Georgetown: Culture and Politics and Programs Like It

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

Hi everyone!

I recently visited Georgetown University after visiting several other schools (don’t worry, I have safeties!) and fell in love with everything from the neighborhood to DC to SFS and the CULP program to the campus.

I also found out that they do not have score choice. And that math is important in consideration for SFS. Based on how I felt about the school, I can’t imagine not applying EA.

I’m going to post my stats, but really, what I’m asking is

a) should I apply EA?
b) what similar programs are there to CULP?
c) would applying to Georgetown College or SFS give me a better shot?

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1280 (IDK WHAT HAPPENED) then 1400 (no additional studying LOL)
ACT (breakdown): 33 (35E 31M 33R 34S 9W) retook and waiting on score
SAT II: 690 (world) 680 (lit, retaking) 670 (bio- I took this one in ninth grade at the advice of my freshman bio teacher and scored in the 500s, which is inconvenient given their lack of score choice) 640 (USH) and something in the 500s (math 2 eek)
Unweighted GPA (out of 100): 93
Weighted GPA: 98.5
— I have taken the highest rigor offered thus far and gotten As in all but Algebra and Earth Science (grade 8) Geometry and music theory (grade 9), chem and algebra II (grade 10) and AP bio and pre calc BC H. All Bs there except for pre-calc- had a B then failed final… 75 :(((
— very high grades otherwise.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): no idea? gotta be top 10% but we don’t rank. took the most APs in my grade as of this year LOL
AP (place score in parenthesis): World (4) Seminar (5) Pysch (4) APUSH (4) Bio (3) Research (4) Human geo (4) Lang (5- self-studied, getting put on transcript as Pass hopefully)
IB (place score in parenthesis): don’t have
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Micro, AP Macro, in-school education/world history internship, AP Calc AB, Physics R, gym, AP Lit, Italian V H (we don’t have AP), Orchestra, science research H
— considering dropping something to take Spanish I or II… is this a good or bad idea/suggestions on what to drop?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

  • not really major but National History Day: State History Day monetary award (competitive state-2018), as well as third place in region (2017 and 2018)
  • school science research and orchestra awards in grade 10
  • AP Capstone Diploma (my grade runs these classes for junior/senior but I doubled as a sophomore so I’m a year ahead)
  • AP Scholar with Distinction (NOT NATIONAL BY ONE EXAM :(( )

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
History Day Club- member (9, 10) president (11, 12)
Robotics- member (9, 10) leadership (11, 12)
Student Gov- officer (10, 11, 12)
English Honor Society- Member (10) VP (11, 12)
Science Club- member (10), historian (11), unsure about next year
Envirothon- member (10), team leader (11)
SS Honor Society- Member (11), PRESIDENT AHHH (12)
Member of random other honor societies (all offered except art)
Orchestra- member (10) chamber orchestra (9, 11, 12)
Some rotary involvement (camp); small leadership
Soccer- three years varsity. not looking to play in college beyond club.
Participated in an online class through Stanford (on china/US)

Job/Work Experience: summer intern at local historic site (tours, history projects, event planning)
Volunteer/Community service: ^ that’s unpaid haha
Summer Activities: Internship as aforementioned, rotary leadership camp for 2018 and 2019, and a decent amount of robotics still

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): going to be a teacher I’m very close with- president of club she runs, had her three years (global, ap world, senior internship); however, if this isn’t permitted due to not being core, APUSH teacher/SSHS advisor (i’ve known them both since freshman year)
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): sophomore year English teacher (in her club and we’ve stayed close. I was a year up in English so it is junior year English and I did well and got a 5 as a sophomore.)
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details): might use director from where I intern or AP world teacher when not permitted as core because she wasn’t for junior and senior

Intended Major: Culture and politics if SFS, otherwise history or English in the college I suppose
State (if domestic applicant): NY
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: high enough that I won’t get aid, low enough that college is still a big financial decision
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): i don’t think so

Strengths: concentrated interest
Weaknesses: math. science. no hooks.

2

If you’re applying to SFS, your science and math matters less than your history/liberal arts classes–SFS students will likely only take one or two STEM courses unless you want to take more. While Georgetown does not do score choice, they will evaluate your highest set of scores, so if you took a subject test and did poorly, retaking with a higher score will help, since they’ll only look at your highest set. That being said, as it stands, your SAT & subject tests scores are on the low side for Georgetown, and EA is notable for being more competitive than RD, so keep that in mind.

As for CULP, it’s one of the most open-ended majors in the SFS–you can choose to build your course of study pretty much however you want, as long as it’s coherent and has an IR emphasis. The College won’t have something as flexible, so if the flexibility of the major is why you’re interested in Georgetown, I’d suggest SFS.

3

@masquerade98 I love the CULP program, but I went to an info session and they mentioned looking for strength in mathematics. Any thoughts? My humanities grades are very high, so it’s frustrating.

4

The only math-related class you’ll likely take are the 3 econ Core requirements and a research design/statistics kind of class. Here’s the CULP major curriculum:

-CULP-045: Theorizing Culture and Politics
-3 courses from Field I: Humanities (from current/past CULP lists)
-3 courses from Field II: Social Sciences (from current/past CULP lists)
-5 courses from relevant departments selected by students in consultation with the CULP Curricular Dean to reflect the student’s thematic interest.
-Beginning with the Class of 2015, all CULP majors must have completed one designated ‘Research Methods Course’ as part of the 12 course CULP major requirement.

They may have said that at the info session to deter students from completely abandoning math in their high school course schedule, but SFS is called “Safe From Science” for a good reason–you won’t have to do much STEM-related coursework unless your CULP research focuses on a lot of data analysis

5

thank you so much! @masquerade98