BC Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

*Pretty long post but if you could read all of it I would be really thankful!

So I’ve taken the SAT three times (1940 - 2050 - 2070) but my super score is 2100

CR: 710
W: 710
M: 680

I will also be taking the ACT April 2016 and have not taken any SAT II’s yet but I will take them if my ACT doesn’t go well.

The high school I go to is a 2015 Blue Ribbon School (won this award several times in past years as well) that was ranked the #5 top high school in NJ and #47 top high school in the US in 2014. It was ranked #3 in NJ and #31 in the US in 2015. Getting into this school requires a test consisting of math, reading, and essay writing, as well as an interview with the school itself. Around 600-700 students in all four grades in the school, at least a thousand people apply to it each year and only around 150 are chosen.

The school doesn’t give out rankings or class positions of any students to any school.

UW GPA up to 2nd marking period of junior year: 3.366/4 (upward trend)

GPA will probably be the weakest part of my application next year although my counselor said that schools will know that our high school is very rigorous and top-ranked and judge the GPA accordingly.

Another thing our school does is when you apply you have to pick one of several programs they offer (fashion, law & justice, computer science, digital media, etc) and then take classes on it throughout your four years of high school like a college major, the program I chose and got accepted to was computer science.

We also have projects (kind of like electives: microcontrollers, 911 cooking, documentaries, SAT prep, etc) every Wednesday for 1.5 hours where you take a class on your chosen project and do activities focusing on it.

Freshman year schedule:

Algebra 1 Honors (93 average)
English 1 Honors (90 average)
Geometry Honors (85 average)
Intro to Object-Orientated Design (96 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
Physics Honors (89 average - all my marking period grades were A- or A, the final brought it down to 89)
Social Issues (93 average)
Spanish 1 (83 average)
World Cultures Honors (90 average)
Project School Climate (100 average)
Project Microcontrollers (98 average)

  • Our school offers no AP classes for freshmen

Sophomore year schedule:

Chemistry Honors (82 average)
Drivers Ed (93 average)
English II Honors (83 average - you need a 90 minimum in this class to take AP Lang junior year but my english teacher wrote me a recommendation to get into AP Lang since she believed I would be a good match for that class)
Intermediate Programming (94 average)
Math Analysis 1 Honors (basically pre-calc, 79 average)
Networking 1 (92 average)
Physical Education (99 average)
AP Physics 1 (79 average + 1 on the AP Exam)
Spanish II (77 average)
Project Spanish (95 average)
Project Cooking (95 average)

  • The only AP you could take sophomore year was AP Physics 1 if you postponed US History (which I did) and AP Government if you were in the Law & Justice program (I wasn't).
  • Sophomore year was my weakest year ever since I was required to take Spanish II (I can't do well in this class no matter how much I study) and all the time I spent studying for AP Physics 1 which ended up being a waste anyways. This year my GPA dropped to between 3.1 - 3.2 average for the two years and I've been using junior (and hopefully senior) year to bring it back up.

Junior year schedule (current year):

AP Lang (86 average so far)
US History 1 Honors (89 average so far)
AP Environmental Science (90 average so far)
Networking II (96 average so far)
Advanced Programming (97 average so far)
Math Analysis II Honors (88 average so far)
Biology Honors (92 average so far)
Physical Education (100 average so far)
First Aid (98 average)
Project Documentaries (95 average)
Project Documentaries 2 (95 average so far)

Senior year projected schedule:
AP Lit
AP US History
Cloud Computing
*Computer science class that hasn’t been determined yet
AP Calculus AB or AP Statistics
AP Biology
Physical Education
Family Planning
Entrepreneurship (easy boast to GPA) or Spanish III or Art (required to graduate)

  • Senior year we are also required to get an internship so I will be interning as well, on Wednesdays we go to our internships instead of school.

Extra Curriculars:
-JV Bowling (Varsity next year)
-Chemistry Club (10th grade)
-Physics Club (10,11)
-Computer Club (9,10,11)
-Turkish Cultural Center Tutor (6,7,8,9,10)
-Founding Member of Lemon Club (our schools chapter of the ALS Foundation)

Leadership Positions:
-Founder and President of C3 Club (11) - We’ve collected over 1000 books for students in low-income areas so far and over the summer we hope to turn it into a non-profit organization or open a chapter of it in another school.
-Founder of a neighborhood book club (10,11) - Weekly meetings with kids in the neighborhood where we read books together and I help them with their hw and classes
-Founder, Owner, and Editor of a book blog (9,10,11) - Started a book blog back in freshman year where I review books and interact with the book community, over 15,000 pageviews and thousands of followers in total over the blog and social media. I talk regularly with book publishers and get sent copies of books to read and review for them and I have attended multiple book events in three different states as well as BEA 2015.

