Title: A Role 30 Years in the Making, This Alumna is Georgetown’s Next Dean of Admissions

On July 1, Melissa Costanzi (SLL’95, G’18) will become Georgetown’s new dean of admissions.

It’s a position the alumna is more than ready for.

“I feel like I’ve been working toward this role for 30 years,” Costanzi said. “This is my life’s work. This is Georgetown, which I love. I’m completely honored to step into this role.”

Since graduating from Georgetown, Costanzi has worked in every facet of the university’s undergraduate admissions: coordinating alumni interviews; serving as an admissions officer and operations director; supervising admissions officers; and, most recently, assuming the role of director of admissions, managing the entire undergraduate admissions process. 

It’s a field she’s passionate about on a campus that’s always felt like home.

“I am promoting the school that I love the most and making connections with prospective students, families and alumni. What better place to do this than admissions?” she said. “We’re the front door in a lot of ways. Being able to help people attain their dream is such an amazing job.”

Costanzi will succeed Charles Deacon (C’64, G’69), who served as Georgetown’s dean of admissions for 54 years. For the next two years, he will serve as dean of admissions emeritus and senior advisor to the interim provost.

“We are grateful for Charlie’s leadership and stewardship of undergraduate admissions at Georgetown,” said Soyica Colbert, interim provost. “And we are thrilled for Melissa to step into this role. For decades, she has been deeply steeped in serving students, applicants and alumni, optimizing our undergraduate admissions process, and promoting access to students of all backgrounds.”

Formation at Georgetown

In addition to her professional experience, Costanzi has firsthand knowledge of Georgetown’s application process.  

The New Jersey native was drawn to Georgetown’s then School of Linguistics and Languages; inspired by her French teacher, she wanted to study the language. 

When she set foot on Georgetown’s campus, she was sold.

“I felt like I belonged here. It was a great feeling,” she said. “And I’ve never lost that feeling.”

The university’s financial aid package enabled her to attend — a big deal for her family, she said.

Education was important in her family: Her mother was a public high school teacher who was the first in her family to attend college. Her father, who worked in his family’s business, hadn’t gone to college but always wished he had. 

“For them to be able to send me and then my brother to Georgetown was a huge thing. They felt part of the Georgetown community,” she said.

Costanzi’s Georgetown experience was so formative that she never wanted to leave. After graduating, her brother encouraged her to apply for a job in admissions. 

Promoting Access and Innovation

Costanzi rose through the ranks over the years, sharpening and modernizing the admission office’s operations and technology management. She was responsible for moving the entire admissions process from paper applications to an online submission and review. She’s now in the process of implementing the Common App.

Along the way, Costanzi has been motivated by offering admitted students the Georgetown experience that formed her.

“I believe in what I tell people. I believe in the Georgetown experience. I believe in the Georgetown community, and I know that it’s real because I experienced it,” she said. “Being able to go out and tell a family that this is a good place and you will send your child here and you can feel good about that, it just means so much to me.”

Costanzi knows there is another side to the application process, one that can be painful and disappointing for many. She works to instill a warm, accessible and high-touch approach to the process, she said. 

She also keeps her Jesuit education close to her heart: It’s one thing to do well, she remembers Jesuits saying, but you also need to do good for others.

“I think the access to the education, the opportunities that we’re able to bring to students who have achieved so much academically and personally — and, in some cases, have overcome so much to be in this conversation — that’s the good, right?” she said. 

“In today’s world, the admissions process at many schools is managed in a very impersonal way. But when you look holistically, and you look at the applicants and think, wow, this could be a life-changing experience for this person, and you’re able to bring them here, that’s being able to do the good.”

As dean, Costanzi plans to focus on implementing the Common App, which Georgetown will begin accepting this fall in an effort to make the university’s admissions process more accessible to students from a wide variety of backgrounds. 

She also looks forward to promoting Georgetown’s Capitol Campus and its programs for undergraduate students. 

“My commitment is to making sure that the institution moves forward in a way that reflects our mission and what it means to be Georgetown,” she said. “I’m excited. I’m really excited.”