Georgetown SFS vs. UNC CHapel Hill

dzleprechaun
Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:28:49 +0000

You’ve hit on a few questions, so I’ll try to answer them in order.

I was wondering if I should make this commitment to attend a top university for undergraduate school in the hopes of attending a better law school, or save my money, go to UNC to which I have to pay substantially less due to the scholarship, which is obviously a slightly less competitive public school. If I went to UNC, I would most likely have to take out much fewer loans, if any when it comes to affording for law school.

Loans are pretty much standard operating procedure for students these days, even at state schools in some cases. What I can tell you is that, with an SFS degree and a law degree on top of that, you will be able to pay off those loans pretty easily. Starting salaries for associates at the top East Coast firms (the ones that you would/should be shooting for with your skills and qualifications) easily break $100,000 per year. At that rate, even if you’ve got significant debt, you can cover it without too much difficulty - the system knows that and banks on it.

Could you guys tell me about some of the advantages of attending Georgetown and how it could eventually aid me in my future endeavors.

Very briefly: For someone interested in IR and with an international background, Georgetown SFS is hard to beat. Law school is a popular option for Georgetown and SFS students, so you’ll definitely be able to find advising and excellent preparation for that track.

What is the student/teacher ratio, for example.

11:1, according to Princeton Review.

The proximity to central Washington D.C. also seems tremendous for internship opportunities.

Georgetown is inside the District, which is, geographically speaking, a pretty small city, so transit to the Golden Triangle, Capital Hill, and the other internship hotbeds is about as easy as it’s going to get. We actually tend to live much closer than they do - most of the white-collar workers in D.C. live in Maryland or Virginia. For example, this summer, I got fed up with taking to Metro, so I just walked to my internship each day. Took about 25 minutes, but it was a pleasant (albeit muggy) walk.

Also, I was wondering how hard it to adapt to a school like Georgetown, especially the self-selective SFS.

This is different for each person, of course. If you mean adapting strictly to the academic load, then I think you should have no problem (Duke, Emory, and SFS acceptances are quite the accomplishment).

Is it hard to excell when all the students around me are going to be quite goal-oriented and academically gifted

In my experience, the opposite is true - being around so many bright and motivated people only motivates you further. It pushes you to perform up to your own capabilities and to not slack off.

Would I get a lower class rank and grades than if I attended a slightly less rigorous UNC.

Possibly. Maybe even probably, although the nature of mass classes of the sort you find at big state schools is that sometimes the grading is very formulaic and your quality is not appreciated as it should because the grader is basically just going off a checklist and doesn’t have time for holistic appreciation. This is a problem one runs into in big survey courses everywhere.

However, Georgetown does only have 6,000 students while UNC has about 17,000, so there is no doubt going to be more “slackers,” and I feel like it could be more difficult to place higher in a school with such a large proportion of gifted students when compared to the total number of students.

While it certainly is more difficult to place higher, rest assured that law schools take this into account. They know all about the differences in undergraduate programs and factor that in to their decisions, so that even if you’re not summa cum laude or top 5% at Georgetown, a solid track record will be given its due value.

Why would you attend Georgetown over UNC.

For international relations, SFS is the best, hands down and bar none. Chapel Hill is a nice town, but Washington is the capital of the world’s lone superpower and a wonderful city. The internship opportunities at Georgetown are far better than anything you could find at UNC, particularly given your international interests and background. In terms of school spirit, Georgetown offers a feeling of community that larger schools have a hard time matching. When it comes to athletics: well, I was there in person to see Georgetown defeat UNC 96-84 in the Elite Eight, and it was an absolutely amazing experience. North Carolina fans, meanwhile, have a much harder time getting tickets to see even home games. And NCAA tournament games - forget about it!

The list goes on.