What Are My Chances?

Level 4 - Ultra Selective

Welcome back! Today we are going to review a success story!

A student applied to a number of colleges, including:

• George Washington

• Clark University

• Drexel University

Not only were they accepted to all of these colleges (and a few others), but they managed to receive merit based scholarships as well in their financial aid package.

Today, we are going to walk through their academic profile for their top choice, George Washington University, and discuss how they were accepted.

For the purposes of this exercise, we will call the student “John” moving forward. For the record, John applied to GW early decision and was accepted.

Part 1: GW Background

George Washington University is a private college located in Washington, DC. A few quick facts:

• GW costs approximately $48,000 a year to attend before any financial aid or income are considered for cost

• GW has an approximate 50% acceptance rate of students

• Of the students accepted, ~20% choose to enroll

• The 25-75 percentile of SAT is 1310-1490, and the same range for ACT is 30-34

• GW has a graduation rate of 82%

With that out of the way, lets dive into reviewing the academic profile and how it compares to the admitted student’s.

Part 2: Academic Considerations

GW only considers 5 academic areas in their admissions decisions:

• Academic Rigor

• GPA

• Standardized Test Scores

• Application Essay

• Letters of Recommendation

While the essays and letters of recommendation were strong, for the purposes of this exercise, we will assume they are neutral in factors since they cannot be easily evaluated here.

Academic Rigor:

John took 4 AP courses, with the rest of his coursework reflecting Honors level courses where possible. His 4 AP courses may seem low, but his high school prevented him from taking AP courses prior to his junior year.

This is an important note for those applying: it is not always about taking the most AP courses. It is about taking the most rigorous schedule available to YOU. Would this be true at a more selective college? No. But remember, GW has a 50% acceptance rate.

Based on taking the most rigorous courses available (and scoring 4s and 5s on the AP exams that were available to John), this would work in his favor of being admitted.

At GW, academic rigor is considered one of the most important factors for admission.

Based on the courses available and the academic rigor of students who are accepted to GW, this favor weighs in favor of admitting John.