<p>GPA-
Projected 97/98ish on a 100 pt scale at the end of 1st Q Senior Year.
4.3 during freshman year at a school in a different state.
Will not be ranked as I spent 9th grade at another school.
Took one AP (US History) junior year and will take AP English, AP Gov, and AP Econ next year. These are the only non-math and science (or music theory and art history, but whatever) APs offered at my school. The reasoning behind not taking AP Calc or AP Physics is strong and I plan to have my guidance counselor, who agreed with me on these points, defend me. For one, these classes seem to not do a very good job at preparing students for the AP test as normally only about a tenth of the class even bothers to pay for it based on what they know so far (by the time registration for the tests comes around) and those that do rarely get a 4 or a 5. Most of the kids in these classes take them because they want the AP weight, but the low grades the vast majority of even the most qualified students earn in these three classes counteracts the weight. I came to the conclusion that I’m not going to miss out on valuable math and science instruction in order to appear to have a more “challenging” schedule for college apps and end up leaving myself unprepared for college level courses in these areas. I’d rather learn the material than sit in a classroom confused for an entire year just to put the AP designation on my schedule, as many students at my school do.</p>
<p>SAT (I’ll put the percentile of each section score so you can have a better idea of my competitiveness within the school [I think the fact that the College Board gives you a percentile using students from your school is pretty awesome, though I wish they could compare you to kids from your own class as opposed to last year’s…and why don’t they “percentileize” your entire score in addition to each section!!! /rant], since I won’t be ranked)-
1st Time:
690 CR / 88%
650 Math/ 88%
700 Writing/ 93%
=1340/2040</p>
<p>2nd Time:
720 CR/ 91%
670 Math/ 90%
780 Writing/ 99% (darn you, girl from last year who got a 2400!)
=1390/2170</p>
<p>I live in Pennsylvania and go to a small public high school in a college town that sends many, many grads to top schools, especially compared to others in the area. Silver Medal USNWR High School. Although I’m not that crazy about the school itself, the kids are phenomenal.</p>
<p>ECs include multiple tourney wins in debate, a 35+ hr a week job (pay goes toward family bills, not toward spending or even saving for myself) plus a rec from employer, countless (emphasis on countless) hours during campaign season and a rec from the county party chair, and hundreds upon hundreds of service hours. I’m starting NHS next year (earliest you can be inducted is the end of junior year to start senior year, which stinks as it would have been a good activity for junior year). I don’t know if this means a hill of beans even at a place like BC, but I am Roman Catholic (my mom went to a Jesuit school and is really gung ho about me going to one too) and served as an alter server in my glory days.</p>
<p>I’m applying RD to CAS as a poli sci major. Off topic, but I really hope Romney runs again in 2012 and I can intern in his Boston HQ for the campaign. That would be pretty cool. Speculation about a political campaign that may or may not occur that I may or may not win an internship in is a really bad reason to choose a school, but it was the reason I started thinking about BC and it made me discover that it seems like a good fit for me.</p>
<p>I know BC meets 100% of demonstrated need, but how rough are the loans they stick in finaid packages? I’m really trying to limit my choices to schools that cap loans for low income families as I want to go to law school and will be saddled with that debt as it is; Cornell ILR, my ED school, even gets rid of the parent contribution/EFC–something that I would have to cover at BC in addition to my loan expectation.</p>
<p>Any other advice anyone has for getting in would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.</p>