I agree, to each his/her own. I'm personally not comfortable borrowing six figures from a big for-profit institution. I don't trust them not to screw me in some unforseeable way a few years down the road, especially with that much money on the table. Their reason for existence is to maximize profit, after all. Non-profit lenders don't have the same mission statement, whatever their other disadvantages.

So you're going to forgo a very large and tangible benefit because you don't trust a private company to screw you in some unforseeable way years down the road?

I mean, Access Group is receiving 6.8% and 8.5% on large sums of money that you will have to pay them back.... they do profit. Their "mission statement" may not be all about the bottom line, but they make money/have money/could screw you unforseeably just like any private lender. I wouldn't pick a credit card company on intuition, but rather on rates. I treat student loans in much the same way.

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Downtown DC has a Starbucks on just about every block but a lot of neighborhoods have independent coffee shops. I used to go to Sparky's on 14th St (between U St and Logan Circle) which had good coffee and a borderline abusive staff. But it closed down. I believe it has been replaced by a wine bar, which is mind boggling if you had seen that part of 14th St five years ago.

Has anyone been to the Courtside Cafe that's part of the student center? I wonder if it's any good. The website says they serve Peet's coffee.

Sparky's is indeed now a hip wine bar called Cork. Getting in there is near impossible! And yes - 14 street is changing by the minute.

As for indie coffee shops, it depends on the neighborhood. Around the law school campus there is not that much (it's downtown), but elsewhere in the city there are some great places. But like Boston, there are still tons of chains (Starbucks and Caribou Coffee).

Okay, so sounds like I'll have some coffee-scouting to do. I'm up for the challenge.

If the website is any indication, the Courtside Cafe is nothing special. I especially enjoy the lack of menu, announcement that the cafe will be closed until January 14th (un-updated websites are a pet peeve of mine), and the photo of the hand clutching green beans.

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/foodsvcs/crtside.htm

It looks like GULC has partnerships with Dell and Apple to sell discounted laptops to students. Are any of you going to take advantage? I am torn between the Dell Latitude D630 and the MacBook. Nice to know that Georgetown seems to support Windows and OS X.

I'm in the same position. I would love if one of the computer experts could chime in. I think primary concern is/will be battery power. From my brief experience with them, it seems Macs have really great battery power, but then again that might be because I never "train" my laptop batteries so their performance has not been as good as they are supposed to be. I also don't want to spend too much on a computer.

hey everyone. just wanted to say hi to my future classmates. i got in off the waitlist a few days ago, and have since accepted.

Congrats, Mike!!

Whoo Hoo Mike! Welcome to Club: Awesome!

thanks guys! pretty stoked to be here.

have you guys heard anything back from the loan people....i filled in apps, but haven't heard from them since....will georgetown tell us if anything is missing??

Sent in my 2nd deposit and withdrew from everywhere else. Looks like its GULC for me. Count me in.

Does anyone who is D.C.-based have anything positive or negative to say about Horning Brothers, the residential building management company? I am considering one of their apartment building in Cleveland Park. It seems pretty sweet, but just wondering if the company is well-praised (or disliked). I know in Boston, we have management cos. that we all know to stay away from.

I haven't heard anything bad about them.

Danke, danko

I actually have a connection to one of the Horning Brothers - his son and I were on the same basketball team and Mr. Horning used to attend all our games. He was semi-retired by then. A really nice guy.

Though that doesn't mean the management company is easy to deal with, of course. But, as I said, I haven't heard anything bad.

Has anyone sent in their immunization stuff? I saw on the website its due July 1.

I haven't but I think you only have to if you're 26 or younger, right?

You have to send in the form regardless, since there is a tuberculosis Q and A section. You can leave the immunization part blank if you are 26 or older. I left it blank because I"ll be 26 on August 20, so hopefully that's good enough for them.

It looks like some people have e-mail addresses already...are you all amongst that lucky group?

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