SFS and general Georgetown questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>Hey everybody,
I'm going to be a senior in a week and I've been looking into a lot of colleges lately and trying to decide on Early Action or Early Decision schools. :) I think I've got it narrowed down to Georgetown and Yale (lol I hope I don't sound too presumptuous because honestly I'm a nervous wreck!), which are both Early Action schools. This is great because I know I can apply to both but I'm not sure as to which one I should go for in the Early Action program. </p>

<p>I'd like to work in publishing, foreign service (CIA, State Dept, etc), or perhaps marketing/finance in the future. To keep this post brief, I'll list what I like about Gtown and then some of my questions and uncertainties--</p>

<p>I am Super Happy With: </p>

<p>-located in Washington D.C. so students can apply for internships that run during the school year</p>

<p>-the SFS; great foreign service school </p>

<p>-the MSB; great business school for undergraduates (is it possible to list intentions/apply for them both in your application?) </p>

<p>-located in a city</p>

<p>Questions and Concerns: </p>

<p>-To be honest, one of the great attractions of Yale (other than a very stimulating conversation with an alumnus) is its financial aid for families earning less than $120,000 (that is, the 10% tuition). How is Gtown's financial aid for families earning around that number/somewhat higher than that number? I don't mind being on work-study or anything, but government and publishing work does not pay very well, and I don't want my parents to have it too hard (I have a younger sister too) </p>

<p>-What's the atmosphere like at Gtown? Competitive, close-knit, party, bookish? </p>

<p>-How are the liberal arts? </p>

<p>-Are there tennis intramurals? What exactly are club sports? </p>

<p>-Does graduating from Gtown make things better come job-finding time? </p>

<p>-The website indicates that Early Action does not advantage the applying student. Is this genuinely true? </p>

<p>-Is the Study Abroad program awesome?</p>

<p>-How's the food?</p>

<p>Thanks guys!!</p>

2

<p>You apply to the specific college you're interested in in the application. You can't really double major across schools, and in fact the degree to which you can cross-register for classes is almost annoyingly limited (They have very different distribution requirements anyway).</p>

<p>As far as FA, understand that Georgetown is broke. They will meet your EFC, and that's it. If you're income is so high (and make no mistake, your income makes you part of a distinctly privileged group), you probably shouldn't expect much aid. Sorry.</p>

<p>As far as the atmosphere at Georgetown, I probably can't say too much, having not been here long. But I personally was surprised at the prevalence of the culture of drinking. That being said, people constantly reassure that there's something for everyone, and I've managed to make good friends with the others on my floor that avoid the drinking scene.</p>

<p>What do you mean by the liberal arts? Do you have a specific program you're curious about?</p>

<p>Couldn't tell you about intramural/club sports, although I would bet there is for something as mainstream as Tennis. (EDIT: looks like there is club tennis: Georgetown</a> University Club Tennis )</p>

<p>Making things "better" is a relative term. Compared to Yale? In what discipline?</p>

<p>Applying EA doesn't provide much advantage. The acceptance rate is the same for EA & RD. Since the EA pool is generally considered stronger than RD at most universities, EA doesn't provide all that much advantage, aside from knowing early. You honestly might be better off applying to Yale where SCEA creates a greater impression of interest.</p>

3

<p>Hi! I am a freshman at Georgetown right now, so I will try to help you.</p>

<p>Firstly, you cannot apply to more than one school (SFS and MSB). You can only choose one on your application, but it is possible to transfer once you are in to one or the other if you decide that it's not for you.</p>

<p>Questions and Concerns:</p>

<p>
[quote]
-To be honest, one of the great attractions of Yale (other than a very stimulating conversation with an alumnus) is its financial aid for families earning less than $120,000 (that is, the 10% tuition). How is Gtown's financial aid for families earning around that number/somewhat higher than that number? I don't mind being on work-study or anything, but government and publishing work does not pay very well, and I don't want my parents to have it too hard (I have a younger sister too)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I personally don't know too much about this as my family made well under that number so I got a great aid package (paid $1500 of my own money for first semester's tuition, room/board, fees). Need-based aid can suck if you don't show a huge need, but it worked out for me because I did. The good thing is that they DO guarantee to meet 100% of your need...your issue will just be how much they decide you need! Generally your FAFSA will give you a good idea of that, my EFC from FAFSA was almost dead on what G-town said.</p>

<p>
[quote]
-What's the atmosphere like at Gtown? Competitive, close-knit, party, bookish?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Georgetown is what you want it to be, and even though that sounds so corny and dumb it's definitely true. I don't find that it's super-competitive, because even though these people were really competitive in high school, they are slowly learning that they aren't the best in their school any more and they're learning to calm down. I would say that we are close-knit; once you are a Hoya, you're a Hoya for life. People who go here are really excited to go to Georgetown and to be part of this family. Georgetown's saying is Work Hard, Play Hard, and they definitely follow this. There's always a party if you want to go...many many upperclassmen live in university-owned townhouses right outside the campus gates, and there is always a party there or at somebody's apartment in the city. I haven't been to any personally but they're there if you want to go. Then again, there isn't pressure to go and there are plenty of non-alcohol related events on campus at night...like Club Lau, a dance club held in the library! (Lauinger library, hence the name)</p>

