GWU is my top choice and I am planning on majoring in Nutrition Science. I also plan on doing pre-med courses.
Stats:
I go to a fairly competitive high school.
Unweighted GPA: 3.95 (Will be higher after next year)
Weighted GPA: 4.09 (Will be high after next year)
Honor Roll every year.
I will have taken 6 AP classes by the time I graduate.
ACT: 29 ( I retook it and awaiting my score but based on practice tests I am anticipating somewhere in the 31-34 range.)
Language: French 1-3
ECs:
Speech and debate all four years. Two year team captain of a well known speech team. National Qualifier and top 16 at the Tournament of Champions. Second and fourth at State Championships.
Vice chair of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board of Beaverton.
Youth Liaison for the Beaverton Committee for Community Involvement. (An adult community board that works on planning events, approving grants and being a voice for their community by working with city council and the mayor.)
Member of the Beaverton Downtown Association. Another adult board that works to restore our downtown area and promote small businesses. I focus on planning events and running our social media networks.
At least 100+ hours of community service, mostly community improvement projects.
Member of the National Honor Society.
I have played the guitar for 8 years and perform at farmers markets and such.
Letters of Rec: Both the Mayor and the Superintendent have offered to write me letters of recommendation for the schools I apply to. I am also going to ask my Human Anatomy and Physiology teacher to write a letter of rec. We have a very close relationship and she has vocalized how much she admires my work ethic so it should be a pretty solid letter of rec.
Depends how certain you are about nutrition science. You can’t apply to transfer until 2nd semester so you can’t actually start in the new school until 2nd year. If you apply ED you have to put a 1st & 2nd choice school anyway.
GW asks for 1 LoR from your GC and 1 academic LoR. If you add outside ones they should add something that is both relevant and non-duplicative. If you are applying to Milkin, it would make sense for that to be from somebody who can speak to your involvement in something with a clear public-health angle- any chance you are doing something relevant over the summer?? It is nice that the Mayor has offered to write you a letter, but it is unlikely to carry much weight in admissions.
75% of accepted students applying with ACT scores had higher ACT scores than you currently do. Imo, submit if your re-sit is 31+.
Is GW affordable for your family? Have you run the Net Price Calculator?
This is particularly important since you are considering med school in your future.
I think that if you applied poli-sci that you would be a strong match, mainly from your EC’s. I might be a “low” match for Nutrition Science, though, because of your lack of EC’s and the the selectivity of Milken.
With that said, I think it’d be a good idea to apply Nutrition Science 1st and Poli-Sci as your 2nd choice. Your idea about just applying Poli-sci first could work, but knowing that Milken is still selective when it comes to transfers means your chance might not be any better later and you could be stuck in Columbian.
And even though you didn’t mention cost, I agree with @happy1 that it should be a consideration. I have a best friend that is just finishing his residency now (GW undergrad and med school), and despite having zero debt from undergrad, he’s still hurting from med school costs.
I would just apply to Milken for Nutrition Science, instead of Poli Sci then transferring. I know your worried about getting accepted but I got accepted to the International Affairs school which is one of their most competitive schools though one of my main EC was my involvement at my local hospital for multiple years. As long as your recommendations are good and your essays reflect your interest in the subject as well as who you are then honestly you’d be fine. Your ACT isn’t bad either I’d still put it down because though we are a test optional school, you taking it and sending your scores show academic commitment. Also, if I remember correctly the ACT does break down sores by subject, so if they can also see that you have a very high aptitude for math and science, and are above average in comparison in the other subjects then that may be used to look upon favorable for you since you seen more qualified for that major.
Also, whereas I would look into affordability I wouldn’t rely heavily on it, GW is giving me a full ride for the year as my financial aid package (70,000), whereas a bunch of my state schools where giving me like 6,000 dollars off of tuition. Though tuition is high they know that it is high so they will take it into account when looking at your financial aid. They also take into account a lot of other external factors such as if you have other siblings going to college or how many people rely on your parents for financial needs. It’s why they make you submit both the fafsa and CSS profile. The CSS profile is more in depth and looks at more things then fafsa so it gives a more holistic estimate that shows closer to the truth on how much your family can provide were as fafsa will just give you the government estimate on how they’d give you to help out. So do then both and submit them both by the GW deadline. Also talk to the Financial Aid office they are really helpful and do really want to help you.