why was I rejected?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

<p>I was quite shocked by my rejection from Georgetown's SFS... I'd have liked study international relations at George, and I had (it'd seem foolishly now) thought that my stats were good enough. I'm not bitter, but I am curious as I what did me in.... I'd appreciate your input. Thanks!</p>

<p>Here's my stats I posted on another forum:</p>

<p>
[quote]
------------School/GPA--------------</p>

<p>The worst part of my application is my GPA. Officially, as calculated by my school, it's 3.83 (doesn't seem that bad, does it?). This is misleading, really, as it only covers my Gr 11 grades (which were five A's and one B). My grade 10 marks were significantly worse (one B and one C), and my grade 9 grades are abysmal (A are most definitely in the minority). And to clarify, when I say "A", I mean 86 or above and "B" 73 or above, which is the scale used by my school. Therefore, my gr 11 and 12 grades, which are mostly in the high 80's or low 90's, qualifies as "A's".</p>

<p>-------------APs----------------</p>

<p>self-studied 4 in Gr 11: USH(5), Calculus AB (4), Macro (4), Micro (4)</p>

<p>I am taking AP Chem this year</p>

<p>-------- SAT Subject Tests--------</p>

<p>USH 740
Math II 800</p>

<p>------ SAT Reasoning Tests---------</p>

<p>Superscore is 2310/2400 (800W 760R 750M), 1510/1600</p>

<p>------------Extra Curriculars----------</p>

<p>~300hr volunteer hours
great reference letter</p>

<p>President of Debate, History, and Economics clubs
Was a remember of various clubs from time to time (chess, science competition, technology, etc...)</p>

<p>Hosted a discussion forum in a Parliamentary election. I was quite involved personally.</p>

<p>------- Others ---------</p>

<p>I'm taking 2 university courses - one 2nd year course in Poli Sci and one 1st year course in Philosophy</p>

<p>International Applicant (Canadian)

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>well my best guess is your GPA. Your grades are indeed quite low and furthermore, SFS is probably a very desirable school for Canada’s international applicants. So you were competing with the best from your country (versus best from each state within US) and your GPA is a sore spot.</p>

3

<p>It is impossible for any of us to tell you what happened. Maybe it was the grades, maybe it wasn’t. There really isn’t any way to know what happened in their committee. So as frustrating as it is, try not to obsess. On the upside, you clearly have a number of accomplishments and as such should look forward to acceptances from plenty of other great institutions.</p>

4

<p>umm you do know that the GPA is perhaps the most important aspect of your app? my gpa was pretty low too (3.79ish) and i got waitlisted. i was actually expecting a rejection, but i guess my good interview helped?</p>

<p>the fact taht an 86+ is an A in your school doesnt help your case either</p>

5

<p>What happened to you is that many very qualified applicants applied for each slot. Therefore, many very qualified applicants, just like you, were rejected. There just are not enough slots for all the wonderfully qualified people. You haven’t fallen short in anyway. The number of slots fell short.</p>

6

<p>well, the 86=A standard is a province-wide policy here in Canada. It’s not grade inflation (if only I could make adcoms see that). Teachers mark accordingly, and some teachers (especially humanities) don’t give out marks over 86. They since an A is an A.</p>

7

<p>now consider that it is standard for an A to be either a 90 or a 93 in the US. And consider that a lot of the applicants had 3.90+ unweighted GPA’s. Can you now see why the committee ruled the way it did?</p>

8

<p>well, I suppose it’s the GPA then… Oh well. I wonder how I got into Berkeley then.</p>

9

<p>perhaps Berkeley saw you for the promising student that you are despite the moderate GPA. Anyway, stressing over it will only subtract from your life expectancy so forget about GTown and celebrate your acceptance into other great institutions!</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>This is very true,
you can have the highest GPA, highest test scores, greatest recs, and exemplary essays and still get rejected.
My test scores weren’t that great, but I still got in!
This is proof that the admissions process is a holistic review, everything is looked at, interview, scores, gpa, essays, etc.</p>

11

<p>I like how I don’t get into Gtown’s SFS but I get into Columbia <em>_</em></p>

<p>im happy bout columbia but confused…mayb i rushed my essay? </p>

<p>but i had 95 uw/ 102 w GPA, 2140 SAT, ranked 7 in my class, top female student, top Hispanic student</p>

<p>wth?</p>

12

<p>how do you know your Columbia decisions?</p>

13

<p>^ Georgetown gets a lot of Hispanic applicants, due to its being a Catholic and Jesuit school. Just about every top kid in Puerto Rico applies the Georgetown for example. So being a high achieving Latina probably carries more weight at Columbia than Georgetown. Plus SFS is just really hard to get into, especially if you don’t have any “international” hooks.</p>

14

<p>could you please further elaborate on “international hooks” please?</p>

15

<p>HEY MARICELAG…I THINK GTOWN IS ********…</p>

<p>I was a hispanic also, with a 2270, top 3% in class, 800,770,760,730 SAT II’s, and decent ec’s and was flat out rejected…</p>

16

<p>^ it’s because they know that you are not going to attend and that you considered Georgetown like your safety and obviously Ivy leagues are going to give you an acceptance. BigWeight you know you have already a lot of great schools under your belt. it looks like this process it’s a game for you counting how many schools you can win!</p>

17

<p>not true…wut about me i had allt he great credentials and not one ivy league and all the great schools accpeted me. i was waitlisted to have of em. so dont say that bull that gtown knows which schools you got accpeted and htye know your not gonna go. i had all the same credintials and still rejected and i woulda gone to gtown in a heartbeat. its all bs…you cant predict these college admissions people. i know people with 1200’s on their SAT getting into their schools. they sometimes dont pick the most qualified students but based on this affirmitative action bs…how is this not rascist. Instead of picking the most qualified individuals they pick based on factors none of us can control.</p>

18

<p>I am very sorry you feel this way. Feel free to let it all out. You are entitled to do so. In the end, those who deserve to succeed do and those who don’t, don’t. Don’t despair.</p>

19

<p>I got accepted early with 3.7 GPA, 2150 SAT, 800-760-720 SAT II’s, and 5-5-5-4 AP’s, but I also interned at a congressman’s office and completed a summer course at georgetown. I have a feeling that admissions to all the top schools this year was a coin flip. I also got into Stanford and Princeton RD but not Berkeley or UCLA.</p>