3.5 gpa = no chance?

<p>My gpa is currently 3.5 but im going to work really hard to improve that in the beginning of senior year.
My SAT score is 2100 (690 reading, 610 math, 800 writing) but my math was a bit higher (640) at a different test.</p>

<p>NHS member
Student Council 4 years, Vice President senior year
Best Buddies Club secretary for 2 years
Three Cups of Tea Club (philanthropic) secretary for 2 years
2 years JV field hockey
2 years Varsity field hockey
1 year JV lacrosse
Summer Reading Committee
member of many clubs including “Cancer Awareness” and “SADD”</p>

<p>Challenger Baseball volunteer (worked with mentally challenged children and young adults)
KEEN volunteer (same as above)
PCR volunteer (same as above)</p>

<p>thanks so much for taking the time to give me your opinions! i truly appreciate your time and input!</p>

<p>I would say you have a decent shot… Try to get the SAT up because a 1300/1600 isn’t good enough, I think. If you get your SAT up 100 pts then I think you have a legit shot</p>

<p>I had a 3.5 in my freshman year, a 3.53 in my sophomore year, but it shot up to a 4.1 in a my junior year, and finally, a 4.2 in my senior year. Overall, I had a 3.81.</p>

<p>It’s possible to bring it up.</p>

<p>I think BC is a reach for you. Sorry.</p>

<p>Agree – board scores are on the low side.</p>

<p>thank you all so much for your opinions! boston college is definitely in my “super reaches” category haha but im trying to decide whether or not it would be worth it just to give it a try…</p>

<p>AHHAHAHA! ARE YOU SERIOUS GETTY AND GRANDEUR? don’t slap the kid in the face! college acceptances are a toss-up. you’ll never really know why you got accepted or rejected. its always wroth the try. </p>

<p>allyylla- your SAT’s are decent enough. try taking the ACT, it will GREATLY improve your chances. also, definitely work on bringing that GPA up. I got into BC with a 3.67, and a ACT of 32. SAT’s were 2040. I also took 3 subject tests. got a 770 on US history, and a 740 on English Lit. If BC lets you in its because they think you have a lot to bring to the table. go for it, apply, and don’t look back. if you don’t get accepted then it’s not meant to be.</p>

<p>Dear allyylla : College Board’s latest data from two years back shows that the 25th percentile at BC on the SAT I was a 1250/1600. Over the last two recruiting classes, this has increased to slightly above 1300. On the ACT scores, while a 28 is seen as the 25th percentile, be aware that here on College Confidential, we now see that 30 is the swing point as very few 29 composite scores are getting consideration. The message here is that based on that criteria alone, you are no better than 1 in 4 chances of acceptance. If chance-me threads are designed to point out the weaknesses, this is a glaring one in your application right now.</p>

<p>Next, let’s focus on your GPA. At 3.5, you are someplace between a B+ and an A- which typically is not the top 10% of your high school graduating class which is the Boston College target for their classes. Again, latest stats show 85% of an entering freshman class is top 10% while 98% is top 25%. You might be at risk in this space.</p>

<p>On activities, it would seem that freshman/sophomore years you were involved with sports, but not in your junior year since there are no varsity listings although I might be misreading your application here. Emphasize your student council leadership and how that tied to the student body and improving the quality of everyone’s senior year as this is your best single line in the activities.</p>

<p>You do have some volunteerism although the listing there are somehwat foreign to me. Lastly, you are missing some important elements here that will see you competing against others : art/music backgrounds, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureatte courses, pre-college courses, additional honor societies or awards.</p>

<p>In closing, my read on your material here makes you a stretch candidate at best for BC. Several of the key parameters are short and the supporting material might not be strong enough to overcome the hard data. If you would like some suggestions that might improve your standing, please come back to this board and suggest why BC is of interest to you. Armed with that, we might be able to help you craft a stronger senior year. Thanks for writing and sorry that the initial review was not more upbeat.</p>

<p>Dear Shaggy817 : Regarding your comments - *AHHAHAHA! ARE YOU SERIOUS GETTY AND GRANDEUR? don’t slap the kid in the face! college acceptances are a toss-up. you’ll never really know why you got accepted or rejected. its always wroth the try. *</p>

<p>As you can see from my previous posting, allyylla’s material is a stretch in several areas : board scores, GPA scores, sports associations, activities to some extent, and many missing areas. If his/her stats are bottom quartile based on the latest available data, it is important to recognize this when talking about highly competitive schools. While an application can survive a bottom quartile element in one area (like your 3.67), multiple instances create problems for a candidate.</p>

<p>The candidate will need to show what he/she brings to the BC community. During our review, we pointed out one of two potential points of intersest. Let’s see how allyylla responds on those points.</p>

