<p>Georgetown is one of my top choices.
I dunno how to gauge my chances though.</p>
<p>GPA: 97%
Junior GPA: 98%</p>
<p>Rank: Top 5%</p>
<p>PSAT: 223 (CR 66, M 77, W 80)
Biology: 690 [Other two will be Math Level 1 and Literature]</p>
<p>ECs:
Math Club/Math Team: Officer, Vice-President, President
National Honor Society
Spanish Club: Secretary
Yearbook Editor
GSO [Student services.. Dances, athletic venues, food drives, etc]
Intramurals</p>
<p>Awards/Honors:
National Merit Scholar
100% Character Rating (9 10 11)
2nd Place, Schoolwide Art Contest 05
Silver, Nassau Interscholastic Math League
1st Place, School Biology Fair
Honor Roll (9 10 11)</p>
<p>State: New York
School Type: Parochial
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male</p>
<p>My flaws.. Minimal volunteer work, no job experience, lackluster summers</p>
<p>If anyone could tell me whether Georgetown is a good idea/too much of a reach, I'd appreciate it.. Thanks.</p>
<p>I'd say that Georgetown is a reach, but I don't know how much of one. I guess it all depends on your numbers. If you score well on standardized tests (SAT Reasoning/SAT Subject/ACT/AP), then I think it helps your chances a lot.</p>
<p>Doing well on the SAT is important, but if I were you I would be very concerned with beginning a significant volunteer effort of some sort. I'm no expert, but my alumni interviewer told me that because of the Jesuit tradition, Georgetown is very big on philanthropic endeavors, especially volunteerism. You still have time, which is good. Start volunteering now- pick one or two major projects or causes that compliment your interests and try to get really involved over the summer. Most people that apply to G-town have hundreds of volunteer hours, so attempt to document your efforts in some way. If you broaden your extracurricular base a bit G-town probably wouldn't be such a reach.</p>
<p>In terms of volunteering, the thing is.. I don't really know how many hours I've racked up. I've volunteered at the Bronx Zoo for several hours, a Breakfast with Santa program for several hours, some other randomness which is slipping my mind right now. Plus, the GSO at my school does all sorts of school service, which is volunteering (within your school/school functions). I've been a member of that for 3 years, and generally you need 25 credits to remain a member of the group.. For each credit, you must do about an hour of service. So alltogether I probably have around 100-ish hours.. But how am I supposed to convey that on an application?</p>
<p>Well, you might want to try to get a significant number of hours in one activity to show that you are really interested in it rather than just fulfilling an obligation. The application doesn't really ask for a number of hours; your time spent volunteering can be more holistically conveyed by writing about it in your essay about your most meaningful extracurricular experience. Even if you didn't do any more volunteering you could probably write something good for that part, I suppose.</p>
<p>i know this may sound stupid, but what is a merit scholar, and how and wen u get it?</p>
<p>So unless you write about volunteering in your application essay, how would a school know how much/many hours you actually did volunteer?</p>
<p>Ugh, I'm so bitter right now.
I applied for this Nazareth Farm volunteering program which would've been for an entire week over the summer, in WV, and I wanted to go SO bad, but I was rejected.
Blahhh.</p>
<p>Merit Scholars are awarded if you do exceptional on your PSAT</p>
<p>I guess it's really less about racking up hundreds of hours and more about getting intensely involved in something you're passionate about. There is a place on the application where you write all the activities you participate in and about how many hours per week you do them, but I'm not sure they even ever check up on whether you are completely accurate. I am not suggesting you lie- I just mean that the number of hours isn't as important as actual involvement.</p>
<p>Hey by the way you have a fantastic PSAT score. I didn't see an SAT score in your post but if you did that well on the PSAT you are in really good shape- I think G-town weighs the SAT's pretty heavily.</p>