Each fall, hundreds of students in the School of Foreign Service (SFS) and McDonough School of Business (MSB) enter Georgetown University with wide eyes and countless ambitions for their four years ahead. In their ever-recycled Georgetown intros, they describe themselves as “interested in International Business” or “maybe an International Political Economy major,” all while having a singular goal in mind: to secure a seat in the Dikran Izmirlian Program in Business & Global Affairs (BGA). They might have read about BGA while browsing through potential undergraduate majors or heard about it from an upperclassman during the Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program (GAAP) weekend. They know its prestige; they’re aware of the competition, but that won’t stop them from pursuing their goal.
The program certainly does not make a concerted effort to conceal its competitive nature, explicitly stating that about 20 rising sophomores from the MSB and about 20 from the SFS will be selected. However, its description crucially fails to mention that students’ ability to pursue BGA is ultimately dependent on a lottery system. Further clarity on application logistics should not be the only objective for BGA; rather, the lottery system must be eliminated altogether to ensure students have a more equitable chance of gaining the experiences and knowledge they want from Georgetown.
The most crucial — and perhaps most competitive — portion of the BGA application process takes place approximately halfway through students’ fall semester of their first year. After attending one of two information sessions on the program or receiving information in their inboxes from their advising deans, students are asked to fill out a form to request pre-enrollment for BGAF 1001, “Global Markets and Policy,” the program’s mandatory gateway course. A lottery system is used to select about 90 students for enrollment in the course, who can then submit their formal applications during their spring semester. While the written application is certainly a necessary component for admission, the central issue lies within this randomized lottery system used to determine applicant eligibility.
The program advertises the waitlist as an alternative for those not chosen in the lottery, but the chances of securing a seat in the gateway course with this method are nearly impossible, as very few students are willing to drop the class. Moreover, it is not mandatory to apply to BGA once you are enrolled in the class, meaning that students who simply want to try out the course without having an interest in the program itself are occupying seats that could have instead gone to students with a genuine desire to pursue BGA. While we should not punish curiosity or willingness to experiment with college courses, we should also not punish students by using an arbitrary admissions system that prevents them from pursuing a program that truly aligns with their learning goals.
In addition to the admissions process’s inefficiency, the program application timeline tends to foster a toxic environment among students enrolled in BGAF 1001, as many vie for a spot in the final cohort. Because the application is not released until April of students’ first year and cohorts are not selected until June, students in the introductory course view one another not as classmates but as competitors whom they must outperform academically to secure their spot in BGA. Rather than fostering productivity, collaboration and a rewarding educational environment among students, the BGAF 1001 course promotes rivalry among students as an inherent result of the application timeline, leading to constant uncertainty and stress for BGA applicants.
With integrated travel opportunities and unique interdisciplinary course offerings that combine global development with policy and political economy, students are right to come to Georgetown with the keen goal of pursuing BGA. But in order to make admissions more streamlined and fair for future class years, the BGA program must rigorously revise the program’s application process.
Rather than using a lottery system as a prerequisite for eligibility — which is a pure game of chance — enrollment into BGAF 1001 should be entirely application-based. That way, students can showcase their experiences and interests relative to the program, making their applications dependent not on probability but on their academic and interpersonal skill sets. Moreover, this would remedy the toxic competition within BGAF 1001, as students enrolled in the course would already have a seat in the program, allowing them to engage with the curriculum more effectively and enjoyably. While the adjustment may result in the admissions panel having more applications to read, it would ensure that every student has an even chance to pursue their learning goals, which Georgetown must unequivocally prioritize as an academic institution.
Talia Arcasoy is a first-year in the School of Foreign Service. This is the third installment of her column “Life on the Hilltop.”
