My son is a current high school junior hoping to study International Relations at Georgetown SFS with a focus on the European region and German language and also with a combined science minor in the SFS school (geology/environmental sciences). He attends a Jesuit High School in the Midwest. He also has dual citizenship: US and EU
-GPA unweighted is 4.02, weighted is 4.2
-SAT 1450
-ACT (he takes it in March, but is scoring between 33-35 composite on practice exams)
-by senior year, he’ll have 8 AP courses and 5 honors courses, and three dual enrollment courses (scored a 5 on APUSH exam; hasn’t taken any other AP exams yet)
-His main extracurricular activity is varsity Science Olympiad. He’s been a varsity team member since sophomore year. The team is highly ranked nationally (his team placed fourth in the Nation and at the MIT national invite). His individual events focus on ecology and geology and he’s placed in the top 10 at numerous competitive Sci Olympiad invitationals such as the National Competition, MIT, University of Michigan Invite, Northwestern…) He has a leadership/board position on the team and has organized and staffed a middle school Sci Olympiad summer camp for local students.
-He won National History Day twice in the state (research paper category), earning fourth place in the nation for one paper and also won the national award for Asian American History for one of the papers. The other paper was recently published in an international humanities journal for high school students.
-He earned second place in a prestigious national historical essay contest with the Gilder Lehrman Institute (he is also a member of the Gilder Lehrman National Academy of History and Civics, where he takes short historical courses and attends online book talks with famous historians).
-Achieved a gold medal on the National German 4 Exam and a bronze medal on the National German 3 Exam and is a member of the National German Honor Society
-Was selected as a fellow (sponsored by the US State Department) in a prestigious month-long transatlantic fellowship program (part of which took place at Georgetown University) and was an ambassador to European high school students as they took courses in international relations, democracy, and visited major US cities and historical sites.
-Volunteered for several years as an advanced water quality monitor for the state DNR, testing water sites in our region and submitting data for annual water quality reports.
-Has volunteered for two years as a museum docent at a historical lighthouse museum
-Will be participating in a month-long study abroad program this summer to learn about the EU and German government systems (will visit German parliament, EU, United Nations)
-Raised thousands of dollars for Ukrainian refugee relief fund in a fundraiser he proposed and organized at his school.
-Nominated as a regional delegate for the Rotary Int’l World Affairs Seminar, simulated project on “Urban Life in a Changing World”
-Competed two nine-week honors history summer courses for four high school credits at Northwestern center for talent development, earning A grades
-Received four-year merit scholarship at high school for top entrance exam score
-Selected for an ambassadors program at his high school aimed at teaching students professional ethics and etiquette and how to engage with alumni at school events.
-Tutors fellow high school students in German
-Member of his high school Model UN Team
His professional goal is to help countries manage mineral resources for alternative energy while being mindful of environmental impacts and international diplomacy, especially on water ecosystems. His focus in Science Olympiad has been on geology and ecology and he’s one of the top students in the nation in these events. His volunteer work is also centered on ecology, mainly clean water preservation.
What are his chances at Georgetown’s SFS and Notre Dame Keough School, assuming he maintains his grades and scores in the 33-35 range on the ACT?
Agree with others. You may want to demonstrate interest, regardless of what they say, through Jesuit HS counselor and/or Georgetown IR summer program (which has current SFS undergrads as group leaders), since Georgetown does not have ED and EA is not binding and harder to get into than RD there (once you take athletes out). Good news is grades and scores are in the zone, as Georgetown cares a lot about those.
He definitely has a chance but (and you’ll hear this a lot and I am sure you’ve read other threads) there is no guarantee.
Your son is an excellent student with excellent pedigree but so are other students who will apply at those schools (and other schools). There are other factors that can be subjective (such as whether the AO will like his essays, whether his profile matches that these schools are looking for, etc).
Make sure he has options and he realizes that there is also a luck factor involved and there is no magic formula. You and him might want to read “Applying Sideways” blog in MIT admission.
Explore other schools that he will be happy to attend too that if he doesn’t get into Georgetown and/or Notre Dame, he will still be excited to attend the school.
Firstly, you should be very proud of your son- he’s done quite a bit!
I would recommend to think about creating a list of schools (affordable and reachable, as well as a best-fit type) that he’d be happy attending anywhere he landed.
Georgetown and Notre Dame are absolutely great schools, and I would throw them into a reach category or high reach for him. He is definitely a good candidate, as others have said, but there is no guarantee that he’ll get in, and furthermore, what schools are looking for change based on what they need to make a class.
I would consider making a list of 2-3 safety schools, 1-3 target/match schools (depending on how big you want your list to be), and a couple reach/high reach schools. Granted, I’m giving advice as someone who’s currently roughing the process right now (I’m a HS senior), but that’s my advice for now.
As others have said, your son will be a strong candidate for those programs and definitely has a chance at acceptance. Unfortunately, those schools (and programs, particularly for SFS) are extremely popular and have far more highly qualified students apply than the universities have space to accept. Thus, I agree with the others that these would be classified as reach schools.
We don’t know what additional factors your son is interested in (geography, school size, religious affiliation, budget, etc), but a couple of other schools that may interest him that are more likely to extremely likely acceptances are:
Case Western (OH): About 5800 undergrads and offers a major in Environmental Geology.
College of Wooster (OH): About 2k undergrads and offers an area of study in Environmental Geology.
Juniata (PA ): About 1300 undergrads and also offers a concentration in Environmental Geology.
U. of the Pacific (CA): About 3300 undergrads and the Department of Geological & Environmental Science also has an accelerated option with a JD degree (6 years instead of 7), if that’s something that might interest your son.
Western Michigan: About 15k undergrads and not only is there a major in Environmental Geology, but it also has a major in Hydrogeology. And if your son develops different interests in the use of water, Western Michigan offers a major in Sustainable Brewing (and even as someone who doesn’t like beer, that sounds like a very cool major).
Loyola Chicago (IL): This Jesuit school has nearly 12k undergrads and has some robust offerings through its School of Environmental Sustainability including degrees in Environmental Policy, Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, and the latter with concentrations in Conservation and Restoration Ecology (probably of most interest to your son), but also Food Systems and Sustainable Agriculture, and Environmental Health.
U. of Nebraska – Lincoln: This school of about 20k undergrads is in the state capital, which offers lots of options if your son’s interested in getting involved in policy. It also has a major in Water Science, with areas of focus in aquatic ecology, hydrology, water law & policy, water quality, and watershed management. There are a plethora of other programs that may interest your son here as well, including another accelerated law school program.
Thanks for the feedback. He definitely has a balanced list of schools on his list. Because of his Science Olympiad meets all over the country, he has had the opportunity to visit nearly all of the schools on his list and examined their International Relations and environmental science programs. There are about 12. No need for school recommendations. Thanks. I was just curious about ND Keough School and Georgetown.
