New Student Orientation
New Student Orientation aims to aid new undergraduate students and their families in the academic, personal, social, and cultural transition to the George Washington University and D.C. community. Our goal is to introduce you to the academic culture, community expectations and resources, and involvement opportunities both on-campus and around the city. We hope you take advantage of all that GW has to offer and that you utilize the people around you for support and guidance as you begin your journey here at GW.
*Continue to monitor GW's Coronavirus Response website for the latest university updates on how we are responding to the ongoing pandemic.*
New transfer students and families - welcome! Please visit our transfer orientation page.
Next Steps for New Students
After you make your deposit:
- Bookmark your student portal to access important and relevant information before classes start
- Check your admitted student portal regularly and often
- Claim your netID and password (create your GW email), and get in the habit of checking that email throughout the summer
- All official communication will be sent to students' GW email often
- Send your final high school transcript and, if applicable, AP or IB scores, to GW Undergraduate Admissions (email [email protected] for questions). If you are planning to defer, please fill out this quick survey to update us of your status.
- Register for Spring New Student Orientation in your admitted student portal (under next steps)
- As we monitor COVID-19 we will continue to make adjustments to the schedule, and we ask that you please do not book travel or other accomodations until the University provides an official update on spring 2021 plans
- If you are a student with a documented disability, register with Disability Support Services
- It is best to provide documentation as soon as possible to avoid any delays in the availability of accommodations. Accommodations are not retroactive
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Visit the Colonial Health Center’s Reminders for Incoming Students page to learn more about immunization forms’ deadlines and student health insurance requirements.
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Continue to monitor your GW email for reminders, tasks to complete, and more information.
Orientation Communication
Students and families will receive communication from GW via our Next Stop GW email newsletter. Next Stop GW is a comprehensive electronic newsletter providing timely and relevant information, and serves as an introduction to student life and living at GW.
Here's what else you can expect for communication:
- Introduction to academic school and undergraduate advising team via email from respective advising offices to student email
- Request to submit photo for GWorld card, the GW student ID, via email from GWorld Card Office to student email
- Information about student health insurance, immunization forms, and other required onboarding paperwork
- Sample bills and preliminary invoices of bills provided via Student Accounts over the summer months
- Note: Email will be sent to students' GW email
- First-year group advising webinars and class registration communication (applies to summer & fall admits only)
- Note: Timeline for webinars varies by individual school. Check your admitted student portal.
- Student and family Orientation program information
- Tuesday Talks Webinar Series covering topics such as paying your bill, living on-campus, GWorld card usage and perks, and more scheduled topics throughout the summer
Buff & Blue Book
The fall 2020 Buff & Blue Book has relevant and helpful information about navigating GW systems, understanding campus resources and how to get in touch with them, GW jargon, and more. Download the PDF version to review. Search the Table of Contents to find what you're looking for!
Program Highlights
"The orientation small group was just extremely fun because I got to meet new people and ramble about common interests and random topics at the end."
"...I feel for the first time I was fully engaged in an orientation and could retain a lot of information. Thank you for the wonderful virtual experience and the hard work that went into planning and implementing everything. It's amazing."
"I felt really confident going into class registration because of the things I learned prior to and during orientation! Thank you!"
"I thought it was great overall. The OLs were kind and attentive, and the webinars were informative and helpful. Thank you for making this happen for us!"
New Students 2020
Frequently Asked Questions
As an incoming student you should plan to attend Orientation sessions offered in your schedule. We want you to be as prepared as possible before you begin classes and Orientation programming is designed to do just that.
There is an equal distribution of courses and class seating availability among all registration times. Select a date and time that works best for your schedule - there is no advantage for signing up for an earlier date and time.
A reminder that registration for sessions will close 3 days prior to the date (or until filled). Links to register for a session are available in your admitted student portal.
GW’s Foggy Bottom campus is located conveniently to three major airports (DCA: Ronald Reagan Washington National, IAD: Washington Dulles International, and BWI: Baltimore/Washington International) and D.C.’s Union Station (for Amtrak, MARC, and VRE rail services, as well as local Metro service). Public transit is available from each airport and train station. The Foggy Bottom/GWU Metro Stop is located right on campus, with service to the Orange, Blue, and Silver Metro lines.
There is! this year, due to COVID-19 we have decided to make all Orientation programming online.
More information can be found under Familes & Guests.
First-year, first-time students will register for classes online in early August. After May 1, you will sign-up for a class registration window in your admitted student portal. Then, in August, on your selected and confirmed registration date & time, you will login to Banweb and register.
You will have the opportunity to sign-up for a First-Year Group Advising Webinar with your academic school, as well as complete a module called GW 101 located in Blackboard. You will receive communication to your GW email in May about this process.
GW offers special rates to a number of local hotels. If you use another website to find accomodation, GW is near the following DC neighborhoods: Foggy Bottom, West End, Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Downtown.
Please note: we advise not to book travel or other accomodations until after your student has selected a move-in date and time.
Please note: At this time Fall 2020 housing will be limited to a small number of studnets who have extenuating personal or academic circumstances. More information will be coming out soon about the application process followed by move-in details. Continue to monitor the university's fall 2020 update website for information. Please refer to the email you recieved from [email protected] for details.
You will fill out a profile as part of your Housing application, which inculdes ranking residence halls by preference. The Campus Living & Residential Education team works hard to place students in one of their preferenced choices (unless you are already assigned to a living-learning community with a designated residence hall).
Please note: At this time Fall 2020 housing will be limited to a small number of studnets who have extenuating personal or academic circumstances. More information will be coming out soon about the application process followed by move-in details. Continue to monitor the university's fall 2020 update website for information. Please refer to the email you recieved from [email protected] for details.
Housing assignments will be released over the summer. Updates will be communicated via email to all students. The Housing application opens on May 14 and closes on June 8.
Please note: At this time Fall 2020 housing will be limited to a small number of studnets who have extenuating personal or academic circumstances. More information will be coming out soon about the application process followed by move-in details. Continue to monitor the university's fall 2020 update website for information. Please refer to the email you recieved from [email protected] for details.
Undergraduate students living in GW residence halls will be assigned a dining plan based upon the availability of a kitchen in a student's housing assignment. All undergraduate students living in GW residence halls are required to participate in a dining plan. Rates for 2020-2021 plans are online.
preliminary bills will be issued in June and are due on the first day of classes (August 31). Learn more about paying your bill, payment plans, and how to update authorized users online through Student Accounts.
In addition to reviewing & completing the Authorized User eBill Access & FERPA waiver (if applicable), you will need to submit an Immunization Form by August 1 and review and waive (or be automatically enrolled) the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) by September 30. The waiver period begins on August 1.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Once a student enrolled at GW, they have the right to inspect and review their own education records, as well as designate who has access to view their student records. You can access the Student Consent form online.
