It’s interesting, I assumed test scores weren’t the end-all be-all but many of you make it sound like it is. My test scores are certainly not as high but at my public school many of my friends and acquaintances from my school received awful, awful scores on the SAT, and I’m talking about 1100-1300/2400. I assumed my ECs and class rank would help me but I guess I’m from a low-achieving school. I also agree with @vlindo - that seems crazy.
And I heard many people complaining that “a 1500 definitely isn’t the average; it’s so hard to get!”
Yup.
@mabdel3487 Where did you find out that 2,700 applicants were deferred?
@movielover101 I heard that out of 8,500 early applicants, about 2,200 were denied, about 3,700 were deferred, and about 2,600 were accepted.
@gnawnil09 That sounds about right given the posts here on college confidential.
it doesn’t make sense that they excepted 2600. I’m not trying by accusatory but that would mean that they accepted nearly all of their incoming class in early action. Usually, the trend is that colleges take only a few ea but the majority of the pool is made up from the regular pool. Maybe someone can explain?
accepted** (grammar isn’t fairing too well after this painfully long evening)
Dear mehhhhh : Do not think about 2600 EA acceptances as filling the freshman class of 2250 (on average) spots. Consider the YIELD from those 2600 acceptances. Remember that the overlap among Top 30 schools is very large which will bring down the resulting YIELD to approximately ~20-30% from this group.
Dear All : The next part of the process will be “financial aid”. You will see NUMEROUS college confidential contributors that were just accepted drop-out of the final process when it is realized that 100% of demonstrated need does not mean that 100% of your costs are covered by the University. Watch the number of participants that complain about their awards going forward - happens each year. Remember that a $50,000-$60,000 per year school is … well … a $50,000-$60,000 per year school. Families are often ill-prepared to realize the true meaning of those numbers. Much changes over the next several months; as I said, happens every year.
I really really want to cry now 
EA basically is my only chance to get in BC.
hi, @scottj do you think it is okay for me to write a letter to admission counselor to show my strong interest to BC and regret to the decision
@gnawnil09 “I heard that out of 8,500 early applicants, about 2,200 were denied, about 3,700 were deferred, and about 2,600 were accepted.”
Your data is correct. To assist in correcting some misinformation…
-We aim to fill no more than 30% of our incoming class through Early Action.
-Early Action is MORE competitive than Regular Decision. What an acceptance rate does not show is the amount of students at the top of our applicant pool applying at a much higher rate than Regular Decision. Regular Decision will be slightly less competitive.
-We do not track demonstrated interest, nor do we require any documents beyond a mid-year report for deferred students.
–Boston College Undergraduate Admission
Will sending a letter of continued interest help me in any way? I was deferred and BC is my #1 choice…
Dear TalkTheTalk : A letter of continuing interest is usually only discussed in the context of your position on the Waitlist after a deferral in the Regular Decision round. If your application for Early Admission was submitted just six to eight weeks back, it is very unlikely that you have substantially new information that will radically alter your standing in the RD round so quickly. Information that would be of substantial interest includes, but is not limited to:
[1] local, regional, or national awards for scholarship, volunteerism, community engagement, athletics, or arts,
[2] new standardized testing scores that are consistently better than prior submissions,
[3] first half senior year grades that substantiate on-going excellence, continued improvement, or new levels, or
[4] successful program conclusions - for example, if you previously discussed a program that was being implemented but was previously too early stage to measure impact,
If your continued interest letter is littered with “still love Boston College”, “would really work hard”, and “have always wanted to attend” clauses, you are NOT taking advantage of the purpose of a continued interest letter. Spend some time - a lot of time - thinking about what you would want to say that you have not already included in your application.
However, more importantly, think about how the reader will receive that information. Always remember that your writing should clearly draw out the reasons why YOU make Boston College a better place for all of those attending.
Dear @joshuali : Move onto your next set of college applications. At this stage, you need to be making sure that your regular decision applications are polished, ready for mailing, complete, professional, and stamp you as an ideal admission candidate. In the short term (now until the end of December at least), there is little to nothing you can do about your Boston College EA admission status.
Once your RD applications are truly completed, then and only then can you come back to review all of your EA deferrals. (Rejections are a done deal obviously.) Consider the points I made in my previous note in this thread - decide when you have something truly meaningful to say. Every deferred candidate regrets the decision of the admission’s panel - that is NOT unique or noteworthy. Every applicant will say that they have a strong interest in Boston College - that too is NOT unique in and of itself.
As I wrote previously, you need to think about WHY you need to write to Boston College.
Why do you make Boston College a better community? Once you have some insights on that question and personal data points to add to your application,only then will you really be ready to issue a follow-up letter. Hopefully, this information resonates with you.
@DevlinHall208 When is the deadline to submit supplemental materials to the admissions office for deferred applicants, and what types of materials are considered?
@mikescott - Anything new for deferred students must be received by March 1. Any art, music, or theater supplement must have been received by January 1. It is important to note we require only a mid-year transcript and do not actively encouraging sending “supplemental materials.”
–Boston College Undergraduate Admission
@DevlinHall208 Any news for deferred EA students? Email said they would reconvene in Jan to consider candidates again but then there was the April date for final notification. Does anyone know if they will email first n Feb and then later get financial package or does it all come together in March or April?
^^mom:
Deferred students are just reconsidered in the RD round, with all other applicants, which are notified at the same time. Thus, there is no earlier notification (“first in Feb”). FinAid will also be in the same time frame as RD, generally shortly after acceptance.