How to Tackle the Georgetown University 2014-15 Essays

As one of the nation’s premier private research universities located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University is perhaps most commonly associated with Congress and politics. Originally founded in 1789, the school lays claim to incredible alumni, including former US President Bill Clinton and countless governors, diplomats, and heads of state. Of course, Georgetown’s ~7500 undergraduates have many other things to be proud of, such as its bustling student groups—Georgetown is home to organizations such as the Philodemic Society (one of the nation’s oldest debating clubs), as well as the largest student-owned corporation in the US.

 

Each year, over 20,000 students apply to Georgetown, but the selective university only accepts approximately 17% of those students. Georgetown University also requires high school seniors to fill out its own application separate from the Common Application, which will have applicants writing three essays in total. Luckily, Admissions Hero is here to help you tackle each essay.

 

All Applicants (Short): In the space available discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

 

If you’ve been following Admissions Hero’s blog regularly, you’ll quickly recognize this prompt as the “What is your most important extracurricular activity?” essay. Accordingly, there are two ways to approach the content of this essay.

 

The first strategy is to write about your most important extracurricular activity, regardless of how “common” it is perceived to be. You will want to emphasize the details of your participation as well as exactly how the activity has changed you. Discussing the impact of the activity on your life will be absolutely crucial, since it is the main way for your essay to be distinguished from other applicants’ (for example, “swimming” on its own wouldn’t be very unique, but how you turned your school’s team from a 3-man squad into a 80-person co-ed program is very impressive). Details here are key.

 

The second way to approach the prompt is to write about a unique extracurricular activity that needs more explaining—one that would be hard to fully understand without further elaboration. For example, while every admissions officer probably knows what “Model UN” is, not everyone who reads your application will know what your self-started charity is—especially if on the extracurricular section you refer to it as its ambiguous title, “Happy River Toys.” Clearly, with so few characters available in the EC section, it’ll be difficult to fully encapsulate what “Happy River Toys” is, so using this essay space to elaborate will be particularly helpful for you.

 

All Applicants: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

 

This essay prompt is similar to various other school’s supplements (like Harvard’s) in that it is completely open-ended. The best strategy here (for sake of time and effort) might be to re-use your Common App essay. Visit our Common App post for more ideas: http://collegevine.com/en/how-to-tackle-the-2014-2015-common-app-essays/ 

 

The remaining essay prompts are separate for each particular school within Georgetown—students only need to write essays for the school they apply to. The first three essays have similar prompts so we will address them together.

 

Applicants to the McDonough School of Business: Discuss the factors that have influenced your interest in studying business.

 

Applicants to the School of Nursing and Health Studies: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. Please specifically address your intended major (Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, International Health, or Nursing).

 

Applicants to Georgetown College: Please relate your interest in studying at Georgetown University to your goals. How do these thoughts relate to your chosen course of study? (If you are applying to major in the FLL or in a Science, please specifically address those interests.)

 

Ultimately, these prompts are asking the same thing. Essentially, you are tasked with writing “Why X Major? / Why Georgetown’s X Program?” essays. Thus, be sure to mention why you are planning on studying what you indicated—was it a past experience when you were little? Maybe you participated in an internship during your junior year summer? Or maybe your favorite class in high school was related to that subject? Then, you’ll want to write about why Georgetown’s program is particularly suited to you—maybe it’s because of Professor X’s research? Or maybe it’s the small size of Y program, allowing you to get as much individual research attention as possible? Regardless, the key is to strike the fine balance of including details about your past experiences, current interests, and future goals.

 

Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service: Briefly discuss a current global issue, indicating why you consider it important and what you suggest should be done to deal with it.

 

While the first three school-specific prompts were quite similar, the essay for the Walsh School of Foreign Service is slightly different. Here, you will want to adopt an academic approach to your essay. Whichever global issue you choose, you should make sure to choose one that matters to you and is somewhat unique, in the sense that not everyone could write about it. Feel free to do research on your issue to corroborate your arguments. The point of this essay for the adcoms is so that they can evaluate your ability to think critically in a global context, as well as examine exactly to what degree you are interested in international affairs.

