Hi! Now that my son has his SAT scores back I was hoping to get a better idea of his chances for Georgetown. He is a third-generation legacy applicant (both my dad and I went to Georgetown – my dad was much more involved as an alum than I was but we both did interviewing in the past). He wants to apply to the SFS school with a minor in Arabic.
SAT: 1480 (780V/700M)
SAT 2: Taking SATII US History and English in May, got 680 on World History last year using only study book
Taking 2 APs in May
GPA 3.95 UW
Jr course load is APUSH, AP Lit/Lang, Honors Precalc, Honors French 4, Physics, Art.
Senior planned courseload is AP Euro History, AP French, AP Environ Science, AP Calc AB, Creative Writing/Sci Fi Writing, Senior Art independent study project. He normally would do AP English but he wants to assemble a Senior Writing portfolio for the Scholastic Awards and Creative Writing was the best vehicle for him to have the best shot at getting moved on to National judging.
Model Congress 9-12. Won Best Delegate Award at 2017 Yale Model Congress.
HS Paper 9-11. Not sure he will do in 12th grade. Is currently a Copy Editor and was an Asst. Editor last year. He also frequently writes for the paper.
Scholastic Writing Awards National Silver Medalist in Journalism, 2016
Scholastic Writing Awards Regional Gold Key winner 2016-18
math tutor at town library
Has been independently studying Arabic with a tutor for almost 2 years. Doing 1 month in Morocco for an Arabic language study abroad this summer. If he is successful in his courses, he will get several college credits for Arabic awarded by Tulane U.
Perhaps the quirkiest item on his application will be his experience as a National-level competitor in US Figure Skating. He qualified for and competed at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in ice dance in 2015 and 2016, finishing in the top 10 both times with his partner, and when we ran out of money for that, he qualified for and competed at the 2017 National Solo Ice Dance Championships this past September. He has also been a Learn-to-skate coach since the fall of 2016.
If anyone has any insight into his chances it would be greatly appreciated! It’s gotten so different than when I was there/applied that I truly have no clue what his chances would be!
Your son sounds like an accomplished and well-qualified applicant who would be a great addition to Georgetown. Here’s my take on his admission chances. I provide it with the caveat that the admissions process is a riddle wrapped in a mystery no one can categorically predict with accuracy.
Georgetown is a reach school for the vast majority of applicants since it has 14.5 percent admit rate that would be considerably lower if it played the admission game and increased the number of its applicants by accepting the Common Application.
As a result, I would place your son in the very highly qualified pool of reach applicants. I can’t assess whether he is a medium reach, a high reach, or a low reach for Georgetown. But his application should be in play. And his status as a double legacy status will help. Just how much it will help, I cannot say.
Your son’s SAT scores are solidly within Georgetown’s middle 50% range.* A 680 in World History won’t be a deal breaker, but it would be better if he scored comfortably above 700 on all three of the SAT subject tests that I believe Georgetown still requires.
Georgetown may be more interested in your son’s class rank than his GPA. Based on the 2017 Georgetown Profile,* it appears that the average class rank was 96.5 percent for both SFS and the College. Naturally, it's better to be above that average than below it.
Needless to say, your son should develop a college list with a good mix of reach, match, and safety schools. He should also spend the coming months polishing his essays, maintaining his grades, studying for his SAT IIs, lining up his recommenders, etc.
The only perspective I can add is on the legacy bit. At Georgetown, I don’t believe it will make a lick of difference unless your son is the kind of student G-town wants. Three of my siblings went to Georgetown, as did my father (dental school), both grandfathers, and I think even a great- or great-great grandfather. (Back in the day when applications were paper, I remember my brother having to attach an extra sheet of paper to include everyone.) My nieces and nephews were 0 for 5 at Georgetown (and in two cases, both parents were G-town alum), until, finally, a sixth (my twin sister’s son) got in. He is a freshman there this year. So, unless you’ve given huge $$$ to the school, I wouldn’t count on legacy status counting for anything. That said, it sounds like your son is a pretty incredible kid. Best of luck to you!
Your S sounds like a great fit for the SFS. In terms of scores and GPA, he’s competitive, and that’s pretty much all you can ask for. The Arabic will definitely help, and from his ECs, it’s pretty clear that he’s passionate about politics and foreign affairs, which Georgetown, and especially the SFS, seems to like. I would advise him to really convey what makes Georgetown a good fit through his essays, especially the SFS supplementary, and to show why the SFS would be a great fit for him.
I just got into Georgetown (Class of 2022!!!). I recccomend highlighting his language experience. Colleges, especially Georgetown, look highly upon language study.
Is he applying EA? Judging from the facts that he is a good writer, I think he has solid chance. Start preparing for the essays…I believe one of them is related to diplomacy or something like that.
For reference d this year. D deferred ed Rank was 1 (val) 4.0uw 1540 sat 35 act 13aps with 5s and two 4s. Ecs with leadership varsity sports/captain Acad decathlon only female on team Spanish honor society president (student election). Science fair volunteerism etc.
