Is G'Town a SEALED DEAL???

Colleges & Universities Georgetown University
1

<p>Ok, so basically, Georgetown is one of my lower choices. Don’t get me wrong, i love the school, and would probably be very happy there, but Stanford is my top choice. Anyway, I am considering G’Town for the sole reason that…</p>

<p>I AM AN ULTRA LEGACY: My Mom, My Uncle, My other Uncle, My Aunt, My Dad, My Godfather, My Cousin - all went to Georgetown. </p>

<h2>Here are some of my stats/extra-curric: </h2>

<p>School: Private/Top 50 in United States</p>

<p>G.P.A/Courses</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Course Title:1st sem grade/2nd sem grade
Graphics Com: A/A
US. Hist: A-/A
English: B+/A-
Int. French: B/B
Int. PreCalc: B+/B+
Int. Chem: B+/B+</p>

<p>10th Grade G.P.A: UW 3.64/W 3.86</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Course Title:1st sem grade/2nd sem grade
GraphicsC: A/A
U.S Hist 2: A/A
CompGovt: A-/A
English: A-/A-
Int French: A-/A-
Int Physics: A-/A
Int Calculus: B+/B</p>

<p>11th Grade G.P.A: UW 3.72 / W 3.90</p>

<p>Standardized Test:
SAT: 2100 - 690 C.R, 690 Math, 720 Writing
SAT (2nd Time) - Est. 2150-2230</p>

<p>Math 2C: 700
U.S History: 700
Literature: 740</p>

<p>APS: All 5s - AB calc, U.S Hist, World Hist, English, </p>

<p>Extra Currics: </p>

<p>Varsity Soccer: 10th, 11th, 12th
Varsity Tennis: 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th (Captain 11th,12th)
Model U.N: 10th, 11th, 12th (President 11th, 12th)
Acapella: 10th, 11th, 12th,
H.S Chorus: 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th
Met. Opera Children’s Chorus: 6th,7th,8th, 9th,
Hospital Work: 9th, 10th (200 Hours)
Internship w/Prof (Stanford): Summer of softmore year
Internship w/Prof (Columbia): Summer of Junior year
Think Quest Nat’l Website Comp: 4th Place 8th Grade, 3rd Place 9th Grade,</p>

<p>Other Information: </p>

<p>Ethnicity: Iranian
Languages Spoken: Fluent : English, French, Farsi
Functional: German</p>

<p>So basically,
Do you think i have a good chance at G’Town? And how does this chance compare my chance at the other schools I will be applying to: </p>

<p>1.Stanford
2.Princeton
3.Yale
4.Columbia
5.Dartmouth
6.UPenn
7.UChicago
8.Johns Hopkins
9.Tufts
10.Georgetown
11. NYU (I’m instate) </p>

<p>Thank you for your time and consideration!
-Darius</p>

2

<p>Darius, curious why are you asking? You have nine schools to which you’d rather be accepted. Will the responses you get from this thread help you decide whether to apply to Georgetown or not? I am not trying to be difficult, I’m just genuinely curious why you care what people here think about your admissions chances.</p>

3

<p>Being an nth degree legacy only helps you so much (and your godfather doesn’t count. And your cousins, aunts and uncles may or may not.) I would advise you against becoming too cocky. The GPA’s you posted don’t look that great, and if anything is going to hurt you it’s that sophomore year performance. Honestly, that’s probably going to be a significant factor at a lot of schools you apply to, you really should look into some true safeties. Your SAT (1380, Georgetown doesn’t consider Writing) is competitive, but not exceptional. </p>

<p>you EC’s look good, as you’ve been fairly consistently involved, and you have leadership. They also look fairly coherent and not randomly scattered. What were your internships about? Your languages are certainly impressive. Do you have any awards demonstrating an impact at a state or national level?</p>

<p>Will you be applying as an international? Should I be concerned that I see no AP or IB level coursework? Also, where’s your freshman year GPA?</p>

