Non-Traditional Transfer - Georgetown, GWU

<p>Hello everyone-</p>

<p>This is my first post, so for starters, I wanted to say hi! There appears to be a wealth of information here, which is why I joined.</p>

<p>This post is a little long, but I would appreciate any help that could be offered.</p>

<p>I am 22 years old and just entered into my second year at a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. I am looking for a more challenging school that have strong political science and history departments. I have my eye on schools in D.C. because of the obvious ability for internships in the government. If possible, I would like to transfer in the spring semester or the fall at the latest.</p>

<p>I know colleges are always looking for diversity (not necessarily in race), but i'm not sure how much grades factor into the admissions decision for highly competitive colleges such as Georgetown and GWU. A quick background of my life: I did horrible in high school, failed several courses in my junior and senior year until I decided to call it quits. I dropped out, moved out of my parents house and went to New York to work for an internet company. I worked and lived in New York for about four years. I took my GED last year and passed it the first time (scores below) and then took my SAT's for the first time at age 21 and did about average (scores below).</p>

<p>High School:
Around 2.0-2.3 GPA (if I remember correctly)</p>

<p>GED:
Scoring info can be found by going here: <a href="http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ged/colladmissions.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ged/colladmissions.shtml&lt;/a>
Language Arts - Writing - 630
Social Studies - 550
Science - 530
Language Arts - Reading - 490
Mathematics - 480
Total - 2680</p>

<p>SAT's:
Critical Reading - 550
Math - 390
Writing - 560</p>

<p>College:
Fall Semester - 3.585
Spring Semester - 3.625</p>

<p>Given my life experience and my current GPA in college, what are my chances of getting into Georgetown or George Washington University? How much importance is put on a high school transcript and SAT scores for a transfer student in my position? If I couldn't get into these schools, what do you think I would need to improve in order to be accepted? Are there any other colleges you would recommend (preferably in the DC area) that would fit me better? I've also been looking at Catholic U and American as fallbacks.</p>

<p>georgetown - probably not good
gwu - you'd have to ask someone who knows better, i couldn't tell you</p>

<p>EDIT: I'll be a little more specific, to be honest, unless you have something really standout about you, georgetown is basically an impossibility, with your gpa you'd probably need to have 99th percentile SAT scores as well as really good ec's including internship or viable job experience, especially at your age.</p>

<p>dcjgtt,</p>

<p>I'm a non-traditional transfer student to Georgetown so don't despair just yet. I have a classmate who transfered into GU from CC with a GED. GU will definitely look at your HS and College GPA; hopefully your college GPA is from GE or difficult courses. But like elsijfdl said, you need to have a strong SAT score, at least a 1800/2400, with your College GPA, to be looked at.</p>

<p>I guess I am just trying to determine what would ultimately limit me in transferring to a competitive school. I know my record isn't great, but I believe that it shows improvement when comparing my HS transcript to my college transcript. </p>

<p>I always figured Georgetown was a longshot, but I am very interested in George Washington (they also allow spring transfers). Do you think I would be able to get in with my current GPA? Will my SAT scores really be a significant hindrance?</p>

<p>I know that the college I am at right now would have never accepted me on my HS transcript, GED scores, and SAT scores alone. They liked my essay and the fact that I was non-traditional.</p>

<p>I know every school is different in terms of the degree of difficulty, but here are the courses i've taken so far:</p>

<p>Fall: English Comp(A-), Medieval History(A), American Government(A-), Intro to Philosophy(A-)</p>

<p>Spring: International Politics(A), 20th Century History(B+), English Literature(A), Comparitive Religion - Judaism/Christianity/Islam(B+)</p>

<p>I have numerous character references and professors in the history and political science department who would recommend me.</p>

<p>you may want to look into american university more....they have a fairly high transfer acceptance rate, and i've heard they are great with internships</p>

<p>Hi dc,
Like you I'm a non-trad. transfer because I took time off from university to work and I'll be 21 (and turning 22 in october) of the year I enroll (i'm 20 at the moment). Georgetown doesn't allow spring transfers but you might look at taking the ACT's as georgetown accepts it as well as SAT's and for some people it is easier (true for me). Like you, I'm hoping my essays non trad. experience will help but we will see</p>