Boston College chances? GPSP?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

I’m a current junior in high school, going to be a senior in the fall. Over the past few months I’ve been looking at several different colleges and right now Boston College is my absolute top choice.

SAT: 1490 (780R/710M no superscore) (SAT writing was poor - a 17/24 I think)
GPA: 99.5 (this was from sophomore year, as of now I think it is between a 98.5 and a 99. Will the dip in junior year affect my application?)
Rank: 2 out of 50ish (I know it’s not impressive because of the small size)
ACT: taken in June, not scored yet :confused: If I had to guess I would say maybe in the high 20s, low 30s. I’m taking it again in September because I had a bad testing experience
Major: undecided
White, female from an upper middle class family.

I’m planning to take three SAT IIs in August, probably in US History, Literature, and Math. (I’ve taken practice tests and have scored high - in the 700s)

I live in NYC and attend a challenging, small Catholic school (with many intelligent alum/current students; recent acceptances have been to Georgetown, Harvard, Boston College, Princeton etc)

I’ve taken many challenging classes (all honors).
I’m worried because although I’ve taken every AP offered at my school(only APWH in soph year, only AP Lang + APUSH in junior year, and a max of 3 in senior year) I know many other top students take 5+ APs in a given year. My school wouldn’t allow me to add more than three APs for next year, so I am only taking AP Chemistry, AP Language and Comp, and AP European History.

Ecs:
Varsity soccer (9-12), student council (9-12), JV softball, varsity track, culture clubs, history club, National Honor Society
Peer tutoring in school to other students for 2 years (volunteer work) in science and math
Employment: tutor to 3rd grade boy in all subjects from Jan 2016 to June 2016 in all subjects
No summer activities - I’ve been prevented from attending any summer programs because almost every summer my family goes to Ireland for a month or more, and it is very hard to find dates that work with my sibling’s schedule and my dad’s work schedule. Going to Ireland is nonnegotiable for my parents because my grandparents are growing old and they want us to spend time with them + our extended family (50+ aunts, uncles, and cousins).
I’m planning to write my college essay on my Irish heritage and how it has affected me.

I’m a first generation Irish American and neither of my parents went to college. I’ll have two siblings plus myself in college when I’m a freshman. This might help with financial aid but I don’t think I am going to get much because my family is upper middle class and we own our house. My parents have already told me that BC is too expensive and they can’t afford 65k+ per year for me. They also don’t want me to take out loans.

I know about the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program where you are offered full tuition. Is anyone a presidential scholar? Can you share your stats? I’m applying ED to BC because of GPSP, but I honestly don’t think I’ll be chosen. A recent salutatorian of my school attends BC but I don’t think she was chosen for GPSP. I also know another BC student (who allegedly is now in the top 10 of his class there but I don’t know if I believe this) who, also allegedly, scored a 35 on the ACT, had flawless grades and was a top student in his high school but received no money for BC. Would I have any chance for GPSP? If I’m not chosen for GPSP, there is a very high chance that I won’t go to BC because of how expensive it is :frowning:

Sorry for the length! I’m just very worried about college/college applications and wanted to include as much information as possible. I’ve searched for discussions related to GPSP and haven’t found much.

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I’d like to be honest with early in the process. IMHO BC gives out very little money and your stats aren’t even close for the GPSP. If you won’t be able to financially work it, you may think about other schools.

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GPSP is the only merit scholarship at BC. There are only about 12 awarded each year.

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What are the required stats?

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Is the selection process more holistic or is it solely based on scores? Would a student who had lower scores be chosen over a student with higher scores if they had a better resume, essay, etc?

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Does your school have Naviance? Coming from a Catholic school in NYC probably means there were lots of kids from your school who have applied to BC, so look at their outcomes should give you some fairly accurate guidance. BC tends to be less holistic, but I do think your stats are more than fine for BC, but may not be high enough for the scholarship. They of course get lots and lots of applicants from catholic schools, so the lens they view those students through may be a little stricter, as they look to diversify their pool of students. At least that is the sense I got when I heard a BC admissions counselor speak at a college panel.

You would have an excellent chance at scholarships and the Honors program at Providence.