<p>Honestly, I’d guess your ethnicity will help you more than your legacy status. None of your schools are remotely sure things, Georgetown no exception. It’s the GPA that makes me so hesitant. Look into some genuine safeties. Just my two cents.</p>

4

<p>A very interesting question. The simple answer to your title is no, it’s certainly not a sealed deal. Legacy is meaning less and less as admissions become so ultra-competitive. Now if your parents give a ton of money to georgetown then I’d say things are looking real good for you, however if thats not the case then I wouldn’t be as cocky. </p>

<p>All 11 of your schools are ultra-competitive when it comes to admissions (in-state at NYU is useless because its private). Your GPA and SAT’s currently are only average, even a little on the low side for Georgetown, and even less competitive at a majority of your other schools. Now, I will say that I’d be close to shocked if u didnt get into one school on your list. However I don’t think its completely outside the realm of possibility therefore I would urge you to apply to one real safety school i.e. a SUNY or at least one school outside the USNWR Top 50. </p>

<p>Honestly, I would put your chances at >50% at getting into Georgetown and thats the most almost any applicant can ask for. But again note that greater than 50% is still not a 100% guarantee.</p>

5

<p>I wouldn’t say sealed deal at all. And do you have any safety schools…because as mikey101 said all of those schools are super competitive schools and hard to get into.
You GPA is pretty low and your SATs aren’t at the top percentiles for any of these schools either…cept NYU.
so i wouldnt say sealed deal at any other than NYU. I think you have a good chance but nothing certain at all.
not to being the debbie downer or anything but your SATs and GPA are actually at the low/bottom end for the first 5 schools on your list.</p>

6

<p>Not a “sealed deal”. I went to Georgetown and one of my friends daughters didn’t get in last year with similar (slightly better) stats. Both parents went to undergrad and medical school at Georgetown, active alumni and come from wealthy families. They often gave $5000+ donations at a time throughout the years. Boy was she ****ed they didn’t take her daughter. They thought it was a “sealed deal”. So don’t get so confident about anything in the admissions process.</p>

7

<p>In addition, the only relatives that count are parents or siblings who went to undergrad according to the Georgetown application so only your parents count as alumni if they went to undergrad there. Sorry to burst your bubble.</p>

8

<p>No offense, but it certainly isn’t a “sealed deal” for you at Georgetown or the other schools on your list. You have some of the most competitive universities in the country on that list. Your SAT Reading and Math are OK, but not outstanding and your GPA isn’t going to wow anyone, weighted or unweighted. (A lot of kids’ weighted GPAs are way over 4.0). The APs scores aren’t considered in the admissions process and a lot of the top schools tell you right up front that they don’t even consider the writing portion of the SAT. Your junior high activities probably won’t be considered, either. Your extra-curricular activities are good, but not extraordinary. (2 varsity sports w/ leadership, model UN and choir, but I’m sure the admissions offices at all the schools on your list have seen tons of kids with just as good extracurriculars. However, the internships may be something special, depending on what they entailed.) As far as being an ultra legacy, DCforMe and purplegirl are right. Your godfather and cousins don’t count, and, depending on the school, aunts and uncles often don’t count, either. (And according to purplegirl Georgetown is one of those schools that they don’t count at.) I know of a student with better stats than yours and a similar legacy at 1 of the schools on your list who was as sure as you are that he would get in, but didn’t. The family was shocked. It’s so competitive to get into the top schools now, just being a legacy alone isn’t enough. You still have to have the stats, and I doubt that your stats make you a “sealed deal.” You certainly have a shot at Georgetown, depending on which college you apply to (SFS, the College, MSB, etc.), but I wouldn’t count on some of the schools on your list. I’ll be really surprised if you get into Stanford, Princeton, Columbia or Yale with a 690/690 on the SAT, especially without an outstanding GPA. Maybe your ethnicity will help.</p>

