<p>Hello, I'm a current junior and GW is my absolute favorite school! I loved the campus as soon as I visited. From browsing this website, it seems like interest and essays and ECs are just as important and maybe more important than just GPA and test scores. I took the SAT earlier and get my scores thursday, but im estimating between a 1700-1800. I can always retake it in the fall since i know the average is around 1900. My gpa is a 3.6 so far. I come from a very competitive private school in Seattle and admissions counselors from many Pacific Northwest area schools are familiar with how difficult our school is. I am involved in a political organization, Junior State of America and have had several leadership positions on cabinet and I'm VP of my schools chapter, NHS member, JV and Varsity track 9th/10th grade, Psychology club member, and will have completed 100+service hours (its required at my school). I will be taking 2 AP exams this May and have signed up for AP Spanish, AP US History and AP English for senior year and have taken almost all the honors classes available (except im in regular chem and math this year, but have always taken honors english and honors math 9th/10th grade) I'm sure my recommendation letters will be fine and I plan to express tons of interest in my essay, especially how the school has a minor in LGBT/Sexuality studies, something I would be very interested in studying. I will probably have to apply RD since the school is so expensive. I have expressed tons of interest so far by touring the campus and attending an info session, meeting with a rep when he came to my school last fall and plan to do so again this fall. There is no junior info session at a hotel or anything in seattle this spring, but if there is, I would definitely attend. Any tips on how to boost my application/things you wish you had known? I know I'm probably way ahead of where I should be as far as thinking about colleges, but I love GW! Thanks! Sorry for such a long post!</p>
<p>Everything is fine except your SATs. That could hurt you. As you said, their average is like ~1900-2000. Wait and see on your SATs; you might have done better than you expect. If you do get a 1700-1800, study really hard and aim for a ~2000 on the re-take.
One last thing you can do is schedule an interview. I did this when I visited campus (I scheduled the tour in the morning and the interview in the afternoon). Rehearse a few times and you’ll be fine.
When it comes time for the application, make sure your Why GW essay is good and expresses a lot of interest in GW, and talks about the things you liked specifically about GW.</p>
<p>I think you would probably get in ED, maybe not RD.</p>
<p>Something to remember, GW is need-blind, so if you apply ED they will offer you the same need-aid package they would if you applied RD. Now, merit aid is a different thing but i honestly don’t believe you would get any, necessarily.</p>
<p>Another thing about ED and money, you can do what my family and I did. We set an amount of money that the school must offer for it to be fiscally responsible. Luckily enough, they surpassed that amount (phew!).</p>
<p>Lastly, try the GWU net price calculator to see how much they might give you!</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the advice about financial aid. I will try to boost my SAT score if it’s not closer to the average when i get it later this week. Do you know if interviews are also done off campus? It would be pretty difficult and expensive to get back there and I’m already planning to fly down to California to look at schools also this summer.</p>
<p>Also try the ACT- many students score higher on one or the other. Applying ED would help you, but I wouldn’t say that it’s necessary. Try to interview if you can.</p>
<p>you can schedule an off campus interview and then they’ll get back to you on interviewers in your area.</p>
<p>my advice: go to the Colonial Connection for seniors in october.
its basically your chance to do an overnight, tour of both campuses, and an on campus interview all in 2 days. they also have a travel grant in case you cant cover the expense to get there (i know because i did it). i got to see some of the dorms too and you get a lot of questions answered. also, i interviewed with the senior admissions counselor so that couldnt have hurt 
it also give you A LOT to write about in your why GW essay. 
i got in ED1 with a 3.5 w gpa and a 1920 superscore you’ll be good.</p>
<p>Yes, you can schedule an interview off campus. Sign up at the GW Admissions Center and you can schedule it through there. Otherwise, you can always send your admissions counselor an email to see if there are any alumni near your area that you can interview with. As for the academics, just keep pushing for better. Figure the higher your scores, the better your chances. But dont get discouraged if you’re slightly below the average… You never know what factors will come into play when they review your application. Figure out who your admissions counselor will be based on your location and stay in touch with them. Help them recognize your name and associate it with an eager and determined student. “Like” the FB page, comment, keep up to date… And when on your interview or writing your essay, don’t just say you’re interested in DC, emphasize your interest in GW. Directly recall events from your visit that had an impact your decision. Hope that helps!! Good luck :)</p>
<p>I think you’ll be fine, my ACT scores and GPA weren’t that great, and my extracurriculars were no where near as impressive as yours and I got in. If you’re 100% sure come Senior year apply ED; it definitely increases your chances.</p>
<p>Try to attend any events near you, I have a feeling the admissions director who visited my school helped me out a lot (they present you personally to the admissions board and say what they thought of you). Try your best to schedule and off campus interview, and just show lots and lots of interest in any way possible!</p>
<p>Take the ACT, it might be better for you than the SAT, and the essay is very important; I’m pretty sure that’s what got me in, just express interest, and apply for one of the special programs, even if you don’t get in; it’ll show that you want to achieve great things. Try to integrate the school’s enviornment and community into your essays, and this is odd, but make GW the best school you’re applying to; there’s a part of the application that asks what other schools you’re applying to (for example, if you apply to tons of other IVYs it’ll seem like GW is your back up, and they want dedicated future alumni).</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys! Im planning on taking the sat again because my scores were lower than expected and will also take the act. Interesting about the question about schools and backups- GW is my hardest school and about equal with university of southern california and a bit harder than American U i think. The rest will likely be small private schools on the west coast (seattle u, univ of portland, univ of san francisco) and state public schools that im sure gw admissions officers dont know much about! Haha!</p>