Location is excellent. For what you pay, you get a lot of space. Amenities aren't particularly great (i.e. gym) but the apartments themselves are nice and somewhat updated.

Awesome apartments close to the school where a lot of other graduate students from George Washington live. Has dry cleaners, a food and liquor market, and a gym all right on site. Parking is expensive, but it's because we share a garage with the state department. Great value and place to live, especially if you have other friends looking for place. There are 5 different buildings and always apartments available to rent and live near a friend group.

Columbia Plaza is a quick walk to school and not far from the Foggy Bottom Metro stop. A convenience store, dry cleaner, and a few places to eat are located in the plaza. A number of GW grad students live in the building so it is easy to make friends, but it is not overbearing if you don't want to be social all the time.

The location is good, quite near the Metro station. The price is not bad considering how much space I get in the apartment. The front desk's service is terrible.
PS: a mouse maybe came in to our apartment at one point.

Worth it. Should definitely try this. Really great view and location. Ideal for students at GW. Great amenities and management is amazingly helpful. Very close to the metro station and nearby restaurants and pubs. Great for social life and student environment.

Best apartment. Very close to my school. The price is totally is worth it considering we live in downtown. All the facilities are available. The best part about this apartment is that most of the GWU students prefer to live here therefore we can always have a good social life.

It's close to the uni, lots of like minded students live close by and the apartments are just amazing! The amenities in the kitchen are very high end and make living very convenient. The balcony gets ample sunlight and is great to hold parties. The management is very helpful and responsive in case of any issues.

This is a good location near GW so it is good for students or other professionals working in Foggy Bottom. The apartment building is not fancy, but it is still nice enough and has everything you might need. The area is safe and easy accessible to the rest of the city.

This apartment is a bit run down, especially considering the other buildings in the area. I love the neighborhood as it's close to both offices and residential buildings, the metro, grocery stores, GW, but the building needs some updating. It smells at times, gets cold during the winter months, and doesn't have the most up to date amenities.

If you're interested in an apartment close to campus and have a relatively flexible budget, Columbia Plaza's not a bad place to live. My studio apartment is pretty large (bigger than the other studios I've seen near campus), and utilities / electric are included in the rent.

The rent, however, is VERY expensive. $1,986 per month right now, and that's after a $20 increase from last year's rent.

Two other problems: Cockroaches and temperature. As far as temperature is concerned... Central heating and A/C, so it's cold during the summer and hot during the winter. You have no control over this. I've purchased a small fan to keep near my bed, for those nights when the heat is overpowering.

In terms of roaches, there isn't much you can do. They're not in all of the buildings (I live in Baron, which has them, but my friends in Ambassador don't have any), and I think they live in the walls. They only come out in the fall (I lived here all of last year without seeing any, but when I returned after a summer out of state, they'd moved in), and were gone by the time I got back from winter break. I reported them to management, who were really responsive about sending out the exterminator, but he's only around once a week and before long, the roaches were back again. They also like to hang out in the trash room, so stay away from there late at night.

If you can't afford The Avenue, Columbia Plaza apartments aren't priced too terribly, given the location and the apartment size. If you don't mind a commute, though, the same amount of rent in Arlington or Alexandria will pretty much get you a palace.