Early Action dilemma: Harvard vs. Georgetown+UChicago

Applying to College
1

Hey guys,
I am in a currently bad situation. I have written the essays and filled out all the necessary sections of the applications for Harvard, Georgetown, and UChicago. But, I still have not decided which ones to apply for early action. There are two options: Either I apply to both Georgetown and UChicago or apply to Harvard alone (because it is restrictive EA). I would like to major in political science/ government. Applying to Harvard early will increase my chances as the early action acceptance rate is at 21% (which is very high compared to the regular rate). On the other hand, applying to Georgetown and UChicago early in the same time will have a higher cumulative chance of me getting accepted (as it is two schools at the same time).

Although my applications are ready to be sent, I still have not decided which route to take. It would be great to have someone’s opinion. Below, please find some general stats about me, so you can also see my admission chances:

Class: Senior (but I am 16 because I skipped a year)
GPA: Unweighted - 4.0 out of 4.0
SAT: First take 1430, second take 1510, this score is above the average sat score of georgetown, and it is in the middle range of both UChicago and Harvard.
APs: 15 APs taken in total (3 sophomore, 6 junior, 6 senior )
I speak Turkish, English, Russian, and Spanish fluently. Also, learning Latin
Several Academic awards: valedictorian (although it is a pretty small class), us presidential excellence awards x4, AP Scholar with Distinction, NHS President.
Lived in USA, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan (now)
Interned for:

  • government relations firm that works with the department of state (public policy intern)
  • Puerto Rican news and polling firm (poller / political journalist intern)
  • Major Indian news site (human resources associate, formerly analyst)

More: StuGov President, FBLA President, MUN Best Delegate Award, Soccer team captain, Sportsmanship Award, 6 college credits from Georgetown …

7 recommendations: 3 teachers, 1 counselor, 2 employers, 1 peer
Essays are pretty good: talks about me and has academic references to political science

So, yeah, guys, what do you think? Which path seems good for me? Quite frankly Georgetown looks like a perfect fit in general, but I would not say no to Harvard if accepted.

2

Have you taken SAT II’s?

3
  1. Do not send in 7 recs. Harvard's admission's department specifically advises against sending in lots of letters. Follow their recommendation of teacher and counselor letters. If there is one person who has specific, additional, information about you that is not reflected in your main LoRs you can submit that as an additional rec. If I was feeling imaginative I would try and think of a reason that the Harvard admissions counselors, who have 70,000 letters of reference to read already would want to read one from a 17 year old peer.
  2. You get no admissions boost from applying EA to Georgetown: they are unusual in that the EA rate is lower than the RD rate.
  3. Chances of getting in to colleges are not additive: they are independent variables. So you can't figure that 12% + 13% = anything bigger than 12/13%.
  4. FYI, the 2019 Harvard EA rate has been dropping sharply over the last number of years: from 36% for the class of 2013, to 21% for the class of 2018, to 14.5% for the class of 2021 (the number of EA applicants has doubled in the same period).
4

Apply to Georgetown and Chicago early, both have superb poly sci programs, with Georgetown maybe the best. Agree with collegemom, do not send in 7 recs, just the standard 3. What is the peer rec - something about academics or how you helped someone out in their time of need, that could be interesting, but probably use the essay for that.

5

Getting into Harvard is a lottery. It is all about the class they will want to build. Your stats and characteristics are only half the story. If you are not a diversity or first generation candidate or a recruited athlete, your chances are very low single digits. It would actually be a negative to send in 7 letters. I agree with above posters re Georgetown and UChicago. Probably ED to Chicago is strategically the best move, but you really have to be sure you want to go there. Georgetown would be ideal, I think it is stronger in international affairs than Uchicago. Chicago is stronger in political theory. The fly in the ointment is that EA does nothing for you with Georgetown. BTW — I would strongly consider Johns Hopkins and Columbia in light of your interests. They also love multilinguists. Dosvidanya.

6

Go for it, SCEA to Harvard, ED2 to UChicago (if Harvard defers), RD to Georgetown. Don’t ED to UChicago if its not your 2nd choice though.