 

As one of the nation’s premier private research universities located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown University is perhaps most commonly associated with Congress and politics. Originally founded in 1789, the school lays claim to incredible alumni, including former US President Bill Clinton and countless governors, diplomats, and heads of state. Of course, Georgetown’s ~7500 undergraduates have many other things to be proud of, such as its bustling student groups—Georgetown is home to organizations such as the Philodemic Society (one of the nation’s oldest debating clubs), as well as the largest student-owned corporation in the US.

 

Each year, over 20,000 students apply to Georgetown, but the selective university only accepts approximately 17% of those students. Georgetown University also requires high school seniors to fill out its own application separate from the Common Application, which will have applicants writing three essays in total. Luckily, Admissions Hero is here to help you tackle each essay.

 

All Applicants (Short): In the space available discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

 

If you’ve been following Admissions Hero’s blog regularly, you’ll quickly recognize this prompt as the “What is your most important extracurricular activity?” essay. Accordingly, there are two ways to approach the content of this essay.

 

The first strategy is to write about your most important extracurricular activity, regardless of how “common” it is perceived to be. You will want to emphasize the details of your participation as well as exactly how the activity has changed you. Discussing the impact of the activity on your life will be absolutely crucial, since it is the main way for your essay to be distinguished from other applicants’ (for example, “swimming” on its own wouldn’t be very unique, but how you turned your school’s team from a 3-man squad into a 80-person co-ed program is very impressive). Details here are key.

 

The second way to approach the prompt is to write about a unique extracurricular activity that needs more explaining—one that would be hard to fully understand without further elaboration. For example, while every admissions officer probably knows what “Model UN” is, not everyone who reads your application will know what your self-started charity is—especially if on the extracurricular section you refer to it as its ambiguous title, “Happy River Toys.” Clearly, with so few characters available in the EC section, it’ll be difficult to fully encapsulate what “Happy River Toys” is, so using this essay space to elaborate will be particularly helpful for you.

 

All Applicants: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

 

This essay prompt is similar to various other school’s supplements (like Harvard’s) in that it is completely open-ended. The best strategy here (for sake of time and effort) might be to re-use your Common App essay. Visit our Common App post for more ideas: http://collegevine.com/how-to-tackle-the-2014-2015-common-app-essays/ 

 

The remaining essay prompts are separate for each particular school within Georgetown—students only need to write essays for the school they apply to. The first three essays have similar prompts so we will address them together.

 

Applicants to the McDonough School of Business: Discuss the factors that have influenced your interest in studying business.

 

Applicants to the School of Nursing and Health Studies: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. Please specifically address your intended major (Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, International Health, or Nursing).

 

Applicants to Georgetown College: Please relate your interest in studying at Georgetown University to your goals. How do these thoughts relate to your chosen course of study? (If you are applying to major in the FLL or in a Science, please specifically address those interests.)

 

Ultimately, these prompts are asking the same thing. Essentially, you are tasked with writing “Why X Major? / Why Georgetown’s X Program?” essays. Thus, be sure to mention why you are planning on studying what you indicated—was it a past experience when you were little? Maybe you participated in an internship during your junior year summer? Or maybe your favorite class in high school was related to that subject? Then, you’ll want to write about why Georgetown’s program is particularly suited to you—maybe it’s because of Professor X’s research? Or maybe it’s the small size of Y program, allowing you to get as much individual research attention as possible? Regardless, the key is to strike the fine balance of including details about your past experiences, current interests, and future goals.

 

Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service: Briefly discuss a current global issue, indicating why you consider it important and what you suggest should be done to deal with it.

 

While the first three school-specific prompts were quite similar, the essay for the Walsh School of Foreign Service is slightly different. Here, you will want to adopt an academic approach to your essay. Whichever global issue you choose, you should make sure to choose one that matters to you and is somewhat unique, in the sense that not everyone could write about it. Feel free to do research on your issue to corroborate your arguments. The point of this essay for the adcoms is so that they can evaluate your ability to think critically in a global context, as well as examine exactly to what degree you are interested in international affairs.

 

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