I am a senior in high school, and I’ve just experienced a chaotic and unfortunate end to the college application process.
I applied to a couple of Ivy League schools hoping to get into one—but instead I took only rejections. I got waitlisted at Yale, but that’s pretty much the same thing. I understand how selective these schools are but this comes as a surprise, as my high school has always done well with these institutions for students like me (SAT 1570; Math II 790, Physics 800, Spanish 800; 4.0 unweighted GPA; 9 extracurriculars including sports, music, debate, and tutoring; solid essays).
I was accepted to the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown but I am unsure how well this fits me; despite my interest in politics I also really enjoy applied math and I am not sure how committed I am to the foreign service and diplomacy of all kinds. Although Georgetown is a great college, some of my classmates with inferior scores, grades, writing skills and/or extracurricular accomplishments were accepted to schools like Yale, Columbia, Brown and Princeton. I’m having trouble understanding what I’ve done wrong.
This begs the question: should I go ahead and attend Georgetown for four years (that’s a long time and a serious commitment), or should I take a gap year during which—as well as getting a job and undertaking a sophisticated project—I would apply to schools in both the United States and the United Kingdom?
I know there is always the transfer option, and I would like to get some insight on that too. I’m pretty sure I could get a 4.0 GPA throughout the first year at Georgetown if I worked really hard, so my collegiate academic record would complement my high school grades. However, I am aware that transfer acceptance rates are microscopically low—more so than the usual percentages—so I am not convinced that this option is totally viable.
Georgetown SFS also opens doors in the business world.
So do you want to be a quant or data scientist or something?
If not, I don’t see why you wouldn’t go to SFS. Even then, you may want to go to SFS (Georgetown overall is an Ivy-equivalent and SFS is probably it’s most prestigious school).
Pretty certain you may take quantitative classes and concentrate in quantitative areas while in SFS as well. Research that.
Look in to their “International Economics” major. Econ can get very quantitative.
@PurpleTitan Thanks for the response. I’ll definitely look into that. As for why I would not attend SFS, it’s difficult to explain—after all, it’s best in its field, located in a great city, great for internships, etc.—but I have had my mind set on Yale for the past two years and seeing myself at another school, especially when I’m academically qualified is hard.
On another note, looking through your threads, I noticed that you started a discussion about admissions to UK schools and how they differed from that in the US. You state that the accent is really put on academic excellence; could I just ask you where you get your knowledge on this? I would love to learn more. I think this kind of subjective assessment would be more favorable to me given my scores and grades.
It just is. Oxbridge would want to see 5’s in the relevant AP’s or top SATII scores first.
But in the English system, you only take classes in your course/major, so I don’t think it would fit you well.
To be blunt, I think that if you turn down SFS just because you can only see yourself at Yale, you’re making a mistake (and 40 year-old you would agree with me). But it’s your life and you’re not my kid. Good luck.
BTW, Yale only takes a tiny percentage of applicants who are academically qualified for it. To put it another way, there is no such thing as “Someone should be admitted because they are academically qualified” for a school like Yale. You should know that under holistic admissions, it’s not a level playing field, so being better academically, in ECs, writing, everything doesn’t mean much. Yale wants to shape a class, so if they already have too many of your “type”, tough luck.
I think you should go to Georgetown. If you really don’t like the focus of the SFS (although the school and its courses are quite interdisciplinary), you can always do an internal transfer to the college.
However, you could consider Yale for grad school if you really really just simply need to attend Yale, and some of the grad programs at Yale are easier to get in to that Yale undergrad (or SFS undergrad, for that matter).
Though by that time, you most likely would look at things in a more hardheaded manner.
You are great on the academic stats front, but so are thousands of others. Princeton just announced that more than 12,400 applicants this year had a 4.0 GPA. Last year they accepted just 12.8% of applicants with a 2300+ SAT. So even if your stats are great, they alone won’t get you into HYPS.
You haven’t done anything “wrong,” but one thing I notice is your “9 extracurriculars”—this actually sounds like a lot, and could give AOs the impression that you are spreading yourself a bit thin. If I were to guess what the difference is between you and most unhooked kids with similar stats who got into HYPS, it would be that they have fewer, but deeper ECs. Like they are one of the top debaters in the country and have given TED talks, or their band has millions of followers on YouTube. Or they are a great writer and went to TASP or were published in the Concord Review. And then they talk about their interest in their essays in a way that makes it sound like they didn’t just do it all for their college apps.
You’ve heard of the elevator pitch, right? Give your sales pitch in the 15 seconds you’re in an elevator. What is the pitch that comes from nine extracurriculars, that would be unique from all the other people with nine extracurriculars? How does it sound compared to some kid who has gone really deep in one EC and accomplished a lot there?
A lot of applicants have a hook, even if other kids don’t know about it. It is likely that these classmates of yours were filling some institutional priority that supersedes your superior academic stats.
One last question: I’m gonna need lots of time to think about this. I’m putting in a deposit at Georgetown to save my spot in the Class of 2021, but does anyone know by when I officially need to commit? I couldn’t find it on the website.
@gotplayed Not sure about Georgetown…but with most schools paying the deposit is committing. That starts the ball rolling. You will then start to get the next set of instructions as to what the next steps in the process are. Housing, scheduling, etc. Georgetown is a great school. There is more than one great fit school for everyone out there. Although you had your heart set somewhere else, embrace Georgetown you may wind up loving it. This time next year you may wondering why you were even questioning it. And if you don’t, you can always do a transfer, within Georgetown or out to another university. Good luck to you!
You don’t need to deposit until 5/1. That should be plenty of time to get over your disappointment and get comfortable with Georgetown SFS which is a great acceptance that many, many students would be thrilled to have.
Look at it this way: Do you want to be the guy who still pines for the hot girl who rejected him even though another hot girl wants him? I mean, that seems a little pathetic, don’t you think?
Switch guy with girl and vice versa if you’re the opposite gender.
I will be blunt. Yale doesn’t see you at Yale, so you are wasting your time and looking a gift horse in the mouth. Deposit at Gtown and defer for a year. That will give you plenty of time to see what’s what.
@PurpleTitan The analogy definitely made things clear. In all seriousness though, I understand what you are all saying—but I can’t deny my current disappointment. A month should be enough then.