I’m trying to apply for Georgetown (Early Action) or Northwestern (Early Decision) in October. I have visited both schools and fell in love! As of now, I don’t know which school to apply for Early. I know International Relations is very strong and competitive at Georgetown, but I’m not sure about Northwestern. However, Northwestern is overall a stronger school than Georgetown.
Are you thinking of applying to Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service? If you’re doing so, or you are really committed to international relations in general, Georgetown may be the better choice. Northwestern is great, of course, but not particularly known for international relations. Here’s a list from a couple of years ago of schools for international relations: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/
The list is just based on a survey of school reputation with people in the field, but it does have Georgetown high up, and Northwestern not on the list.
I also think the difference in overall strength between Northwestern and Georgetown is not that significant if one school has something that is really better for you. If you were choosing between, say, Northwestern and George Washington (which also does well on that international relations list) you’d have to give consideration to Northwestern’s overall strength. But Georgetown is really quite close to Northwestern.
On the other hand, Georgetown EA doesn’t give much of an advantage. Last year they accepted about 12%, deferred everybody else, and accepted something like 10% in the regular round. Northwestern accepted about 25% in ED, and a much lower percentage (below 10%) in RD. Of course, there are a lot of reasons why people are accepted ED, so it might only give you a small boost, if even that. But if you would be perfectly happy to be at Northwestern, are pretty sure you can afford it, and think ED could help, you might consider it.
First, they’re equally strong. And, if you’re in international relations, Georgetown is the better school no matter what university it’s being compared to. Being the best school in the capital of the most powerful nation in the history of the world comes with perks no matter what, but especially if your interest is in IR, politics, government, or anything related. Coincidentally, I chose Georgetown over Northwestern- as well as Penn, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Tufts, and a full ride to my state school- and the only one that even required thought was Penn because it was Wharton and I want to work in both business and politics.
Not sure what field of IR you’re interested in, but if you want to work in the foreign service, there is simply no comparison between Georgetown and anywhere else.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170104162620/https://schar.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/foreign-service-feeder-schools-1793x1267-1793x1267.jpg
Not to mention we’ve graduated more royalty than any other school in the world, and they all come here for international affairs because what else do you do if you’re royalty? But the point is they could go wherever they want, and they come here in droves. I mean my peer advisor was in the dorm next to the Princess of Jordan (Princess Salma Bint Abdullah if you don’t believe me and want to look it up, she’s entering her senior year now) this past year and I genuinely don’t know where else that happens. If you read enough you’ll find that her dad and older brother- king and heir to the throne, respectively- also went to Georgetown.
Not knocking Northwestern, it beats Georgetown at plenty of things. Journalism, engineering, math, and most sciences come to mind. Georgetown beats Northwestern at plenty of other things- finance, politics, theology, gov, IR, come to mind. But overall for you, I think that: A. They are of equal caliber overall, so don’t sweat that. Honestly though on the east coast I would argue that Georgetown more prestigious overall, but that’s moot because they both rock. And B. For IR, there is no comparison to Georgetown, the difference here is NOT negligible, and the point is not moot. Georgetown is simply the best school for IR in the world, and numbers back that up.
Also, if the link doesn’t work for future readers, just google “top foreign service feeder schools”.
Here’s the the main way to decide on this - if you think you are going to stay in IR or poly sci or government then Georgetown is the way to go, apply there EA, you can still apply to Northwestern RD though it is tougher to get in RD without a hook. If you think you may change your major to something like say economics or computer science or even minor in them, NW is the way to go, and applying ED will give you a boost. Given all this I still would choose option 1 - EA to Georgetown and RD to NW. Good luck!
You can apply early to both. One is ED and the other is EA. You can do that. If you apply ED, only you can’t apply to another ED or SCEA school . Of course, if you get into ED/Northwestern, you would have to go.
Agreed (non-binding) EA +(binding) ED is fine. Also, fwiw EA @ Georgetown does not give the boost that it might at other schools: they explicitly use EA for applicants who are such standouts that Georgetown is eager to get them (that is directly from a member of the adcomm).
That said, if you are a serious IR person, I would pick JHU, GW, or American over NW. Notice that they are all DC based (JHU has a DC campus). The calibre of the connections you can make and the opportunities to do multiple internships both in and out of term are the things that will lead to an actual paying job in the field (which, don’t kid yourself, is hard to do), will matter more than the relative prestige of the college.
If you apply EA to Georgetown, you cannot apply to ED to Northwestern. Georgetown doesn’t allow applicants to apply ED to other schools because if accepted, they want you to have the choice of going there. ED wouldn’t allow for that.
The above poster is correct. From the Georgetown website
“If I apply to Georgetown under Early Action can I still apply to other schools under Early programs?
Students applying to Georgetown under our Early Action program may not apply to a binding Early Decision program. Georgetown does give students the option to apply both under our Early Action program and under other schools’ Early Action programs. Please be sure to research the guidelines of all schools to which you are applying; not all Early Action programs will allow multiple Early Action applications.”
If you’re serious about IR, apply early to Georgetown SFS.
If you apply ED anywhere, you can’t apply early anywhere else I’m pretty sure, though it would depend on the college. Colleges don’t want to spend time on an app when the student has been accepted to a binding program. If you want a second EA school to Georgetown, you’d have to consider a public university.
thanks for the correction, @johnjayluvr & @anxiousenior1 - my bad, I forgot that Georgetown is in effect an SCEA. @thelonliestmonk, you can do an EA and an ED if the EA school allows it- but if you get both, you have to take the ED. Obviously, if you already have an ED acceptance your don’t apply to any more places.
Georgetown is not SCEA, you can apply to other private schools that have EA, which you cannot do with SCEA. e.g. you can apply to Georgetown and MIT as both have non-binding EA programs, you could not apply to Yale SCEA and MIT EA because the SCEA of Yale prevents applying to another private school.
I’ll make your choice between the two simple;
Georgetown’s IR program blows Northwestern out of the water. The two schools aren’t even comparable in that field of study. That being said; if you’re in Georgetown’s IR program at the SFS, then you’ve got to be committed to that field. You’re not even allowed to obtain a minor in topics outside of IR. If you want more flexibility, then Northwestern can certainly allow for that, and is the superior option.
So if you’re 100% committed to studying IR, Georgetown is the better choice of the two. If you even maybe want to do other things, then Northwestern is better between the two.
I’d also consider looking at GWU as well. And as much as I hate to admit it as a current Int’l Affairs student at GWU, American U is another program worth looking at for IR. JHU is alright as well, but isn’t as good as in my personal opinion. I can elaborate on why if you wish, but I feel that would be rambling at this point.
Best of luck.
Applying EA to Georgetown offers absolutely ZERO advantage. The acceptance rate of EA applicants is identical to the acceptance of RD applicants (roughly 13%). Northwestern’s ED acceptance rate is well over 30%, compared to 10% for RD applicants.
That being said, if your career goal is to work in diplomatic circles, Georgetown is hard to beat.