georgetown university admission essay

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Georgetown University’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Extracurricular essay.

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.

Personal Statement Essay

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 own background, identity, skills, and talents.

Select-A-Prompt Essay

All students applying to Georgetown will have to answer 3 essay prompts: two general essays and one school-specific essay.

Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight.

Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences: A liberal arts education from the College of Arts & Sciences involves encounters with new concepts and modes of inquiry. Describe something (a class, a book, an event, etc.) that changed your thinking. (Applicants to the sciences, mathematics, public policy or languages are encouraged to include examples related to that field.)

School of Health: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University. Please specifically address your intended major (Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, or Human Science).

School of Nursing: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying your intended major, Nursing.

Walsh School of Foreign Service: The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?

McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

Sample Essays

The breadth of Georgetown’s core curriculum means that students are required to write for a wide variety of academic disciplines. Below, we provide some student samples that exhibit the key features the most popular genres. When reading through these essays, we recommend paying attention to their 

1. Structure (How many paragraphs are there? Does the author use headers?) 

2. Argument (Is the author pointing out a problem, and/or proposing a solution?) 

3. Content (Does the argument principally rely on facts, theory, or logic?) and 

4. Style (Does the writer use first person? What is the relationship with the audience?)

Philosophy Paper

• Singer on the Moral Status of Animals

Theology Paper

• Problem of God
• Jewish Civilization
• Sacred Space and Time
• Phenolphthalein in Alkaline Solution

History Paper

• World History

Literature Review

Comparative Analysis 

Policy Brief

• Vaccine Manufacturing

White Paper

Critical Analysis

• Ignatius Seminar

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 3 top tips for writing exceptional georgetown essays.

College Essays

With an acceptance rate of less than 12 percent , Georgetown is ranked as an extremely competitive school . If you want to be a part of the student body, you need to impress, and one of the best opportunities you have to do that is in your Georgetown essays.

Don't let the Georgetown essay prompts intimidate you. Though they may look complicated at first—and they do ask complex questions—some foresight and planning will help you write essays that are sure to impress.

This guide will walk you through the Georgetown essays, giving you a look into the expectations and thought process behind each of the essay prompts .

Feature Image: Patrickneil /Wikimedia Commons

What Should You Know About the Georgetown Essay Prompts?

Georgetown doesn't use the Common or Coalition Application . Instead, you'll be filling out an application tailored specifically to their desires, though it may cover most of the same information.

Because of that, you'll want to pay extra close attention to what you discuss in your essays. Your essays should be tied specifically to Georgetown rather than the more general approach of the Coalition or Common Application .

The Georgetown essays include one short essay of about a half-page, single-spaced, one longer one-page essay required of all students, and a second one-page essay specifically tied to one of Georgetown's four schools: Georgetown College, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, Walsh School of Foreign Service, and the McDonough School of Business.

Students in the arts—specifically music, dance, theater, and studio art—may submit additional portfolios as part of their application, but it isn't required.

What Are the Required Georgetown Essay Prompts?

Because Georgetown's application is only for Georgetown, you'll immediately notice that they're a lot more specific than the Common or Coalition prompts. You should keep that specificity in mind as you answer the questions, thinking not just about why you want to go to a good school, but why you want to attend Georgetown specifically .

How to Answer the Georgetown Short Essay Prompt

Discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (One half-page, single spaced.)

This question is pretty straightforward. Though you've no doubt discussed your extracurriculars throughout your application, this question asks you to think deeper about one of them . Ask yourself why you do those activities, and what they personally mean to you.

"Why," not "what," should be the question you're answering . Flesh out your mentions of extracurriculars in your application with discussions of why you do them and what you've learned. The activity you discuss should be significant to you—not something you do purely for fun or something you do because your parents make you.

As with the first question, don't inflate things to look more impressive. If you spent most of your summer watching TV, that might be relevant if you're an aspiring screenwriter, and you can mention it—but again, answer the question of why . Why did you choose the shows you did? What did you learn from them?

That said, watching TV isn't the best choice. You'd be better off discussing how you spent your summer working on an original short film or participating in a workshop for aspiring screenwriters—but no matter what your preferred activity, there is a way to discuss why it's significant to you and what you learned from it.

This prompt gives you space to discuss your interests, particularly the things that can't be represented by numbers as grades and test scores can. It gives Georgetown a clearer picture of you, which helps in their decision.

This is also a space to expand on participation. Maybe you never became captain of the swim team and you've been worried that the lack of leadership might count against you. In this essay, you can explain that though that was your goal, you didn't quite make it—but that you learned a lot anyway.

This essay really is about what's significant to you, so there are no wrong answers—it's your execution that matters . Avoid being too general, or focusing too much on picking the most impressive thing from your roster if that thing didn't actually matter to you. Be genuine with what's significant to you and your essay will be stronger for it.

How to Answer the Georgetown Essay Prompt for 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. (One page, single-spaced.)

Notice how the emphasis on this question is on you. This is called a "Why You?" style essay — though the application is for Georgetown, the admissions office wants to know why you'll be a good fit for the college and what you in particular will bring to the student body .

What this means is that Georgetown doesn't want to hear about how they have the best program or the greatest campus. They want to know about you and what makes you unique .

When answering this question, think about what makes you a good fit for Georgetown's student body. Consider their mission statement , their origin as a Catholic and Jesuit college , and what that means today.

That doesn't mean that you need to identify yourself as Catholic if you aren't (please don't do that), but that you should consider the role that faith plays in Georgetown's approach to education . How does their mission statement connect to your own life and educational goals?

Demonstrating that you understand the school's mission and how you can contribute to it as a student is one of the most important parts of this question.

But "Why You?" is only part of the question . The specific mention of diversity is important, too. Its inclusion in the question means that it's important to Georgetown, and they want you to demonstrate that it's important to you, too.

Don't get too fixated on typical meanings of "diverse." We often use the word to refer to the variety of genders, sexualities, races, socio-economic statuses, and so on that exist in the world, but diversity of thought is worthwhile, too. Of course, you should write about your gender, sexuality, race, and so on if it's relevant to what you'll bring to campus—and it often is—but don't feel like it's all you have to offer.

Think about what your experience has taught you, and how those lessons will contribute to Georgetown's diverse student body. That can mean discussing overcoming socio-economic hardship, or it can mean relating how you and your seven brothers used to squabble until you realized working together got chores done faster. Everybody has a unique story to tell, and this is Georgetown offering you space to tell yours .

Georgetown invites you to get creative here, but if you want to take a more embellished approach than a traditional essay, be sure that that creativity comes through in your writing and language rather than in the events . Don't inflate things to look more interesting or diverse than you are—this is your chance to flesh out the grades and test scores with your personality, so be sure it's your personality that the admissions office sees.

How to Answer the Georgetown College Essay Prompt

Georgetown College is the largest undergraduate school at Georgetown University, and contains many of the school's arts and sciences programs.

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.) (One page, single-spaced.)

This question is asking about your personal relationship with education and learning. But more than that, it's asking you why you want to attend Georgetown, making it a "Why Us?" essay .

When answering this prompt, think about your goals and how Georgetown fits into them . They don't need to hear about how they're a good school and you've always wanted to attend a competitive college—they already know that, and most other students also want to attend a good school. Why Georgetown specifically, as opposed to all the other possible schools you could apply to?

This is a good place to demonstrate familiarity with their mission and curriculum. Are there particular classes or faculty driving your decision to attend? Mention them!

Think holistically here. How will attending Georgetown enrich your education and help you reach your career goals? Keep their mission statement in mind as you write—consider the ideas of diversity, service to humanity, and community and how those fit into your goals.

Again, avoid generalities. Your essay should have enough concrete connection to Georgetown that you couldn't easily swap another school's name in and still have it make sense. Of course, there will always be some overlap with other schools, but be sure that the true spirit of Georgetown comes through in your essay.

How to Answer the Georgetown School of Nursing & Health Studies Essay Prompt

Georgetown's School of Nursing and Health Studies is exactly what it sounds like. This is where you'll be applying if you're interested in any of the health care fields, which is reflected in the prompt.

Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. Please specifically address your intended major (Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, or Nursing). (One page, single-spaced.)

This question isn't quite a clear-cut "Why Us?" or "Why You?" question, unlike the previous ones. Instead, it's asking "Why Health Care?"

Again, always keep in mind Georgetown's mission as a college: diversity, discussion, and the well-being of humanity. All of these things can factor into your essay in a meaningful way.

Think beyond health care being a reliable and well-paying field. Why do you want to care for people? Why the health field, specifically? Tying Georgetown's mission into this question is a great way to demonstrate your interest in the field, but also in the specific ways that this school teaches.

In this question, Georgetown wants you to demonstrate your interest in the field. If you're invested in health care, you're more likely to succeed in the program. The admissions office also wants to know what passion and interest you'll bring to the school, making you a student they want to invest in.

If you don't already know why you've chosen to pursue health care over other fields, now's the time to start thinking about it. Health care can often be thankless, difficult, and even frightening if you're working in emergency situations. What drives you to do it anyway?

Maybe you've struggled with illness yourself, and you want to commit to researching cures. Or maybe you're fascinated by the ways that disease impacts society, and you want to learn more about prevention and how to enact it on an individual basis. No matter what your career goal is, it's important that you can explain why you've chosen this field over all others.

However, be sure you can tie your interest to Georgetown specifically. Your essay will be even stronger if it explains not just what appeals to you about health care, but why Georgetown is the right college to help you achieve your goals.

How to Answer the Walsh School of Foreign Service Essay Prompt

If you're interested in international relations, Wash School of Foreign Service is likely where you'll be applying.

The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world? (One page, single-spaced.)

This is a perfect example of a  "Why Us?" question. Of all the schools out there, and all the programs, what led you to apply to Georgetown's school of foreign service? 

The trick to this question is being specific. Sure, the Walsh School of Foreign Service has interesting classes, great professors, and a strong track record for job placements, but so do a lot of other schools out there. What does it offer that other schools can't? In your response, be sure to mention specific courses/internship opportunities/professors who will give you opportunities unique to Georgetown.

We give more advice on how to answer this question under the next prompt, which is also a Why Us question!

How to Answer the McDonough School of Business Essay Prompt

The McDonough School of Business is exactly what it sounds like. If you're attending Georgetown with an interest in business, you'll need to answer the following prompt:

The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown. (One page, single-spaced.)

Like the Walsh School of Foreign Service, the McDonough School of Business prompt is a classic "Why Us?" question , asking you to identify not just that Georgetown is a good school, but why it's the right school for you and your interests.

To answer this question, consider the university's ethos and curriculum. Look at their course offerings and consider those as well as whatever reasons you have for applying. Think specifically, not generally— beyond it being a well-respected university, what does Georgetown have to offer you that other well-respected universities do not?

Georgetown wants to hear that you're committed to their program specifically, so answer in specifics. Identify features of their program in particular, and be sure to answer the question of why those features draw you to Georgetown.

If you have a personal anecdote about Georgetown, such as a moment on a tour, a personal connection to the campus, or admiration for a particular alumni, this essay is a good place to discuss it. If not, it's always a good idea to use concrete specifics, such as classes and extracurriculars that appeal to you. Fold those into a discussion of Georgetown's mission and your own career goals to paint a complete picture of why this is the right school for you.

What Does a Successful Georgetown Essay Look Like?

