Quadrilingual Chances @ SFS

Colleges & Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>I've recently become very interested in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and was wondering what my chances were/if any of y'all had any advice to help me with the application process. I am especially interested in the International Political Economy major.</p>

<p>North African male at competitive Seattle-area public school. I want to study something in the area of IR/Econ/Area Studies (ie mid-east studies) as well as maintaining at least one foreign language.</p>

<p>4.14 Weighted, ~3.67 Unweighted</p>

<p>I am currently fluent in four languages: English, Arabic, French, and Spanish (basic conversational fluency in Spanish--see my scores for a general idea).</p>

<p>SAT I:
2020
CR: 740 M: 610 W: 670 (retaking in october & actually studying this time)</p>

<p>SAT II:
740 Spanish 700 US History 690 Biology-E (will probably retake)</p>

<p>AP:
I will probably be in the top 3 or 4 or of my class in terms of number of AP classes taken, (out of a class of 350). Also, I will be the only student in recent memory at my school to have taken both AP Spanish and French Lit.</p>

<p>13 AP's by graduation, 15 tests (took Euro and French Lang w/o the classes)
French Lang: 5
French Lit: 5
English Lang: 5
English Lit: 4
World History: 5
Spanish Lang: 5
Spanish Lit:
US History: 4
Biology: 3
Photography: 4
Calc AB
Chemistry
US Government (not sure if this is the official name)
Comparative Gov (not sure if this is the official name)
Macro-Econ (maybe)</p>

<p>Achievements, etc.</p>

<p>NEWSPAPER</p>

<p>Chief Copy Editor and Political Columnist
 A 2006 Gold Crown publication, as designated by the Colombia Scholastic Press Association.
 Chief Copy Editor (2006-07)
 News Editor and Copy Editor (2005-06)
 Political Columnist (2005-06)
 Attendee, JEA/NSPA Journalism Conference in Seattle (April 2005)
 Assistant Opinion Editor and Political Columnist (2004-05)</p>

<p>DEBATE</p>

<p>I would list my debate awards here, but they are too long and won't mean much to you unless you do debate. Needless to say, I have three tournament titles, am ranked the 3rd returning debater on the west coast (according to NDR, an unofficial but extremely comprehensive ranking. again, for you debaters out there, I too am not a big fan of NDR but hey, if my ranking sounds good whatever)</p>

<p>President
 Treasurer (2003-04)
 Vice President (2004-05)
 Co-President (2005-06)
 Revived the debate program, turning my school into a regional powerhouse—the #1 ranked team in Washington state, with two debaters in the Varsity top five.
 Increased membership from 3-5 to 15 -20 competitors.
 Taught new students how to debate, spending at least 2 hours at twice-weekly meetings teaching and drilling new students.
 My novices have consistently appeared in late elimination rounds, including finals, at various tournaments in both JV and novice divisions.
 Wrote and submitted a PTSA grant for to hire a coach, arguing the critical value of debate in intellectual development. The PTSA committee, which usually does not distribute funds for contracted services (coaching) granted us $750 (March 2006).
 Spearheaded the creation of a team web-site, involving a blog for results and designing a tournament sign-up interface.
 Attendee, Victory Briefs Debate Institute at UCLA, Summer 2004 (Intermediate Varsity), Summer 2005 (Advanced Varsity), Summer 2006 (Top Lab)
Have a pretty good shot at being one of the 5 with TeamUSA @ World Tournament in Korea (I'm one of 20 accepted to the tryouts next week)</p>

<p>DECA</p>

<p>Competing in the Financial Analysis Decision Making Event:
 Placed in the Top 10 at the International Conference (Dallas, Texas) [over 13,000 total attendees/competitors from across North America]
 Washington State Champion
 Washington National Qualifier
 Regional Champion (Area IV)
 State Qualifier (Area IV)
 Superior Test Score Award (Area IV)</p>

<p>Arabic Independent Study:</p>

<p>I have been studying arabic on the weekends since 1st grade, since 9th grade i've been spending 6 hours a week (4 with tutor, 2 homework) studying at grade level, supplemented with some advanced college-level textbooks (I think they are Georgetown U. Press, message me if you want the complete citation)</p>

<p>PHOTOGRAPHY:</p>

<p>My work has been displayed at the largest shopping mall in the region this year and two years ago.</p>

