groups and ensambles GW has to offer.

Secondly, StAR (Student Admissions Representatives) will begin giving tours this week to all of the perspective undergraduates who come and visit GW. I will be giving a tour every week at 3 so hope I see you there and get to meet you at some point during the semester.

I hope all my fellow bloggers are having a good start of the year too and to all you perspective students, keep up the hard work in the classroom and stay involved in your school so you can come join us on Foggy Bottom. Best wishes to all and more blogs to come! As always, feel more than happy to e-mail me about anything and everything.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Bhangra Blowout 18

The Awards for Bhangra Blowout 18

 So this Texan had never heard of Bhangra before he got to GW. However, once I got here I discovered GW had one of the best teams in the country and that a friend and fellow Texan friend of mine, Nadia, was involved with the group. For those of you who don't know about Bhangra, it is a form of traditional dance from the Punjab region of India to celebrate the harvest season that has now been increasingly popularized to incorporate pop music with the traditional saaps and drums.

A portion of the theatre filling crowd

In this years competition, GW performed in exhibition while the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cornell, Columbia, Drexel, the University of California-Los Angeles, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor  and the University of Virginia competed for over $4,500 and bragging rights. This event was held on Saturday night at the Warner theatre only 5 blocks from campus and below are some pictures. This is a good example of a cultural event here at GW and exemplifies how students are exposed to many different cultures and traditions while at a national/international school like GW. Hope you enjoy and sorry for some of the pictures poor quality. Technology has only come so far and Blackberry's can only take such good pictures.

GW BHANGRA!!!!!!

Nadia and Mama Nayar

If you have any questions about this or anything else, feel more than welcome shoot me an email. I will be posting soon why I chose GW and maybe a bit more on housing. Hope your decisions are coming easy perspective students and hope to see some of y'all at April Visit Days.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

The Six Days of Spring Break- Day #2

My friend Abby 

On the second day of Spring Break, my G-dub gave to me the afternoon off from giving tours. After giving quite a few tours the last few days, the break was quite nice.

Looking at different rowing
crews on the Potomac

My friend Abby, who is also giving StAR tours over Spring Break, and I had intended to go to the Air and Space Smithsonian to see our friend Paul at work and bike the Rock Creek Park trail as spring springs. After seeing an impressive presentation where Paul, an international affairs major, displayed his knowledge of the forces of weight, drag, lift and thrust, we went to a bike shop in Georgetown we had planned to rent bicycles from. However, the shop was closed Tuesday so after failed attempts to find another bike shop, we decided to walk the trails following the Potomac River and has just as much fun. Here are some pictures of us sitting by the Potomac while we watched rowers pass by and ate our snacks intended for the trail. It was the first time I have been on the trails by the Potomac and it is a resource I will have to take more advantage of this spring.

Looking at the Kennedy
Performing Arts Center

Back to work tomorrow :) I do also have some reading I will have to get done tomorrow for some of my classes so yes, I do have some homework over Spring Break. However, I plan to do some sight seeing again tomorrow and stay tuned to see where day 3 takes me.





If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me and see you tomorrow.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

P.S.- My mom texted me this picture. Apparently my puppy back in Austin, Bluebonnet, misses not having me around quite a bit this Spring Break. I'll see you soon enough Blue!

The Six Days of Spring Break- Day #1

Howdy y’all! I have officially returned from the dead :) I’ve been a bit crazy with band winding down, midterms on the mind, and finishing papers, I’ve been a bit of an overwhelmed freshman. However, it is Spring Break this week at GW and I am getting fully revived.

The fountain in the center
of Dupont Circle

Despite the fact that most students leave GW to go home or to the coast for Spring Break, I decided to stay on campus and enjoy the coming spring as well as getting PAID to give tours with the StAR program (Student Admissions Represenative). StAR’s work voluntarily and are responsible for giving undergraduate admissions tours throughout the year. We are selected through a competitive process and I hope to see some of y’all as future StAR’s. I enjoy this activity and will continue to do it for the next three years, that’s for sure.

