What are my chances at Georgetown?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

Another one of these!

Okay, so I’m currently a junior in high school and plan on applying to Georgetown Early Action for the Fall 2019 semester.
Ideally, I’d want to go to SFS, but I know how competitive it is and I honestly just very recently (earlier this year, really) became interested in the field of international relations and affairs so my extracurriculars don’t reflect what SFS would be looking for (activities such as model UN I guess?).

I’m white, female, come from an upper-middle class family. I go to a fairly highly ranked public school.

Unweighted GPA: 3.71
Weighted GPA: 4.15
Class Rank: 96/1154 (2nd 5%)

SAT: 1380 (I know this is low. It’s the first one I’d taken, back in March, and I plan on going hardcore on the studying this summer and am also taking a prep course in early August for the August 25 SAT where I plan to aim for at least a 1500)
Math II Subject Test: 780
I’m taking the Physics and Literature Subject Tests on October 6th)

Extracurriculars/Volunteering/etc.:
-National Art Honors Society (freshman year)
-UNICEF (sophomore-present) ~50hrs or so

-I work at a tutoring place as an Office Assistant 8 hours a week during the school year (since December of 2017). I will also work three weeks over the summer (40 hrs/week) and will continue to work throughout senior year.
-I’ve been babysitting since sophomore year (spring 2017) but is this worth putting on an application? I currently sit for 4 families in my neighborhood.

-20hrs from volunteering as a leader in training (junior counselor) for our local church’s week long summer camp.
-I’ll begin volunteering at a local children’s art museum this summer as a camp counselor and exhibit monitor, and will do this throughout senior year as well. I plan to gain at least 150 hours from this by the time I graduate.

-a painting of mine was displayed in our local library as part of a teen art show freshman year
-last year (as part of a class project) I, along with three other friends, developed an app for our school (nothing impressive, just using code.org )
-participated in a coding competition at FIU with a couple of my classmates

This summer I’m also taking a dual enrollment class at our local community college for Discrete Mathmatics

AP Classes:
-AP Human Geo (freshman)
-AP Comp Sci A ( sophomore)
-AP Lang (jr)
-AP Calc AB (jr)
-AP Calc BC (jr)
-AP Physics 1 (jr)

Plan to take senior year:
-AP Lit
-AP Gov (half credit) and AP Comparitive Gov (half credit)
-AP Micro (half credit) and AP Macro (half credit)
-AP Comp Sci Principles
-AP Physics 2
-AP Stats (soft maybe, will drop if I end up doing dual enrollment for Differential Equations)

Our school also offers AICE classes which are like AP but from Cambridge, of which I’ve taken three so far (Thinking Skills AS Level, General Papar, and Computer Science AS Level)

Please hit me with a reality check. Would it be worth it to apply to SFS or should I just try for Georgetown college? Despite my lack of history in foreign service related work, I am VERY interested and passionate about pursuing that field. If I attend SFS I’ve already decided I want to major in STIA (1) or IPOL (2), that is if could get in to Georgetown at all… look at me, I’ve already gotten my hopes up. Please hit me with a reality check.

2

EA is not an admissions boost at Georgetown (they are specific about this). Of course, no reason not to do it - unless there is someplace else that is SCEA that you really want & where it would boost your chances).

3

Yeah, I’m only applying EA to Gtown because they don’t deny at EA. All other schools on my list either deny or only offer early decision, which I wouldn’t be able to do anyway bc of Gtown’s EA restrictions. Also I wanted another semester to get more service hours and other accomplishments under my belt

4

The fact that you are passionate about IR and can offer specifics will do more to boost you than the standard MUN/campaign internships that people have, IMO. It’s hard to articulate why Georgetown specifically would be a good fit, so if you can show that passion, especially through the SFS supplemental app, that’s good. GPA and SAT scores are a bit low, so try and bring them up as much as you can. If you haven’t taken the other two subject tests yet, it might be worth it to take more SFS-related ones like US History or World History, to help fill in the IR-related gap in your ECs. Although to be fair, UNICEF volunteering and service work does work well as ECs. What’s most important though is to structure your app in a way where you seem to be a candidate that would fit strongly within SFS by demonstrating your IR passion.