Planning an essay can be difficult as you try to weigh what the school might want against everything you could possibly cover. Thankfully, there's at least one successful Georgetown essay out there you can read in its entirety :

"Listen, girl. He's over 60 and speaks no English. There is no way we would hire him." His tone was rude, but I sadly understood why my dad wasn't hired. I faced my hopeful dad and watched his smile drop as I told him that Dave just remembered that they hired someone yesterday and that they really couldn't afford to hire anyone else. My dad was disappointed, but nonetheless he graciously shook Dave's hand and thanked him for his time. Job searching is difficult for everyone, but in a world full of Daves, it's almost impossible. Daves are people who look at my family and immediately think less of us. They think illegal, poor and uneducated. Daves never allow my dad to pass the first round of job applications. Daves watch like hawks as my brother and I enter stores. Daves inconsiderately correct my mother's grammar. Because there are Daves in the world, I have become a protector for my family. I excuse their behavior as just being a "typical American." I convince my mother that they are only staring at her lovely new purse. I convince my dad they are only shouting about store sales to us. Aside from being a protector, I am also an advocate. As an advocate, I make sure my family is never taken advantage of. I am always looking out for scams and discrepancies. I am the one asking the questions when we buy or sell a car. I make sure all details are discussed and no specifics are left unanswered.

It's not hard to see why the writer was accepted to Georgetown. This essay clearly demonstrates her experience and understanding of the world. The last paragraph is a great example of how to turn that experience into something actionable—she wants to go into public service, politics, or diplomacy because of how she's helped her parents and the bigotry she's witnessed as she's done so.

We know from reading exactly what the writer will bring to Georgetown: an understanding of the world and the way it's treated her and her family. She demonstrates her understanding of diversity clearly, which answers the first prompt—it shows what makes her unique as well as what she'll contribute.

The essay shows her personal story and how that's influenced her lifelong plans. Because the admissions office understands where she comes from and the essay finishes with where she hopes to go—as well as covering some of the obstacles she's overcome—they have a complete picture of her as a student.

One area the essay could be improved is strengthening the connection to Georgetown specifically. This essay is quite strong—she did get into Georgetown with it—but spending a little more time reflecting on how her life experience connects to Georgetown's mission would give it a little extra oomph . As it is, this could be an application essay for pretty much any school. Drawing a clear connection from your experiences to the college you're applying to demonstrates a stronger degree of interest, making your essay stand out.

Key Points of Advice for Georgetown Essays

No matter which prompts you're answering, it's a good idea to follow general advice for your Georgetown essays, too. Though the application for Georgetown is unique to the school, it still follows most of the common rules of college applications, so be sure to read up on some common tips for college applications .

#1: Read Prompts Carefully

Don't just answer the surface-level question. You have quite a bit of space to answer each of these, so read each one carefully, understand the deeper questions it might be asking, such as "Why You?" and be sure to answer those as well. Brainstorming will be a huge help here, as you can get all of your ideas out and select the ones that support your point the best.

#2: Connect Your Story to Your School

When you're writing "Why Us?" essays, think about your story—the things that have made you who you are, your ambition, your goals—and add in how Georgetown is the next step on your journey. Think beyond that it has a good reputation or that lots of impressive people have graduated from there. Draw a clear line between you and Georgetown by tying your experience in with its curriculum and mission statement. This will demonstrate that you're not just reusing the same essay for a bunch of schools, and that Georgetown is your real goal.

#3: Edit and Revise

Editing and revision are your best friends when it comes to a polished Georgetown essay. Don't just fire off a draft and call it good. Spend some time planning, writing, editing, and revising , being sure to start early so you can let your drafts rest between readings.

Spending more time will take some of the stress out of writing and let you put in more effort to get it into shape. The longer you have, the more thought you can put into it, so start early!

What's Next?

Give yourself plenty of time to get your Georgetown essay done by staying on top of all the deadlines for your application .

What else do you need to get into your dream school aside from stellar essays? This guide has all the requirements to get into Georgetown .

Even if you're not going to Georgetown, you should understand the college application process from start to finish. This helpful guide will walk you through applying to college starting from your freshman year of high school!

Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar.

Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges.

Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now :

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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September 9, 2023

2023-2024 Georgetown University Supplemental Essay Prompts

Georgetown University has released its 2023-2024 admissions essays for applicants to the Class of 2028 . The Jesuit institution, which has for years bucked the trend of joining The Common Application , asks applicants to respond to three essays in addition to one essay that is school-specific within the broader university. So, what are this year’s essay prompts? Let’s dive in!

2023-2024 Georgetown Essay Topics and Questions

Essays for all georgetown applicants.

All Georgetown applicants must answer the following three essay prompts

1. Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight (250 words) .

Applicants should focus on a skill related to the hook they’ve showcased in the activities section of their Georgetown application. After all, Georgetown’s admissions committee doesn’t care if an applicant can juggle. Even if the skill doesn’t relate to the student’s hook, the talent must showcase intellectual curiosity or it’s a wasted opportunity.

2. Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved (approximately 1/2 page, single-spaced) .

Applicants should shine a spotlight on one of their more meaningful activities. And, yes, this activity should relate to the student’s hook. If a student is interested in studying political science, the activity they write about for this essay prompt should not relate to physics. Georgetown’s admissions committee wants to see how applicants are going to make the world better in a small but meaningful way. As such, this is an opportunity to show rather than tell how they’ve done that to date through the prism of a specific extracurricular pursuit.

3. 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 own background, identity, skills, and talents. (approximately 1 page, single-spaced)

It’s unsurprising that unlike many of its peer institutions, Georgetown has made few changes to its application in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing Affirmative Action. After all, Georgetown’s longtime Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon is well known for his aversion to change. For example, it took a worldwide pandemic for the man to finally switch to notifying applicants of their decisions via the Internet rather than snail mail.

While this essay is similar to last year’s third essay prompt required of all applicants, the wording is slightly different. Unlike last year’s prompt, Georgetown has included “background” and “identity.” Last year, the prompt read, “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.”

Now, keep in mind that some schools, like Johns Hopkins University , included bold language that very much capitalized on the loophole Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts penned in his majority opinion outlawing Affirmative Action , allowing schools to continue to consider a candidate’s race in context: “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” Georgetown, unsurprisingly, didn’t go nearly as far in its language under its reluctant-to-modernize admissions czar — but it’s a step nonetheless.

Students need not be underrepresented minorities to answer this prompt powerfully. Students can instead write about their faith, community, or experiences, but we do encourage applicants who are underrepresented minorities to subtly make it clear since Georgetown, like all highly selective universities, continues to wish to admit a diverse class of students.

Georgetown School-Specific Essays

For the school-specific essay, irrespective of the school, the essay should not exceed one page, single-spaced.

Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences

A liberal arts education from the College of Arts & Sciences involves encounters with new concepts and modes of inquiry. Describe something (a class, a book, an event, etc.) that changed your thinking. (Applicants to the sciences, mathematics, public policy or languages are encouraged to include examples related to that field.)

Georgetown’s admissions committee wants to understand how an applicant thinks. Through a specific anecdote or anecdotes (no matter a student’s chosen field of study) — be it via a book, event, classroom discussion, lecture, or anything — it behooves applicants to shine a light on how they are filled with conviction. Yet, they’re also malleable to change when presented with better ideas. And, of course, it wouldn’t hurt to pepper — by showing rather than telling — the importance of the Jesuit tradition and, in particular, Cura personalis, in their storytelling.

McDonough School of Business

The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

This essay prompt presents applicants with an opportunity to share an origin story — as high schoolers rather than as children — for their interest in business. Ideally, the origin story traces to an activity featured in the student’s Georgetown activities section. And, of course, McDonough isn’t looking to admit future business titans just out for money. They want to understand how applicants will make the world better in a small but meaningful way. As such, McDonough applicants should infuse their essays with Jesuit traditions — and why they matter to them in business. And, yes, this essay should also be infused with Why McDonough and Why Georgetown specifics (and, no, name-dropping professors and listing classes don’t count as genuine specifics).

Walsh School of Foreign Service

The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?

Walsh is looking to learn the origin story of an applicant’s interest in foreign service — as high schoolers rather than as children. Through a specific anecdote or anecdotes, which ideally trace back to the student’s activities so they’re showing rather than telling, applicants should highlight how they hope to leave a mark on the wall in a way that can be actualized. Stopping climate change can’t be actualized. Incentivizing countries to be greener — based on specific research and insights — is much more doable.

School of Health

Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University. Please specifically address your intended major (Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, or Human Science).

Georgetown’s School of Health seeks to understand a student’s origin story, as a high schooler, for their interest in the disciplines under the School of Health’s umbrella. A grandparent becoming ill with breast cancer is not the way into such an essay since it’s all too common and doesn’t say enough about how a student thinks and how they wish to leave a mark on their field.

Instead, applicants should tell a small story that ideally relates to an activity they’ve participated in during high school, that showcases precisely why they want to contribute to the health field and how they hope to make a difference — and always in a small but deeply meaningful way.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Georgetown Essays

If you’re interested in submitting essays that will wow Georgetown’s admissions committee, fill out Ivy Coach ’s free consultation form , and we’ll be in touch to outline our college admissions counseling services for seniors.

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A Guide to the Georgetown Essays 2023-2024

October 23, 2023

Georgetown University continues to hold its place as one of the country's top universities. Securing admission to this esteemed school is no easy feat, as Georgetown boasts an acceptance rate of just 12%. Whether you aspire to join their renowned undergraduate business program or envision yourself achieving the same level of success as notable  alumni Bill Clinton and Bradley Cooper, one hurdle stands in your way: the Georgetown essays 2023-2024.

Unlike many other universities, Georgetown University does not utilize the Common Application or its personal statement prompts. Instead, they provide their own unique set of essays, designed to gain insight into your character and passions. Whether you're applying to Georgetown College, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, the Walsh School of Foreign Service, or the McDonough School of Business, crafting compelling responses to the Georgetown essays 2023-2024 is essential to setting yourself apart from the competition and positioning yourself as an indispensable candidate.

Georgetown Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight. (250 words).

If you are really proud of one of your abilities, now is the time to show it. Georgetown wants students who bring a variety of backgrounds and interests, this essay is a good opportunity to show a new side of yourself. Your talent doesn’t have to be an external ability such as playing the piano or writing sonnets. Neither is it required that you have received an award for this talent!

You can write about an internal characteristic such as an easy facility for making friends with new people. Or it can be something quirky like being a phenomenal cartoonist. In fact, it is better if the skill you mention is unique because your Georgetown essays 2023-2024 need to establish you as a memorable candidate. For questions like this, you don’t want to answer with a typical talent, or an ambiguous characteristic. We can assure you that many of your peers are going to be talented writers, musicians, and singers. You need to bring your own exceptional spin. As for personal characteristics, asserting that a trait like kindness is your greatest asset is frankly boring and vague. Think about what differentiates you.

The main point of your essay should emphasize why this talent or skill is meaningful to you. Why are you particularly proud of this talent? Make sure you’ve addressed all parts of the prompt. Is it a natural skill, or did it take time to develop? Will you continue to use this talent in your future goals and career? What have you learned about yourself while pursuing this skill? Let the reader understand why this talent matters so much, and exactly why it’s an admirable ability.

Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (approximately 1/2 page, single-spaced) 

Each year, Georgetown receives thousands of applications from students with stellar grades. By asking such a question through the Georgetown essays 2023-2024, the school is interested to know the kind of impact you’ve made in your community in order to distinguish you from the rest of the applicants. The school wants to know what part of your current high school career holds the most significance to you and how that in turn will influence the way you contribute to the Georgetown community. By asking this question, Georgetown wants to know the type of leader you are, how you collaborate with others, and what you care about the most.

To think about the activity you want to elaborate on, take a look at your activities list. A question like this should highlight one of the extracurriculars listed at or near the top of your activities list. In the activities section, you only had 150 characters, including spaces to describe what you did. But if it truly is an activity that has mattered, there’s far more to say. Reflect on what kind of leader you were while participating in the activity, if it’s an initiative that you started, why it is important to you, and the people you connected with. Half of a page is about 250 words, so really focus your answer on the impact rather than spending too much time describing what you did as part of the activity.

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 own background, identity, skills, and talents. (approximately 1 page, single-spaced)

While the previous question highlights what you’ve done and how you’ve made an impact, this question attempts to get more to the core of who you are. Alongside evaluating your academic achievements, Georgetown especially considers your “accomplishments outside of the classroom, demonstrated commitment to the broader community, and personal qualities such as resiliency, motivation and, ambition are certainly considered.” They want to see whether you possess qualities that can not only uniquely add to the Georgetown community but benefit from it as well. 