Volunteering:
-At least 200-300 hours of volunteering already
-Volunteered at two relief foundations (9,10,11)
-Traveled to Haiti as a Relief Volunteer (10)
-Volunteered at local library (10,11)
-Volunteered in several cities in Turkey with a relief foundation

Work Experience:
-Working at Kumon since October 2015 (11) - tutoring and grading
-Possibly going to work at MEK starting in April

Other:
-Accepted to Harvard Summer School for the summer of 2016
-Visited Boston College campus last summer

Awards:
-Lots of awards in middle school but only a couple of minor ones in high school

*My family is Turkish (mom and dad graduated from Turkish universities for mining engineering and chemical engineering and came to America in 1998)
*I speak two languages: English and Turkish although I can read Arabic as well
*Dual citizenship (America and Turkey)
*Religion (Islam)
*Income: Between $60,000 and $95,000 yearly (not sure of exact number)

Recommendations:

  • Guidance Counselor (expecting a really good one, I’ve been constantly talking with him since freshman year and I feel like he has gotten to know me pretty well and has helped me a lot)
  • AP Environmental Science teacher (Bachelors at Swarthmore College and Masters at Columbia University)
  • AP Lang teacher (not sure about what school she went to but she’s been pretty involved in the club I made)

Next Year Goals:

By the time I apply to schools my UW GPA will be up to 3.4-3.5/4, I will hopefully have a higher ACT than my 2100 SAT, get into National Honor Society, possibly turn my school club into a non-profit organization (already working on this with several people who said they can help)/start chapters of it in other schools, and travel to at least one more country for volunteering (South America most likely). Additionally, I have the option of going to Rutgers/NYU and taking a Turkish course there for school credits - as I already know Turkish this would be easy enough to pass but would it add anything to my application?

Thank you so much for reading guys! Please tell me what you think my chances are, things I should improve/focus on, my strengths/weaknesses, etc

2

your scores are high, but gpa is low, idk. But I did Harvard Summer School last year- 10/10 reccomend

3

@pinkinga what course(s) did you take?

4

I took Great Ideas in Computer Science, I did the 2 week program not the summer long. FANTASTIC experience, I literally talk about it every day!! I can see your high school courses, so you seem like you have more experience (that was just a beginners python class- though in my AP comp sci class we are still not where I was in two weeks there). I would take the higher comp sci class, if the courses are the same, with David Malan

5

@pinkinga how rigorous was it? I actually kinda hate computer science now D: For a long time I wanted to major in that but everything we’ve done in my comp sci classes I’ve disliked :confused:

6

It was hard for me, but that was the first time I had done CS and the professor kind of just threw us into it. I think it’d be easy-average for you, based on the classes you’ve taken

7

@bayramf I would definitely call BC a reach. Despite your vast involvements, your SAT by BC standards is about average and your GPA is well below average. Additionally, the downward trend between fresh/soph year doesn’t help, nor does the fact that you have classes with little/no rigor (phys ed and drivers ed) to pull your gpa back up, indicating that your GPA is even lower in the classes that truly matter and are valued by an admissions committee. Your doing a crazy amount of things, which is awesome, but you might be overextending yourself, when you have the opportunity to bring up your GPA in your weaker classes. Involvement is great and is definitely weighed at a school like BC, where service is so heavily valued. However, you’re an outside shot.

Considering you’re doing a lot of programming (I’m not sure if that’s required or not), I would recommend applying to the Arts and Sciences school for computer science. I only say that because I noticed you didn’t bring up which school at BC you have a preference toward. Also, while the business school offers computer science (a B.A.), it has a higher admissions threshold, and would thus be harder to get into. Plus a B.S. in comp. sci. is better and more comprehensive anyway, so A&S would be ideal. You may have not interest, but from your transcript, that seems to be your best bet, considering it seems as though you have some strength in that area. I’d recommend AP Comp Sci if your school offers it. for your open senior year class. Drop an extra AP if necessary, to compensate and keep that GPA up. Colleges like to see fit, so emphasize it. That’s my recommendation.

Sorry if I came off a bit blunt, but I hope this helps in some way.