This week, Vox wanted to give the Class of 2015 a sneak peek into each of Georgetown University’s four undergraduate schools. Today, we take a look at the McDonough School of Business (MSB).

The best school, technically

Or technologically, but semantics are for College students. While your non-MSB friends will have to put up with the utterly ineffective UIS, business school students get access to technological resources that actually belong in the 21st century. Chief among them is the MSB Tech Center, a competent, accessible alternative to UIS. Located on the first floor of the Hariri Building, the Tech Center is staffed with trained students who can help you troubleshoot most computer issues during walk-in hours.

In addition to tech support, the Tech Center also facilitates all the other technological services that MSB students get access to, which includes the MSB’s printing services. Despite what students from other schools might think, it’s not actually free (check your bill for a $75 “MSB Lab Fee”), but the 1000 pages business students are given to print each semester are still a better deal than paying at Lau. They’re a lot more convenient too: using the iPrint software, students can print from their laptop to any printer in Hariri and pick up their paper on the way to class.

If the MSB is evil, this is its Death Star

Until the new science building is completed, the MSB’s Rafik B. Hariri Building holds the title of Georgetown’s most modern class building. Just two years old, it’s not a stretch to call Hariri (sometimes called the BSB, or simply “the business school”) the nicest building on campus, with all the amenities you need to get through four years in the b-school. The building is home to nearly all MSB classes, as well as professors’ and administrators’ offices.

However, classrooms and offices only take up a small portion of Hariri. A large part of the building’s interior consists of the Simone McDonough space, four open floors filled with plenty of seating that make for a popular study spot. If you prefer to be a little less out in the open, there’s also the undergraduate commons located on the first floor and a number of breakout rooms that can be reserved for groups. There’s not an overwhelming amount of room, but it’s more than enough to attract the jealousy of the masses cooped up in Lau.Real classes have curves

The MSB was long decried by the other schools for its easy classes and easier grading, but there’s less truth to that accusation now.  In recent years the MSB has implemented a mandatory grading policy for all undergraduate classes, forcing professors to curve grades to an average GPA of no greater than 3.33 and give no more than 35% of a class A-range grades. Before you spend your time mining RateMyProfessor for the easiest classes, it’s good to keep in mind that any puffed-up grades will eventually be pulled back down.

Don’t worry—things still aren’t too cut-throat. The MSB is known for its strong focus on group projects, so expect to be working with your classmates more often than you’ll be competing against them. Many classes have cases that will have you breaking off into groups repeatedly throughout the semester, and most have at least one project that will require regularly scheduled appointments in those breakout rooms.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2011 at 12:30 pm and is filed under News, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.