How to Write Georgetown’s “Educated” Essay

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara and Alexander Oddo in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

 

What’s Covered:

• Understanding What This Prompt is Asking
• Answering How Georgetown Can Help
• Taking a Philosophical Approach

 

 

The Georgetown’s supplemental essay prompt 4a reads as follows: 

 

What does it mean to you to be educated? How might Georgetown College help you achieve this aim? (Applicants to the Sciences and Mathematics or the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics should address their chosen course of study.) – 1 page single spaced

 

In this article, we will discuss what exactly the prompt is asking of you and how to approach your response. If you are applying to Georgetown and are looking for guidance on the other prompts, check out this post on how to write the Georgetown supplemental essays.

 

Understanding What This Prompt is Asking

 

In this essay, you can be a little more general than your other Georgetown responses. The prompt does, however, point out specific departments, so, if your intended major falls within those, make sure to answer their question with regards to your major. 

 

Regardless of the general prompt, your answer should be unique to you. Make sure you’re writing about your motivation for getting an education and for wanting to apply to college, and specifically Georgetown. Your answer to the first question, what does it mean to be educated, should also come from your own opinions. 

 

Talk about your reasons for wanting to be educated in the first place. Talk about why you are applying to college and more specifically why Georgetown. The school knows they are rigorous and that you are planning to spend 4 years in intense studies, so they want to know what’s motivating you and how Georgetown can help get you there. You can do this by highlighting specific resources and opportunities that Georgetown offers, which we will discuss in the next section. 

 

Answering How Georgetown Can Help

 

With this essay, you should discuss the specifics of why you’ve chosen Georgetown and why an education there would help you. Feel free to name specific classes, professors, or research projects that interest you. Now is your time to highlight the academics at Georgetown and how they align with your intellectual and future career goals. 

 

One academic feature Georgetown has is its core requirements. These are classes which students have to take in their freshman and sophomore years that cover a wide array of fields from STEM to Theology to English. They cover a lot of different things, and they do this because of core personnel. Georgetown wants its students to have a well-rounded education with knowledge from many different areas. You take these courses while taking classes specific to your major, and then the last two years of college are when you focus on your specialty. This is just one example that you can highlight from the many programs that Georgetown offers. 

 

Taking a Philosophical Approach

 

You should also keep in mind that it is important to dive deep into the main question about education in your response. For many, an education could just be some knowledge you gain to get access to a career, but this essay is asking for a more philosophical approach. Ask yourself what the purpose of education is and why that would help you on a personal level. Talk about your relationship to learning in general and your attitude towards acquiring new skills and knowledge. 

 

Georgetown does focus on the core personnel, as mentioned earlier, so they are looking for students who are well-rounded with spikes in particular fields. Even if you plan on majoring in one of the programs they mention in the question, you can still highlight interdisciplinary education. It is a tricky balance, but you know your academic aspirations best, so discuss what feels right to your journey. You could choose to write about a variety of different fields or focus on education within your intended major. 

 

Overall, try to tell Georgetown why you decided to apply to their college. Bring in the philosophical meaning of education, how this relates to your future, and why Georgetown specifically can help you get there. Remember not to talk about the prestigiousness of the college too much because that can often come off as cliche and is often overused in this type of essay.