George Washington University

<p>Hey guys, I'm applying to GWU in January (ED II) and I wanted to get an idea of how good my chances are.</p>

<ul>
<li>I go to a small public high school that has a good reputation in my state. I transfered from a poor city school with a rather notorious reputation at the very beginning of my freshman year.</li>
<li>I am ranked 37/163 in my class, putting me in the top 25%.</li>
<li>I have a 3.7/4.0 GPA; I've taken at least three honors classes each year, but no APs because my school only has two and neither would fit into my schedule.</li>
<li>I've taken two college courses (US II and English 101) and got 93s in both of them.</li>
<li>I'm taking the English AP test and have been preparing for it with the AP English teacher during my study period.</li>
<li>I took the ACTs for the first time in September and my composite score was a 25. I'm taking them again in December. I would have taken them in October, but I had swine flu... which I talked to an admissions rep. about and while they said that a 25 composite score was fine, I want to take the ACT again and make my application stronger.</li>
<li>I went to the Colonial Connection in October. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a program GW put together that allows students to stay overnight with a current student. </li>
<li>I have an interview scheduled for this Friday.</li>
<li>My recommendation letters are very strong (I'm sending three).</li>
<li>I haven't been terribly active in my school community because I live a fair distance from it, but I've been involved in a lot of volunteer services closer to my home: I'm a Big Sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program; I'm a Girl Scout leader, and was previously an Assistant Leader for two years; I also devote some of my time to the local senior center, the homeless shelter, and I privately tutor several children (ages 8-13) and have been since my freshman year. I've also shadowed a kindergarten teacher (I help her plan lessons, put together activities, etc.) for three years, am currently interning at a hospital, and will be doing a job shadow with a dentist in a month (I'm not quite sure what I want to do after college, heh).</li>
<li>I'm the first person in my family to attend college and I'm... what I guess most people call biracial? I'm Hispanic/White.</li>
<li>My first term grades were:
a) Honors Anatomy and Physiology: 93
b) Honors Greek: 92
c) Honors Latin III: 93
d) Physics: 85
e) Pre-Calculus: 87
f) Basic Women's Defense: 85</li>
</ul>

<p>For the second half of the year, I'm going to be taking Comparative Religions and Statistics I also.</p>

<p>I've been looking at some of the other posts from students that are also applying to GWU and I'm a little worried, honestly. I'd like to think that I've taken full advantage of what is in front of me, but it seems like everyone else has much stronger applications.</p>

<p>I also meant to mention that I’ve studied ballet for the past two years, and that I have traveled to Costa Rica and Italy.</p>

<p>A 25 ACT is in the bottom half of GW admittees. However, you may be able to overcome this as a first-generation, biracial student from a somewhat disadvantageous background. I think your grades and honors courses are good. I would say make the most of your interview by emphasizing your positives (including what you’ve had to overcome) and downplay the negatives. Think about “why GWU” and what you would bring to the school.</p>