<p>Il start this off, continue with thoughts and reasons</p>
<p>GW ( dc safety, no offense)
Duke ( Good basketball, about same level academically - usually seen together)
Tufts (great IR)</p>
<p>Wouldnt be surprised if West Point was on here either</p>
<p>GW (dc safety, no offense)
Duke (Good basketball, about same level academically - usually seen together)
Tufts (great IR)
Notre Dame (Catholic, strong academically and athletically)</p>
<p>GW (dc safety, no offense)
Duke (Good basketball, about same level academically - usually seen together)
Tufts (great IR)
Notre Dame (Catholic, strong academically and athletically)
BC (catholic safety-ish)</p>
<p>UChicago (shun Common App, have unrestricted EA)
Harvard (strong Gov program)</p>
<p>UVA (for the majority of kids who live near gtown atleast, good academics, good social scene)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Harvard (strong Gov program)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Bah. Stop making excuses for applying to Harvard.</p>
<p>Holy Cross (safety-ish)</p>
<p>I'm just conjecturing, not making excuses. I maintain that for a lot of kids applying to Harvard (especially those looking at Gov as a major), Gtown is used as a match/safety.</p>
<p>I saw a lot of other people applying to georgetown on a UChicago thread.</p>
<p>BC
Duke
Northwestern
Notre Dame
UNC
UVA
Vandy
Wake Forest</p>
<p>Yale
Navy
Cornell
Harvard
Holy Cross
Princeton</p>
<p>(... okay, not really, but c'mon, who doesn't enjoy a fight song reference every now and then ...)</p>
<p>University of Chicago
University of the Pacific (safety school that has a School of International Studies)
American (DC Safety)
UW Madison (parents wanted an in-state school)
Macalester
Duke (pretty much only cuz of Robertson Scholars Program)
NYU (good location w/ opp. and Irish Studies minor)
Yale (mom thought it'd 'be fun')
Notre Dame</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm just conjecturing, not making excuses. I maintain that for a lot of kids applying to Harvard (especially those looking at Gov as a major), Gtown is used as a match/safety.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Georgetown is not a match/safety for anyone. Pretty much no school in the top 25 can be considered as such. </p>
<p>I've met many a student here who turned down Harvard for programs in the SFS or the College. A friend of mine even turned down Harvard and Stanford for NHS.</p>
<p>"Hey, Jane! Have you heard about this college called Harvard? It was a really good government program named after some guy named John F. Kennedy"</p>
<p>"Well, that sounds swell. I'm really interested in government. Maybe I should check this school out."</p>
<p>Bah. Once again, no one applies to Harvard because it is "good" in something.</p>
<p>RyanOG, I don't know what your problem with Harvard is. Drummerdude is right, a lot of people who apply to Georgetown do apply to Harvard. Some people really like Harvard for more than the name (although I'm sure it has <em>some</em> influence). That being said Georgetown should never be classified as a match/safety. </p>
<p>And I didn't apply to Harvard, so don't tell me I'm making excuses too.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Bah. Once again, no one applies to Harvard because it is "good" in something.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That is a pretty sweeping statement. Care to justify it? Or is it just the conclusion of your generalizing from ten or so applicants to twenty thousand?</p>
<p>Here are the other schools I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Penn (Wharton)
Dartmouth
Brown
Williams
Duke
Tufts
Bowdoin
BC</p>
<p>And, while I am applying to most of the Ivies (including Harvard), Georgetown is still at the top of my list, and I'd go there over quite a few of my other choices, be they Ivy or not.</p>
<p>I don't have a problem with Harvard, but I think its a stretch to say people apply there because of the strength of a particular program. People that apply to the SFS or NHS school want to study something very specific. </p>
<p>That being said, I almost applied to Harvard (and I did apply to Yale and Princeton :D) but it's biggest attraction is the name, not the education (which IS good)</p>
<p>It seems like virtually everyone I know on campus applied to BC and Penn.</p>
<p>Harvard (government) was my top choice when I applied, with Georgetown trailing in a close second, so I do think that's a quite common match-up. One of my best friends turned down Harvard for the College. </p>
<p>I also applied to GW<em>, Yale and McGill</em> particularly for IR/I. Dev., as well as NYU<em>, Brown, Columbia, and Northwestern (history)</em>. </p>
<p>Ultimately I'd say I was deciding between Northwestern and Georgetown. My sister was in the same situation a few years previously, and we both chose Georgetown over Northwestern.</p>