9

<p>No offense, but that’s a pretty stacked list.</p>

<p>Sure you don’t want to apply to a safety? Or is Georgetown your safety?</p>

10

<p>georgetown is not a sealed deal, and NYU is a private school, so you’re not really “in-state.” being a NY resident would actually probably hurt you.</p>

11

<p>I hope you understand that there’s a very possible chance of you getting rejected to every school on that list, considering the average acceptance rate of them combined is probably hovering around 15%, and your GPA and scores place you really only in the mediocre range. As of right now, Georgetown is most definitely not a sealed deal, and I only feel comfortable saying an NYU acceptance, but even that could change.</p>

12

<p>Tufts and NYU are the only schools on that list that might be considered a match/slight reach. The languages might help you with Georgetown. Especially if you are applying to the SFS. </p>

<p>That said, you probably need a real safety school or two to mix in there.</p>

13

<p>Just decided to pop in to say that NYU instate means nothing - I know plenty of ppl with better GPAs than you (ranked 30th-40th) who did not get into NYU or who got into the General Studies program (no fin aid, sort of like an associates with a two year “test phase” before you are considered a BA student at NYU).</p>

<p>SATs: your lit score in impressive, esp. since I’m guessing Farsi is your native language. The rest, not so much - 700 is good, but amazing for the schools you’re applying to. You really, really, need to boost your SAT scores b/c the tristate area ain’t no picnic. Not too worried about that because a lot of mindset goes into it - the first time I took the SAT I got a 1360, the second a 1470.</p>

<p>I think you’re being cocky about your schools and I think Stanford’s a huge, huge stretch for anyone. I would get recs from the professors you interned with for their respective schools, that could give you a leg up. For instate backup, I would recommend SUNY Geneseo or possibly Stonybrook if you’re into the sciences (just building off hospital work).</p>

<p>Of the schools above, you’re probably most likely to get into Tufts or Georgetown (the legacy connection really helps, I think b/c a lot of ppl I met at my regional event were born and raised Hoya Blue.) Why not look into less competitive schools for matches?</p>

14

<p>Hey everyone, </p>

<p>I appreciate your advice - regardless of how critical it may be. But to be honest, the arrogant tone you all detected was intentional. I’ve noticed that posts that are titled “Chances?” rarely get any hits. So i thought a false arrogance would enflame some of you. I guess i was right. As for your thoughts about safeties, I can say, with confidence, that i will get into at least one of the schools im applying to. I cannot stress how good my school is - of nearly 120 students roughly 30 go to Ivy League Calibur schools… </p>

<p>G’town is an awesome school no doubt, if i get in i will be honored - but in truth, my top choice is Stanford, Stanford, Stanford…</p>

15

<p>So your school is so powerful that you’re going to get in somewhere. You want to go to Stanford only. You don’t want to go to Georgetown other than to collect the trophy, since it’s one of the lower schools on your list. I still am curious why you took the time to pose the question in the first place.</p>

16

<p>Regardless of how good you are or your school is, you should seriously consider applying to at least one ultra-safety. As in, a school that accepts, say, more than 40% of applicants. You may get into Stanford early (I assume you’re applying EA) and never actually need to send the app, but only applying to highly competitve schools just seems like a sure fire way to jinx yourself. Statistically, yes, you should get in to at least one of those schools, but you just never know what could go wrong.
Plus, your ultra-safety will probably want you really badly and offer you all sorts of money and honors programs and make you feel special :-)</p>

17

<p>I certainly wouldn’t want to discourage you from applying anywhere you want but you have to be realistic. This was a tough year for the best and the brightest. We are in a competitive school on Long Island where kids usually get into Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UPenn, etc but my D just graduated valedictorian, maintained that status until the day of graduation, many music related ec’s, Sat’s mid to high 700’s, etc, many AP’s 5’s and got rejected at Stanford and Brown, w/l at Princeton. She didn’t apply to the other schools you mention but another top kid got rejected at Gtown who I thought was a perfect candidate-- Multi lingual, lived in other countries, etc(I am an alumus of Gtown). So please have a safety. This year will be tougher because I fear kids will be applying to more schools making the competition rougher. Two kids did get into Columbia, Cornell, NYU but anyone who applied from her class to Harvard, Brown, MIT, Dartmouth, Georgetown and UPenn this year got rejected. So go for it but please don’t go by past acceptances from your school unless your counselors have an in with these schools. Things in the admission process are so unpredictable. So I think all us just want you to consider better safeties. Hopefully you will get into Stanford and we wish you Good luck.</p>

