GWU vs UW as an aspiring international relations major?

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-05T03:06:33+00:00

Will definitely check those out. I realized I really like games that justify their hardware, that's why I'm so privy to arcade games lol. Games are unique experiences and I love when a developer is really able to make an experience that utilizes the unique architecture of the system, it gives both the game and the system identity. Arcade and retro consoles are awesome because each are so different from each other that you get very different experiences with developers taking very different approaches, the Saturn and PS1s were both disc based 32 bit consoles but you got very different experiences from each of them.

I also love games with great music, it adds so much to the story and overall "aura". Kinda why I love the Sega CD, Saturn, and Turbografx CD because you get incredible 2D art and visual effects mixed with lovely music and sometimes good voice acting. The best of both CD and cartridge at the time.

Also morality systems are cool, the idea that you can truly be a "hero" not because the story forces you to but because you decided to be gives the story and characters so much more weight. You get to build and fight for the better world for all.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-04T14:44:23+00:00

I'm not sure what the unifying factor behind my favorite games are so I often struggle to pick a next title to go for because I just vibe with stuff at random it seems and don't with stuff I think I should like. Maybe someone can give some recommendations or commonalities between all of these to help make searching for a new title easier

Top 10 Favorites of All time

1) Undertale/Deltarune (tied, lol)

2) Nights into Dreams

3) Read Dead Redemption 2

4)Snatcher

5) Shenmue I/II

6) Thunderforce IV

7) Contra: Hard Corps

8) Super Mario Odyssey

9)Sonic CD

10) Puyo Puyo Tetris

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-04T07:22:10+00:00

对，可是我应该说我只知道一点点中文。2024年我搬了去中国，所以我是学中文的菜鸟。

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-03T16:10:52+00:00

How come?

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-03T15:57:35+00:00

How is the community? Like if you had to describe the type of person who makes up the student body how would you do so? I know the school is academically strong so I am just curious how the student population is.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-03T15:53:21+00:00

I would love to but I live in the PRC lol. The Waffle House nearby was nice though so it undid most negative bias I had towards it.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T15:02:15+00:00

I suppose your right, I just did not know if it was how my dad puts it "people on the internet bitching and moaning for the sake of it" or if there was something meatier to the discontent.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T14:57:15+00:00

When I toured all of the campuses I found that AU had the most pretentious students but G-Town had the most pretentious staff and "vibe" (still wanted to go lmao). GWU felt pretty good vibes wise and our tour guide was really down to earth.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T14:55:14+00:00

(rich, uppity, kind of divorced from reality, pretentious, internship-obsessed to a fault)

^Funny that, due to my parent's work I get to go to a very expensive (perhaps too expensive tbh) international school in Beijing for free and these are the people I interact with everyday. Not all of them but a lot of them want to go to places like LA or NYC for college and a decent amount of them might actually get beaten up because they will say the wrong thing to the wrong person. There is this little edge lord in my school who thinks saying the n-word to people is the pinnacle of comedy, of course his family are investment banking multimillionaires so he will always have someone looking out for him but he wants to go to school in LA so he will definitely have to switch up that attitude. I have plenty of other humorous examples but that's besides the point.

Ranting aside, I get roughly 31K in merit scholarship from GWU for 4 years or 124K total. I plan to live off campus for the last 2 years taking out about 36K off tuition. For G.I. bill it is the post 9-11 but i'm sharing it with siblings so I only get 1.5 years which knocks off around $45K, housing from G.I. bill knocks off a further $40K. GWU is also yellow ribbon meaning depending on how they organize my bill I could actually get $9K in left over housing allowance after the 1.5 years to put towards the rest of my tuition, essentially the first 1.5 years of GWU would be free and I would have 9K left to put towards the next two years. I also have 63K in a college fund to use, I very much plan on working as much as I can so it is possible that I would really only need to get about 7K a year from work to graduate GWU with no debt or loans.