The shops of Dupont Circle

Luckily for me, many of my friends are also staying either a.) giving StAR tours as well or b.) working on campus to make some extra money. After our jobs are done and we get a little bit of pesky homework done, we go out and enjoy the city. It is really awesome, relaxing, and something we don’t always get to do when we are busy with schoolwork. Today’s destination was Dupont Circle and some pictures are below. This is a bustling, residential area just north of campus with many great palaces to shop, eat, and hang out. I had fun reading at Books-a-Million, eating at Chipotle, and relaxing in the circle’s park, but these pictures show the beauty of the area.

Looking at the Dupont Circle

In conclusion, I will continue to post these blogs for the remaining 5 days to show you what a DC/GW spring break looks like. In addition, if you are coming for a tour this week, request me or just send me a note saying you want to be on my tour. I’m giving a tour pretty much every day, at every time. Have a good spring break and hope to see you in DC!!!

Peace, Love and Hippos,

 

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

P.S.- Congrats to all my Texans visiting GW over spring break! Your regional director, Arturo Carillo, and I are proud of you. On this afternoon’s tour, there were more of us than there were east coasters. Keep up the good work and represent the Lone Star state!

March Madness is Right Around the Corner

Howdy y’all! I swear I haven’t forgot about y’all, it has just been a busy start of the semester as we are hitting the most time intensive part of the basketball season with band on top of having this thing called college homework/ studying. But I’m back!

Both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams are well on their way to the Atlantic 10 (or A-10 for those of you who know your conferences) Championship Tournaments. The men have defeated tough opponents in conference such as Charlotte and U Mass, rounding out with a 6-5 conference record, 13-12 overall. The Colonials will be facing the powerhouse Temple and Rhode Island later this month. While right now it looks like being one of the 64 chosen for the NCAA tournament might look grim, we are off to a good bid for the NIT or CBI and March marks the season of weird upsets, so who knows where the Colonials will go?

Our women have had a struggling season, but are pulling through here at the end. After going on an 11 game losing-streak, the women have pulled out 3 wins in their last 4 conference games, almost assuring them a spot in the A-10 tournament as well. With an 8-16 record, our women are defying the odds and making us oh so proud, especially with their 16-point win over U Mass this past Saturday. Again, who knows what March will hold for our ladies?

I love my hoops and especially have fallen in love with the Colonials! We are getting ready to wind down our season and I am hopeful, as the teams are, for some tournament glory, but I know this year has been a building year for a future year’s success. If we make a tournament, I would more than likely get to travel with the Colonial Brass (the basketball band) and that is another reason you should join. FREE TRIPS!!!

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout and always remember HAIL TO THE BUFF AND BLUE!!!

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Housing at GW Series

I have a pretty unique freshman perspective on housing here at GW as I have lived at both the Mount Vernon Campus (the Vern) and the Foggy Bottom Campus (Foggy) in my first year. I transferred down to Foggy from the Vern right after Thanksgiving break.  I lived in a double in Somers Hall on the Vern before and now live in a double in Mabel Thurston Hall on Foggy. I will explain my experience in both and then give more details as to why I moved.

Mount Vernon

Housing on the Vern is pretty much split into three areas: The new West Hall at the base of campus, Somers Hall on top of the hill, and the Hillside Commons. 

West has a living setup where 4 people have individual rooms with one common area that connects them all and they share one bathroom. In addition, the new dining hall and gym are located in this new facility along with dance studios and a blackbox theatre.

Somers Hall is your typical collegiate dorm. There are primarily double rooms (2 people living in one room) that are connected to another double by a bathroom y’all share. In addition, each floor has a glassed in common room most floors use to study in or chill in.

The Hillside Commons (Clark, Cole, Hensley, and Merriweather Halls) are much smaller, only housing about 25-30 students from the best of my recollection as the other two dorms house about 150 (Somers) and well over that 150 in West Hall.  These smaller dorms are really nice from all of my friends who live in them as they all develop a unique culture because they are in a small dorm and can get very close to one another.

I will continue to post on this talking about Foggy next and giving you my take on the campuses. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me or comment on this.

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

First Blog of 2011

Hey guys!!!