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[QUOTE=""]

Is the selection process more holistic or is it solely based on scores?
Would a student who had lower scores be chosen over a student with
higher scores if they had a better resume, essay, etc?

[/QUOTE]

@lrose00:
Read through the past few years of “decision” threads for BC in this forum. That’s where you’ll see applicants reply with their stats and whether they were accepted, rejected, deferred, or waitlisted. Although the acceptance rates are higher with higher academic stats, you’ll see many with high academic stats not get accepted, and you’ll see many with lower academic stats who do get accepted.

GPSP is not based on highest or required level of stats. If your attendance at BC is gated on being awarded the GPSP, then you need to do more financial aid homework.

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@jpm50 my parents aren’t very candid when it comes to their yearly earnings, value of assets, etc lol. I’ve tried to use financial aid calculators but can’t because I don’t know how much they make. I do know that they have several pieces of property in the NYC area, which pretty much kills any chance of financial aid (and they’ve told me they won’t sell anything to help pay for college. They’re not from here and think attending a super expensive college and going into debt is ridiculous).

My original post was to ask about GPSP, not BC as a whole. I’ve found very little information about it, here and on BC’s website. What is it based on?

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BC doesn’t have much info on GPSP but giving out 12 in an incoming class of 2,000++ tells you the odds are extremely remote. Again, it starts with impeccable credentials which IMHO you don’t have, sorry

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I’d also like to add that many “dream schools” of your summer before senior year change over the next 6 months. You sound like a very good student who may be a candidate for merit aid at more generous schools (which BC is not). Be open minded and visit a lot of schools, you may be surprised what you find. It’s not worth going into deep debt if other fine institutions offer you a much better financial package. Best of luck!

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I agree with the above. I just want to qualify the notion that BC isn’t “generous.” They just choose to use their endowment toward providing need-based rather than merit-based aid. My need-based aid offer was very generous. Given that you would require merit aid, though, you might consider Fordham, which gave me merit aid with lower stats than you and is also Catholic/near a major city/solid school, if considered slightly less so than BC. May, understandably, be a bit close to home for you. The three schools which people in the accepted students chats and on this site tended to choose over BC due to superior merit aid were UMiami, Northeastern, and USC (I am fairly confident you would receive merit aid at the first two of these at least). Anyway, I don’t think you came here to solicit school recommendations. Obviously you’re a good fit for BC, though given what was said above, competition for students with your profile (coming from private NE Catholic schools) may be stiffer. I wouldn’t be too optimistic about GPSP, but write compelling essays that highlight what makes you unique, and we never know. Also try to boost that math score (though it is already pretty amazing as-is). Good luck!




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Also – I think the summers in Ireland is pretty awesome both on a personal level and also probably will be something interesting on your college application. Of course, there are a lot of Irish Catholics at BC, So may stand out more at other schools than at BC. Enjoy your summer in Ireland!

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Just first off, BC doesn’t offer early decision. But about the GPSP, its really up to many different variables, for a reference, a classmate of mine applied to BC with grades in a top HS of over 400 students and he was one of the most involved and he was not offered it. As far as aid goes, Boston College is notorious for not giving out sufficient aid. If you are an upper middle class family, I would not expect any aid and focus more on third party scholarship funds. Like you said you are a first gen college student, so there are probably funds for that. In your position, making BC affordable for your family should be sought by finding scholarship funds that can be applied for. By the looks of it you would have a good chance considering your academics, ECs, and reasoning behind applying. Hope this helps

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@transferapp1997 Oops, I meant early action. I’m definitely going to look for scholarships for Irish Americans

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@lrose00
If you read about the GPSP and look at current and old scholars you will see that they are looking for “shakers and makers” and students that will make an impact. Not just stats. They select students from a variety of states and majors to make a dynamic group. It is VERY difficult to predict likelihood as you do not know what they are looking for every year and how the group is shaping up. It looks to me an extremely hard scholarship to get no matter how high the stats are.

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It should be noted that the GPSP also involves an interview process. You aren’t just awarded the scholarship when you’re accepted. It involves a visit to campus during the spring semester. So, even if you have the “stats” you still have about 65 highly qualified other people to compete against for about 14-19 spots.