Wearing bright yellow T-shirts, George Washington University undergraduates guided a sea of high school seniors and their family members into the Charles E. Smith Center on Monday morning, as many of the visitors gazed wide-eyed around campus.
Monday marked the second of four Colonial Welcome Days in April, which are expected to bring a record number of admitted students and their family members to campus. More than 700 visitors flocked to Foggy Bottom last Friday, 1,000 are on campus today and close to 2,000 more will visit on April 18 and 21. Additionally, 400 GW student volunteers will help run the Welcome Days.
During Colonial Welcome Days, high school seniors are looking at GW through the lens of a newly admitted student, weighing their college options, said Laurie Koehler, senior associate provost for enrollment management.
“Our program is designed for admitted students to gather as much information as possible so they can determine whether they think GW is their best fit and the place they want to call home for the next four years,” Ms. Koehler said.
Director of Admissions Karen Felton welcomed the visitors in the Smith Center on Monday morning, highlighting a few of the accomplishments and goals of the Class of 2018—including a student who has already written a 47-chapter novel, another who taught her cat to open doors and a third who ran for student government in middle school, had the president impeached and then became president himself.
Several of the admitted students aspire to be secretary of state, one said he is looking to work with nuclear energy on an international spectrum and others—male and female— mentioned they want to be “just like Olivia Pope,” Ms. Felton said.
“It is no exaggeration to say that you are talented, hard-working, ambitious and truly on track to change the world,” she added.
Both Provost Steven Lerman and Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Planning Forrest Maltzman pointed to GW’s hands-on educational process as one of its distinguishing characteristics, as the university links “active” learning experiences in the classroom with the wealth of opportunities and resources available in Washington, D.C.
“A GW education is just not the sum of its classes. It’s that complete experience that we work very hard as a university to provide, which integrates your internships, your service learning and co-curricular activities,” Dr. Lerman said. “At GW, we believe heavily in knowledge in action.”
During Colonial Welcome Days, students spend the day experiencing GW based upon their specific interests and academic goals. They are first split into groups based on the school or college they were admitted to, and then they have the opportunity to meet with deans, faculty, academic advisers and current students.
Following a tour of the Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses, Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Peter Konwerski will host a candid “Only at GW” interactive dialogue, during which students can tweet any of their questions directly to him.
Natalia Fandel, her sister and her parents traveled from Seattle to visit campus on Monday—though she has already made up her mind about where she’ll be attending college in the fall.
“I’m set on the Elliott School,” she said. “I visited last spring, and it was the only school where I felt like every single student was genuinely engaged and enthusiastic.”
Deborah Snelgrove, who oversees marketing, events and visit experiences in the Office of Admissions, said she is looking forward to seeing the moments when students recognize that GW is the right “fit” for them, and she hopes the entire GW community will take participate in welcoming the new faces to campus.
“It takes an entire university to enroll a class and a warm and friendly greeting from everyone in our community can make a difference,” she said.