It can be difficult to figure out where to even begin brainstorming this question — you can probably name a few different points or facets of your life that you consider core to your personality and character. To write this essay, it would be wise to write about the same topic as the Common App personal statement . Since Georgetown admissions officers won’t be looking at your Common App, it’s absolutely okay to draw from your personal statement, as that essay is also about a story that is completely unique to you. This prompt provides you with a chance to tell a story that doesn’t apply to 99% of other students. Your response could also focus on a part of your background that has shaped you or it could highlight an experience that you believe distinguishes you from your peers. The prompt also says you can get creative with your essay, so don’t be afraid to think out of the box. Unlike the Common App, which isn’t school-specific, you can even add a sentence or two at the end of this prompt as you’re only submitting this response to Georgetown!

School-Specific Prompts

Applicants to georgetown college:, a liberal arts education from the college of arts & sciences involves encounters with new concepts and modes of inquiry. describe something (a class, a book, an event, etc.) that changed your thinking. (applicants to the sciences, mathematics, public policy or languages are encouraged to include examples related to that field.).

In order to create a powerful and impactful response that truly captures your insatiable thirst for knowledge and unwavering eagerness to explore new ideas, it is essential to carefully select a class, book, or event that embodies these qualities. Reflect on an experience that not only challenged your preconceived beliefs and assumptions, but also compelled you to reassess your perspective and actively seek fresh approaches to problems. Use this opportunity to showcase your openness to intellectual growth and your ability to critically analyze your own viewpoints.

When reflecting on your experience, make sure to establish a strong connection between that encounter and the education you hope to receive at Georgetown's College of Arts & Sciences. Explore how this experience aligns with Georgetown's focus on nurturing critical thinking, interdisciplinary studies, and engagement with innovative ideas. Emphasize the ways in which this encounter has expanded your knowledge and enhanced your ability to think critically and creatively.

Remember to utilize vivid details and personal anecdotes to make your story compelling and unforgettable. By painting a vivid picture of your journey, you will engage the reader and allow them to connect with your transformative experience on a deeper level. Delve into how this transformative experience has impacted you as an individual. Reflect on the valuable insights you gained about yourself and how this change has influenced your goals, aspirations, or values. Express how this experience has shaped your character, broadened your perspective, and ignited a desire for personal and intellectual growth. This reflection will demonstrate your self-awareness and your ability to learn and grow from your experiences.

Georgetown highly values intellectual curiosity, a commitment to personal growth, and a desire to engage with novel ideas. Your essay should vividly demonstrate these qualities and illustrate how you would be an invaluable asset to their academic community. Showcasing your passion for learning, your ability to think critically, and your eagerness to contribute to the academic discourse will make you a standout candidate for admission.

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, global health, or nursing)..

Georgetown knows that all students applying to the School of Nursing and Health Studies have a passion for medicine, want to help people, and imagine a career for themselves in healthcare. This question asks you to dig deeper. What makes your specific interest in the field unique? The school wants to see that you have done your research on Georgetown’s nursing school specifically and understand the resources that make the college unique. 

In this essay — without overlapping with the previous question about who you are — you have to expand on a story related to your love for medicine that only applies to you. Lots of students may have been inspired by their own or their relatives’ illnesses, while others might have realized their calling for the profession through an internship junior year. Since you have about 500 words you can write in detail about how your interest in medicine originated, the ways in which you explored the interest further both academically and through extracurriculars, and then delve more into how your choice of major at Georgetown can help you reach your aspirations. Why Health Care Management & Policy, and why at Georgetown? Make sure the reader understands that you understand the school’s offerings and resources and that you’re ready to make the most of them.

Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service:

The walsh school of foreign service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. what is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world.

The Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown is one of the best known schools in the world for studying international affairs. Admissions officers use this prompt to understand both your personality, character, and values. The School of Foreign Service wants to see where your priorities lie, what your goals are, and how an education in one of the school’s unique majors such as Regional and Comparative Studies and International Political Economy can help you get there. The school is looking for ambitious, open-minded, and curious individuals, and using this prompt among the Georgetown essays 2023-2024 can be an effective way of doing so.

If you’ve answered the 4th prompt among the Common App personal statement essays ( Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve.) , you can write a similar response here. Remember that while this question asks for a current global issue, you’re still writing supplemental essays for your application. This prompt is less about what problem you’ve chosen, and more about getting to know what’s important to you and how you react when faced with one. Moreover, since it doesn’t have to examine a problem the world has already solved, you can use this prompt to delve deeper into your academic interests, specifically within the Walsh School. Is your desire to end climate change connected with your selection of the college’s Science, Technology & International Affairs major? Carefully choose an issue that shows your personal stake, as well as conveys you as an individual aware of the world around them.

Applicants to the McDonough School of Business:

The mcdonough school of business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. please discuss your motivations for studying business at georgetown..

As one of the top undergraduate business schools in the United States, the McDonough School wants to know how you hope to benefit from a business degree from Georgetown specifically. They want to know what you want from a business degree at this stage — how will you take advantage of Georgetown’s hands-on opportunities? What impact have you made on your community and what are you bringing to the classroom? How will you add to the diversity of your cohort?

The word limit allows you to go into details about discovering your love for not just business — but your specific interest in the discipline. Whether it’s marketing or accounting, ask yourself questions to start brainstorming exactly what motivates you. Was there one instance that catalyzed your passion and goals? How have you explored the subject of your interest since then? How has your curiosity about the topic grown? The majority of your essay should be dedicated to tying your interest in with what McDonough has to offer. Note which professor you can’t wait to learn from or a class that stands out to you on your way to becoming a future entrepreneur.

Additional Tips for Writing the Georgetown Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

Now that you’ve taken a look at the prompts for the Georgetown supplemental essays , here are a few tips to help your brainstorming process: 

• Don’t underestimate the power of your extracurriculars : Admissions officers want to know what makes you tick outside the classroom. Don’t just shrug off the first essay and repeat information word for word from what you’ve already included in your activities list. They want to know about your perspective and identity. Your activities could have shifted your views in a way that you might not have even realized before sitting down to write the essay. And you won’t be able to analyze their impact properly if you don’t look at them from a more nuanced angle.
• Research both the college of your choice and the university as a whole: While you definitely have to go in-depth to understand what makes the college of your choice within Georgetown special, it’s also essential that you understand what makes Georgetown unique. This means understanding its identity and values , researching its unique opportunities, and really knowing why you think you would be a good fit. The fit automatically shines through in your writing if you’ve worked to authentically connect your research to your interest in the school.

Georgetown University is a dream school for many students. Naturally, the competition is not easy. To help admissions officers understand what you can bring to campus and how the school can help you grow and thrive, take advantage of these prompts to explain what makes you unique. With the right amount of research, the extracurriculars and grades to back it up, and passion for your field of interest, you can give yourself a fair shot at this well-esteemed university.

If you are looking for a college admissions counselor to help maximize your chances of getting into your dream school, we can help! InGenius Prep has helped more than 6,000 students around the world gain admission into the most competitive schools including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, NYU, and more. Sign up for a free strategy call today and join the 6,000+ students we've helped get accepted into their dream school.

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Georgetown University 2019-20 Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision: 

Georgetown 2019-20 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250 words; 2 essays of 300-400 words; 1 essay of 500-700 words.

Supplemental Essay Type(s):  Activity , Why

Prompt 1: Indicate any special talents or skills you possess. (250 words)

This prompt may come first on the list, but we think you should save it for last! For the other essays on the Georgetown application, we ask you to dig deep and share personal stories that showcase talents and interests. Don’t dry the well by listing all of your (many!) skills and talents too soon. Every essay should reveal something new to admissions. So once you finish polishing your other pieces, ask yourself: what’s missing? Is there some critical puzzle piece that will help connect your other three essays? Or have you been dying to get something off your chest that didn’t fit anywhere else? This essay could be the perfect outlet for you to showcase your more personal skills, interests, and quirks. If the rest of your essays showcase your drive to work in international relations, perhaps your answer to this prompt could showcase a lighter side: your love of experimental cooking (and impressive knife skills!). Or maybe explain how learning a new language helped you learn how to whistle! While you should aim to showcase genuine skills that you have put effort into cultivating, you can also have a little bit of fun. This prompt is the most open-ended one on the application, so show admissions something they won’t find anywhere else on your application.

Prompt 2: Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (1/2 page, single-spaced, or approximately 300-400 words depending on font size) 

The Georgetown application kicks off with a fun twist on the classic activity essay, which asks you to expand on an extracurricular endeavor that you care about. For starters, we’d give you basically the same advice the prompt does: focus on one of the activities “in which you have been most involved.” Although we usually urge students to write about items that haven’t appeared elsewhere on their application, the activity essay is an exception since it specifically asks you to address an item on your resume. So, pick something with meat! When have you had the opportunity to take on a leadership role? How has four years of debate club shaped the way you communicate? Was it difficult coaching pee wee soccer as a freshman, and what motivated you to stick with it?

On the other hand, Georgetown is also giving you the opportunity to talk about camp, so if you have amazing camp stories that show your character and personality, definitely write about them! But think more along the lines of “The Parent Trap” and less along the lines of “Wet Hot American Summer.” If you don’t have a fantastic camp story about the time you saved everyone in your cabin by knowing the cure for poison ivy, think about another activity you’ve been involved in and why you’ve decided to spend so much of your time doing it. Why is it meaningful to you?

Prompt 3: 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. (1 page, single-spaced, or approximately 300-400 words depending on font size)

This is one of the hardest prompts! What do you mean, tell you about myself in my own words? What do you want to know?! Where do I start? Birth? School? Puberty? Calm down! Think about why they’re asking you this question and it will all fall into place. While many applications can often read similarly with impressive grades, extracurriculars, and teacher recommendations, this essay makes it so you can differentiate yourself with your personality. Do you have a very sarcastic sense of humor, do you make more dad jokes than your own father, do all of your friends refer to you as the “artsy” one? Georgetown wants to know that you’re more than your application, that you’re a real person with quirks and weird habits and endearing qualities! It also doesn’t hurt to keep in mind that G-town specifically names “personal” and “creative” as two separate categories. If you fancy yourself a writer, now could really be your time to shine.

And remember, Georgetown isn’t on the Common App ! Did you write your Personal Statement on Common App prompt #1 ? You could be in luck. If you chose a different prompt, don’t worry, you still might be able to recycle your Common App essay here — and it’s never too late to take our good advice on writing an essay about your background!

Georgetown University School-Specific Prompts.

(each school-specific prompt should not exceed 1 page, single-spaced, or approximately 500-700 words depending on font size), georgetown college: 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.).

Despite the heady tone of the introductory question, this prompt is nothing more than a classic why essay. (Promise!) Try reading it in reverse: address your chosen course of study. How will Georgetown help you pursue this interest? How will this experience make you a more educated person (and what does it mean to educated)? Not so bad! Going in this order, kick off your writing process with a little research: what programs interest you? Is there something specific in the curriculum that calls out to you? A professor’s name that you recognize? Drilling into the details in your research will make it clear (if not totally obvious) why Georgetown is the perfect place for you to study chemistry, or linguistics, or religion. 

Once you have a solid map of your school-specific interests, it’s time to turn the lens back on your experiences. It’s one thing to say you want to study journalism in the nation’s capital, but it’s more convincing and memorable if you also mention your award-winning coverage of a student council election for your school paper. You can define what it means to be “educated” by showing admissions where you are now and describing how far you hope to go with the help of a Georgetown education.

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

If we know anything about applying to medical programs, it is this: everyone wants to help people; everyone wants to make the world a better place; everyone wants to make a meaningful contribution. Few fields lend themselves to service-oriented clichés and platitudes as readily as medicine does. To safely navigate the minefield of hackneyed generalizations, start with something personal! What one eye-opening experience that made you believe healthcare could be your calling? Perhaps it was a single moment, like accidental eye contact at the ER in a public hospital. Or maybe it was something more long-term, such as the struggle of navigating your school in a wheelchair after knee surgery. Whatever the case, use your personal story as the backdrop for your argument. What did you learn? What problems do you hope to tackle? What change do you hope to help create? As we said, it’s not enough to want these things, in general. Your job is to show admissions why health studies interest you personally.

