It's 2am and all I can think about is my chances...

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>I got the paper app in the mail today, something that I have been looking forward to for a very long time. Nobody has gone to GU in like 15 years from my high school, but there is NO WAY I just don't apply. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Generic:
Race: Hispanic/Latino, African-American
Grade: Class of 2010
State: New York
School: Not-competitive high school on Long Island, usually average 2-3 ivies a year, and for some reason every other valedictorian ends up going to Harvard.</p>

<p>Academic:
Class Rank: have not found out yet, hopefully top 10%
GPA UW: 93/100
GPA W: 97/100
SAT I: 550 CR, 660 M, 690 W, 1900 T (have to retake in October, I know, low)
SAT IIs: 690 Spanish, 690 American, 530 Literature...Would retaking them all in November be a good idea? I'm a bit cautious of taking them too close to the app. deadline, but I need to improve, ESPECIALLY lit.
APs: AP Euro 10th grade, AP US, English, and Environmental 11th grade and AP Gov, English, Spanish, and Statistics senior year (8 total)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
3 year Cross-Country member (3 year varsity, 2 year team captain)
3 year Basketball member (1 year varsity)
4 year Lacrosse member (JV Captain, pulled up to Varsity sophomore year)
2 year member of S.A.L.T. aka Student Athlete Leadership Team (needed to have been recommended by 2 varsity coaches while I was completely unaware, attend workshops at Adelphi University 3 times a year and then relay lessons learned to middle school students)
4 year DECA Member (Dream-team selection 10th grade, 3 time Regional competitor, 2 time regional finalist [top 4, top 3] in Sport & Entertainment Merchandising, top-10 finalist at State Competition 10th grade, Public Relations officer 11th grade and Chapter Historian 12th grade)
4 year Class Office Elected Official (Vice-President freshmen year, President 10th-12th grade)
2 year member of Select Chorale (audition-only, recipient of Unsung Hero Award 11th grade, first ever Baritone section leader 12th grade. Performed at Carnegie Hall and Citifield to name a few)
4 year member of Instrumental Music (2 year member of Concert Band, 2 year member of Wind Ensemble. Inaugural Student Pep-band Director at all home football games)
2 year member of National Honor Society (elected Secretary for 12th grade, juniors not allowed to run for office)
2 year member of Inaugural Principal's Advisory Committee (was one of 8 students chosen school-wide by the principal to meet once a month and discuss ways to foster better communication between student body and administration, as well as better the environment of GCHS as a whole)</p>

<p>Volunteering:
Helped coordinate walk at a local park to raise money for Autism Speaks, raised approximately $500
Worked as a Counselor In Training at local Boys & Girls Club summer between freshmen and sophomore year, approx. 200 hours of service
I Paint homes in Guatemala whenever I visit family. Most recently (7/08) I went alone to spend time with my grandparents and I painted 3 homes of EXTREMELY underprivileged families. Also brought a suitcase completely separate of my belongings that had clothes and sneakers my younger brother and I had outgrown that I gave out to the village children.
When in Guatemala, I also teach english in local schools. My cousin is a teacher of 8 and 9 year olds, and when I make the trip I coordinate with her and her school to arrive 2x a week to help teach the children english (my cousin learned in Belize, but she likes my natural "American" accent and correct way of pronouncing words).</p>

<p>Essays:
The essay for the SFS is about a world political topic?, (i just glanced over it quickly) so maybe I can write about the enormous disparities between third world countries and develop nations, and what could possibly be done? </p>

<p>The personal essay I will absolutely write about my mom. She arrived here as an illegal alien at 21 and raised 2 children alone after she divorced my dad when I was 6. </p>

<p>Recs:
I would hope really good. Although the Georgetown app asks for a teacher from the 11th or 12th grade, maybe I can have my english teacher from freshmen year write one and send it in as a supplement? I will probably have my APUSH teacher write one, as well as the superintendent. I've become relatively familiar with him thanks to countless interactions at Board meetings. My guidance rec should also be pretty good, she's always spoken of me highly to others, and is our National Honor Society Advisor. </p>

<p>Miscellaneous:
My mom was born and raised in Guatemala, and my father born and raised in Egypt. They met here when my mom was going for a GED so she could work in a hospital. Though my parents got divorced when I was young, I want nothing more than to somehow explore my Egyptian culture and country.</p>

<p>While my text scores are low (especially after reading all of these other people on here) I am going to retake the SAT in October, and am working specifically on the CR and Math sections. While some of you may say too low still, I would be ecstatic with a 1350/1600.</p>

