Chance me! (GWU 2021)

Hey everyone I’m going into my Senior Year of High school living in Yorktown, Virginia and I just wanna get a feel for what my chances are of getting into George Washington’s school of Political Science or International Relations.

(I can’t decide which one I want to major in yet so if anyone has any advice on that then that’d be great )

I currently have:

4.3 GPA weighted.
3.8 Unweighted.

SAT: 1740

ACT: 28

Classes:

AP Micro-B

AP Macro-A

AP Euro- A

AP US History- A

AP Comp Gov- A

AP Lang- B

AP Lit- A

My SAT and ACT scores are mediocre so I probably won’t submit them since GW is test optional!

EC’s:

Class President for 3 years.
-Key Club President for 2 years.
-DECA member for 3 years (I competed and made it to Nationals)
-Earth Club Vice President for 1 years.
-Attended The American Legion Boys’ States.
-Treasurer of Student Ambassadors for 2 years.
-Model United Nations Treasurer for 1 year.
-Tiger Friends for 4 years (In this club I go to the local elementary and volunteer every Friday)
-Started and organized my own local Sand Soccer team (Idk if this will mean much but I’m just so proud of it so I’ll put it down anyway lol)
-BETA Club
-Cooking Club

Sport+Societies:

-JV Soccer for 2 years.
-Varsity Golf for 2 years.
-Cross Country for 2 years (I am captain this year).
-English Honor Society
-National Honor Society
-Rho Kappa
-Mu Alpha Theta

I’ve already officially visited and talked with admissions advisors and currently have GWU #1 on my list of colleges.

Thanks for the help guys and gals! I’m sorry if it was a little long but I really appreciate the help!

Do you plan on applying ED or RD? Either way, your stats look really good overall. I agree that your test scores are mediocre, but I don’t know if you should necessarily apply test-optional. Your call, though, and I don’t think it’ll matter much either way.

As far as International Affairs vs. Political Science, I’m sure you know that IA is more selective. With that said, I think you have an excellent shot at getting into the Columbian College (for poli sci) and an above average shot at getting into the Elliot School.

Keep us posted!

Thank you so much for the help! And I am not going to apply for the first ED, because I still want to visit the campus one last time before I make my final decision.

If it really feels right to me when I visit then I’ll probably apply to the 2nd ED. What would the difference be between applying ED or RD (besides that one is binding and the other isn’t)?

Why would you still recommend that I submit my scores if they are mediocre?

Sorry if I’m asking too many questions thank you so much for your help!!!

@GalileoLumpkins
My thought on our questions:

  1. Your test scores are on the lower end of the admission pool for GW. Doesnt mean you wont get in. IIt is up to you to decide if you want to go test optional.
  2. Your GPA is with in range for the admission pool.
  3. Your extra curricular activities are good. Hats off to you young people who do so much in so little time. But so are so many other kids’ extra curricular activities. Still you stand a good chance in getting admission to most good schools just based on your EC but you will be competing with so many other similar kids.

Your best bet is to show them your passion for what you want to be in the future. Build a story and sell yourself.

Re: visiting GW and then making the decision, that is the right thing to do. You many not like the open campus [I as an adult feel that this is a great campus compared to a “traditional college campus” but that is my opinion] or you may love it.

Good luck. If you do get in to IA [better than Poli Sci] and you have the passion for it, you will love it and will make use of all the advantages of GW.

BTW, the new dean of the college is a driven man, and will very likely take the Elliott school way higher than it’s national 8th rank for IA.

Enjoy the ride and good luck.

@GalileoLumpkins The difference between applying ED and RD is how you come across to the University. Now, they don’t look down on students that apply RD, but those that apply ED have a greater shot because it’s a way to convey interest- a very important part of the decision-making process within the Admissions committee. (Which is also why @tamtiger said to show passion and sell yourself within your application)

As far as submitting “mediocre” test scores, let me clarify: when I said mediocre I meant that they are mediocre as compared to students that get accepted to GW. They are by no means “mediocre” as compared to all high school students. Heck, I only scored a 27 on my ACT and I feel like I was above average overall (but not compared to the typical GW student).

I think that more than likely I’ll apply ED 2 if I decide on GW after my visit in a couple of weeks.

Do you think that applying ED 2 would decrease my chances of getting financial aid from the school?

Also do you know if GWU still does interviews? Because I vaguely remember hearing, or seeing something about being able to interview with a representative from the school as part of my application process.

Thank you so much again for all your help!

I’ve actually already visited the campus once on an official tour before and loved the campus and the urban setting. Its location is impeccable for the major and field of study that I want to go into and its proximity to everything (White House, State Department, etc.) sets it apart from the other schools in DC.

Thank you so much for your help!

@GalileoLumpkins I can’t really say with any certainty that applying ED hurts your financial aid chances. I’ve seen people on here say ‘yes,’ but then I’ve seen students that were accepted ED get “enough” aid to make GW possible for their family.

As far as interviews, it seems that the only way to do it now is through a GW Admissions Representative: https://undergraduate.admissions.gwu.edu/admissions-representatives I’ve known a few people who’ve done this and had nothing but positive remarks about the experience.

Enjoy your upcoming visit. If you’ve already done the tour before, try to branch-out and see some things that you might have missed before. Depending on when your last visit was, this one could be very different considering classes are in session.