<p>Dear allyylla : Correction noted - I see your varsity participation in the Fall/Spring season sports with field hockey.</p>

<p>I think you have a decent chance of getting in.</p>

<p>My SAT score was 2160 and a 33 on my ACT when I applied, and I had a cumulative GPA of ~3.4 (although I took several classes that are not offered in normal high schools, i.e. Organic Chemistry I and II), with 3 C’s on my transcript, and not that many extracurricular activities junior and senior year, and yet I still got accepted. So that just goes to show you a low GPA wont completely destroy your chances of getting in.</p>

<p>Show improvement in your grades senior year, and with your good test scores and extracurriculars its within grabbing distance.</p>

<p>Best of luck =D</p>

<p>whats your GPA scale?</p>

<p>Colleges usually know what GPAs are good for different schools. so don’t worry they will evaluate your stats fairly. I think you have a good chance, i managed to get in EA and my stats are on the lower end? if i can got in i bet you can
there is a lot here but maybe it can help you get a perspective on things,
GPA 4.344 on a 5 point scale ≈3.42 on 4 point scale
Rank 29 out of354
SAT 710m / 640v / 580w
SAT Subject Tests: Math 1 (690); US History (620)
AP/College Credit: US History (score 4), 3 AP courses and 5 University of Connecticut college courses senior year (2 courses overlap)
Academic Awards, Honors, Recognition:
• CAPT Honor Roll (Connecticut Academic Performance Tests)
• Graduation Honor Usher
• High Honors
• National Honors Society
• Sociedad Honoraria Hisp</p>

<p>Shaggy 187 you are so helpful, I will take an act and SAT subjects in the fall. I agree that college is a toss up process. I find it a little infuriating that students that feel the need to be overly ambitious judge those with more mellow personalities so harshly when they are in the same boat.
My friend got accepted into Boston University with a 3.7 gpa, few volunteer hours and nothing on her resume but volleyball, a job, and a 1900 SAT score. My other friend had a 2200 SAT, a 4.5 gpa, mens varsity volleyball and basketball, and a plethora of volunteer activities under his belt. He got rejected from UCLA AND Berkley. He is now going to the University of Michigan, a school that does not even compare to BU. My point is, that while it definetely gives you an edge to be at the top in everything, colleges choose their applicants capriciously. They can tell when youre passionate about the things you do, and when you just do things to get into college. For example, Allyylla is obviously passionate about working with mentally challenged kids and participating in clubs that directly help people in need, which is something that takes patience and compassion. She has a better chance of getting into a top school than someone whos done ten different and impersonal activities. This is because top schools get thousands of applications from overachievers, and the apps start to run together after a while.
My uncle is on the Board of Admissions at Cornell, in his opinion its better to have an angle than to be well rounded. So just take a deep breath, reflect on what really matters, and ask yourself, “when college admissions look at my application, will I look like i have a soul?”
Oh and by the way, these students go to school in California, which has one of the worst school systems in America. If they did it, so can you, Good LUCK!</p>

<p>What is the difficulty of the classes you have taken? If you have a lot of honors/aps then your GPA isn’t TOO big a deal. I would work on getting your SAT up because colleges look more at the reading/math than the writing in most situations. Good luck! but you should definitely apply, it doesn’t hurt!</p>

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<p>How nice for your friend though not terribly surprising since a 1900 SAT at BU is close to the 75th%-tile. Regrettably, at BC a 1900 is almost exactly the 25th%-tile.</p>

<p>If you want to believe that admissions are capricious, be my guest, just don’t be shocked when all those rejections roll in from your reach schools, just call it bad luck.</p>

<p>If you ask for a “chancing” and only want positive feedback regardless of your profile say so upfront. If you do, odds are good I won’t respond but maybe someone will get you a cookie and a pat on the head.</p>

<p>To the OP, your GPA is on the low side of average for BC. You can blunt some of that concern if your grades are on upward trend and if you have a 4.0 first semester senior year. Your CR score is nearly 75th%-tile offset by a 25th%-tile Math number. Consider retaking the SAT one more time or possibly the ACT. If you’re applying to the schools of Business or Nursing I think it’s a rejection, for A&S you’re in a low reach situation. That’s not a “you have no chance”, it’s a “make sure you have attractive, slightly less rigorous alternatives on your list - just in case”.</p>

<p>“He is now going to the University of Michigan, a school that does not even compare to BU.”</p>

<p>Just to set the record straight, UofM is undoubtedly a more prestigious school than BU. Those two individuals got into schools they should have got into.</p>

<p>Then again, my cousin was accepted with a 3.49 and a 2050 SAT. You never know, I guess.</p>