2)How does one know whether to submit SAT scores? Would you say if you score less than 1400 you don’t submit? Any particular cutoff in your opinions?
Thanks again
The Elliott School is the most competitive at GW, so yes, it’s going to be easier to get into the business school. However, you want to study poli-sci, you can apply either directly to that major or more broadly to the Columbian College as undecided with the intent to later declare that major. The latter would be someone’s best bet at acceptance to GW out of all these options.
I would only bother sending-in SAT scores if they were at least in the middle of the pack of accepted scores, or 1370+. And I wouldn’t say that’s a hard cut-off. “It depends”
GW claims that you are at no such disadvantage by not submitting a score. I have seen numerous students on this site get into GW without having submitted scores, so I would assume it to be a correct statement.
@NHuffer Thank you so much for responding. So helpful!
1). The Elliot School is the highest ranked undergraduate school at George Washington University so it will probably be quite competitive. The political science is really popular with students who want to go to law school since George Washington doesn’t have premed.
2). I would agree with @NHuffer … unless you can clock at least 1350 don’t bother given the option. I would definitely try to take the test and score that high but if it doesn’t happen there could always be others factors in your candidacy that stand out more. If George Washington University wanted to, it could fill at least half it’s undergraduate class with students who score 2150+. Well, Yale or Harvard could, but you get the point. The SAT is to college as the 225 bench press test or 40-yard dash is to the NFL combine.
3). Yes. George Washington is now a test agnostic university. The reason why boils down to question # 2 but also because there’s been a popular complaint surfacing in academia that these tests are still somewhat generally oriented toward children of the privileged aristocratic. The number certainly show it, Caucasians and Asians have the highest test scores. Whether or not these tests particularly the SAT is a valid indicator is an entirely different discussion beyond the scope of an undergraduate applying- but yeah that’s basically why they’ve gone test agnostic. One theory is that they want to give students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds a chance in college admissions. For example, let’s say you have Suzy who is born in a ghetto neighborhood and a 4.0 student. Suzy’s parent’s never really read much, weren’t financially responsible, and flat-out abusive. Suzy’s parents aren’t very literate and never encouraged her to read. Suzy takes the SAT and scores an 1150 despite her 4.0 and her best efforts. If this were a decade or two ago Suzy may have had trouble getting into a good university such as George Washington but now an adcom might be able to look at a profile that just displays her strengths. In a way, people that test high kind of are better students and better readers but at the same time not necessarily. It’s hard to explain
@Govegan1995 Thank you! Do you think applying as a business major is very competitive?
@citymama9 It’s definitely very competitive relative to most schools unless we’re talking about the best of the best target schools such as Wharton. A lot of students here are trying to get into top law schools, big 4 accounting firms or investment banks. I was a student in the business school majoring in economics and public policy; business isn’t a major per se it’s a school that comprises George Washington’s undergraduate schools. For example, you have the Elliot School, the School of Media and Public Affairs, etc. There are several majors within the business school such as finance, accounting, economics, and public policy. I majored in economics and public policy and can say that it was a pretty intense experience. The two hardest classes I took strictly speaking to business courses were financial management and operations management. The hardest class I ever took at GWU, in general, was econometrics. The recruiting at GWSB is also pretty good; we have our own career center and career fair. At the same time, you don’t necessarily have to major in business to pursue a career in business. Although for an accounting profession you would definitely have to.
I would like to add that when I mean competitive, aside from rankings, what you’ll obviously see at schools like Wharton, Cornell, etc is that students have bigger vocabularies, higher test scores, and honestly just spend more hours studying and study more intensely. That’s not to say you’re not going to find students at George Washington, Georgetown or American who are comparably smart but just that the idea is that the higher up the rankings you go obviously the smarter the students are. One caveat I would add is that don’t major in something just to sound cool or impress people. It’s really cool when people tell me “oh wow you major in business” but that’s not why I decided to major in business. I’m really nerdy and had early exposure to business early on since my parents both attend GWSB for grad school; for example, I write a business article in my free time just because I like to. There are other cool majors here like the Elliot School that you may find you like more. I would personally try to sit in for some lectures. Also, you’re gonna have to like math. It’s not the engineering school, but you’re going to have to take two statistics courses, two college level math courses and some economics courses.
@Govegan1995 You’re very helpful. I guess I’m wondering if my daughter applies to the business school for marketing she will have more competition and need to have better stats then if she was applying to the school of arts and sciences and wanted to be a philosophy major?
@citymama9 Not necessarily, the acceptance rate at the business school is 32% last time I checked the Hatchet. I have no numbers for the school of art and sciences but most people generally are accepted into Columbian. The quantitative rigor of even the business school turns a lot of students off actually. Not counting the engineering students, lots of students just don’t like to do math. Worst case scenario your daughter could always transfer to the business school and minor in philosophy vice-versa. Some very intelligent students I’ve met in the Elliott School or who are poli sci majors have purposefully avoided the business school courses because of the quantitative rigor. Philosophy is also a great major and I had considered majoring in philosophy but chose business because I felt it would help me develop a practical career path based on my academic skills. FYI I got an A in every philosophy course I took and actually did much better in that then my business courses. And if your daughter is interested in grad school it’s worth noting philosophy majors tend to score very high on graduate entrance exams.
thank you for taking the time to helpme. It’s so appreciated.