Boston College
Boston University
Northeastern University
Emerson College
Endicott College
Suffolk University
SAT (first attempt, will be retaking:) 2040, 610 M, 710 CR, 720 W
GPA: 4.0 Weighted, school doesn’t offer unweighted on Transcript
AP: Lit - 5, Lang - 5, World History - 3, US History - 4, school only offers 5 AP classes
Class Rank: 1st or 2nd, not entirely sure, it’s very close
Applying as an English major
Took almost all offered honors/ap classes, if not took equivalent class at local college. Extracurriculars are okay but not spectacular, I played Varsity level sports all throughout High School as well participating in a few clubs. I feel pretty good about my common app essay and I should have strong recs. I go to a small school and had somewhat limited opportunities - around 70 in my graduating class, made up of 3+ towns.
Does it look like I’m applying to a decent range of schools? BC, BU, and NEU are really my top picks, I’d be very content to be accepted to any of those three. My biggest criteria was that I wanted to be in city Boston (I’m from Maine,) but price is also a pretty big factor for me. I’m taking almost all college classes my senior year - I know BU doesn’t accept duel enrollment credits, but does anyone know about the others? Are there other schools I should be looking into?
That’s a good list. BU, BC, and Northeastern can be hard to predict, but I’d say you have a shot at them, made better if you bring up your SAT scores. I’d be surprised if you didn’t get into Suffolk and Endicott, and Emerson is probably a match too. You might want to look into Lesley as well. It’s in Cambridge, and it’s got majors in both English and Creative Writing that emphasize internships and real-world experience. Its financial aid isn’t the greatest, but it offers automatic partial merit scholarships if your GPA and SAT scores meet certain criteria.
Cost, unfortunately, is a bigger issue. Have you checked to see if their websites offer net price calculators? Your GPA and your SAT score might make you eligible for merit scholarships, although you’d have to check individual school websites. I would especially recommend studying for math, if you haven’t already, as some aid focuses on Math+CR scores.
Finally, one last thing to check is housing. Not all of these schools guarantee four-year on-campus housing. Suffolk, in particular, has been pressed for housing recently; one of my friends had to commute there last year because she wasn’t able to get housing for the fall semester. Many of them will guarantee it for the first two years, and there’s still a chance of getting it your junior and senior years (my friend at Suffolk was able to get it senior year), but it is something to keep in mind if and when you’re making your final choice.
You say price is a big factor for you, and yet you’re applying to a number of schools with notoriously poor financial aid. BU, Suffolk, Northeastern, and Emerson are not good schools for FA. To give but one example, Northeastern only met an average of 77% of enrolled students’ need, which likely means more people were accepted and wanted to go to NU but couldn’t enroll because of a financial rejection.
Brandeis, a school in a Boston suburb, might accept you, and its financial aid package is generally much stronger than almost every school on your list.
Is there any reason you’re only considering schools in Boston as opposed to other cities?
I’ve used the net price calculator for BU before, and according to that I get a decent price - not great, but okay considering college debt is expected to be somewhat over the top.
And I’m only applying in Boston because I have strong ties to the city, along with the fact it’s relatively close to my hometown compared to other large cities.
Aside from being in or near Boston (not so much for Endicott- why is this school on your list? Suffolk IMO is a better safety) many of these schools have almost nothing in common. What do you really want out of college, aside from location?
Change your strategy. You have an excellent academic record. I think you are setting your sights a little low.
Your list should include
Tufts
Brandeis
Wellesley
Boston College
Northeastern
Boston University
I think you will get into Northeastern as an English major. Apply early action.
Try to visit the schools early in the fall when classes are in session. If you can decide on your first choice, and if it’s Tufts, Brandeis or Wellesley, you can get boost your admissions chances by applying Early Decision (ED). If you apply ED, you can still apply Early Action (EA) to Northeastern.
If your first choice is Boston College, you can apply EA to BC and Northeastern.
