George Mason University

Date: Apr 12 2007
Major: School of Information (This Major's Salary over time)
I have both and undergraduate experience at GMU (1988-1992) as well as a graduate experience (1999-2003). Overall I have been very pleased with GMU and noticed a marked improvement in the academic programs, campus resources and student life at the main Fairfax Campus.

Undergrad - I actually chose Mason's accounting program over the other two schools I got accepted into (Va Tech and Madison), primarily because of talks I had with two professors (both of which are still teaching at Mason). Not only did I receive challenging courses, project, and assignments - the accounting program also emphasized writing and critical analysis (form over substance) with regards to accounting topics. Mason also had considerable co-op education opportunities that I took advantage of to obtain relevant professional experience prior to graduation. The career services department is very helpful and helped me land a job at one of the Big four (Big six at the time) firms. One of my class mates achieved the highest score on the state CPA exam and won the Sells award. So the cadre of students I studied with in the School of Management was excellent.

Student life at Mason during my undergraduate years was still developing because the 700 acre campus was still being developed (Mason is a relatively young school). However, if a student makes an effort - they can make good friends and participate in a variety of activities, clubs, and student organizations.

Graduate Program - I completed an MS in Information Systems at GMU. I again chose GMU over programs at Tech (NOVA satellite campus) and GW because this program not only provided the business level aspects of IT but also required the achievement of deeper technical skills than in the other programs. The foundation courses for this program required that I obtain competencies in programming, data structures, discrete mathematics, operating systems, and database environments. I actually completed a project where I wrote parts of a Unix operating system and had to make it work in a test environment. One of our cap-stone projects was to prepare a business plan for an e-business. We had to present our plans to representatives from VC firms who critiqued our approach and made recommendations. We made ajustments to our plans and these were the basis for our final grade. In the follow-on course we had to implement our plans in an E-Business development tool (Broadvision & Java). Our final exam not only included a test, but a demonstration of our e-business on the web and had to show how our proposed functionality would work. The work I completed actually led to a promotion at work.

It was this comprehensive approach to the SITE program that made me choose Mason again.

Since my undergrad years - the main Fairfax Campus has progressed in leaps and bounds. Several new dormitory projects have been completed and a new huge residential project (NE Sector) has been started. With the increase in on-campus residents - student life has improved dramatically. Mason's 700 acre main campus is being developed into a regional powerhouse.

There have been some comments on this site about Mason's cops and their crackdown on drinking. However, this is happening in Universities across the area. Old Towne Fairfax offers bars, restaurants, shops, and coffee houses. In addition, Fairfax City is going through major re-development to make it more walker/pedestrian friendly.

Mason's academic reputations at the under-grad and graduate level is on the rise and attaining prominence. If offers challenging academics in a beautiful new campus environment. Mason boasts noble prize winning professors and a host of opportunities for career development and enhancement. My wife is an alumni from Mason and we enjoy taking our kids to basketball and baseball games. The growing alumni community is now making noises about taking the football club to a formal NCAA Division II program.

GMU is a hidden gem -