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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.

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