If for some reason, you don’t have a school to attend by the time early decisions come out, you can apply to your other schools.
Frankly, I think Suffolk is a bit beneath you and I don’t know much about Endicott except that it really isn’t that close to Boston. If you really run into hard luck, I think UMASS Boston accepts applications pretty late.
I disagree with ClassicRockerDad. Those schools are harder to get into each year, like almost all schools. If you really want to go to Boston, have the money for application fees, and have the time to write stellar essays, apply to all schools in Boston.
Based on what you’ve posted, here’s what I think:
Reach - Tufts (closest to the actual city along with BU)), Boston College, Wellesley
Match - Brandeis, Northeastern, BU (iffy)
Safety - Emerson, Endicott, Suffolk
If you can’t apply to all, choose one reach, all matches, and one safety. Hope this helps!
For what it’s worth, we did not qualify for financial aid but my kid did win $25,000 a year from BU in Merit and $20,000 from Northeastern and $18,000 from UMass-Amherst. Her stats were a bit higher than yours and her back-story is intriguing but you’re in the ballpark. She also was accepted to Tufts but received $0.
Qwerty568: Endicott is near where my sister lives and has a beautiful campus, so it’s one of my safety schools. Definitely not a first choice. And ideally, I would attend a large school with a decent English program, right in city but still with that college vibe - Suffolk is a low safety for me, it’s nice how in city the school is, but the set up is terrible and not unified at all. Boston University is really the ideal set up for me. I fell in love when I visited the campus last Spring.
ClassicRockerDad: I was actually considering applying to Tufts as a high reach, but they require Subject Tests and I wasn’t sure if it was worth the time/money/effort to study for two Subject Tests for one school that I probably wouldn’t even get into… especially since BU is the school that really holds my heart, even though I know there’s a possibility I could get into somewhere better. But I am definitely adding Brandeis to my list!
Senior14: Yes, definitely will be adding Brandeis to my list, and I’ll have to think about whether taking the Subject Tests I would need to apply to Tufts is something I want to do.
Thank you everyone for your input, you’re giving me lots to think about!
Have you looked at Simmons? That might be a nice safety for you, and it’s a tad nicer than Suffolk, at least in terms of campus, housing, etc. They also have a full ride scholarship you can apply to–just requires an extra essay–which might be worth giving a shot.
I think you have good range in terms of getting in, but if financials are a sticking point, I wouldn’t call any of them a true safety. What can your family afford per year, and do you have an in-state safety (ie: University of Maine)?
I’m planning on applying Early Action to all schools that offer it (and if memory serves, all my safety schools do) so if worse comes to worse I can apply Regular Decision to the UMaine system. But I really have no interest in staying in Maine.
I’m afraid I might have placed too much emphasis on what my family can and can’t afford. After financial aid, anything 30k and lower would be acceptable, but something around 20k or lower would be much, much better. It’s really a matter of debt, my sister recently graduated from college and everything she needed she used loans for. My parents are a bit better off now, so hopefully they’ll be able to help me a little more, but nothing substantial.
The fact that Simmons is an all girls college has always been off putting to me.
I would look into Tufts and Brandeis. And definitely run the Net Price Calculator on the schools to get an idea of which may be affordable. And a couple of random comments are that before you apply to Emerson be sure you are interested in one of their majors (it does not have all majors) and I’d apply to your state school as a financial safety.
Simmons is right in the Fenway so there’s male students all over the place. I may be wrong but I believe there is a consortium with the colleges of the Fenway so it wouldn’t necessarily feel like an all girls school.
If you dislike the setup of Suffolk so much, it might not be worth applying, especially since it’s an uber safety for you. The setup is going to be way more important than its location.
@Qwerty568 Does a consortium mean that I’d be able to take classes that have both male and female students even though Simmons is all girls? If so, I’ll definitely take a look at it.
Probably more important than Boston is going to school with your intellectual peers. They are not at Suffolk. That’s were the B-/C+ 1400 SAT2400 students go around here (I’m local to Boston).
