Embarrassingly Low Scores, but decent everything else. What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

My first disclaimer: My Scores are EMBARRASSINGLY LOW, but can someone give me an honest predicted calculation of my chances please? (And there might have been some other extra curriculars that I I might have left out)

School Applying to: SFS
EA or RD: early action
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): CR 620 Math 570 writ 570
[ *] ACT: took 3 times: 25, 24, 25, and superscore of 26
[ *] SAT II: US history: 650, pending literature and chinese scores. (fluent in chinese)
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.75
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 20/269 (About top 7% in class)
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): world:3, psych:, apush:3, humanGeo:4, APLang:4 Environ:3 , Pending: US Gov, Comparative Gov, AP Bio, Ap Lit.
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: 2 semesters of honors advanced orchestra, two semesters of AP bio, 2 semesters of AP Gov, AP Lit, and standard Russian1. (Also, each saturday I attend a $4000 SAT prep class that is 2 hours drive away, and the class is 10 hours long including a full length SAT test each time)
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):3rd place states history day, junior marshal, Governors school, Nat Honors society, Rho Kappa social studies nat honors society, tr i m music hon society, ap scholar with honor. (prob a few more that im missing from this list)

[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Cheerleading (have been captain), School theater production, anchor club, DECA, Co founder and vice president of asian cultural club, Link crew, Teen court qualified attorney and juror, school fashion show. 7 years of dance experience.
[ *] Job/Work Experience: My family owns restaurants and i experience work life from that.(ie cashier work, bussing tables)
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: I have 120+ hours.: Library, animal shleter, College summer programs, community garden, food bank, hospice, red cross.
[ *] Summer Activities: National student leadership conference (invited to Defense inteligence agency and went to The pentagon), Governors school (extremely competitive summer program), NC State startalk program, Overseas summer program where I attended a meeting with current president of china and a greeting from jackie chan.
[ *] Essays: Stellar. One about lack of democracy in china, one about governors school summer experience, and another describing myself on a wide spectrum. I let 3 different teachers proofread and revise them.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation: I read and they were pretty great. 3 or 4 paragraphs on both.
[ *] Counselor Rec: Has good image of me so its prob really nice
[ *] Additional Rec:

[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *] Applying for Financial Aid?: yes
[ *] Intended Major: International Relations
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): NC
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: public high school nationally recognized
[ *] Ethnicity: chinese
[ *] Gender: female
[ *] Income Bracket: about 90,000s
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): 1st gen, URM.

2

Update on new ACT scores: 29 composite

3

Georgetown can be very score conscious so with below average scores for Georgetown, your chances are most likely below average. Additionally, SFS is more selective than Georgetown overall. But anything is possible.

What other schools are you applying to? With an interest in International Relations, are you applying to George Washington and American?

4

Good luck! I’m not really sure about chances, as I’m actually applying to Walsh SFS as well. But I’m crossing my fingers for both of us, and I hope you get in!

5

haha yes yes at this point i am even applying to american university early decision because i know georgetown is a risky gamble to to try to get in. But i recently raised my ACT score about 5 points to a 29, which i know is still a bit underaverage. @doschicos

6

@peytonmg so are you pretty confident with your scores that are probably within the 50% range?

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Well, if I’m being honest I think my scores are a little above 50%. I haven’t looked at the exact stats for GTown but I have a 35 ACT and 720/770 on SATIIs, so scores aren’t really what I’m focusing on. @konniiyhuwen

8

@peytonmg Oh good job! with your scores like that, have you considered HYP Ivy leagues instead of Gtown? You are totally qualified for the top tier prestigious schools.

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@konniiyhuwen Thank you! :slight_smile: I’m applying to nine schools, Georgetown plus three Ivies and a few others.

10

In my honest opinion, Georgetown will be a stretch. Your stats aren’t high enough to get in.

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Thanks yo, I truly appreciate the genuinity and honestness. but with my act score improved from a 25 to 29, do you think the ‘stretch’ will be lessened significantly? @IvyTower

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A 29 is a decent score, equivalent to a 1940 (I think) on the sat?? I would try to get that up if you have time. In this whole process, I’ve heard continually from people as well as my interviewer that Georgetown is very score conscious. I think you absolutely have a chance, and it’s tough for all of us!! Super competitive school and a reach for most if not all. Good luck to you!!

13

High reach no matter how you spin it.

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I’ve researched some stats online (veracity is assumed not 100%) and I see that there are people with like 2.0 GPAs and 1600 SAT scores and whatnot who were accepted to these sorts of competitive schools. And I was wondering what sorts of factors help these low scoring people get accepted. ??? (I personally felt that my essays were a bit divergent and stood out, but I don’t want to misjudge myself and think it’s good when it’s average)
@TomSrOfBoston @nsliyromanov

15

In terms of Georgetown, I’m quite sure a 1600 would guarantee rejection, regardless of ecs or essays

16

Low statted students who report being accepted with low scores are either hooked or are lying.

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Yes there may be a few low GPA & test score applicants who get in to the top schools. If so it is usually attributed to the following: high caliber heavily pursued athlete who is “professional or olympic quality” , family has donated big bucks or someone who has done something extraordinary like Malala who won the Nobel Prize or contributed to the cure for cancer. Such instances comprise what one would say is the “long tail” statistically speaking.