GEORGETOWN chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Just reposting this from the Georgetown forum so more people can see it. Thanks a lot!</p>

<p>White Male From NJ
Jewish
Small Public School</p>

<p>Applying to the college
Looking to study History and Government</p>

<p>Transcript:</p>

<p>Ninth Grade:
Honors English A
Honors Biology A
World History A
Honors Algebra II A-
French II B
Gym/Heath A/B+
Band A-</p>

<p>Tenth Grade:
Honors US History A
Honors English A-
Honors Pre-Calc A-
French III A-
Honors Chemistry B+
Gym/Driver Ed A/A-
Band A-</p>

<p>Eleventh Grade:
AP Calc AB A+
AP US History A+
AP English Language A+
Physics A+
French IV A-
Gym/Health A-/A
Band A+</p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
AP Psychology
AP Calc BC
AP US Government
AP English Literature
Justice & Society
Gym/Health
Band</p>

<p>My school has a strange way of weighting GPAs. .5 is added to every honors and AP class, except for honors classes in freshman year. With this system, my gpa is 4.04.</p>

<p>My school does not disclose class rank, but they release a class profile sheet which groups students by GPA, not percents. My class is extremely competitive, with about 23-25 students in the top tier, which is 3.9 to the highest GPA in the class. The highest in the class is porbably about 4.50, so colleges will see that I am in the top tier (3.9-4.5) but obviously can infer that i am towards the bottom of that group. The class has a total of about 115 students.</p>

<p>SAT 1: 730 Reading, 770 Math, 700 Writing (one test date)</p>

<p>SAT II: 800 Math IIc (taken junior year, after 690 sophomore year), 790 US History (taken junior year), 700 Biology M (taken freshman year)</p>

<p>AP: 5 English Language, 5 US History, 5 Calculus AB</p>

<p>ECs:
-Track/XC: varsity team captain, individually competitive in division, i am injured right now due to a unavoidable condition but i plan to recover as best as possible and continue during senior year
-Religious School: attended weekly for as long as ive been in public school, appointed to board of trustees' religious school committee to develop curriculum for all grades, assist in annual food drive that services about 60 local families
-Band: played trumpet since 4th garde, participate in band, wind ensemble, and pep band
-Basketball: played since freshman year, JV captain during junior year but also played varisty, recieved varsity letter
-Model UN: active participant in conferences since sophomore year, senior advisor
-Drama: acted in student-led comedic performances during freshman and junior years
-Community Service: one of the top fundraisers for a National Multiple Sclerosis Society biking event help down at the shore, participate in one of teh top fundraising teams, my family was asked by the NMSS to appear on Today in New York on NBC to promote the event, i also frequently volunteer through my school's honor society, i will be leading a survey of businesses around town to evaluate handicapped accesibility and suggest solutions, retrieve and deliver donated disability equipment through local program
-Summer: attended camp through summer after 9th grade, went on organized youth travel program in teh summer after 10th
Other:
- I am running for NHS President, pretty confident that i'll win but we'll see
- one of four students elected to participate in NJ Challenge</p>

<p>Work:
- worked a full time job for two months during the summer after junior year in the accounts payable department of a multimillion dollar corporation
- also breifly worked as a administrative and teaching assistant during my freshman year</p>

<p>Awards:
honor roll freshman and sophomore years
high honor roll junior year
national honor society
national merit semifinalist (224)
AP scholar
highest tier fundraiser for the nmss event i mentioned before
2005 Spring Track Coaches' Award (only award besides mvp, one given out of a team of over 30, almost always given to a senior but i recieved it as a sophomore)
various religious school honors</p>

<p>Other factors:
-There is one other student from my high school applying EA for similar intended major (History). They have a higher GPA (4.35, all A+ in academic classes), but lower SAT scores (CR700, M730, W700) and slightly lower SAT II scores. Could this affect my chances?
-I am sending 3 reccomendations, all will be from good to phenomenal. I know recent info says they may only want one but when I went on the tour they said 2-5 so i guess it cant hurt to send 3.
-Essay about why I want to go to Georgetown is great because I had a great experience when I visited, the one telling about myself may not not as great but i'm sure it wont be bad
-My interview is in a week and I am very confident that it will go well</p>

<p>Well I guess that's it. Please let me know what you think. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>The things in your favor:
Tough courseload
Overall good GPA--And best grades were in the tougher (core) subjects
Top SAT I and II scores
Lots of ECs--good variety
Religious background shows through
Good recommendations
Fair essay topics--but ones showing passion for the school
Good AP test results
Awards in sports
School itself seems extremely competitive, so maybe rank not so bad</p>

<p>Things working against you:
Only in top 20% or so of class
ECs seem unfocused (too many and all over the place) and unrelated to major
Work history is very limited--and only a few months long
No top awards in scholastic areas</p>

<p>All in all, you're probably a match. I put your odds of acceptance at about 50% to 55%--but I may be overrating you since that class rank of 20% or so really is a major negative on this list.</p>

<p>I hope you are applying to a few other schools as well, since everyone needs choices and backups.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>thanks calcruzer i really appreciate that. i know my class rank is not amazing, but my school class is extremely competive. I would specualte that there's grade inflation, but everyone has high test scores too so obviously the class just happens to be extremely talented.</p>

<p>My ECs are more focused than may appear, at least I think so in terms of community service. I have a lot to do with programs that help people with disabilities, and though this may not connect directly to a government major i do intend on, in my essay, talking about working for disability rights and other related topics in a government setting. You're correct that I haven't worked for a political candidate or done some activity involving history, but my community service is focused on a cause and i intend to continue that work during and after college.</p>

<p>Could my inferred class rank ruin my chances, especially when someone higher than me is also applying EA?</p>

<p>By the way I am appyling to about 7 more colleges if i dont get in, so dont worry, i have backups.</p>

4

<p>bump..........................</p>

5

<p>................bump</p>

6

<p>...............bump again</p>

7

<p>You sound like a pretty good match. I think the adcoms will be able to figure out that you are from a competitive school, so I wouldn't worry so much about the 20%. The main negative that I see is scattered ec's. It seems like you do a little bit of everything. It is great to be well rounded, but you should try to emphasize one or two passions that you have. Another thing...make sure you know Georgetown well. If I remember correctly, they have a "why G-town?" essay. Work hard on that because I think that they really do care about why you want to go there. It will be easy for you though because you are interested in gov't and Washington is obviously a good place to be for that.</p>

8

<p>my why gtown essay is basically done and im very happy with it. it has to do with the political diversity i observed when i visited (such as pro choice and pro life groups demonstrating within 50 ft of each other without hostility) and how this is something I've looked for in a college because the town i grew up in is exteremly one sided</p>

<p>any idea how i should approch the "about me" essay? i'm kinda struggling with putting it all together</p>

9

<p>yet another bump</p>

10

<p>............bump</p>

11

<p>whoa....how are you only in the top 20% with grades like that....at my school you would almost be valedictorian.....tells how different schools are i guess</p>

12

<p>bump............</p>