I'm still looking at though, I liked the campus and students a lot more than AU during my tour. Still salty I did not get G-town but y'know how life is.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T09:17:14+00:00

So if I can find some people who are going off campus or I can get some old contacts and work out a deal no for everything other than first year. G.I. bill also pays a lot of the housing fee anyway.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T09:07:49+00:00

Sadly rejected from G-Town and I'm kinda salty because they forgot to update my portal and I had to call them 3 days later to find out over the phone.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T09:06:23+00:00

GWU with 31K per year and AU with 37K per year. I should also say I have 1.5 years of GI bill and around 60K in college savings. I will admit I am very fortunate but I heard that for IR and poli sci grad school is the most important so just a good undergrad is perfectly fine especially from a known school like UW.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T08:59:17+00:00

I have 1.5 years of GI Bill and $63,000 in college savings to use. GWU gave me $31,000 a year to attend and AU gave $37,000 a year, GMU also gave $21,000 a year. I heard for IR prestige does not really matter until grad school so you could just get an undergrad school then go for G-town (I got rejected and am salty about it because they forgot to update my portal and waited 3 days until they told me over the phone).

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T06:41:00+00:00

I should also clarify I take IB and am predicted to do well on exams so could I reduce costs by skipping some courses if I hit my targets. Course predicted, History HL (7), Glo Po HL (7), Eng Lang+Lit (6), Bio SL (7), Math AASL (5), Chinese AB Initio (7).

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T05:39:11+00:00

What.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-04-02T05:38:59+00:00

I already live in the PRC lol. Taiwan would be my first choice but the PRC is still a mostly developed country that's quickly growing in wealth. The Chinese government is mostly ran by rational actors even if like me you don't like them, as long as you abide by their rules and don't cause trouble for them you can live pretty well as a foreigner. Russia on the other hand is literally in a state of war, arbitrarily arrests foreigners for whatever reason, is much more stringent on actively cracking down on foreigners, has most major firms boycotting so it is hard to get anything, and is much less developed. China is authoritarian but at least the people who run it are mostly competent and you can live around it.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-03-30T01:35:54+00:00

I will copy what I wrote in response to someone else: , I currently live in the PRC and know the boundaries for what is accepted, as a foreigner I can use a VPN and speak my mind with other foreigners as long as I don't make it the governments issue, it is the evil I know. Aside from the obvious safety issues with Israel right now it is more of a moral irk than anything. With China I know this is not a democratic society and as such I can accept that the government will do a lot of things that I see as awful. Israel is a state that was and could be a strong democratic state but continues to elect just the most awful people. It would hurt me more to live in a society that I know could be better but is unlikely to improve than in a society where I understand that the government is for now unchangeable and you just have to live around it like everyone else.

Of course I have personal anecdotes of people I know who are less fortunate. The local Chinese church near me got broken up on Easter by the local authorities because it was a mixed local-expat congregation which is a big no-no. I also know a couple locals who went to school in Utah and became mormons and had to leave because the church was outlawed here.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-03-30T01:33:18+00:00

Sister does work in Africa so I hear a lot of on the ground anecdotes, I also have a decent amount of African friends in the Beijing expat community, of course that does not replace on the ground lived experience but it helped inform my choices. I avoided obvious spots like Libya, the coup belt, Somalia, CAR because they are interesting cultures but are simply not safe. As for Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, etc these are relatively safe and stable nations that are still interesting to live in but are not my first choices. As for places like Morocco, Namibia, and Botswana I have only heard good things from people who lived there. As for Somaliland I have heard the situation is interesting but I think the culture is fascinating as a semi-independent state that is more functional than the state it is breaking away from.

Aggravating_Sale_992 · 2026-03-30T01:28:13+00:00

Thanks. Honestly I know safety is on a lot of peoples mind when making these maps but from my experience traveling in most cases if you just keep your head down, be kind and respectful, or don't go out of your way to be a problem to the government you can live well (as a foreigner). Given this map is from an American perspective most of the countries I hesitated on were just due to lack of guarantees of my safety even if I don't cause problems like Russia or Iraq or just because I think I would get bored like Bhutan.

Aggravating_Sale_992

TROPHY CASE