<p>INTERNSHIP (last summer)
Library of Alexandria (<a href="http://www.bibalex.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.bibalex.org&lt;/a&gt;) - A UNESCO cultural institution
Alexandria, Egypt</p>

<p> Participant, Forum for Egyptian Democracy
 Digitized (scanned and OCRed) the official UNESCO history of the Library (English and French)
 Debuted the Library Special Collections programme, creating the first Special Collection to be placed on the Library website as an example for all those interested in creating their own special collection (mine documented the evolution of High School Lincoln-Douglas debate websites).
 International School for Information Science (ISIS) web site
- Edited the English version of the web site prior to publishing
- Translated into French
 Assisted in the curricular development of a Technical Writing course destined to become a requirement for 800 Library staff members.
 Edited, translated and wrote portions of the script for a promotional video regarding the Gamal Abdel Nasser Collection and the Description d'Egypte DVD, the first digital publication of the French body of research on Egypt dating from Napoleon’s campaign.</p>

<p>So there you have it (I am also taking up rowing, but that's another story)</p>

2

<p>I mean, I think you have to know that you have a pretty good chance. Especially because the languages you are studying and your area of interest (middle east) is what a lot of places like that are looking for. But besides all that you are a really strong individual. Best of luck</p>

3

<p>Are you an American citizen? You said you were North African that's why I ask.</p>

4

<p>i am a born citizen</p>

5

<p>As a current SFS student, I would like to say that the SFS at georgetown is very prestigious and has extremely high standards. Please think twice before applying. Perhaps the Georgetown College would be a better decision.</p>

6

<p>Zingmaster72's comments are obviously way out of line and need to be ignored.</p>

7

<p>i'm confused as to why zingmaster commented as he/she did. it makes no sense given ramses' obvious intelligence and skill</p>

8

<p>Exactly. It seems quite inappropriate.</p>

9

<p>I agree with most of the zingmaster's comments. The SFS is extremely prestigious, and it is what makes Georgetown such a reputable and respected institution. Although I am not a student in the SFS, I still admit that it is an amazing school. Just graduating from Georgetown is an honor, because almost all of the four schools within Georgetown are well known and held highly. There is a list of notable alumni that can be found at wikipedia.org. Georgetown really is a great option to consider. I would encourage ramses to apply to the SFS.</p>

10

<p>This thread has lost all value and should be entirely disregarded.</p>

11

<p>First of all, I am a she. I agree with Thunderbird, but would like to take his (her?) argument one step further. Georgetown would not be where it is today without the SFS. However, now that I take a second look at your language abilities, I believe you may be qualified. 3 languages is par for the course amongst my group of SFS-only acquaintances. 4 or more WILL set you apart, however.</p>

12

<p>Oh, great admitted SFS student. Is anyone else worthy of applying or should we all just give up now? Your wisdom is awe inspiring.</p>

13

<p>zingmaster's a tool.</p>

14

<p>I understand my GPA/SAT are pretty much marginal, no need to tell me that. Maybe I will end up applying to the college, who knows. Does SFS have the same 2nd chose option as Huntsman at Penn? ie can i check SFS but if they dont like me will they bump me down to the college?</p>

15

<p>hey sorry i was actually just writing those posts to mess with a georgetown friend who hates the SFS specifically because we have a reputation for being snooty. Your GPA and SATs are certainly not marginal and I personally think you would have a VERY good chance of getting into the SFS if that's waht you want. good luck sorry</p>

16

<p>and no, georgetown won't bump you down to the college if you dont get into SFS. A lot of people apply to the college and then transfer into SFS for that reason although transferring between schools is not super easy so that might not be the best idea.</p>

17

<p>lol no worries i dont really care even if you are serious. but thanks for the insight about the college versus SFS. how much more competitive is freshman admission to SFS than to the college?</p>

18

<p>It's definitely more competitive, but not rediculously more so. Georgetown in general is super competitive. They reject almost 50% of their #1 ranked applicants. Not top 1%, the #1 student in the class. That's kinda scary.</p>

19

<p>It is very competitive, but honestly, looking at the information you provided on this thread, you have a great chance of being admitted into the SFS. You certainly have the credentials and are the type of hard-working student they are looking for. Not only is the SFS competitive, but the college has a very low acceptance rate as well, due to the high volume of applicants (both schools are great choices). You should base your decision on what you are interested in studying and what you want to do eventually for a living.</p>