Preparation

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm really interested in Georgetown University and hope to apply there when I am a senior. Currently, I am a freshman and taking these classes:
Algebra 1
Honors Biology
Italian 1
Theology
Honors Global Studies
Art 2
Honors English
Over the summer I'd like to take French or Arabic as well and build on them every year. I'm a part of newspaper, art club, girls club (for helping build the intellectual, social, etc in everyone of us), CSF, NHS, and did cross country in the fall. Outside of school I do many extracurriculars in terms of other sports (Irish Dance & volleyball), service projects (working with the elderly; tutoring for underprivileged kids; and a teacher's aide for CDD at my church), and I am a Girl Scout. I go to a Catholic high school as well and last semester made the Dean's List (3.5-4.0) and had a GPA of a 4.1. This semester I have about a 4.2 almost as 4.3.
Does this look good? Is there anything I should be doing? I hope to be on 11th grade council and start the Key Club next year as well. I want to go into International Relations and do the Gtown summer camp for International Relations.
Can a current Georgetown student tell me what classes I should take, extracurriculars, or an gaps I'm missing? Thanks! </p>

<p>*Weighted GPA^</p>

<p>Calculate your unweighted GPA first. Weighted ones are literally 0 help. </p>

<p>I’m not a GU student yet (I got in EA), but here’s my advice.</p>

<p>Your academic stats so far are pretty standard for GU. Keep those up and you’ll be fine in that respect.</p>

<p>With regards to extracurriculars…those are great, but nothing pops out. You want to be the kind of applicant that stands out from the pile. Think about it: there are tons of applicants that can be described as “the Girl Scout” or “the volleyball player” or “the Key Clubber”. Unless you have some kind of hook (POC, low-income, legacy, recruited athlete), it will be hard to get in the way things stand right now. Luckily, you’re still a freshman, so there’s lots of time to decide which ones to keep. :^) </p>

<p>You don’t have to have a ton of extracurricular activities to get in. In fact, it looks kinda iffy if you are a member of 9754826 clubs but don’t have a leadership role in any of them. From my own experience, having 3-5 activities that you’re super-invested in is a much better - and more manageable - strategy. When I was about your age, I read How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. It got me thinking about my priorities and interests. Although I didn’t do anything as cool as writing a best-selling book, I got to do other stuff like hang out with the First Lady and some Cabinet members on multiple occasions as a result of my ECs.</p>

<p>Also, I’d recommend not doing the GU summer camp unless you <em>really, really, really</em> want to do it and can afford it. Most of those types of programs don’t provide any admissions boost. You can get in without attending, and you can get rejected after attending. I would suggest doing a study-abroad program like NSLI-Y. Although it’s super-competitive, the cost is covered by the U.S. government, so it’s worth a shot!</p>

<p>Good luck in high school!</p>

<p>Okay thank you every much! I’ve heard that before find your passion, so if I wanted to go into the Walsh School of Foreign Service, I should join the Multicultural Club and drop like girls club? I’m passionate about art and newspaper so I wouldn’t drop those. Do you have any idea how I could stand out more? Like doing service trips (which I want to do, but I wasn’t able to do this year) any ideas? What did you do?</p>

<p>My school got it wrong I had a 4.2 (weighted) and a 3.9 (unweighted) for the first semester. </p>

<p>Hi, I was just accepted RD. I live in Australia, but I’m an American citizen. I was actually super surprised to get in, but I can let you know some of the extracurriculars I did.
Dance - I’ve done my whole life and love, I also won a national championship with my team which may have helped
Theatre- I’ve also done it my whole life and had lots of lead roles as well as helped write and choreograph school productions.
Creative Writing - always done it. Started a creative writing group at my school which grew into lit mag - I was editor-in-chief (editor-in-chief of yearbook too in Year 12, first yearbook at my school)
Singing - Years 9-12 senior choir member
School COuncil - helped to found the school council at my school
Gymnastics - up until year 10
Gymnastics Coach </p>

<p>More SFS specific things I did
French Exchange - I think this is probably a big plus for SFS both for admission and for actually preparing you for the course. I was overseas for 3 months. I actually did terribly on my French SAT II, but I got a 7 on my IB french exam so that maybe made up for it
I started a French Club at my school in Year 11 with a friend and we tutored others for exchange
I’m a UNICEF United Advocate and started a UNICEF Club at my school which raised $2,800
I’ve also done other volunteer work with my Church Youth Group (not Catholic, and I specified my religion - Episcopalian, on my app)
I also think my SFS essay was pretty strong, I’m a very political person and enjoy creative problem solving. I wrote about poverty in the first world</p>

<p>Best of Luck! I hope this is helpful - just remember that admissions are a bit of a lottery, I as waitlisted at one of my safeties</p>

<p>Oh okay thank you so much!</p>

<p>Could I get some more advice from others as well? Thanks</p>

<p>Secretary of Sophomore class student council now</p>

<p>4.34 GPA now for second semester of freshman year</p>

<p>Weighted </p>

<p>It’s simply too early for any of this to matter. I wasn’t even set on Georgetown until fall of senior year. Don’t post again until you’ve taken SAT/ACT, because right now you’re probably letting “What are my Chances?” get you down.</p>