Chances for a Kid looking at his dream school (thinking it may be out of his reach)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>Georgetown has been something of a dream school for a long time for me, and now that I want to go into international relations, it has become even more attractive. So without further ado...chances for admission into SFS.</p>

<p>GPA by application date: 3.7 uw (High upward swing)(4.0 Junior year)
*Possible extenuating circumstances for freshman year grades</p>

<p>Rank: Top 5-15% (One of the toughest courseloads available)</p>

<p>SATs: 2120 (710M 710CR 700W)
No subject scores yet but assume around 700 for all 3</p>

<p>Important ECs:</p>

<p>Co-founder of the Model United Nations at school and involved member
(10,11,12)</p>

<p>Co-founder of the Middle School Drama Department, and director, writer, producer, and everything else that goes into creating a show.
(10,11,12)</p>

<p>Quiz Bowl Team member (this is pretty hardcore at our school)
(10,11,12) (Capitan 11 and 12)</p>

<p>High School Newspaper
(10,11,12) (Editor 12)</p>

<p>Elementary School Play Assistant Director
(9)</p>

<p>Enviornmental Club
(9)</p>

<p>High School Play
(9,10,11,12)</p>

<p>High School Musical
(8,9,10,12)</p>

<p>High School Mixed Ensemble
(9,10,11,12)</p>

<p>High School County Chorus (much more selective)
(9,10,11,12)</p>

<p>German Tutor
(11,12)</p>

<p>Cashier at local pizza shop
(11,12)</p>

<p>Band Manager (school marching band)
(12)</p>

<p>Teen Advisory Group Member at local library
(11,12)</p>

<p>Local Lawn Mowing Bussiness/Babysitting Bussiness
(10,11)</p>

<p>College Tutor for Writing
Summer between 11 and 12</p>

<p>Awards:
National Honors Society (will likely have a leadership position)
National Foreign Language Honors Society German
National Foreign Language Honors Society Spanish
HOBY member
HOBY associate facilitator (prestigious leadership position)
NYLC</p>

<p>Teacher Reccomendations: Likely Excellent
Essays: I have been told I am a very good writer, and they will become my summer project.</p>

<p>I will likely apply EA.
Financial Need is not high.
The reason for the range in class rank is because my class is so small that it fluctuates quickly. And thats all I can think of right now, if there are updates I will post. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance! I really appreciate it.</p>

2

<p>I think you have a fighting chance. Since you’re applying to SFS make sure to emphasize your language skills and model UN. what are you thinking of taking for SAT II’s?</p>

3

<p>I would be concerned by your lack of significant awards beyond the school level. You seem to have demonstrated leadership, but shown no real impact on a state or national level, and your stats don’t seem high enough to offset this.</p>

4

<p>dcforme, wheres the leadership? i dont see any officer positions or president of something. it says co-founder, but then your not president of MUN?</p>

5

<p>the drama thing seems to be a leadership role. and founder does demonstrate leadership, if not a formal position, but I’d agree with your overall point.</p>

6

<p>@bcjslugger: I’ll probably take the German SATII (w/wo listening I’m not sure yet), the Math II, and either a history (perhaps world history) or spanish. Probably not spanish though. I hate spanish grammar. With an undying passion. Thanks for the fighting chance though…thats all I can really hope for after freshman year</p>

<p>@DCforMe: I realize that is a weak point in my application, do you know of any awards or things that I can shoot for? I am going to try to compete in the Internationale Deutscholympiade (which is school, national, and then international) but I’m not sure how I’ll fare. If you have any thoughts thatd be great. Its just hard to me to figure out how to impact the state or national level.</p>

<p>@tennisboy: Director of shows, writer for them. Capitan of quiz bowl team. Editor of newspaper. co-founder of two clubs (they don’t really have presidents). HOBY associate facilitator involves a ton of leadership. German tutor, college tutor for writing. Elementary school play assistant director. Its in the list.</p>

<p>Thanks for the comments, anyone else have an opinion?</p>

7

<p>i would say if u write your essay about your involvement in plays and its affect on your life it would help your shot. u said your unweighted gpa, but what about weighted?</p>

8

<p>My weighted GPA is a 4.1 or a 4.2/4.333..I am not positive about where exactly, but it has always hovered around there. Also if this matters, my senior schedule is as follows:</p>

<p>AP German V
AP Spanish V
AP Compisition
AP Chemistry
AP USH
Chorus
Psychology
Government and Econ
WWII and the Holocaust
Calculus</p>

<p>***Other than AP Bio and AP Physics, I will have taken every AP offered at my school.</p>

<p>Also I am not sure if this matters, but I got a 3.2 freshman year because of family issues, and then got a 3.8 sophomore year and a 4.0 junior year.</p>

9

<p>Wow, 2 AP languages…that will look awesome. And holy crap, your school has a class in WWII and the Holocaust? That is so amazing!</p>

