Question for G'town Students!!

<p>Well, if you have any idea and aren't a student, I'd still appreciate an answer.</p>

<p>I've been hearing a lot of talk about applicants declaring an under-populated major on their app's to boost their chances, then transferring after acceptance to their major of choice, is this actually do-able??? And I guess more importantly, is this advisable?? I plan on applying to SFS which I know is the most competitive school at G'town, so would it actually be realistic for me to apply to something like...Spanish language, or would that be way too risky? Any guidance on this from experienced people would be greatly appreciated, thanks!</p>

<p>I strongly advise AGAINST taking any shortcuts.</p>

<p>The admissions office has been doing this for years, they're not dumb, they can tell (in most cases) if a student is interested in the major or not. And in most cases what major you declare won't really make a difference (unless it's Arabic or something like that). It's just for them to get a general idea, I don't it will make a significant difference to your application.</p>

<p>Secondly, SFS is possibly the hardest school to transfer into due to requirements and everything. You might have to take summer classes or stay an extra semester just to graduation. Not worth it if you miss out on recruiting season.</p>

<p>Bottom line, apply to the school you want, don't bet your academic career on being able to transfer intra school. My take if you get into Georgetown, you'll have a great experience! If you want to do something international, outside of the SFS, there is still IR and GOV in the COL (which are taught by SFS profs and taken by both COL, SFS, MSB, and NHS kids).</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>i second that, the sfs is really specialized and you should apply there, esp if it caters to your strengths.</p>

<p>The admissions rates between the schools are all very close, and only vary by a few percentage points, so it's not going to give you an advantage to apply to the College over the SFS (the college actually tends to have a slightly lower admission rate than the SFS). Plus, if you want to transfer schools, you have to wait until you've completed your entire freshman year, which will most likely put you behind with credits and core requirements.</p>

<p>Say you wanted to major in International Health in NHS. Could you minor in something in SFS such as science, technology, and international affairs?</p>

<p>Science, Technology & International Affairs (or STIA as we call it) is available as a minor to all undergrads who are science majors or are working to complete all the pre-medical requirements. I'm not sure if IHealth qualifies as a science, but if you want to go to med school, you can do both. </p>

<p>Just note that IHealth and STIA can be rather similar (there's an IHealth track in the STIA major, for example). It might be more worthwhile to minor in Government or something that will give you a broader background rather than the specialized STIA courses.</p>