So this might be the last one for D26’s visits (until we get to admitted students days, I hope!)
Georgetown: Down for D26 and Up for me. So D26 wanted to see if maybe she was more interested in policy versus STEM, so we tacked on a trip to Georgetown while we were traveling for summer vacation. We went to the school of foreign service information session first. Just a few kids in this and the admissions officer was great at explaining what SFS was all about. Talked about the school, the vibe (everyone’s days here are FULL as students want to do as much as they can), and the majors. Overall, they gave the impression of a dedicated, focused group of students that wanted to engage with the DC foreign policy community. It was, frankly, pretty awesome from my perspective. They have such a unique feel and viewpoint. D26, on the other hand, was less impressed/inspired. She thought it was interesting, but not for her. Thought maybe she was more interested in public policy versus the SFS international focus. Ok, good to figure out!
Then we went to the main admissions session. This was CROWDED! Probably 30+ students with lots of family members in tow. The admissions officer here was less inspiring and really felt like she was playing it safe. A lot of the messaging downplayed what I think would be really unique parts of their curriculum and their values. She said a little bit about their Jesuit values but really emphasized that they’re not religious. Then she talked about the required theology courses, but again talked about all the ways you could sort of get around this with courses that were very theology light. I always personally hate when schools shy away from things that they’ve chosen to do. Tell me why it’s great! And then she talked about the application and underplayed their move to accepting the Common App. Again, I always think these are opportunities to tell us why you’re doing what you’re doing versus downplaying the significance.
Then, we took the tour. We were surprised to see that we’d have just one tour guide for the 30+ students. This was pretty tricky since if you ended up near the back of the pack then you really couldn’t hear anything at all. That said, the student guide was great at answering questions and generally being pretty engaging. She spoke about her experience as a first gen student there and addressed questions about wealth inequality on campus, what social life was really like, the competitiveness of clubs, etc. All in all, she really sold the school to me - I would have loved it! That said D26 wasn’t so interested. She caught the pre-professional vibe and internship, internship, internship mantra that the school really pushed and realized it wasn’t for her. I think I agree with her - it’s not for her, but it was good to go through the experience.
One final, funny thing - both the admissions officer and the student guide made the same joke. They both asked (separately and without knowing each was asking this), “Who came the farthest today?” It was funny when we all heard it the second time and immediately pointed to the person that came over from Germany. They need to coordinate their icebreakers! 