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.

This prompt may seem to want something other than a personal essay, but it doesn’t want a policy paper either. Think about this as an opportunity to showcase two critical aspects of your character: your values and your problem-solving skills. If this advice sounds familiar, perhaps it’s because you worked on the Common App’s fourth prompt: the solver essay . If you did, you may already have an excellent draft to draw upon for Georgetown. (Remember: they aren’t on the Common App!) And if you’re starting from scratch, the same advice applies it is important that the problem you choose is linked to your life and the world in a meaningful way. The whole purpose of this exercise is to reveal something valuable about yourself to admissions, so be sure to link the problem you highlight to your passions, actions, or aspirations. Ask yourself, what kind of mark would you like to leave on the world? How do you think you can positively contribute to a cause that is important to you? If you had the power to make a lasting impact in any area at all, what would it be? While building the personal connection is key, you’ll also want to leave yourself some space to spell out at least a few steps you might take to address your global issue of choice.

McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

If you think we’ve never seen an essay with the line, “I love money,” you would be wrong. Spoiler: this does not make a great first impression. Studying business is about so much more than dollars and cents, and the prompt offers a few other aspects of business you’ll learn about in this program including “ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives.” In order to get some perspective, we’d recommend doing your homework. Like any classic why essay, the best answers are personal and specific, so go beyond your general interest in business and try to figure out specifically why Georgetown could be the right fit for you. Is in the location? The professors? The travel opportunities? Allow yourself to follow every lead and fall down every rabbithole as you root through the program website. Your essay should paint a picture of the kind of student you will be at Georgetown, from the classes you’ll take to the activities you’ll pursue. How will this education prepare you for your dream career?

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Georgetown Supplemental Essays 2023-24 – Prompts and Advice

September 11, 2023

The nation’s oldest Jesuit institution of higher learning is also its most selective, as Georgetown University welcomed just 13% of applicants to the Class of 2027 onto its historical and notably beautiful Washington, D.C. campus. Whenever you are applying to a school of Georgetown’s caliber, where the average admitted applicant has a 1470 SAT score and is at (or near) the top of their high school class, you need to find ways to set yourself apart from the pack. Toward that aim, prospective Hoyas need to take advantage of the Georgetown supplemental essays.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into Georgetown? Visit our blog entitled:  How to Get Into Georgetown: Admissions Data and Strategies  for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

The goal is to write compelling, standout compositions. Your essays should showcase your exceptional writing ability and reveal more about who you are as an individual. Below are Georgetown’s essay prompts for the 2023-24 admissions cycle along with tips about how to address each one.

Georgetown Supplemental Essays – Prompt 1

Indicate any special talents or skills you possess. (250 words)

If you are a world-class athlete, you are likely already in the recruitment process. If you placed high in AIME or won a National Merit Scholarship, that is already stated in the awards section. Therefore, using the prized 250 words of real estate to merely rehash the fact that you won an award for something you are good at would not be an inspiring move. Instead, use this essay as an opportunity to offer a new level of depth and understanding about your talent(s). In addition to discussing the talent you possess, touch on the journey of how you developed your abilities.

A few years back, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that becoming an expert at anything takes 10,000 hours of practice. Consider talking about the grind and sacrifice it took you to become great at a given skill. Describe how you see that skill becoming even more finely-tuned/developed over time. If this skill fits into your future academic/career plans, all the better—share that too!

Georgetown Supplemental Essays – Prompt 2

Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (approximately 1/2 page, single-spaced) 

Perhaps you are the captain of a team, the editor-in-chief of your school paper, or the president of a club. On the other hand, you may simply be a valuable contributing member. Regardless of whether you are a leading man/woman or a still-essential bit player, make sure that you use your writing ability to show the admissions officer what type of involved team member you are rather than merely telling them.

You can also discuss how you have engaged with your high school local/community. Share what you have learned from interacting with people of a different ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual identity, etc. Draw on past evidence of your commitment to being a positive force in the context of your activity/activities. Also be sure to speculate how that is likely to manifest on Georgetown’s campus. Research and cite Hoya student-run organizations, local nonprofit groups, or anything else you are drawn to. The admissions committee wants to understand precisely how you will contribute to their campus community of 7,000+ undergrads. Drawing the link between your past efforts and future aims is critical here. For example, if you’ve done work with Habitat for Humanity throughout your teens, it will be most impactful if you express your commitment to joining Georgetown’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity in the future.

Georgetown University Supplemental Essays – Prompt 3

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. (approximately 1 page, single-spaced)

Whether you decide to write about yourself in a way that is light, creative, humorous, personal, sincere, or vulnerable (any are perfectly fine), aim to reveal a picture of yourself that cannot be gleaned from elsewhere in your application materials.

Take note of the wide-open nature of this prompt. While there are no limits to the way in which you approach this essay, here are some angles to consider:

• A perspective you hold
• An experience you had
• A community you belong to
• Your cultural or family background
• Something you’ve had to overcome

The admissions officer looking at your essay is hoping to connect with you through your written words. So be open, humble, thoughtful, inquisitive, emotionally honest, mature, and insightful. No matter what type of story you tell, the goal is to have the reader come away saying, “I can definitely see this applicant as a contributing member of our talented and engaged student community.”

Georgetown Supplemental Essays — The School-Specific Essay

Depending on the College or School that you are applying to at Georgetown, you’ll need to write a separate school-specific essay. At their core, all of them are “Why Us” essays, so as you address each prompt (see below), be sure to include Georgetown-specific offerings and opportunities that support your reasoning, interests, and future plans.

Elements of a great Georgetown “Why Us?” essay

• Cite school-specific  academic programs , professors,  research opportunities ,  internship/externship programs , and  study abroad programs .
• Reference student-run organizations at Georgetown that align with your passions.
• Describe how you take advantage of Georgetown’s immense resources both inside and outside of the classroom.
• Make sure to touch on both a) why Georgetown is the perfect fit for you and) why you are the perfect fit for Georgetown. Covering both topics is essential.

Common mistakes on a Georgetown “Why Us?” essay .

• Fawning over the picturesque Gothic-style Georgetown campus (it is quite beautiful, but they already know that).
• Georgetown is top-ranked, prestigious, and has a great reputation. Again, they know!
• Too many generic expressions of feeling (e.g., It has been my dream since I was a toddler to be a Hoya…).
• Recycled statements from your other “Why Us?” essays that come across as stale, impersonal, or worst of all–irrelevant/inaccurate.

Georgetown College: A liberal arts education from the College of Arts & Sciences involves encounters with new concepts and modes of inquiry. Describe something (a class, a book, an event, etc.) that changed your thinking. (Applicants to the sciences, mathematics, public policy or languages are encouraged to include examples related to that field.).

Since you’ll be encountering all kinds of new topics and ways of thinking at Georgetown, the admissions committee is interested in discovering how you’ve interacted with new and surprising information in the past. Keep in mind that the ways in which your thinking changed are much more important than the class, book, or event you select, so choose something that allows you to demonstrate your open-mindedness, curiosity, and willingness to challenge yourself—this might be a book you read in English class, a lecture you attended, a summer course you engaged in, etc. Note that Georgetown encourages certain types of applicants to choose examples related to their prospective field of study.

Further, be sure to describe why you are interested in a liberal arts education from Georgetown specifically.

Georgetown Supplemental Essays (Continued)

School of nursing & health studies: describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. please specifically address your intended major (global health, health care management & policy, human science, or nursing)..

“A nurse is not what you do, it is who you are.”

This quote from an anonymous source captures the idea that becoming a nurse is a calling; not a profession you just stumble into. Healthcare in general is no different. Healthcare professionals are willing to work long shifts in the service of others, be on the frontlines of a pandemic, and deal with life’s toughest challenges (e.g., suffering and death) on a regular basis. Many applicants share stories of caring for sick relatives, experiencing a tough medical episode themselves, or observing the challenges faced by a particular community as inspiration for studying nursing or healthcare. In addition to your school-specific research, this essay is a chance to show the admissions committee that you are a passionate and mature healthcare or nursing candidate and that this field is genuinely “who you are.”

Walsh School of Foreign Service: The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?

International service is not something every 17/18-year-old in the country is dreaming about doing as a vocation. There is likely a very interesting story surrounding what motivated you to apply to the Walsh School of Foreign Service and this essay invites you to share this very narrative. You don’t need to look any deeper than today’s headlines to identify powerful and immensely challenging global problems. Whether you are aiming for a B.S. in Business and Global Affairs, a B.S. in Foreign Service, or a B.S. in Global, International, and Comparative History, you likely have a highly specific set of academic and career goals taking shape in your mind.

If you can communicate these goals and the motivations behind them while sharing a vision for how you will contribute to the betterment of humankind in one or multiple regions of the world, then you are likely to end up with an excellent Walsh essay. Moreover, you’ll want to be sure to discuss why Walsh in particular will be a great fit for you.

McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

Before you start writing, you’ll want to do some McDonough-specific research and think about why a business education from McDonough in particular will be a great fit for your interests and goals. Further, to stand out, applicants need to connect the resources they’ve chosen to experiences they’ve had, demonstrating that they have availed themselves of every opportunity to dive into the business world during their high school years. Of course, not everyone has parents who hand them money to invest in the stock market or land them an internship at Goldman Sachs in 9th grade.

Relevant experiences can include high school investing clubs, participation in activities like FBLA, summer programs/courses in business/finance/economics, running your own local small business or e-business (Etsy, landscaping, etc.), or just a regular old retail job. The important thing to highlight is what you learned from your experiences, how you’ll bring that newly acquired knowledge to the classroom at Georgetown, and how your experiences have informed & influenced what you hope to continue learning in college.

How important are the Georgetown supplemental essays?

There are a whopping 8 factors that Georgetown considers to be “very important” to the evaluation process. These are: rigor of secondary school record, character/personal qualities, class rank, GPA, standardized test scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities, and most relevant to this blog—the application essays. The essays undoubtedly play a significant role in the admissions process at Georgetown. They can help the committee decide who to admit when choosing between similarly-credentialed (GPA, test scores, etc.) applicants.

Want personalized assistance with your Georgetown supplemental essays?

Interested in working with one of our experienced and knowledgeable essay coaches as you craft your Georgetown supplemental essays? We encourage you to get a quote  today.

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A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.

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First Year Applicant

Georgetown offers students the opportunity to apply in two ways: Early Action or Regular Decision. Regardless of which option you choose, we encourage you to begin your application by submitting the Georgetown Application as soon as possible. Filling out and submitting the Georgetown Application should only take you a few minutes. Once you submit the Georgetown Application, we will open your application file and begin the process of scheduling the required interview with a member of your local Alumni Admissions Committee.

Since we communicate with candidates via email about scheduling alumni interviews as well as missing credentials, we kindly ask that you allow access to the georgetown.edu email addresses through any spam filters used by your internet service provider.

For all important information about the application process, we recommend printing out the Information for Candidates document.

Checklist and Deadlines

No application will be considered until all of the required credentials have been received. A notice of missing credentials will be emailed, but students should make every effort to ensure that they are submitted on time (see deadlines below). A complete application includes the following information:

Georgetown Application Application Supplement Secondary School Report (including transcript) Teacher’s Recommendation A Non-refundable Application Fee of $75.00 – payable in USD Results of the College Board Scholastic Assessment Test or the American College Testing Program examination sent directly from the testing service Scores from College Board SAT Subject Tests sent directly from the testing service (if taken prior to January 2021)

All applicants for Early Action must clearly indicate their intention in the appropriate space on the application form, but otherwise should follow the normal application procedure. While we recommend that Early Action applicants complete testing requirements in their junior year, scores from the September and October test dates will typically arrive in time for consideration at Early Action. Students should make certain to request that scores be sent to Georgetown well in advance of the deadline to ensure timely receipt.

