Chances and Questions about George Washington University

Colleges & Universities George Washington University
1

I’m a rising junior.

  • GPA: 3.83 (weighted)
  • Rank: 46 out of 396
  • SAT I: I have never taken them, but I am reaching for a 1950-2000
  • Sophomore Classes: AP US History, Honors Precalculus, Honors Global Studies, Spanish II, Honors Chemistry, Honors English (and band and gym/health)
  • Junior Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, Honors Calculus, Honors Biology, Honors Spanish 3, Honors English, Band
  • Senior Honors and APs (hopefully): AP Bio, AP US Gov, AP Lit, Honors Organic Chemistry, Honors Physics, Honors Spanish 4
  • Made the school's distinguished honor roll all 8 marking periods

Extracurriculars:

  • Speech and Debate Team (10th) [Tournament Chair in Sophomore Year]*
  • Marching Band (9th-11th) [Drill Leader, Co-Secretary of Band Council starting 11th grade]*
  • Concert/Symphonic Band (9th-11th)*
  • Jazz Band (10th)
  • Library Council (10th-11th)* [service club]
  • Pit for Spring Musical (9th-10th)
  • Model UN (10th-11th)*
  • Tri-M Music Honor Society (10th-11th)*
  • Track and Field Team (9th-11th)*
  • means I want to continue participating in these until senior year

Service:

  • obtaining 100 hours this summer at the hospital
  • I hope to continue volunteering throughout the next two years

Future plans:

  • Apply to be in National Honor Society
  • Apply to be in the National Spanish Honor Society
  • Join the Optimist Club
  • Participate in the Rotary Speech contests

Concerns/Questions:

  • My GPA is pretty low when it comes to these GW’s standards. I wanted to take challenging courses earlier on, but as a result, my class rank is not as high. I want to continue to take harder classes but work harder to maintain a higher GPA.
  • Should I take SAT Subject Tests? We’ve never really talked about them at our school, but I see a lot of people taking them on this website.
  • Should I take both the old and new SAT (coming up this spring)?
  • I am worried about how my constant joining and dropping out of extracurriculars looks. I joined a lot of them this year and quit some to keep up with school (and partially because I lost interest). Will this affect my application?
  • My intended major is public health. People have said that colleges want to see that your extracurriculars should reflect your major, but mine really don’t. For Model UN, I hope to join the World Health Organization, and in Speech and Debate, I plan to do an event that deals with politics, and dabble in Congressional Debate. I think these things relate, but loosely.
  • I am South Asian, and my parents immigrated to America. We lived in a fairly poor area with one of the worst school districts in the state until I entered my freshmen year at my current school.
  • My parents do not make a lot of money, and I have a sibling who will graduate college by the time I am entering college. What is the financial aid situation like at GW?
  • I took my AP test for US History, and I’m pretty sure I got a terrible score on it. How will this affect my chances?
  • Is there anything I can do to improve?

Thank you so much!

:smiley:

2

I think your odds for GW look good :slight_smile:

As far as your GPA, I don’t know what it is unweighted, so I don’t know how it’ll affect you. But I don’t think it’ll be so alarmingly low that you should be concerned. Especially because you do so many extracurriculars and AP’s to compensate for it.

I think subject tests are usually just for very selective universities where everyone gets perfect SAT/ACT scores. I personally think they’re useless. If you want to take one, go ahead. It might boost your chances if you do well, but it shouldn’t hurt you if you don’t take it.

I highly recommend NOT taking just the new SAT. You’ll be the guinea pig, there won’t be any good test prep books out for you, and admissions officers won’t really know how your scores will differ from those of the old SAT takers. They won’t be totally sure if the new one is harder, easier, or the same, so your scores won’t matter as much. If you like the ideas behind the new SAT, you can try it and send both in. But I don’t think that’s all that necessary. In fact I think it might throw you off.

I don’t think your patterns in your extracurriculars will affect your application. You have consistency, plus you’re busy. It makes sense.

There’s really not a lot of ECs related to public health, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Especially because colleges know that most freshmen don’t actually know what they want to major in - they’re just dabbling with ideas. They don’t expect you to be an expert, but rather they want to let you explore the field and see if it’s for you.

GW, despite its high price tag, is known for being extremely generous with aid. Especially with your situation, I think the FAFSA will work in your favor. You should be fine.

And since I’ve already answered everything else I’ll say I have no idea if your AP score affects your application. Obviously, if you didn’t send your score to the college, they’ll never know. But if you did, I don’t think it’ll hurt that badly.

You have a lot of good questions. :slight_smile: As I am not an expert, I would take them to the Admissions or Chance Me forum, as they have a bigger likelyhood of being seen there. Or, better yet, call GW’s admissions office. They’ll give you the most accurate answers.

Good luck!