Demographics: 16 Male, Asian, New York, Public HS, second generation immigrant
-Intended major(s): Undecided (potential: politics, finance/business, psychology)
-ACT: Composite: 31 (retaking after studying in sept)
-UW/W GPA: UW= 94.5 / W= 97.7 (3.7/3.88)
-Coursework: AP: Capstone 4; Euro 4; English Lit; 5 APUSH; 3 - Some APs, College and honors.
-Awards: Outstanding Choral Musician, National Honors, National Business, National Spanish, AP Scholar w/ Honor, (probably 2 others)
-Extracurriculars: Art and Stock Market Clubs, choral group, Libary volunteer (not much, 20-40hrs), Chinese govt sponsored trip/camp to China (20± hrs)
Your GPA/ACT looks solid but your EC’s a little light. I think that if you wrote a great essay that relayed your interest in GW you’d most likely get it.
With that said, I see that you’re interested in a lot of different school. What exactly are you looking for in a school? What about GW is interesting to you? I ask because if you’re not that sure, it’ll probably come through in your app, and GW definitely takes an applicant’s interest into consideration.
Good luck, and happy searching!
@NHuffer I thank you for the response! My ECs are indeed quite poor, but i have a (legitimate) reason for this, and i am thinking of writing about that in my essay. Is that a bad idea?
As for what I am looking for in a school, it is nothing but an accepting populace and wide academic program selection.
Also, I have not heard of writing college essays to appeal to certain colleges. Don’t you mainly use one personal essay?
Thank you so much, @NHuffer
-CS413
Well, I honestly can’t speak for all schools, but I know for a fact that GW takes a student’s interest in the university as a factor of admission. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were that way at other selective schools, as well. Think about it: if your application is already on the cusp of admission criteria, how else can a school determine if you’re a good fit? If a student really really wants to attend, in this case GW, then the student is more likely to be successful at school, thus making the school look good. I can say that if I were deciding between two near-identical applicants, I’d choose the one that sounded more excited about GW.
Absolutely. If you think that’s a weakness of yours and have a legitimate excuse for, then I’d absolutely mention it.
@NHuffer Thank you very much for the help!
@collegesearch413, just wanted to make sure this is clear. The Common App has a personal statement that is submitted to all schools that use the Common App, so that should not be tailored to any particular school. In addition, many schools, including GW, require school-specific supplemental essays, which should indeed reflect your interest in that particular school.
Wow, thank you for mentioning that to me, @yotommy! As for the personal statement section, do you mean the “additional information” in the Writing Section?
And as for the supplemental essay which portrays my interest… what do people usually mention?
Thank you!
Check out the “Share Your Voice” section from ths page from Admissions:
https://undergraduate.admissions.gwu.edu/freshman-application-process