All admitted first year students will then have until May 1 to submit their enrollment agreement and non-refundable deposit to reserve a place in the first year class.

Early Action applicants should submit all materials by November 1. They will be notified by the admissions committee of their admissions decision by December 15. Regular Decision applicants should have all application materials postmarked by January 10. They will be notified by the admissions committee of their admissions decision by April 1. Accepted students have until May 1 to mail their deposit.

We appreciate your interest in Georgetown and look forward to learning more about you and your accomplishments in the coming months.

More Information

First Year Application Early Action Program Preparation Process Student Profile Application Fee Waiver Alumni Interviews Financial Aid Join Our Mailing List Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program

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How to Write the Georgetown “Special Talents” Essay

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

What’s Covered:

What counts as a talent, crafting your approach.

Georgetown University ’s first supplemental essay prompt asks: 

Indicate any special talents or skills you possess. (250 words)

Students often ask how creative they should get with essays like this, or any supplemental essay for that matter. An essay is usually an opportunity to be as creative as you want, although there are some exceptions depending on the nature of the question. 

In cases like this where you’re asked to write about a personal skill or talent, students have free reign to be creative with their essay provided that their response aligns with the values of the college or university that they’re applying to.

The word talent can often trip students up. When you read the word “talent,” there’s a tendency to immediately jump into a discussion of your best subject in school or an extracurricular that you’re performing well in. While these can certainly be examples of talents, you’re not restricted to writing about a talent in the traditional sense. In fact, some of the best responses to this prompt are about some of our more intangible talents.

One example is being good at diffusing or navigating conflict. You could write about how you’ve leveraged your sense of humor to calm or disarm others in an incredibly tense situation. Writing about a more intangible talent or soft skill can bring a level of creativity to the essay that traditional topics like academics or extracurricular activities wouldn’t necessarily introduce. 

That isn’t to say, however, that you can’t write an impressive essay about the skills or accomplishments demonstrated through your resume. The prompt allows you a lot of flexibility by not qualifying what constitutes a skill or talent, so be sure to pick something meaningful to you that you can write a compelling essay about, whatever your talent may be.

Avoid Recreating Your Resume

As you begin drafting your essay, it’s important not to simply rewrite your resume as an essay. While you can certainly call out specific accomplishments and activities relevant to your talent, the essay is an opportunity to provide context and highlight your personal voice and experiences. Consider showcasing some of the unique non-academic experiences you’ve had that relate back to your talent. For example, perhaps you are a great problem solver and you’ve learned to apply that ability to things like fixing cars or building puzzles.

Incorporate Your Voice

Finally, remember to have fun with your essay! Georgetown’s application includes some pretty serious and heavy questions, and, while it’s important to have a strong and present voice in all of your writing, the first prompt is a particularly good opportunity to have fun and really get creative. 

At the end of the day, college essay prompts are indeed meant for you to speak directly to your reader about your interests, but also for you to demonstrate what you would bring to the campus as an individual learner. Therefore, you should focus on crafting a strong personal voice and showing the reader not only your talent, but what your unique experiences and reflections will bring to their community.

Looking for more insight on what makes a successful Georgetown essay? Check out this article for sample essays from real applicants as well as our take on what made each essay successful and what could make them even better!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

How To Get Into Georgetown University: Admission Requirements + Tips

Reviewed by:

Rohan Jotwani

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 11/8/23

Wondering how to get into Georgetown University? Read on for all the information you need!

Georgetown University is America’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university and the first university chartered by the United States Congress. Established in 1789 , it evolved to become one of the world’s leading academic and research institutions. This guide will cover everything you need to know about admission to Georgetown University.

Georgetown University Acceptance Rate: 13%

Georgetown University has an acceptance rate of 13%, making it a highly competitive school to gain admission to.

Take a look at Georgetown University's acceptance rates through the years, and you can see how the number of applicants and accepted students has fluctuated.

Georgetown University Early Action Acceptance Rate: 12%

Georgetown has an early action acceptance rate of 12%. This indicates that the early decision process at Georgetown University is highly competitive. Only a small percentage of applicants who apply through early decision are accepted.

How Hard Is It to Get Into Georgetown University?

Getting into Georgetown University can be quite challenging since it boasts a low acceptance rate of just 13%. This means that out of all the applicants, only a small fraction are granted admission. So, it's safe to say that securing a spot at Georgetown University is no walk in the park.

Take our interactive quiz below to find out how likely you are to get into Georgetown .

Georgetown University Admissions Statistics

Keep reading to learn how to boost your chances of gaining admission at Georgetown University. 

Georgetown University Average GPA: 4.01

The Georgetown University average GPA of admitted students is around 4.01. So, to make your application more competitive, it's essential to aim for a high GPA. This will help you stand out in the admissions process.

Georgetown University Average SAT Score: 1450

The Georgetown University average SAT is 1450, and most Georgetown University SAT scores range from between 1390 and 1560. Aiming for a 1560 will boost your chances of consideration during the admissions process. 

Georgetown University Average ACT Score: 33

The Georgetown University average ACT score is 33, and most Georgetown University ACT scores fall within the range of 32 to 35. Getting a score within or above this range will help strengthen your application. 

What Is Georgetown University Looking For In Applicants?

Knowing where you stand is key to understanding how to get into Georgetown. When you have insight into the process and requirements, you can get organized and position yourself for success. Let's take a closer look at what matters to Georgetown University during the admission process, based on the Common Data Set for 2022-2023 .

If you want to make a strong impression on Georgetown's admissions committee, focusing on these essential aspects can make a big difference in your admission prospects.

Georgetown University Admissions Requirements

To maximize your chances of joining this top-ranking school, you’ll need impressive academic scores. 75th percentile Georgetown applicants have SAT scores of 1560, ACT scores of 35, and GPAs above 4.01. Set yourself apart by proving your commitment; participate in extracurriculars and passion projects related to your degree!

It’s also essential to understand Georgetown University’s admissions requirements and evaluation criteria. Here's what Georgetown looks for in applicants and the factors they consider during the evaluation process.

• Georgetown University requires either SAT or ACT scores from all applicants, with no consideration of the Writing component.
• The admissions committee places greater emphasis on school records, academic program, and class rank than on test scores, with no specific score cut-offs.
• Interviews with alumni through the Alumni Admissions Program are important in the selection process.
• Recommended secondary school preparation includes four years of English, two years of social studies, modern language, and math, and one year of natural science.
• For specific majors, such as nursing, health, business, or languages, additional coursework may be necessary.

Georgetown University Application Deadlines

Now, let’s get into the deadlines . Georgetown University offers two key application deadlines. Regular Decision and Early Action, to accommodate the preferences and timelines of prospective students. 

Georgetown University Regular Decision Deadline

The Regular Decision deadline is January 10, 2024. Applying by this deadline allows students more time to complete and submit their applications. Applicants who take the Regular Decision route will receive their admission decisions in early April.

Georgetown University Early Action Deadline

The Early Action deadline is November 1, 2023. Applicants applying through Early Action can expect to receive their admission decisions by December 15, 2023. 

Importantly, the Early Action program is non-binding, which means that students accepted under this program are not obligated to enroll and have until May 1 to make their final decision. 

Keep in mind that Early Action applicants can still apply to other colleges and universities and have the flexibility to compare their options before making a commitment.  

How to Improve Your Chances of Getting Into Georgetown University

Here are some of the top tips from our Georgetown admissions experts for getting into Georgetown: 

1. Research Georgetown’s Mission and Values

It’s essential to fully understand what the university seeks in students and incorporate those values into your essays and interviews.

2. Know What You Want to Study and Why

You’ll have an easier time answering essay prompts and interview questions if you’ve decided what program you want to attend. You can research Georgetown’s undergraduate degrees and be specific about what you want to accomplish at the school.

3. Participate in Various Extracurricular Activities

You’ll stand out if you participate in clubs and activities related to your major that you feel passionate about. You must discuss your most significant activity, so you should have a few to select from. 

4. Notify Your Recommenders Well in Advance

When you submit your Georgetown Application, you’ll need to have your recommender’s contact information ready. You should connect with recommenders early so they can send the evaluation on time. Ensure your recommender can attest to your excellent academic performance. 

Georgetown University Essay Prompts

You’ll need to complete three supplemental essays to gain admission to Georgetown University. You need to submit your: 

Take a look at Georgetown University’s supplemental essay prompts . Keep in mind that some of the specific questions you answer depend on what school you’re applying to. 

1. “Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (Approximately one-half page, single-spaced)”

2. “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.”

The next essay you’ll write depends on which school you’re applying to: 

For Georgetown College Applicants

 “What does it mean to you to be educated? How might Georgetown College help you achieve this goal? (Applicants to the Sciences and Mathematics or the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics should address their chosen course of study.)”

For School of Nursing Applicants

“Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. Please specifically address your intended major (Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, or Nursing).”

For McDonough School of Business Applicants

“The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial, and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.”

For Walsh School of Foreign Service Applicants

“The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?”

Georgetown University Interview

When you apply to Georgetown University as a first-year student, you'll need to have an alumni interview . Transfer students have the option to schedule one if they'd like. If there are no available alumni interviewers in your region, don't worry – the interview requirement is waived, and it won't affect your chances of admission negatively.

You'll receive your alumni interviewer's contact information sometime between September and January. While it's a good idea to schedule the interview as soon as possible, there's no need to rush before the application deadline. 

How to Prepare For The Georgetown University Interview

To get ready for your Georgetown University interview, here are some practical steps to follow. First, take time to review your application materials, including your essays and resume, as they might come up in the discussion. 

Take some time to research Georgetown thoroughly, so you can explain why you're interested in the university.

Practice answers to common questions like "Tell me about yourself," "Why Georgetown?" and "Why your chosen major?" It's also a good idea to have some thoughtful questions ready to ask your interviewer about their experiences at Georgetown.

Remember to dress professionally for the interview, whether it's in-person or virtual, and be on time. During the interview, stay confident, maintain good eye contact, and actively participate in the conversation.

Lastly, after the interview, send a thank-you email to show your appreciation and reinforce your enthusiasm for Georgetown. These steps will help you present yourself well and make a positive impression during your interview.

Still have questions about getting into Georgetown? Then check out these FAQs.

1. What Is a Good SAT Score for Georgetown? What Is a Good ACT Score? 

While you can aim for Georgetown’s average SAT or ACT scores, it’s best to aim for the 75th percentile or higher for your best chance of admission. That means achieving an SAT score close to or higher than 1560 or an ACT score close to or higher than 35. 

2. Does Georgetown Have Early Decision? 

No, Georgetown only offers a non-binding Early Action program. The school gives all students the freedom to choose between schools until May 1. 

3. If I Apply to Georgetown Through Early Action, Can I Apply Early at Other Schools?

Yes, you can apply for the Early Action program at Georgetown and other schools. 

4. How Can I Increase My Chances of Acceptance If I Was Deferred? 

If your college application is deferred, you should maintain high grades and submit new information, including test scores, new honors, or awards. Early Action admission is offered to a limited number of students.

5. Is the Georgetown Interview Mandatory? 

All first-year applicants must schedule Georgetown interviews unless there are no alumni interviewers available in your area.

6. What Kind of Students Get Into Georgetown? 

Georgetown seeks students who are “highly talented and motivated.” Show off your talents, passions, and commitment to service in your applications for your best chance of admission.

7. Is Georgetown a Good School? 

Yes, Georgetown is a good school. It’s highly selective and ranks as one of the country’s top 25 schools.

8. What Is the Cost of Tuition at Georgetown University?

The cost of tuition at Georgetown University for a full-time semester is $32,448.00. 

Georgetown: Your Chance to Study in the Capital

Now that you know how to get into Georgetown, you can set yourself up for success. 

