Georgetown is my dream school - Chances?

espenser
Wed, 31 May 2017 15:52:16 +0000

hotchkiss50,

Some observations and advice:

1. You are correct: it is much more difficult to make good grades at a top prep school such as Hotchkiss than at a typical public high school.

2. In my experience, many elite prep schools in New England do not emphasize AP courses because their basic curriculum in advanced courses often exceeds AP standards.

3. Al other things being equal, a student in the top quartile with three AP courses at Hotchkiss may be comparable to an outstanding student with seven AP courses at a typical public school. Nevertheless, there is greater competition for college admission at Hotchkiss than there is at a typical high school.

4. Like almost all top-20 colleges, Georgetown is typically a reach for even excellent applicants.

5. Focus on things within your control such as:
A. studying for the ACT by taking practice tests on a timed basis that duplicates actual test-day conditions,
B. continuing your upward grade trend by doing as well as you can on your senior-year fall term grades,

C. cultivating good relationships with the faculty members who will write your recommendations,
D. creating a balanced college list that includes safeties, matches, and reaches with your counselor, and
E. writing exemplary college essays this summer (the Georgetown application, I believe, becomes available
in June.)

6. Congrats on your NSLI-Y acceptance.  That’s a wonderful, highly competitive, and very prestigious program.  Given your evident strength in foreign languages, you may wish to apply as a proposed language major in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown.

Good luck!