How to stand out in Georgetown application?

Applying to College
1

<p>Unweighted GPA: 3.77
Weighted GPA: 4.21
Class Rank: 17% (Yes, I come from a VERY competitive public high school in IL)
Courseload: Full of APs/Honors classes across Junior + Senior year
ACT Score: 29 Composite
Extra-Curriculars: I won't get too in-depth for the sake of time
-Leader in Track 3yrs (aka I would teach underclassmen how to effectively sprint etc)
-Leader in Football 2yrs
-Worked for my Dad for 3 years, working approx 18-20 hrs a week/45 weeks a year
-Worked on 2 Political Campaigns: Volunteered + Led Bob Dold Congress campaign+ volunteer Mark Kirk Senate, several hours
-Volunteered for several charitable events on weekends</p>

<p>Illinois State Scholar</p>

<p>Essay: I have already written my CommonApp essay, revised it many times, all my English teachers liked it</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: Got recs from two of my favorite teachers who know me very well</p>

<p>Held leadership positions in football + track, very passionate about track, very strong essay about it too.</p>

<p>Got into Indiana, deferred from Northwestern (I expected that)</p>

<p>How have some of you previous/current/etc applicants found ways to make yourself stand out with fairly common credentials for an extremely reputable school like Georgetown? I'm a good essay writer, but are essays truly the only way to make one appear desirable?</p>

<p>Thank you for any and all recommendations you have :)</p>

2

<p>Don’t worry about class rank. Top 20% at my school has a 3.8 or above and it doesn’t hinder people that much. Colleges usually care more about gpa anyways. </p>

<p>Gpa/test score wise you’re a little low I think. I don’t want to sound too negative but your ECs aren’t incredibly strong or anything for a school like Georgetown. Essays aren’t the only way to make yourself appear desirable (test scores, gpa, ECs, recs, rigor…) but in your case they’re the only thing that you can do now to increase your chances, everything else is already done. What I mean is you can’t suddenly change your gpa to a 4.0 or add an EC.</p>

<p>I applied to my top choice school and got in. I wrote one of the supplemental essays about chess (which is not my biggest EC by a long shot) but the school liked it and mentioned it in a handwritten note with my acceptance letter. It’s not the ECs that will impact you as much as how they’ve affected you. If you write an inspirational essay about one of your ECs it could help. </p>

<p>I was going to apply to Georgetown, but I got accepted before I started their app, so i’m not sure if they have supplementals or not. But if they do then you could do what I did and write one about your ECs. You say you’re passionate about track, maybe you could convey that in an essay.</p>

<p>good luck with your college apps</p>