Remember to devote enough time to complete your application, and don’t be afraid to share your personal experiences and significant parts of your identity. These unique features are sure to help you get accepted at Georgetown.

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MiM Application Process

To apply, applicants must:.

• Possess a bachelor’s degree  from an accredited college or university in the United States or the equivalent from an international college or university.
• Possess zero to three years of post-graduate professional experience.

Questions?  Attend an Application Tips Workshop  to discuss how to create a competitive application.

Application Deadlines

Applications for August 2024 intake will be reviewed in the following rounds.

Admissions Policies

• Applicants who would like to be considered for multiple degree programs at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business must submit separate applications with a different email address for each program.
• Your online application must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. Applications that are received after the deadline or do not contain all of the required components may be considered for the next admissions round.
• Documents submitted to the Office of Admissions become the property of Georgetown University and will not be returned to the applicant.
• Should you be admitted, you will receive a conditional offer and will be required to mail all original/official copies of each application document (transcripts and test scores, if applicable) to the Office of Admissions. Discrepancies between self-reported/unofficial documents and official records may result in an admissions offer being rescinded.
• If any application materials are found to be forged, falsified, or altered in any way, the university will notify all relevant officials, including the individual or institution issuing the document and, as appropriate, immigration officers. If an offer of admission has been made, it may be rescinded.
• We are unable to provide specific feedback to applicants who are not offered admission. Please note, the decision of the Admissions Committee is final and we cannot recommend whether or not you should reapply for a future cycle. 
• You may only apply once in a given application cycle, and your admissions decision is final. You are eligible to reapply in a future application cycle.

You are not eligible for admission if you have previously earned a Master’s in Management or MBA from another college or university.

If you are a visually-impaired applicant and need an accessible application, please contact us at [email protected] .

Application Requirements

The MiM Admissions Committee uses a holistic approach when making an admissions decision. Therefore, it is necessary to submit all application components so the Admissions Committee can make an informed decision about your application.

The Admission Committee will only review completed applications that include the following components:

Required Components

Online Application Form

Cv or resume, video essay, personal essay, one recommendation, academic records.

• GMAT or GRE Scores*
• Demonstration of English Language Proficiency **
• Re-Applicant Essay ***
• Non-refundable Application Fee: $175 USD

*GMAT/GRE scores are currently waived for MiM applicants with an undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or higher. **You may qualify to waive the demonstration of English Language Proficiency requirement. Please see this section for details. ***The reapplicant essay is required for applicants who previously applied and were not accepted.

Optional Components

Diversity, Personal Background, and Contributions Statement

Additional information, international applicants.

• Non-U.S. College or University Academic Records

Demonstration of English Language Proficiency

Applications must be submitted through our  online application portal .

Submit a current CV or resume in month/year format that corresponds to the information submitted on your online application.

The video essay component of the application provides you with an opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee things about yourself not immediately evident in other components of the application. We recommend you take careful consideration when producing your video essay to ensure you convey and express the appropriate message to the Admissions Committee.

Prompt:  Please introduce yourself to your future cohort members.

Guidelines: 

• Your video essay should be one minute or less.
• The Admissions Committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.
• We strongly encourage you to speak outside of the experiences we can read on your resume.
• You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction.
• For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube, password-protected videos via Vimeo, or link shared through your Google Drive. If using a password, please include it immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.vimeo.com/123, password: your password] If using a shared link through Google Drive, ensure that you’ve allowed external access.
• Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the Admissions Committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.
• The video is for the purposes of admissions only and will not be used for any other purposes after your decision is provided

Prompt Options:  Please select one of the following prompts.

• Compare yourself to a genre of music.
• Choose a quotation that defines you and explain why. (Please clearly state the quotation you’re referencing.)
• Compare yourself to a fictional character from a book, movie, or television show.

Guidelines and Formatting:

• Choose  one  of the three essay prompts above to complete.
• All essays should be 500 words or less.
• All essays should be double-spaced using 12 pt. font.
• Please include the essay option prompt and your first/last name as a header at the top of each page of your submission.
• Prepare your attachments offline in separate document files and upload them individually
• Georgetown University prides itself on honesty and integrity. Plagiarism is not tolerated and the admissions office reserves the right to deny applicants or rescind admission if plagiarism is found.

Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of two) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community.

The personal essay provides personalization to your application, and you should ensure that your essay both fully addresses your chosen prompt and remains focused on your own experiences and goals. When reviewing your personal essay, the Admissions Committee will consider your written communication skills – taking into account grammar, structure, and cohesion of your essay – along with the content of the essay itself.

Prompt: As Georgetown is a diverse, global community, we encourage you to upload a brief statement of up to 500 words to help the Admissions Committee understand the contribution your personal background and individual experiences would make to our community. As appropriate, you may wish to address any educational, familial, cultural, economic, and social experiences that have helped to shape your educational and professional goals; or how your background (e.g., first-generation student, resident outside the United States) or activities (e.g., community service and leadership) will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University.

• The essay should be 500 words or less.
• The essay should be double-spaced using 12 pt. font.
• Prepare your attachments offline in separate document files and upload them individually.

When reviewing your written essays, the Admissions Committee will consider your written communication skills – taking into account grammar, structure, and cohesion of your essay – along with the content of the essay itself.

Reapplicant Essay

Required for applicants who previously applied and were not accepted.

Prompt:  How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally.

• The essay should be 300 words or less.

Prompt:   Please provide any information you would like to add that you have not otherwise included in other sections of your application. For example, you can use this space to describe inconsistent academic performance, gaps in employment, or any other relevant information.

• This section should not be formatted as a formal essay. Please share your additional information in a bulleted list, a few sentences, or short paragraphs.

The Admissions Committee is interested in gaining insight from individuals who can objectively evaluate your academic or professional performance. We discourage letters from family members.

We require that you identify one recommender. Your recommendation may come from a current or former professor attesting to your academic performance or from a current or former supervisor speaking to your professional performance. If you would like to submit recommendations from both an academic and professional setting, you have the option to submit two recommendations. Note that the Admissions Committee will not read more than two recommendations per application.

All recommendations must be submitted electronically via the application system. Recommenders will receive detailed instructions once you complete the “Recommendations” section of your application.

Applicants to Georgetown McDonough are required to hold a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university or an equivalent degree from a foreign country. Students who have attended or graduated from a non-U.S. college or university should review the instructions under the  International Applicants  section.

To apply:  We require that you upload unofficial copies of your transcripts from all institutions that have conferred a degree to you or will have conferred a degree to you by the program start date.

If admitted/enrolled:  All applicants who are admitted and enroll will be required to submit official transcripts from all institutions that have conferred a degree to you. Georgetown McDonough reserves the right to withdraw any offer of admission if there is a discrepancy between the uploaded unofficial transcript and/or translation, and the official original language transcript and/or the official translation.

Instructions for transcripts:

• student’s name
• university name
• course names
• type of degree and degree conferral information
• grading scale
• cumulative GPA
• all grades received (including from transfer credits and study abroad programs)
• If your transcript does not explicitly state that a degree was conferred or the date of graduation, you should obtain an official letter from your university indicating the date of your graduation and the degree conferral date. This letter should be enclosed in a signed, sealed envelope and included with your transcript.
• submitted in an envelope which is issued by your institution(s) and sealed by your university’s registrar’s office (or equivalent office) to the address below: ​ Attn: MiM Admissions Team Master’s in Management Program Georgetown University 474 Rafik B. Hariri Building Washington, DC 20057
• submitted from your institution via a secure electronic delivery (such as Scrip-Safe or Parchment) via email to:  [email protected]
• requested from the appropriate institution’s registrar, returned to you, and submitted unopened.

Test Scores and Waivers

Upload an  unofficial , scanned copy of your test score (no more than five years old) directly into the online application.  Official scores only need to be submitted if you are admitted to the program. 

GMAT Program Code:  JT7-G0-45 GRE Program Code:  4430

Students must submit a test score for the GMAT, a test score for the GRE, or proof of completion of the GMAC Business Fundamentals Statistics Module . Students may submit more than one of the above. The requirement for GMAT or GRE test scores or completion of the GMAC Business Fundamentals Statistics Module is waived for all MiM applicants with an undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or above. Please note that the waiver applies only to MiM applicants — not to applicants of the Full-time, Flex, Flex Online, or MBA Advanced Access programs. For students who have an undergraduate GPA of 3.2 or above but limited quantitative undergraduate or post-graduate coursework, we recommend that you take the GMAT or GRE test or complete the GMAC Business Fundamentals Statistics Module.

* For transcripts not recorded on the 4.0 GPA scale, Admissions will need applicants to submit an official translation of their transcript verifying their overall academic performance as equivalent to or greater than a 3.2 GPA in order to be eligible for the GMAT or GRE score waiver. For translation services, we recommend WES .

Application Fee

Application fee waivers will be automatically granted to candidates who are active duty, reservists, or veterans of the United States military, and Georgetown University undergraduates and alumni. We are also pleased to offer application fee waivers for applicants who apply after attending select admissions events.

All other applicants must submit a $175 non-refundable application fee, payable online via credit card or e-check. Please do not send a personal check or money order.

Non-U.S. College or University Academic records

Required for International Applicants

Students who have attended or graduated from a non-U.S. college or university should follow these instructions:

• We require that all transcripts be submitted in English. Most major foreign universities will issue official transcripts in English themselves. However, if your institution is unable to do this, you are responsible for providing Georgetown McDonough with an English translation of your transcript. Your translator must certify that the original documentation was received in a sealed envelope from your university or issuing institution. After translating, your translator should enclose both the original (non-translated) and the certified translation in an envelope and seal and sign the envelope. The transcript should be enclosed in a signed, sealed envelope and submitted by mail to Georgetown McDonough. As an alternative to an individual translator providing certified translations, international applicants who attend institutions outside of the United States may submit their transcripts in the form of a credential evaluation. While this service is not required, we recommend the World Education Services (WES) ICAP evaluations . Credential evaluations may take the place of official transcripts, as long as they come to Georgetown McDonough directly from the evaluation service provider and include a copy of the official transcripts you had evaluated.
• We require proof a degree was conferred and the date of graduation. Some international transcripts do not explicitly state that a degree was conferred or the date of graduation. If your transcript does not explicitly state that a degree was conferred or the date of graduation, you should obtain an official letter from your university indicating the date of your graduation and the degree conferral date. This letter should be enclosed in a signed, sealed envelope and included with your transcript.

Required for qualifying applicants noted below or required if requested

Applicants who fit the criteria below are required to upload an unofficial English Language Proficiency Exam score report to the online application.

• Non-U.S. citizens
• Non-U.S. permanent residents
• Applicants who have not obtained a four-year or advanced degree from a university where the only primary medium of instruction was English

Please note: If you meet any of the following criteria, you are not required to submit a TOEFL/IELTS score:

• You have received a bachelor’s or advanced degree from an accredited institution of higher education in the United States or from a university where English is the primary language of instruction
• Your native language is English
• You have worked full-time for the last 3+ years in an English-speaking country.

The Office of Admissions reserves the right to ask an applicant to submit proof of English Language Proficiency.

You may choose from one of the following three exams to demonstrate your level of competence in English.

• We now accept MyBest Scores. Test dates on your MyBest Scores report that are older than two years are expired and not valid. All dates must be valid.
• We are currently accepting the TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition. For more information and registration details visit the following ETS page:  TOEFL site.
• IELTS  – We accept only academic module results. The minimum required score is 7.5. Your test result must not be more than two years old. If you are admitted to the program, official scores must be sent electronically to us directly from Cambridge (IELTS). When requesting your scores from the test center, please enter the following information  exactly as provided below :

Account Name:  Georgetown University Sch of Business- MiM, MA-IBP, MSBA Address:  Executive and Specialized Degree Programs 37th and O Streets Rafik B. Hariri Building, Suite 359 NW Washington, DC 20057

• PTE  – The minimum required score is 68. Your test result must not be more than two years old. If you are admitted to the program, official scores must be sent directly from Pearson Vue to Georgetown University Executive Education Admissions.