<p>Chances? Please? Georgetown is my dream school, everything about it just absolutely clicks. Huge sports guy and the Hoyas are awesome, and politics are a developing interest of mine, ever since i was elected VP freshmen year. DC is just the place to be, and if i could i would be @ G'town in a heartbeat.</p>

2

<p>Well you definitely need to pump up your SAT scores. They are weighing you down big time. Your GPA is also slightly low. Try to boost it in the 1st quarter senior year.Your ECs look good though. I think if you get your scores/grades up, you would have a good chance.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the input, I am definitely going to be studying like crazy this summer for the math and cr parts of the sat. and in regards to your second comment about my grades, theyre pretty much the reason I’m not applying Early. while i’d love to hear from G’town before anywhere else, since they only look at freshmen sophomore and junior years during Early admissions i wouldn’t fare well, my sophomore year really hurt.</p>

<p>thanks for the input!</p>

4

<p>Everything looks good except your scores.</p>

5

<p>I know exactly how you feel! I find myself thinking about G-town and the admissions process at the most random times haha :] I really wish I could just fast-forward the next year of my life and be on my way to D.C. :)</p>

6

<p>oh yes britty3092, i just couldn’t fall asleep last night thinking about the whole application process, specifically georgetown. thanks to all the responses so far, just making me realize even more just how badly i need to raise my sat</p>

7

<p>Hmm, that darn boat we’re in! :slight_smile: yep, gotta raise those SAT scores for sure. your ECs are pretty awesome though, i’ve got similar ones, but you’ve got the leadership stuff down…do you mind if I ask what you’re doing to study for october? I’ve got the Kaplan book for Math, and then this general CD-rom my dad got me. Gonna be busy this summer :]</p>

<p>I wasn’t gonna mention this and get people yelling at me about taking advantage of race blah blah blah, but I’m African American. And you’re Hispanic. So that couldn’t hurt right? That’s what I’m thinking anyway…</p>

8

<p>wow, you’re EC’s are amazing, good job there! the minority-race may help out…just work on those scores.</p>

<p>great EC’s, again :)</p>

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<p>I don’t necessarily view our respective races as detrimental nor extremely beneficial. I mean everyone has that “hook” i suppose, so I guess this just happens to be ours!</p>

<p>I have the collegeboard’s book for the whole SAT and a Kaplan CR workbook. As i said before, if Ioculd just accomplish an incresae of 140 in the 2-part and get to that 1350, I personally would feel comfortable. Of course I’m striving for the best score possible, but I guess i’ll just have to see how it plays out.</p>

<p>Thanks for the compliments about the EC’s guys. I actually left a couple off just because I’m not sure having even more would help me too much. This year our high school received a bond that allowed for an internet radio station to be built, and I hosted my own sports talk radio show with a teacher. We’re the Glen Cove Big Red, so our show was called “Code Red,” corny, i know lol. Really appreciate all of the input!</p>

10

<p>Your raw #'s are lacking but on the other hand being a URM makes this a toss-up.</p>

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<p>sorry to sound like a complete noob, but urm means??</p>

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<p>Under-represented-minority.</p>

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<p>thanks for clearing that up for me</p>

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<p>You need to work the SAT I and SAT II scores. May be able to work it on SAT I, but SAT II is many times harder to push upwards. Everything else looks reasonable. By the way, the Egyptian father/ Guatamalan mother thing may get you URM hooks. Check into that. But there are thousands of URMs with beter scores so don’t count on it to get you in the door. It is good you start now working on the SAT scores so you can take them maybe twice in the Fall and get them pumped up.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

15

<p>thanks gabba, that’s why i don’t really pay much attention with regards to being a urm. Granted there are not many gautemalan-egyptians, but for those that there are they are probably working 10x harder, just like anyone else trying to get into a good school. im just going to focus on getting the cr & math scores higher. a lot higher.</p>

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<p>your fine, after you take your sats, focus on your application, write GREAT essays, and I would say your in…</p>

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<p>Write about something other than the disparity between the third world and the developed world - I think that would come across as being too obvious and too broad. Pick a particular issue in the news - the coup in Honduras, North Korean pursuit of nuclear weapons, US-Russian relations, something more specific that shows that you’re paying attention to international news.</p>

18

<p>i had a dream about georgetown last night</p>

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<p>thanks for that rightflankr. oddly enough ive been following the coup in honduras along since the beginnings when zelaya was first discussing the possibility of the constitutional referendum. i guess it really is going to be my essays that push me over or drop me under the bump thanks to my low sat grades.</p>

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<p>you should be fine if you bring up the SATs … just make sure that you write a good essay, and most importantly, show them that you are really interested in the school. Buena suerte, fellow latino =)</p>