Virginia Square-GMU Metro Station

Only one exit. Escalators come out facing south by south west, with Fairfax Drive to your back

This is a pretty typical metro station on the Orange and Silver lines. The station is convenient to the Arlington George Mason campus where I was attending a short course for a few days. Most everything (e.g., escalators and elevators) were working the few days I used the station.

Its a metro station. Its usually clean, not smokey and smells normal. That’s good enough in my book.

Pretty good metro station. Not much people when I went to this station. Maybe its because I went during a time when people were still at work? I don’t know. Its cool that there’s a Starbucks and some eating areas once you get out of the station.

A magical place that transports me to work every morning. Bonus Starbucks and deli right off the escalator.

Okay, there is now AT&T service here!
3 stars still. I think that’s fair.
EDIT: I feel like the AT&T service comes and goes. Some days I have Edge, some days I see LTE, some days I see nothing.

A small terminal with a smooth pedestrian flow. Clean on the inside and out, this stop on the Orange Line has several nice amenities: 7-​Eleven, Starbucks, Cosi, and more.

I always thought this stop was just a mirage between Clarendon and Ballston.
The elevators smelled like my mom had been there cleaning them this morning.

I felt obligated to review the metro station that I go to every single day. Virginia Square metro stop is the forgotten stop on the Orange Line when going into Arlington. Everyone knows where Clarendon and Ballston is, but forget sometimes that there is actually a stop between them. Like many other metro stops, Virginia Square has a Starbucks right next to it, in addition to a Cosi diagonally across the street. This is the stop if you want to go to Carpool, Pollo Rico, and the Arlington Central Library.

What is Virginia Square? I don’t think that this metro station and its namesake, a shopping center, ever overlapped What used to be Virginia Square is now home to the FDIC and a sub-​par Giant. From what I’ve read, this station was created when DC residents in the vicinity of the planned Oklahoma Avenue metro station rallied to block its construction. And thus Virginia Square – GMU was created, and Virginia Square was immortalized, even though it no longer existed (???). Now Virginia Square seems to refer to a poorly-​defined area between Ballston and Clarendon. Hmm.
Some facts and observations:
–Only three stops west of Rosslyn, and four stops west of DC!
–Not usually as crowded or chaotic as either Ballston or Clarendon, both of which are around eight blocks away.
–AT&T service is possible if you stand right near the escalators! (Ok, no AT&T reception, really; the station isn’t busy enough to be on the priority list for expanded cell phone service)
–In the morning, inbound trains are usually packed by the time they reach this station
–Construction and delays on the orange line generally occur west of here (most commonly around West Falls Church – Ballston).
–Most people who get on or off at this station are 20-​somethings and young professionals; fewer tourists and families use this station than other Orange Line stations in Arlington
–As the name would suggest, very near GMU, and also the FDIC, many other government offices and contractors, Arlington Central Library, Carpool, Arlington Funeral Home, Everest College, etc…
Ugliest fountain can be found at the exit from the station, in front of one of Arlington’s many Starbucks. It’s like they didn’t even try to design it.