Join Our August 2024 Intake

Our next Master’s in Management intake launches in August 2024. We welcome the opportunity to connect with you throughout the admissions process to learn more about your background and interests.

Questions? Contact Our MiM Admissions Team

[email protected] / 1 (202) 687-1516 / Frequently Asked Questions

Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

The SAT is coming back at some colleges. It’s stressing everyone out.

A patchwork of admissions test policies is wreaking havoc on students, parents and college admissions consultants.

A California mother drove 80 miles this month to find an SAT testing center with an open seat where her high school junior could take the exam. During college tours this spring, a teen recalled hearing some would-be applicants groan when admissions staffers announced they could not guarantee test-optional policies would continue.

And across the country, college counselors are fielding questions from teenagers alarmed, encouraged or simply confused by what seems like the return of the standardized test in admissions — maybe? Sort of? In some places, but not in others?

“You could be expecting and preparing for a certain way to apply to a college and present yourself — but then they change it mid-application process,” said Kai Talbert, a 17-year-old high school junior in Pennsylvania. “That’s really confusing. It can set back a lot of people.”

Colleges nationwide have been updating their coronavirus-era policies on standardized testing, which many dropped when the pandemic shut down in-person testing centers. Some of the most selective schools are declaring they will require tests again — including, across the last two months, Dartmouth College and Yale and Brown universities. Others, such as the University of Chicago and Columbia University, won’t. And still others have not yet picked a permanent policy: Princeton, Stanford, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania have said they will remain test-optional for another year or two, and Harvard University plans to keep its test-optional policy at least through the 2025-26 application cycle.

Public universities have veered in different directions, too: The University of Tennessee system requires tests. The University of Michigan will be test-optional. The University of California system is test-blind, meaning schools refuse to consider SAT or ACT scores for admissions.

The patchwork of policies is wreaking havoc on applicants, parents and college admissions consultants nationwide, who are being forced to recalculate where and how they are willing to apply — or what to tell anxious teenagers about whether to test, retest or skip testing entirely — as decisions keep rolling out in real time.

Laurie Kopp Weingarten, founder of One-Stop College Counseling in New Jersey, said she has a new response whenever a student gives her a list of their school targets. She starts by going down the list, school by school, to review each institution’s testing rules and whether those seem likely to change.

Taking a breath, Weingarten rattled off a summary of the different testing requirements in place at every Ivy League school. It took her three minutes.

“Even just saying it, it sounds like insanity to me, and then we’re expecting kids to understand this?” Weingarten said. “Colleges should really analyze the data, come up with a decision and stop changing their mind.”

The shifting testing expectations are among many changes roiling college admissions this year. Colleges are still grappling with the fallout from the landmark Supreme Court ruling that ended the use of race-based affirmative action in admissions. Many are undertaking an array of experiments in response to the decision in a bid to maintain diverse admitted classes — ending legacy preferences in some cases, adding essay prompts on adversity or identity in others, or increasing outreach in low-income areas.

And the disastrous rollout of a federal financial aid form that was supposed to simplify the notoriously difficult process has left students, parents and schools scrambling .

This is the most hectic and distressing admissions cycle in recent memory, said Jennifer Nuechterlein, a college and career counselor at a New Jersey high school. She laid special blame on schools that reinstated testing mandates in the past two months, some of which affect the high school juniors who will begin applying in the fall. This class of teens will have to take the SAT or ACT, should they decide to do so, within the next six months.

“Students can’t just test overnight,” Nuechterlein said. “There are students who want to prep, there are students who are not math- or English-ready. ... Students are going to be unprepared.”

For the most ambitious, high-achieving students, the tests are another stressful hurdle to clear as they apply to the most selective colleges. And for many other students, the test scores — even if not required for admission — are mandatory if they want to qualify for some financial aid programs or, on some campuses, certain degree programs.

Critics of standardized tests have argued that they mirror, or exacerbate, societal inequities, in part because students from unstable homes or with limited resources cannot afford SAT or ACT tutors or testing preparation classes, or may not know of free resources such as Khan Academy . Even before the pandemic, some schools had moved to make the scores optional to avoid creating another barrier for students.

Then the pandemic hit, spurring a crisis response when students literally could not access spaces in which to take standardized tests, said Dominique J. Baker, a University of Delaware associate professor of education and public policy who studies admissions policies.

“There were a number of institutions that never would have chosen to have gone test-optional except the pandemic made them,” she said. “Those institutions, by and large, are going back to requiring test scores.”

MIT, Georgetown University and the University of Florida are among schools that quickly chose to reinstate the requirements, with MIT announcing the change in 2022. Many others have spent the years since the virus arrived studying what effect going test-optional had on their admitted classes.

At Brown, Yale and Dartmouth, officials said they had found something surprising: Considering test scores would help them identify more promising applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, not fewer. After looking at their own data, leaders at the three Ivy League schools say they concluded that SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of students’ academic performance in college, more so than high school grades. They also found that some less-advantaged students withheld their scores when sharing them would have boosted their chances.

Depriving admissions officers of SAT and ACT scores meant they were less able to evaluate an applicant’s chances of thriving at Brown, Provost Francis J. Doyle III said in an interview this month .

“Our analysis suggested our admissions could be more effective if we brought back testing as an instrument,” Doyle said.

The University of Texas at Austin is also choosing to require testing again, the school announced earlier this month. Jay Hartzell, the school’s president, said he and others worried the cost and preparation associated with the tests could keep students from applying. But about 90 percent of UT Austin applicants in the latest round took the SAT even though it was optional, Hartzell said. And the school found that students who declined to submit scores were less successful once enrolled.

John Friedman, a professor of economics and international and public affairs at Brown, said he wouldn’t be surprised if more of those highly selective schools reinstate a testing requirement. He was one of the authors of the study from Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit at Harvard University, on standardized test scores and student performance at a dozen “Ivy-plus” universities.

“It’s not just about the test scores being a good predictor,” he said. “We show in the paper that students who attend a school, having been admitted without a test score, perform at the bottom of the distribution.” He said schools should look at their own data to determine their policy.

Nonetheless, most schools nationwide will probably remain test-optional, predicted Angel Pérez, the chief executive of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. For many institutions, he said, the policy has been a huge success, bumping up the number of applicants and diversifying admitted classes.

He added that most American high-schoolers are applying to schools that admit nearly all applicants, to public schools or to colleges close to home, he said: “So the majority of students aren’t going to be impacted.”

Morehouse College is among those maintaining a test-optional policy, which the historically Black college adopted in 2020. Since going test-optional, Morehouse has seen an increased number of applicants and an increased acceptance rate from admitted students, said Michael Gumm, Morehouse’s director of admissions and recruitment.

The majority of Morehouse applicants choose not to submit scores, Gumm said, and more students are completing their applications than in the past. He said Morehouse is looking for leaders, so essays and letters of recommendation carry a lot of weight.

Gumm said he often preaches to students: “Your test scores do not make you who you are.”

But for some students, the tests remain a priority. Alina Bunch, a 16-year-old high school junior in Texas, said that even when she saw schools dropping test requirements, she never altered her plan to take the ACT. The exam, she says, is a way to demonstrate determination and academic rigor.

She thinks it’s generally a good thing that schools are bringing back testing requirements, because they can function as a mechanism of standardization in a sometimes subjective admissions process. She does fear the effects of reinstating test requirements for students who cannot afford tutoring.

But for herself — after taking a summer course to prepare for the ACT and scoring high on the exam — she has no real worries. “It was never a question for me, of whether I should do it or not,” Alina said.

Many students pursued similar strategies, continuing to take standardized tests throughout the test-optional trend. After a dramatic drop in 2020 spurred by the sudden closure of test sites, the number of students taking the SAT nationally has risen every year since, per the College Board, and reached 1.9 million for the class of 2023. That’s about 300,000 short of the last pre-pandemic total, when 2.2 million members of the class of 2019 sat for the exam — the largest-ever group to do so.

Joan Koven, who heads college consulting company Academic Access in Pennsylvania, said she never expected standardized testing to suffer a real drop in popularity.

“The ACTs and the SATs are Burger King and McDonald’s,” she said. “They’re not going away.”

But in some places, counselors wish they would. Priscilla Grijalva, a high school counselor in California’s San Jacinto Unified School District, said the elimination of test requirements in the UC system and California State University campuses was a godsend for the nearly 300 students she works with every year, a mix of White, Black and Latino teens, most of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

In the past, many of her students applied only to community colleges. But now she has seen a sharp rise in those willing to aim for state universities.

“It has changed our students’ mindsets,” Grijalva said. “Now it’s like, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ They’re more confident in their leadership and their grades.”

But the flurry of recent announcements from schools altering their testing rules has proved alarming, she said. Her students “do feel the pressure coming back,” she said. “They’re starting to talk.”

Claire Elkin, 16, overheard some of this nervous chatter when she was touring colleges this spring with her family — making visits to places including the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At every school, recalled Claire, who took the ACT and intends to submit her scores, admissions tour leaders said something like: “Yeah, we’re test-optional now, but we can’t guarantee anything for you.”

Every time, the crowds of hopefuls around Claire broke into murmurs that ranged from anguished to angry, she said. She remembered one family whose daughters seemed especially upset, spurring the mother to jump into emergency action trying to calm the girls as the admissions presentation continued.

“A lot of kids my age can’t set a path right now for what they should be prioritizing when they’re applying for schools,” Claire said. “So there is definitely more panic.”

An earlier version of this article included incorrect information about the rise in the number of students who have taken the SAT since a drop sparked by the pandemic. The number of students taking the test reached 1.9 million for the class of 2023, about 300,000 fewer than for the class of 2019. The article has been corrected.

Title: What Hoyas Remember About The Day They Got Accepted to Georgetown

This week, Georgetown sent acceptances to several thousand high school students around the country and the world to join the Class of 2028.

For many Hoyas, getting into Georgetown is a moment to remember for a lifetime.

As Georgetown gets ready to welcome the next generation of Hoyas, we asked alumni to tell us what they remember about the day they got accepted into Georgetown. These are their stories.

Demystifying the Thin Envelope Urban Legend

Brendan Clark-Griffin (B’05, G’22) 

Back in the late 1990s, there was an urban legend that a thin envelope in the mail meant a rejection and a thick envelope meant an acceptance. So, when a thin envelope arrived at my house in early December 2000, I hid the envelope so I could tell my parents I didn’t get into Georgetown on my own time. A few days later, I found out I got into Georgetown when my mother opened a Christmas card from the McDonough School of Business welcoming me to Georgetown. 

I was beyond belief that I got into Georgetown — especially since I had spent a few days feeling bad about the thin envelope. Once I got over the disbelief, I remember going straight to my club swim practice to celebrate with my friends, and later that week, we went out for a family dinner at the good Italian restaurant in town to celebrate.

From Small-Town America to the Nation’s Capital

Pilar Dexter (SFS’76) 

I am from a small town outside of Albany, New York, and being the first of my family to attend college made waiting for my acceptance all the more exciting. It was a thick envelope, and I waved it to my family as I ran to the house from the mailbox. There was no doubt that Georgetown was my first choice. It was October of my senior year in high school, and I was accepted on early decision. 

I didn’t have a big celebration, just pride in knowing I would represent my family at such a prestigious school. 

I am proud and honored to be a Hoya. It wasn’t easy, but my education and experience was beyond anything I ever imagined. The campus is beautiful and my instructors were superb. Living and studying in our nation’s capital opened up opportunities to work on Capitol Hill with a congressman and a senator from my home state of New York besides meeting many individuals from around the country and the world. I was there for the filming of the “Exorcist” and celebrated our nation’s bicentennial. It was a great time. 

Jumping for Joy

Benjamin McAfee (SFS’12) 

I was sleeping in my bedroom when I got my admissions letter.  My mother decided to wake me up because she saw a small envelope from Georgetown. Leading up to the acceptance, I was nervous because it was one of my top choices.