Considering how interested you seem in the arts, have you looked into the CULP major? Culture and Politics is kind of a build-your-own major where you get to concentrate in something that isn’t as conventional like IPOL security. Maybe there’s something I don’t see or know, but based on your app, I could see a reason to pursue STIA and CULP, not IPOL. Of course, that doesn’t matter much for the app, since you won’t declare your major until the end of sophomore year, but it’s something to think about.

5

Huh, I actually hadn’t considered the CULP major. I definately like the idea of more flexibility, and the more I look at the major the more interested I am. Thanks :slight_smile:

Also, when you say I schould demonstrate my passion through the supplemental app, do you mean the SFS specific essay? I think Georgetown releases their app in early June so I guess I’ll see then but right now I’m not familiar with what the SFS supplement app is comprised of. Is there a section, separate from the essay, to express this?

6

Based on this years experience it’s a high reach for you. You never know of course. But literally hundreds of students with higher stats than yours were rejected and waitlisted. I would suggest go to the the Georgetown ea and ed threads. And go to the last several pages when results came out and compare your profile to give you a sense of the competition and results. But as long as you don’t get your hopes up too high for any school it’s worth a try. And you could write prolific and sincere essays that get you over the finish line. Also i did notice students who did special things related to foreign languages did get in. I e self taught myself German and did an ec to work with a German related Or Arabic. Chinese etc.

7

@privatebanker picked up a point that a lot of applicants don’t recognize about SFS: they take foreign language skills very seriously. Real proficiency in 2 or more languages is valued more there than most places (even better if it’s a less common language).

8

@igiveup66 I don’t think the supplemental question changes from year to year. The SFS one is: “Briefly discuss a current global issue, indicating why you consider it important and what you suggest should be done to deal with it. (approximately one page single-spaced).” This is more of an opportunity to demonstrate that you have area knowledge and are passionate about world events. It’s not a research paper, but rather a way for them to understand how you think about current events.

The previous posts bring up a very good point: language is valued highly at Georgetown, especially in the SFS. Do you take a language/have some kind of language proficiency? Also, what state are you from? Certain states have more applicants, so that can impact things as well.

9

@masquerade98 oh I see, yeah I remember reading that prompt on prepscholar I think it was. I had been a bit wary on how to approach that question but this has helped.

I’ve taken three years of Spanish, but “proficient” might be a bit of a stretch haha. I’d say I’m passable though, like if I were by myself in a Latin country I’d probably be able to make my way around through stunted conversation and improper verb conjugations. It’s not the most unique language though. I live in south Florida and all of most of my friends are fluent in it (their first language in many cases). I was planning on taking introductory Russian the second semester of my senior year through dual enrollment, though that’s after applications and wouldn’t be nearly enough time to reach proficiency. I guess I could state my intent to take the class if that counts for anything. Probably couldn’t hurt.

10

@igiveup66 Interest in a language, even if you haven’t started, should count for something. Don’t worry about the uniqueness of languages too much–admissions understands that not everyone gets the chance to study abroad in Jordan or do service work in India. Do you plan on continuing Spanish in college? Or are you thinking of studying Russian instead?

11

@masquerade98 yeah definately Russian. I’ve been looking into it and either minoring in Russian or getting a certificate in ‘Eurasian, Russian, and Eastern European Studies’ seems like something I’d like to do. Also hopefully studying abroad there for a semester? If given the opportunity? Who knows yet tbh.

12

@igiveup66 Those specifics are things that you should definitely try to work into your essays/interviews. Sidenote: Russian’s a fun language to learn at Georgetown… it’s an intensive, 6 credit class that meets 6 times a week with two professors.

13

@masquerade98 awesome, I’ll definately keep that in mind during the interview and application process! Thanks!