<p>Anyhow, yes, emphasize languages and MUN as much as possible. I did the same (actually wrote down “almost fluent in german and 3 years of spanish” for my special skills on the app). Two languages will absolutely help you especially if you score well on SATII German.</p>

10

<p>You indeed have a very solid chance. The whole admissions process is literally a complete game. All you can do is keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy yourself. Follow your passions and express those passions to Georgetown. That’s what I did and it worked. And I had a much lower SAT score than you, btw.</p>

11

<p>And as for all the people harpin’ on you for your ‘lack’ of leadership..</p>

<p>tune them out. Editor of a school newspaper and captain of your school’s quizbowl team isn’t anything to scoff at. That’s certainly not an area that’s gonna keep you out of Georgetown.</p>

<p>Like I said, follow your passions outside of the classroom, finnish your junior year on a strong note academically and you’ll be putting yourself in a great position for Georgetown. That’s the most valuable advice I can offer.</p>

<p>Also, I strongly encourage you to get a good start on your essays this summer. First semester of your senior year is still very important (senioritis can’t really kick in until the mid-year reports are out) and trying to balance writing my college essays with my coursework was the most stressful time of high school for me.</p>

12

<p>To people like tulsadem who think you’re going to have a problem balancing essays and school, I can’t stress enough to START IN THE SUMMER! Seriously. I downloaded the app as soon as it was online and began writing the essays in the summer. I was able to hand my college stuff to my counselor second week of school and say here, send it! Having your essays done early leaves plenty of time for revision and for BREATHING.</p>

13

<p>You sound a WHOLE like me when I found out about G-town last year…
I was very interested in SFS but found out the extreme competitiveness of it all and like you, I was into international relations. That said, however, I found I was more interested in psychology and went more that direction, applying to the College and hoping I could take classes and maybe minor at SFS. </p>

<p>I applied EA, got deferred and I’m now on the waitlist waiting ever so eagerly to hear back. </p>

<p>As for your stats, you sound very eager to attend, and I cannot help but see the similarities between our stats (I got 10 points below you on the SATS :P) I also went to NYLC to bump up my leadership skills. </p>

<p>My advice for you now is to continue with your amazing work BUT NOT OVERWORK YOUSELF!! I too am taking 5 AP’s this year and have done three of the exams this week, one tomorrow and my last next Monday…it’s been essentially hell so I recommend that you keep the workload as little as possible with as few classes as you need - you seem to be taking ONE too many :P</p>

14

<p>@tlesc. Yeah, taking 2 ap languages + ap english (so really 3 haha) is going to be so much fun. I really love languages. I’ll probably study over the summer (i need a new 501 german verbs, it is so abused). And the WWII course is a Pennsylvania Virtual Academy Course (meaning it is another high school’s cours in my area, which i will take long distance). Also, I plan on going to Germany (Congressional-Bundestag scholarship) for free. Do you think that is an award. They are paying for it, and it was an intense interview process.</p>

<p>@tulsadem. Thank you. And yes, I was planning to do all of my apps and my scholarship essays over the summer. Thanks again for the words about my leadership. No one has any idea how hard it is to write, direct, produce, and sell a show for the public. That is enough leadership in its own right i think.</p>

<p>@gtwnabee. nice name first of all. second, I am taking these classes either because I am really interested, or because I need to. Also, the more courses I take, the higher my GPA oddly enough. Maybe i’ll drop chorus.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone who has helped with this thread, I appreciate all the advice, and my realistic shot at this school. Does anyone else have any input on the issues brought up here?</p>

15

<p>I totally disagree. I wouldn’t say not having State or National Awards takes away from your application at all. Im sure there are many many applicants who get accepted without having multiple awards
I think you have a good chance especially because you show that you are interested in the world, with the spanish german and MUN</p>

16

<p>OP: That’s definitely an award. I went on the AATG trip myself, also free. WOOHOO for free trips.</p>

17

<p>Thanks for all of the insightful comments so far. Would it make a difference that I will probably be tutoring Spanish and Writing at the local community college? </p>

<p>I am really going to work hard at the languages over the summer, other than SAT II"s is there any way to prove proficiency/fluency with a language. (Although I suppose I could just say highly proficient (I would never say fluent) at the two languages).</p>

18

<p>I would honestly be surprised if you weren’t accepted.</p>

19

<p>To godnick: I wouldn’t be…</p>

20

<p>I think that you definitely have a chance at this point, but from what I’ve experienced this year with the admissions game, I think there are a couple of points you might want to focus on. Your SAT scores are good, but you might want to try to bring them to the mid 700s to be very safe. Definitely try to enter a lot of contests this summer and fall, especially in regards to the languages–try national competitions if you can find them. You can also apply to a couple of essays/scholarships related to int’l affairs.</p>