So freshman year is definitely, at least for me, not your easiest year of college like it was in high school. It is full of tougher classes, new friends to make time for, more activities that you’re passionate about, and lots and lots of studying. This spring semester I am taking on an even larger load but I have a few new semester resolutions since all those New Years resolutioners are slowly clearing HellWell (The Learner Health and Wellness Center/ Gym on Foggy Bottom)

1.   Write a blog at a minimum of once a week

2.    Go to the gym or run at least three times a week

3.    Make more time for studies than socializing

4.    Decide on a major

5.    Make good memories and have fun!

Keep me honest guys and I definitely hope to hear from our increasing viewers out there! I have some big upcoming posts that I have been working hard on and if there is anything you want me to research/ get advice on/ try out/ or give you my opinion on, feel more than happy to drop a line.

And earlier this week we got some snow!!! This made for one happy Texas :)

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Congrats Class of 2015!!! And a message to all those who also want to join :)

Congratulations to the first round of early decisions acceptances! Your hard work has paid off and now you will be attending a premier national university in one of the arguably most powerful cities in the world. CONGRATS!

For those other readers still maybe on the fence about applying to GW, I encourage you to take the chance. The worst they could possibly say is no, and at least you would have that conclusion and not be fearful of the lost potential. I encourage you to apply and give yourself the opportunity to join our family. And hey, even if you don’t do your undergraduate work here, there is always Grad school. Keep that in mind.

Like I said, welcome to the family!

For those of you who will eventually discover that you have been accepted to GW and now have to make a choice, I remember that painful decision as if it were one I made only a week ago. I applied to 26 colleges and universities my senior year (and by no means would I do that again or encourage that) and was accepted to 24 of them. My decision was tough. It was between GW, Wake Forest, Davidson, UT Austin, Texas A&M and Fordham. In the end, I chose G-dub because of the amazing financial aid they offered. Although they had the highest initial tuition, it was actually cheaper for me to attend here than it was to go to UT (my home school) even with their Valedictorian scholarship of first year tuition paid. In addition, GW captured my heart because of the opportunities to work alongside and for the different governmental bodies and organizations that almost all have a headquarter in DC. DC is an amazing college town with beautiful nature surrounding the historical center of US power. How could I ask for anything else? The decision was obvious after a month of critical thinking.

 So I wish you the best of luck on your impending decision. It will not be easy and hopefully you don’t have to choose from 24, but a smaller list doesn’t make the decision any easier. If I can help you in any way, please help me, but I might be a little biased as I do hail from GW :) I hope you make the right decision for you.

Please hit me up with any questions. I would be more than happy to talk and will respond ASAP.

Peace, Love and Cookies

-Brandon Moore

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Rivalry = GW vs GMU (George Washington U. and George Mason U.)

So for those of you who aren’t familiar with GW athletics, GW and George Mason University out in Fairfax, Virginia have a huge sports rivalry. Despite being founding fathers, one of our country the other of our Bill or Rights, they now are rivals on the basketball court, especially due to recent success both programs have had. It is always a real game with unexpected twists, turns, and talents exposed and I got to see this first hand when I went with some of my band buddies to root them on our Colonials in GMU’s Patriot Center last night. There were only like 30 huddled fans in buff in a stadium decorated in green and gold, but we were loud and proud and our team could hear us :)

*While these pics aren't of GW, this will give you insight into our rival facilities and groups you will be faced with :)

Patriot Arena @ GMU

After trailing by 7 points in the first half, the Colonials came back to only trail by two going into halftime (28-26). However, GMU found their second wind and ended up beating GW 60-46. I was sad for sure that we could not pull out with a “W” as my blood now runs half buff and blue, but I had so much fun regardless. Participating in the cheers, singing the school song acapela on cue, and seeing the hilariousness of over enthusiastic GMU fans was a priceless experience. While I wish I could have been there alongside the entire band and had my instrument in hand, it was fun to be a spectator too.

The Green Machine of GMU

With all of this said, I hope you catch the fever for GW athletics and that you will take advantage of the opportunity to go see such rivalry games. The university offered a special $10 deal, which included a ticket to the game, a Beat Mason t-shirt, and bus trip out to Fairfax (which is 30 mins away). It was a great deal and defiantly $10 well spent. I definitely now see why GMU and GW are rivals and will be at every rivalry game, rest assured, so I can cheer on my buff and blue.

If you any questions about anything, please feel free to get in touch with me. I would love to talk about admissions so if you have any questions, let me know. I’d be glad to answer any questions and who knows, you might even get a whole blog post about your question 

-       Brandon

brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu