Liberal arts and research university with a Jesuit foundation and a sterling reputation today as a place of exceptional education, scholarship, and community. Located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown is also deeply tied to the political and policy-making community, and many students go there because they are interested in going into government or public service. The acceptance rate is 13%.
Georgetown is also one of only a small number of private colleges in the United States that doesn’t use the Common Application. They have their own internal application process, which is similar to the Common App, but also has its own unique features and requires dedicated time and attention. This is not something to rush when your days from the deadline. Instead, start now.
And a good place to start is by verifying that you’re set on the testing requirement. Georgetown requires that first-year applicants submit SAT or ACT scores, and they do not allow you to use “Score Choice.” You must submit all scores for either test taken. To be highly competitive, aim for an SAT verbal score, and math score, above 750. An ACT score should be above 34 to be competitive.
Your scores are only one piece of your application, and aren’t the most interesting part by a long-shot. We’d argue that the essays are actually what is most exciting, and that’s what we’ll be focusing on in this post.
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First you need to fill out the Georgetown Application, which is actually the application before the application. This should take about 15 minutes and will prompt them to send you information to access the actual application that we’ll be talking about here. To start this process, you should submit the initial application as soon as possible.
Once you have access to the proper, full application, you’ll want to dive right in.
RESUME
Georgetown allows applicants to upload a resume. You definitely want to do this, and to approach it strategically. Don’t just upload whatever resume you may have put together for a summer job or internship. This resume needs to be tailored to Georgetown, and it needs to have an objective statement at the top that reflects that. Lucky for you, we break down how to do this here.
Next, Georgetown invites you to tell them more about a special talent or skill (or more than one) that you’d like to make sure they know about.
Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight.
Before you jump to deciding what to write about here, read through the rest of the prompts below. You want to make sure that there is limited, if any, overlap in your application. In each piece of writing, you want to present something new that adds an additional dimension to your application for the reader.
For example, don’t write about a skill or talent here that you’ll be writing about for the following prompt, which is focused on an activity that is significant to you.
Once you’ve settled on something you do want to write about here, you need to frame it as a story, grounded in a precise moment before zooming out to the bigger picture of the talent or skill in your life. If you are a gymnast, for example, you may start this supplement standing on the balance beam practicing a new skill. From there, you could transition to writing about how you got there and what you’ve learned through your experiences.
Briefly (approximately one-half page, single-spaced) discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.
Next, you have one-half page, or about 300 words, to write about whatever activity you’ve been most involved in. It’s interesting how they specify “most involved” here, because it demands that you focus on what you focus on — not necessarily what on your resume would be most objectively impressive. Doing Model UN may look impressive, but if you only do Model UN a few times a month but are training for a half-marathon and have been running miles every day for years, you should technically focus on the running here.
Now, if there is an opportunity for you to increase the amount of time you spend on Model UN between now and when you submit the application, that may be a good idea so that you can focus on something that’s more academically and intellectually relevant to college than running — but writing about running can also be spectacular. Other things that can be amazing topics are after-school jobs, long-term summer commitments, and family responsibilities.
As may become redundant in our instructions for these essays, you need to make this a story first. It should be fun to read, even if it isn’t ‘fun.’ You want to move the application reader from their head, assessing your application analytically, to your heart, and assessing your application from a place of care and empathy.
Compose two brief essays (approximately one page, single-spaced each) on the topics given below.
Again, there isn’t a word count here. Georgetown gives you a length limit, though, and you must stick to it. You absolutely cannot submit an essay that is over one page, single-spaced. One of the things that Georgetown is assessing when reviewing your application is whether you can follow directions. If you ignore this because you think writing more is a good idea, you will not get into Georgetown.
Essay One: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief personal or creative essay which you feel best describes you and reflects on your personal background and individual experiences, skills, and talents.
All first-year applicants to Georgetown have to answer the same prompt for Essay One. If you are submitting a Common Application for other schools, we recommend using a trimmed down version of your main Common Application essay here. If you aren’t using the Common App as part of your college application process, we advise students to follow the same process we recommend for a strong Common App essay. You can review that here.
Essay Two
For Essay Two, you’ll need to answer the prompt specific to the undergraduate college or program that you are applying to. The prompts have commonalities, as each is fundamentally a “why us?” essay, but each also has unique challenges and features that we’ll get into below.
