Does anyone have any tips about extracurricular, classes, activities, etc. that can a particularly good to have on a Georgetown application?
What year are you (ie, how much time do you have to take any advice)? What is your interest at Georgetown? If you want to be admitted to study for premed the advice will be very different than for SFS.
I agree with @BooBooBear
Because Georgetown does admissions based off of the program you apply to, it is smart to tailor your application to that program.
Example: I applied to the Human Science major within the school of nursing and health studies. On my application, I included a lot about my interest in medicine and helping people. I took a lot of science classes to show my interest in science, and I did a lot of medicine related EC’s.
One common thread I see among Georgetown admits is languages. A lot of students are proficient in unordinary languages like Latin and Russian. Georgetown is trying to fill their spots in these language classes, so even if you’re not a language major, it might be wise to highlight your language proficiency.
School of Foreign Service REQUIRES foreign language proficiency for graduation—estimated at somewhere in the neighborhood of 2/3s of a minor in the language (so appx 3-4 courses past the initial sequence that is required of all students). Applicants to SFS with a strong language background (AP level or at least 3+ years in high school) will have a significant leg up in admissions on those with the minimum 2 years in high school and no demonstrated interest (clubs, travel, whatever) in foreign languages and culture.
Obviously, if you are a kid with fluency from your household (immigrants or such), or did numerous programs that developed near-fluency, that would be great but I have never gotten the impression that this is the norm or even remotely expected of applicants. But neither do you want two years of Spanish in high school with a B average.
@Savage101 , question about program based admissions. My son is interested in political science or psychology. Since political science is harder to get into, if he is truly undecided can he apply as a psych major and would there be the option to later change his mind and switch to poli sci? I realize some may use this as a loophole, so maybe it is not allowed/very difficult to change your major to one of the more selective ones? Thanks.
@TS0104 It depends on whether or not your son is interested in polisci as a government major or an international politics major. Gov majors are in the College, which is the scame school as psych, so he wouldn’t need to do anything since you don’t declare a major until the end of sophomore year anyways. If he wants to go into the SFS for international politics or some variation of political studies, then he would have to transfer schools within Georgetown. It’s doable, but difficult. As you say, it can be a loophole, but I do know people who are doing this at the end of the year.
The other thing with that is unless you switch before freshman year starts, you may have to take extra classes over the summer because the SFS core curriculum is pretty expansive. But it’s definitely possible.
Thanks for that info @masquerade98 ! I don’t think he is interested in International, and/or applying to a specialized, hard to get into program right away. The College sounds good because he could use the extra time to decide. So this sounds like it will work in his favor. Now, just to get in!
@TS0104 I think he can as long as they are in teh same ‘school.’ Georgetown is divided into 4 schools: The general college, The school of nursing and health studies, the school of foregn service, and the business school. As long as the majors he is applying to are in the same school, he should be good. You should do further research into the majors.