Hello!
I am thinking of ED to GW.
Female and Hispanic,
GPA 3.7 unweighted, SAT 1310
AP comp/US gov, APES, AP lang, (5,4,4,4)
This year: AP euro, AP spanish lang, AP psych
Extra curriculars:
-Vice President of a club
-Member of another 2 clubs
-Student gov’t rep
-National Honors Society member
-honor roll… high honor roll (i suppose that might be a given from this school)
-work- employed (not sure if this matters)
-numerous volunteer services
-varsity track 2 years (i did quit b/c school got too hard)
My intended major is International Relations!
This is my first time doing this so I’m sorry if this wasn’t good information !
Thank you all in advance!
What’s the club you’re a VP in? What are the other two? I ask because if they’re related to international relations/affairs then it’ll help your application more than if they weren’t.
How many hours a week do you work and for how long have you been employed?
VP in Alzheimer’s Awareness club… the club that is closest to IR is Democrats club. Not very many options at my school for global field other than Model UN.
I have been employed at my current job for over a year, my past job for about 6 months, which was my first job. On avg. I work around 7 hours a week during school year
Well, you’ve got a pretty well-rounded application. Your admittance chance to GW overall is quite good. For the Elliott school, however, I think you’re on the lower-end of stats for admitted students. In other words, your stats are barely good enough, so you have to do a good job with selling yourself via your essay, reaching-out to the school (Admissions office, local Admissions rep, etc), and taking a tour, if possible.
Don’t take this as discouragement. You have a chance- you just have to prove why you’re better for GW than other students with similar or better stats than you. Further, you applying ED will help your chances as well.
For emphasis, I second the evaluation of @NHuffer and the recommendations he’s given you.
Now, I will give you 3 additional tips.
Make sure you put down a secondary major option besides international affairs. If you get dinged from the Elliott School, then you’ll have a backup plan and can transfer into the Elliott School later. And this is very forward thinking, but if this happens, make sure to take your language classes.
On your application, emphasize any work/experiences you’ve done relating to international affairs. And if you lack experience: remember that direct experience isn’t required, but demonstrated interest and passion is. For example I never did model UN or had extensive abroad experiences or anything like that. But I wrote about my experience one time grabbing lunch with a political refugee. I later heard straight from the horse’s mouth that my that essay directly led to the admissions folk granting me with a merit award. Find a way to show your passions and what makes you tick. International affairs is a tough business in general, so Elliott likes to admit kids who they think will stick it through the process.
Make sure you spell “Elliott” correctly if it’s mentioned in your essay/application. If you can’t bother to spell the name of your supposed desired school correctly, your application will be thrown into the trash. Back during my stint in the admission’s office, I saw this happen regularly. The Elliott School doesn’t lack quality applicants, so they won’t bother with a borderline candidate when there’s unprofessional mistakes like that. Don’t give them an obvious reason to tell you know.
Remember: you’ve got a chance, and you shouldn’t be discouraged in the slightest. Emphasize your strengths, mitigate your short comings, reach out to admissions reps, tour the campus, write an awesome application, and you’re in the hunt.
Best of luck! Don’t hesitate to message me or post further questions on these forums if you need more help.
I am thinking of ED II. My only hesitation is financial aid/scholarship $. GW is a pretty expensive school and I am not sure I would want to pay the full tuition (I would have to take out loans). On the other hand, I have heard amazing things about internships and that lifts my spirits a bit and makes it seem more worth the high tuition. How much higher are the chances of getting admitted ED than RD? I am just afraid if I apply RD that I will get denied.
If you apply ED vs RD your chance of acceptance will go up 10.3%. Ok, not really- there’s nothing quantifiable that I’ve seen. Your chances, however, DO go up… I just can’t say how much.
As far as financial aid, that’s definitely a factor either way. What I’ve seen for the “average” accepted student (which you would be considered, in my opinion) is that GW expects the family to pay the EFC amount (computed by the school based on your FAFSA) and then take out federal Stafford loans for the rest. Basically, your family will pay something and you’ll STILL end-up $60K in debt after 4 years (the loans are about $15K per year). If you think $60K is worth it, then go for it.