But there is no reason to apply to Suffolk before you receive your EA decision from Northeastern and your EA/ED decision from your top choice. I really don’t see you getting rejected by Northeastern. It’s harder to get into for sure, but not that much harder, and it’s still a fairly pre-professional school so a potential English major is pretty attractive. You have decent stats.
If you like Tufts, you can take the ACT with writing and not need subject tests. Just another Saturday morning. Your chances improve greatly with early decision. From our local school, Tufts admissions RD was 17% but it was 44% for early decision.
Tufts (??)
BU
BC
Northeastern
Brandeis
Lesley University
Suffolk (??)
Endicott
Does Lesley University seem like a good replacement safety for Suffolk, even though its stats are not much higher? The campus seems quite a bit nicer, from what I can tell. And should I drop Endicott from my list, if it’s really the same level of school as Suffolk?
@ClassicRockerDad Your information may be a little outdated. Northeastern has both higher SAT scores and a lower admit rate than BC and even more significantly for BU. Tufts is by far the best in this group. I am always a believer that you need a healthy number of safeties.
BU:
SAT CR 25%-75%: 570-670
SAT Math: 620-720
SAT Writing: 600-690
ACT: 27-31
Boston College:
SAT CR: 630-720
SAT Math: 640-740
SAT Writing: 640-730
ACT: 31-33
Admit Rate: 34%
Northeastern:
SAT CR: 660-740
SAT Math: 680-760
SAT Writing: 640-730
ACT: 31-33
Admit Rate: 27%
From our Naviance, Endicott is a more selective school than Suffolk. Lesley is a teaching college. These schools really have no deadlines (actually Suffolk’s deadline is July 15th) because they don’t fill up. Even Endicott has a Feb 15th deadline.
I also notice that you didn’t include Wellesley, which frankly is the best school that you have a realistic chance for. Because they exclude half of the population, you have a pretty decent shot with your stats. They admit 30%. You are either #1 or #2 in your class and already have a respectable SAT. Wellesley women have no problem meeting men, usually at MIT, Harvard or Babson. My wife went there and I’m a little biased.
I really think that you should concentrate on the 6 prime schools and try to get into at least 1 by Dec 15th through early action/ early decision.
If you want to add two more, Emerson has 18% English majors and has EA and admits 49%, and Wheaton has 9% English majors and also has EA and really ought to accept you. They admit 70%.
If you really have nothing in the bag by Dec 15th, you still have some time to add others. I think the chances of that happening are very low though.
Deadlines for potential low safeties are
Endicott: Feb 15
UMASS-Boston Mar 1 - priority deadline, Apr 1 regular deadline
Suffolk - July 15 - you can even wait until your RD results come in for this safety!
Lesley - Priority deadline Feb 15th, regular deadline: none!
Emmanuel: Feb 15th
a few others.
Wellesley and Tufts I’d have to take Subject Tests for - and considering BU is really my first choice, I don’t feel as if taking Subject Tests is worth it.
Boston College seems to almost dissuade students from applying EA, stating that “…admission is more selective during the Early Action review process than it is during Regular Decision.” Neither BU nor Brandeis offer Early Action. I want to apply to Safety Schools early so I’ll be considered for merit scholarships - at Lesley I’m guaranteed 10k simply for my SAT scores and Suffolk’s online merit scholarship calculator estimated me at 18k. That leaves me with:
EA:
Northeastern
Suffolk
Lesley
RD:
Boston College
Boston University
Brandeis
Endicott if I don’t get at least two EA acceptances.
I’m going to look into Wheaton (I’ve read their pamphlets before, they were very amusing) and I’ll consider Emerson, but Emerson doesn’t offer an “English” major - it’s “Writing, Literature, and Publishing,” which to me sounds a bit more like Creative Writing degree than an English degree.
Thank you all so much, I’ve really figured out a lot based on all this information.