Applicants to the College of Arts & Sciences: Founded in 1789, the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences is committed to the Jesuit traditions of an integrated education and of productive research in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. Describe your interest in studying at College of Arts & Sciences. Applicants interested in the sciences, mathematics, or languages are encouraged to make specific reference to their choice of major.
Before you write a response to this prompt, you need to do some research. Identify:
Prospective major
A professor (or two!) you’re interested in studying under
Two classes within your major you’d like to enroll in
A potential minor or certificate
A class within the minor or certificate that you’re excited about, and why
Two programs within the College of Arts & Sciences that are not in your major but that attracted you to the college (ex. A specific study abroad offering)
Once you’ve answered all of these questions, you’re ready to write.
Start your essay with an experience within the subject you want to study in college, or in an adjacent or related subject. For example, if you want to study a lab science in college you may start this essay in the field collecting date or in a lab. Then, you want to transition into how the major you’re interested in at Georgetown will help you deepen your knowledge and expertise in this subject you love so much.
But what if you don’t know what you want to major in?
It’s not uncommon that students applying to the College of Arts & Sciences aren’t 100% sure what they want to major in — but that’s not how you’re going to approach this application. Seriously, don’t be undecided. For the purpose of this application, you know what you want to do. That clarity of direction will give the application readers confidence in you.
Applicants to the School of Nursing: Georgetown University’s School of Nursing is committed to the formation of ethical, empathetic, and transformational nursing leaders. Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying Nursing at Georgetown University.
This essay is very similar to the one for the College of Arts and Sciences, and most of the steps you need to take to write a compelling answer are the same, too. To start, you need to do your research because Georgetown wants to see specifics.
But before you get into what you love about Georgetown in particular, it’s important to hook the reader with your why for nursing. Nursing has a unique emotional draw that means that many students attracted to the field have a significant narrative driving them towards this career path. It’s also a field that you probably don’t have any technical experience in yet (given laws governing healthcare) unless you have pursued EMT training.
The core narrative in your essay needs to be what inspires you to pursue a career in nursing, but we highly recommend focusing on personal stories close to home. We do not encourage students to write about any experiences outside of the US that would not be permitted within the United States. While those may have been meaningful experiences for you, they are too contentious as far as ethics are concerned to write about here.
Applicants to the School of Health: Georgetown University’s School of Health was founded to advance the health and well-being of people locally, nationally, and globally through innovative research, the delivery of interdisciplinary education, and transformative engagement of communities. Describe the factors that influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University, specifically addressing your intended related major: Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, or Human Science.
The structure and content of this essay needs to be very akin to that of the School of Nursing. As with nursing, applicants looking for a career in health through the School of Health are frequently driven by strong internal passion for the field.
For this essay, you need to include all the research specified earlier, a personal connection story that illuminates your interest in a health career, and one more thing. Ideally, you will have been engaged with the healthcare field though an internship, research position, or independent research project — or possibly all three. If so, include mention of that in this essay in a narrative format that illustrates your why for the reader.
Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service: Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders with the foundational skills to address global issues. Describe your primary motivations for studying international affairs at Georgetown University and dedicating your undergraduate studies toward a future in global service.
This essay is fundamentally the same as that for the College of Arts and Sciences, so you just need to apply those instructions to the Walsh School of Foreign Service. You need to specify your major, pick out a few classes, spotlight a professor you would like to study under (and why), and speak an offering at the school that is outside of your major but is very exciting to you. All of this needs to be imbedded in a story that bridges the gap between you and Walsh, showing the reader how you’ve decided to pursue your intended course of study and why Walsh is your perfect fit.
Applicants to the McDonough School of Business: Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business provides graduates with essential global, ethical, analytical, financial, and diverse perspectives on the economies of our nation and the world. Describe your primary motivations for studying business at Georgetown University.
Ok, so we’re getting pretty redundant here. Again, this essay is very similar to every other essay above. The phrasing of the prompt is specific to the School of Business, but what you actually have to do to successfully respond to it isn’t different at all. Show your research, illustrate your passion, and inspire the reader to give you a shot.
Georgetown is a top liberal arts research university that is in the heart of the action of Washington, D.C. Successful applicants show the key aspects and values of a Jesuit education: curiosity, interdisciplinary learning, and deep care for the betterment of society.
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