18

<p>I don’t think you realize how difficult it was this year to be accepted to the top schools. By all means apply, but don’t be so cocky that you don’t include a true safety school. Generally, the lower your test scores, the higher your grades need to be and vice versa. In your case your scores 690/690 are fine, but not for the schools you have listed. And neither are your grades. (You didn’t post your freshman year grades here, but I think I saw on another post that you had a 3.44 that year. That would give you something like a 3.6 unweighted GPA.) Here are some stats from Princeton’s website, just to give you a sense of what it took last year to get into the caliber of schools you have listed. I use Princeton because its stats were easy to access. Of the applicants who had 2300-2400 SAT, 26% of them were accepted. Of those with 2100-2299, 10.9% were accepted, and of those with 1900-2090, only 6.5% were accepted. Of those applying to Princeton who had a 4.0 GPA, 16.8% were accepted. Of those with a 3.9-3.99, 10.5 % were accepted; 3.8-3.89, 9.6% accepted; 3.7-3.79, 6%; and 3.6-3.69, only 5.4% were accepted. Compare your numbers. In addition, because there are more students with great test scores and grades applying to the top schools than they have spots for, you also need great ECs to get in. However, ECs alone won’t get you in if you don’t have the test scores and grades, unless there is some extenuating circumstance. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you remind me of a student I know. He was a legacy at U of Chicago and Northwestern. He had a 32 or 33 on his ACT (equal to 2160 or 2220 SAT), better grades than yours (but not top 5% of class). He took mostly advanced classes, had a ton of ECs and excelled in them, being team captain and qualifying for State for 3 years. Great voice and leads in the musicals at a large, highly competitive high school. Bi-lingual. Applied to U of C, Northwestern and Notre Dame. He was sure he’d get into them, especially since he was a legacy at the first two. He didn’t get into any of them. Everyone was stunned. Fortunately, at the last minute he also applied to another smaller college, which is a wonderful school, but without the big-name recognition of the first 3. He is going there and is very happy with his choice, but if he hadn’t added the 4th school at the last minute, he would have been in a bind. We don’t want you to be in that bind. With the common app, it isn’t even that hard to add one more school to your list of applications. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it would be wise to have it, just in case. These days, nothing is a “sealed deal” at the top schools.</p>

19

<p>I’m going to be completely honest here:</p>

<p>Unless you have truly groundbreaking essays, I predict you get into Tufts, NYU, and nowhere else. Your SAT scores and GPA are well below average for the rest of those schools. And I don’t really care how good your school is (and neither do adcomms) if you don’t excel in that environment. IF you made a 3.9/4.0 at a fantastic school, it makes you look awesome, but a 3.6? That’s like saying “hey! my incredibly rigorous high school was too hard for me! can I please come to YOUR incredibly rigorous school?” it just seems pretentious.</p>

20

<p>Hi everyone, i respect your advice and your encouragement. </p>

<p>As i am still getting almost ubiquitously negative feedback, i would like to reiterate what i said earlier; i am not pretentious, i crafted a false sense of pretention to draw people to this thread. Again, i can’t stress enough how much i thank you for your advice. Yes all the schools i’m applying to are incredibly rigorous, but that’s simply because i haven’t researched any safeties. </p>

<p>I would love to hear your ideas for safeties, and or/your suggestions about applying to schools. Again if my fabricated arrogance offended any of you, i apologize… =(</p>

<p>(By the way what do you guys think about UCLA, NYU, USC?)</p>