<p>I go to a public school but I'm set on applying to Georgetown. I read threads of teens who go to private schools and have ap classes and IB courses. My school doesn't offer all that. We only have about 8 AP courses and I'm only taking 4. We have no IB. I volunteer at an animal shelter. Does this lower my chances of standing out or getting in?</p>
<p>A college takes into account the availability of offerings at your high school. </p>
<p>It is my theory that a candidate going to an expensive private high school actually needs stronger credentials to be admitted than a kid from a public school, because they know the private school kid had many more advantages and should have higher scores, etc. For example, the private school kid probably had school staff carefully editing their application and essays, vs. the public school student may not have even seen his guidance counselor. </p>
<p>The private school also probably had many intense test prep sessions, vs. the public school often has minimal offerings. After all, many people pay outrageous amounts of private school tuition mainly to get their kid into a selective college. If they don’t emphasize admissions counseling and test prep, the parents wonder why they are paying all that money.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Georgetown now, and I came from a public school. I don’t think it lowers your chances at all. The admissions office knows that each school is different and as long as you are taking a rigorous schedule for your high school they will not look at your application poorly. Also, it might seem like there are a lot of kids going to private schools, there are an equal number of people coming from public schools just like yours. Don’t worry, and good luck!</p>
<p>i second what charlieschm and hoya34 said; they do take into account what your school offers/its rigor, its one of the responsibilities of the regional counselors. just do your best :)</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>In a perfect world, your application would be looked at on its own individual merits. Provided that, in that harsh light, it has legs, then you will fare quite well in the admissions process. Georgetown is great at figuring out opportunities students had available to them, and the degree to which they exploited them. </p>
<p>Now 4/8 is only 50%, so to be frank, that doesn’t look too fantastic. I mean, unless that includes every advanced foreign language (which generally one can only take one or two), Georgetown’s adcom may have a difficult time understanding why you have not taken two or three more. To them, the percentage of AP’s taken/Available is a major, major tool in their arsenal, and it allows them to evaluate your rigor in a quick and easy mechanism.</p>
<p>However, AP’s do not necessarily equate to a difficult rigor. Scoring well on AP’s is crucial as well, because that shows them you understand the material well-enough on a national basis. Again, there are AP Stats about every school, and they have access to this, so if your scores do stand out from the herd, that is a good thing.</p>
<p>Essentially, the point of this entire, long-winded post is to say that there are an awful lot of factors that go into deciding applications, especially at a Top 20 school such as Georgetown. By knowing that you attend a public high school and have taken 4/8 AP’s available to you really tells us very little about who YOU are, and inherently, why Georgetown should admit you. </p>
<p>If you’ve done well, you definitely have a very good shot at Georgetown, but be aware that they are going to look over every part of your application with a fine-toothed comb to glean as much information about your home and school lives as they possibly can, so there are a lot of factors which are called into play in this process.</p>