When I noticed the small envelope, I was certain that I was denied because all of my other acceptances came in a large envelope. I told my mom to read it, expecting a denial, and she told me that I needed to read it. I then read it and when I realized that I got accepted, I jumped out of my bed in happiness and hugged my mom.

Being a Georgetown alumnus is so rewarding. I am grateful for my education because I was able to experience and learn from some of the best professors who challenged us to think differently about the world and students who sought to make a difference in the world. 

Continuing a Family Tradition

E lizabeth Roche Parija (B’02)

I had wanted to be a Hoya, like my dad, since I was in the sixth grade. On the day my “big” envelope arrived, my mom and little brother saw it before I did. They left it in the mailbox, and my brother, who was in fourth grade, picked little blue flowers (Hoya colors) and sprinkled them on top of the envelope. When I opened the mailbox I saw the big envelope and the flowers, and it was one of the best days of my life. 

I was elated. I celebrated with my family that night and shared the news with my friends. I also immediately put a Georgetown bumper sticker on the family car. 

To this day most of my closest friends remain from Georgetown and I am an alumni interviewer, based in Connecticut, for admissions. I love seeing the joy of the students whom I have interviewed when they get in! And I have never missed a reunion. My dad, class of 1967, is on the same reunion cycle as me, which is such a blessing and one I hope to replicate with one of my own children one day. And that little fourth-grader, my baby brother, went on to become a Hoya himself!

Racing Home

Casey Ferrante (C’22) 

I was at school when my parents texted me that my letter had come in the mail. As soon as I found out, I started freaking out — I couldn’t focus on anything at school, my heart was racing, and I was incredibly anxious. The day seemed like it dragged on forever. When last period finally rolled around, I texted my brother that he had to leave class ASAP and run to the car so we could get home as fast as possible. My brother claims I was speeding like my life depended on it. 

I raced home and bolted into the house and ran to the dining room table where my letter was. I wanted to open it alone in my bedroom, but my parents wanted to be there when I opened it. So, I settled for opening it alone in the living room while they stayed in the dining room. I read, “It gives me great pleasure…” and tears started streaming down my face.   I called out, “I got in!” and my parents erupted in cheers. Not to be dramatic, but this was one of the happiest moments in my life.

Getting into Georgetown is a tremendous accomplishment in and of itself, but being admitted through Early Action was unbelievable.  Everything I had worked my whole life for had finally paid off. I genuinely could not stop crying tears of joy. 

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College of Ed contributes to Purdue AI & data science via initiative, miniseries

The P urdue University College of Education is developing an initiative to cover all of the artificial intelligence (AI) and data science work already being done by its faculty. This spring the College launched a new webpage, AI and Data Science in Education , to showcase these efforts and provide resources.

Phillip J. VanFossen , interim dean of the College, convened an AI Working Group in 2023 to consider how the College would contribute to Purdue’s strategic initiative surrounding AI and data science, Purdue Computes . The Education AI Working Group includes 16 Education faculty and postdoctoral researchers  to guide and coordinate its current and future efforts in this quickly evolving area.

“We are leveraging our comparative advantage in P-12 education to provide professional development and training to our school-based colleagues,” said VanFossen. “We offer courses, graduate certificates, and degree programs that provide training for students in the analyses of large sets of numerical, textual, and multimodal data and practical applications of AI tools.”

“Our working group leverages experts with established records in AI and data science for personalized learning, assessment, and curriculum design,” said William R. Watson , director of the Purdue Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments , professor of learning design and technology, and leader of the College’s AI initiative. “Our College is already firmly integrated in campus-wide AI initiatives and offering coursework and programs of our own.”

The College’s initiatives include several large research grants in projects ranging from generative-AI in physics to value-based reasoning. Last year the college hired two Ross-Lynn Research Scholar postdoctoral researchers, Amogh Sirnoorkar and Yuanfang Liu . Both have expertise in AI to further assist with AI research, grants, professional development, and program development

“AI is not a new phenomenon, but the ease of access to everyday users has been sudden and transformative,” Watson said. “Having such powerful toolsets on our phones and embedded in our office software highlights how society at large and education specifically must change to accommodate the new possibilities, opportunities, and challenges the ascent of AI brings.”

Part of the initiatives are education courses relating to AI. Sirnoorkar developed a course for the initiative, “Artificial Intelligence in STEM Education” (EDCI 59100/PHYS 59000). It included eight invited speakers from collaborating schools and departments at Purdue and from the University of Texas at Austin, and students created four projects during the course. Projects included:

• AI Literacy Competencies for K-12 Teachers: A Systematic Literature Review
• Analyzing contemporary policies surrounding the use of AI in U.S. higher education institutions
• Enhancing STEM Education Through AI-XR Integration: A Systematic Literature Review of Trends, Applications, and Challenges Content Analysis of Pedagogical Relationships Involving Generative-AI Supported Teaching and Learning Practices in Physics Education
• Content Analysis of Pedagogical Relationships Involving Generative-AI Supported Teaching and Learning Practices in Physics Education

Additionally, the AI in STEM Education course will help support the College’s Gifted Education Research & Resource Institute Residential Summer Camp via a secondary-level course called “How to Train Your AI Learning Coach: A Personalized Learning Adventure.”

The College’s new AI webpage also includes a list of the College’s faculty publications, and video resources such as a new five-part miniseries entitled “Craft Data Science Insights.” Developed by Hua-Hua Chang , the Charles R. Hicks Chair Professor of educational psychology and research methodology, this miniseries brings together five brilliant young minds from education, psychology, learning science, and survey methodology to share their innovative solutions to challenges powered by AI and data science.

The inaugural session of the Craft Data Science Insights miniseries took place on February 26 with Georgetown University’s Dr. Qiwei He speaking on “ Sequence Mining on Process Data in Digital-Based Large-Scale Assessments .” Fifty-seven participants joined to watch the virtual presentation. Watch Dr. He’s video .

A second presentation took place on March 20 with Dr. Chanjin Zheng of East China Normal University presenting on “ Psychometrics Empowering Large Language Models in Chinese Essay Automated Scoring .” Watch Dr. Zheng’s video .

The third lecture took place on March 26 as Dr. Susu Zhang of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discussed “ Exploring the NAEP Math Achievement Gap: Insights from Test-Taking Process Data . ” Watch Dr. Zhang’s video .

The fourth lecture happened on March 28  when University of Notre Dame’s Dr. Ying Cheng presented “ How Early, Accurate, and Fair Can We Predict Student Learning in Foundational STEM Courses? ” Watch Dr. Cheng’s video .

The College’s fifth and final Craft Data Science Insights lecture will take place on April 16, with the University of Michigan’s Dr. Tuba Suzer-Gurtekin, University of Michigan presenting “ Introduction to Mixed-Mode Surveys ”.

“We are confident that this miniseries will offer valuable insights, enriching our collective understanding of these dynamic fields,” Chang said. “Specifically, it will shed light on how researchers from non-science and technology backgrounds can make a meaningful impact in the era of AI and Big Data.”

The working group is also planning an April 19 “AI-Ed Fusion: Symposium on STEM Education in the Era of AI” . The all-day symposium will offer a keynote address by Dr. Kristen DiCerbo , the chief learning officer of Khan Academy . It will also include research and application presentations by faculty and graduate students, offering a sampling of some of the current projects and activities taking place within the College. Register for this free event https://tinyurl.com/yc3sknyd

According to Watson, the working group is also planning a conference on AI for K-12 stakeholders for the fall of 2024.

“The College is home to faculty scholars, centers and funded grant projects engaged in interdisciplinary research to leverage AI tools and to collect and analyze data that seeks to transform learning and teaching, inform policy and make a difference in the lives of culturally and linguistically diverse students, families and communities,” said Wayne E. Wright , professor and associate dean for research, graduate programs and faculty development.

Sources: Phillip J. VanFossen; Wayne E. Wright, [email protected] ; and William R. Watson [email protected]

Webpage: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science in Education

Harvard’s acceptance rate is 3.6 percent, a slight year-over-year uptick

Brown university in providence, meanwhile, accepted 5.2 percent of 48,898 applicants.

Thursday was a big day for prospective students at the nation’s most prestigious universities, as tens of thousands received offers and rejections from Ivy League campuses.

In Cambridge, Harvard College accepted 3.6 percent of applicants for the Class of 2028, a slight increase from last year, when it was 3.4 percent. The total number of Harvard applications fell 5 percent from a year ago to 54,008. The college offered admission to 1,937 students, including 1,245 students during the regular admission cycle and the rest through the early action process.

According to Harvard, this marks the fourth year in a row that the college has received more than 50,000 applications.

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The prospective students sought admission amidst what has been a tumultuous year for Harvard. There has been campus unrest over the Israel-Hamas war that began in early October. Last June, the Supreme Court ruled against the college in a high-profile case that banned race-based action in the admissions process, overruling nearly half a century of precedent and depriving selective universities of a tool they say is essential for keeping their campuses diverse. And Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, resigned in January over controversies stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, campus antisemitism, and allegations of plagiarism in her scholarly works. The events led many to urge Harvard to do more to protect diversity.

Recently, a growing chorus of voices has been calling on Harvard and other top colleges to eliminate their longstanding admissions preferences for children of alumni . Known as “legacy preferences,” these advantages tend to favor white students from affluent families.

A Harvard spokesman said in an e-mail Thursday that, based on advice from its lawyers, the school’s “admissions readers will not be accessing applicants’ self-reported race or ethnicity data or aggregated data about applicants’ self-reported race or ethnicity at any time until the admissions process has concluded.” A racial breakdown of students accepted to the college was not immediately available on Thursday; a Harvard spokesman said the school will not have such data “until the admissions process is complete.”

Because the Supreme Court left the door open for prospective students to talk about how race has affected their life experiences through essay questions and interviews, colleges are tweaking what they ask students to better understand how each applicant got to where they are. The new essay prompts were crafted by college administrators as part of their new efforts to achieve diversity goals within the bounds of the Supreme Court prohibitions.

Harvard said that the Class of 2028 students hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and 94 countries. International students make up 15.4 percent of the class.

Meanwhile, Brown University in Providence also announced its admissions results Thursday. The university accepted 5.2 percent of 48,898 applicants, which is slightly higher than last year’s acceptance rate.

“[T]he students admitted to the Class of 2028 represent a group of extraordinarily talented young people who demonstrate truly impressive intellect, ingenuity and cross-disciplinary interest in pursuits both in and out of the classroom,” said Logan Powell, associate provost for enrollment and dean of undergraduate admission.

Earlier this year, Brown announced plans to move to a need-blind admissions policy for international students starting this fall, making the Rhode Island institution only the eighth college in the country to implement the practice.

The shift to a need-blind policy would have the admissions office evaluate academics and other work when considering a potential student, but not their ability to pay.

The policy change was expected to have a “significant” impact, allowing the university to expand its ability to recruit academically, and ultimately allowing Brown to “admit exceptional students from a much broader range of socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Powell.

Most of the few colleges that do have need-blind admissions for international students are elite private schools or part of the Ivy League. They include Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Amherst College in Massachusetts; Yale University in Connecticut; Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and Princeton University in New Jersey. Some schools, such as Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., are need-blind for all applicants, with students who are not US citizens considered for limited scholarships as part of the financial aid process.

Earlier this month, Brown University also announced that it will again require students to submit standardized test scores when they apply for admission.

The university’s policy around tests comes after an internal committee spent the last six months deliberating certain undergraduate admissions practices. The decision to reinstate test scores comes just two weeks after Yale University reevaluated its own policies regarding test scores, and about a month after Dartmouth College announced that it would once again require SAT and ACT scores.

At Brown, the change will go into effect for all first-year applicants starting with the fall 2025 application cycle for the class of 2029.

Laura Crimaldi and Alexa Gagosz of Globe staff contributed to this report.

Danny McDonald can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him @Danny__McDonald . Hilary Burns can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @Hilarysburns .