I’m a current Wake Forest freshman, and it looks like I’ll be finishing the semester with a 3.5 or a 3.6. I’m taking a fairly rigorous schedule, and plan to next semester as well (and hopefully boost my GPA a bit then too!).
I’d like to transfer to Georgetown because Wake Forest isn’t a place I’m enjoying very much for reasons I’d prefer not to share, and because Georgetown offers some extracurriculars that Wake doesn’t (namely, parliamentary debate). Also DC > Winston-Salem, so there’s that too
Anyway, it’s a bit of a miracle that I got into Wake. My freshman and sophomore high school GPA was a 1.96. As a junior, I earned a 3.7 and then as a senior I got a 3.5 but also a C in AP Chemistry. My AP scores are 5 on Lang, 5 on Stat, 5 on Microecon, 4 on Lit, and 2 on Chem. I think Wake admitted me because I can interview like nobody’s business. I won the state title in debate my senior year so speaking has always been a talent of mine.
So does anyone have advice for me? My high school record isn’t much to be proud of but I think I’ve turned things around a lot.
GU will look at your college grades principally, so you have a good shot. What is wrong with WF? Is the area too southern/rednecky from what I have heard?
It’s not as much a southern thing as it is other things… The school is very small (~4500 undergrads at wake v. ~7500 at GU) and about half of all students are involved with Greek life (which is barely existent at GU). The campus is very small and the area around the campus doesn’t warrant exploration. Personally, I think athletics play a role in making the school more rowdy than would be comfortable for me. It’s almost like Wake has a bad type of school spirit. Sometimes I feel like people are less concerned with Wake’s academic resources and more concerned with how the basketball team is doing.
Georgetown solves a lot of those problems while also giving me resources like a parli team (we have “policy debate” here, and parliamentary debate and policy debate are more different than skiing and snowboarding). Overall, I just think it would be a much better fit and I’d be happier there.
I understand most would find Georgetown to be a bit more “prestigious” than Wake, and maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t motivate my decision to transfer. I think they’re pretty darn similar in that department (we even offer a joint degree with them in some history thing). I just want to have a college where I’m comfortable.
Just FYI, in terms of traditional on-campus undergrads, Georgetown is more in the 6400-6800 range, rather than 7500. The campus is also rather small, but the surrounding area absolutely does warrant exploration!
Thanks dzleprechaun! Some of Wake’s students are off campus too (though this is only allowed for seniors).
Is it worth even mentioning a desire to be in DC in the application? I feel like Georgetown admissions must be completely inundated with “I want to go to Georgetown because x, y, oh and DC is cool!” essays.
@Burgermeister I won state finals for debate my senior year and I won the midatlantic regional ethics bowl (where Georgetown competed incidentally) this semester. I’ve had some success on the national circuit too.
Good. Last item that you will need is an excellent letter of recommendation. BTW Georgetown does a great job of organizing transfer students so that you have common social affiliation and don’t feel left out by those who experienced freshman year.
One last thing. Their fin aid office treats transfers fairly. The year-to-year aid is also fairly allotted and does not decline as others have recently report as occurring at other schools.
This all sounds really great @Burgermeister , I think Georgetown would be a great option for me if I were to be admitted. I get my final grades back on Wednesday and I always find myself worrying during suspenseful situations like these. It does look like I will have done better in one of my classes than I expected when I made this post, so perhaps I’m on the right track!
I took a class this semester called WRI 212, which is an upper level writing class (i.e. you either need to pass WRI 111 first, a class which is required for everyone, or place in with AP credit) and my professor was always fairly effusive over my essays. She wrote things like “you were a pleasure to have in class” on the final drafts that we got before winter break. I’m sure I’ll ace her class and I think she’ll write one of my recs (Georgetown takes 2? I forget at the moment but I had looked this up at one point).