<p>
[quote]
-How are the liberal arts?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No experience with that, sorry!</p>

<p>
[quote]
-Are there tennis intramurals? What exactly are club sports?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yes, I believe there are. Don't know much about them other than I think they exist. Club sports just play for fun pretty much, and are not like varsity sports. If there is a varsity sport for it, there is probably a club sport too here (ultimate frisbee? yes).</p>

<p>
[quote]
-Does graduating from Gtown make things better come job-finding time?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Um, I guess this is kind of subjective, and since I haven't graduated or been job-hunting I don't really know, but I have been told (from former SFS students) that some local jobs will come to the SFS and say, this job is open for a week ONLY to SFS students, and after that we open it to everyone. So the SFS (the other schools as well I just don't have any experience with them) is known for being at the top of its class especially here in DC with government and private sector jobs in IR-related fields.</p>

<p>
[quote]
-The website indicates that Early Action does not advantage the applying student. Is this genuinely true?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Technically yes. I don't really know because it all comes down to hearsay pretty much. What I would say is an advantage is, if you get in you know in December, which is amazing to have that one place you know you can go if nowhere else!</p>

<p>
[quote]
-Is the Study Abroad program awesome?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I believe it's very good. I think somewhere like 70% of students in the SFS study abroad? And the number for the whole college is really high as well. I do know that in study abroad they are very serious. You must take a language placement test in the language of that country and if you test high enough, you MUST do a direct-matriculation program, meaning you can't do an english-speaking program. They don't want you fooling around.</p>

<p>
[quote]
-How's the food?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's great! Meal plans work on an all-you-can-eat basis once you swipe your card on the way in. I have 14-meals a week plan and you get $75 flex dollars to use at any of the venues on campus: coffee shops, Subway, Taco Bell, etc. In the actual cafeteria they always have pizza, great salad bar, taco bar, cold-cuts/sandwich bar and a panini maker, waffle maker at breakfast, and then rotating specials. Like they had General Tso's chicken the other day, which was good, or grilled Mahi Mahi. They have a vegetarian station, too, which I actually eat off of and I'm not vegetarian lol!</p>

<p>I hope that answers some concerns at least....</p>

4

<p>With its huge number of applicants Yale doesn't care about indications of interest. Their adcoms also say that SCEA doesn't confer any advantage and that the higher % admission reflects a stronger pool for SCEA than RD, especially as it includes recruited athletes, "development" candidates (i.e.children of big contributors or potential contributors) etc. The downside of Yale is that, by definition, if you select SCEA you cannot apply early elsewhere; other colleges may not be so restrictive, giving you the potential advantage of being able to apply EA to various colleges and thereby enhance your likelihood of having admissions in your pocket by December from colleges you really want.</p>

5

<p>@tlesc: thank you so much! it was very informative. Club Lau sounds great too rofl</p>

<p>And by "better", I meant job offers and expected income for MSB graduates; tlesc answered my question about SFS. By the way DCforMe, I think you should join Club Lau, sounds like your kind of people...and really, you don't sound at all happy in your post and mention mostly the things that irk you. Does this mean you are not pleased with Georgetown and indeed DC is NotforMe? --in good humor.</p>

<p>Also, about Yale, I forget the exact numbers of applicants for RD, but for EA Yale it was 4,900 with 18% and just 5% for RD applicants. I feel like EA does confer some leeway, if only not-too-many-applications-fatigue </p>

<p>Thanks for all your input everyone !</p>

6

<p>Ah, I forgot to include this; in relation to the liberal arts, I'm curious about what the humanities courses (philosophy, history, English) are like. Are they small and discussion-centered? Or large and mostly lectures? And how are the professors? The workload?</p>

7

<p>Sorry to beat a dead horse, but it sounds like you missed my point. I have heard that SCEA tends to be a stronger pool and, in any event, is loaded with people with special "hooks" that may not appear in the RD round..hence the "higher" admissions rate reflects stronger pool,not better odds for the unhooked applicant.</p>

8

<p>Hey caleno,
no problem, I did read about that on Yale's site (heh, it doesn't sound like it eh? I'm the one beating the dead horse) but then I went to this thread: </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/552959-does-yale-early-action-actually-help.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/552959-does-yale-early-action-actually-help.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and the comments it spawned made me think otherwise. But I guess in conclusion, the answer is that SCEA and EA do not confer any advantage, although ED does, but since these two schools are my favorites, I should just visit either of the schools and research as much as I can and go with the pointy compass of attraction. </p>

<p>And by "hook" do you just mean better grades and essays and stuff? :)</p>

<p>Thank you for all your help!</p>