Daughter was waitlisted. Looking at the Naviance scattergram for BU, she is out on an island by herself. Clear yield protection… zero doubts. If she was rejected, I would at least say that said that she did something wrong in the ‘why BU’ essay, but with WL, they are testing how serious the high achieving kids are. Only issue is that the only reasons we would genuinely consider BU in the end is the amount of merit aid they would give. And with WL, they guarantee that we don’t consider BU at all.
4 Likes
DS WAS accepted to BU w/ $25k merit. I dont know why and others werent. 8 hours away and visited campus? Data Science? Male? Who knows? 3.98/4.5, 1560, NMF, 9 APs, 4 post-AP/DE, Leadership in two CS related clubs, Varsity athlete, CS related internship w/small non profit, self taught musician and PT employment.
1 Like
Test optional is exactly what it says it is. Students have the option to submit scores if they feel that it reflects their academic capabilities. Stating something along the lines of “I don’t think it’s fair that students with lower scores are getting in over students with higher scores” implies that students with higher scores deserve it more.
That is simply not the case. With so many students NOT submitting test scores, a stellar score on the SAT or ACT would only make an amazing application shine even greater. If an applicant is rejected, it’s not because a test-optional kid “stole” their spot; they would have never been admitted. Objectively, the test-optional policy is not the most “fair,” but the college process (or life) never has been.
If you want to talk about test-optional drastically increasing the number of applications nationwide, that’s a different story. But admissions officers clearly saw something in that “1250” kid that they didn’t see in the “1500” kid. (Which is so demeaning to begin with because all applicants are much more than their “stats”; they’re kids just like your sons and daughters with their own stories and unique qualities that make them special and deserving to go to college)
I would actually like to hear why your student chose BU, what was outstanding for you/them to mean enough to apply? Of course the rigor and reputation- but what unique characteristics of this school stand out? Thank you.
1 Like
If you run an experiment, run a cohort of students w 1200 versus 1500 SAT scores thru MIT, I guarantee many more of the 1200 SAT kids will fail out. Imperfect as it is, the SAT is a standardized test that actually has some usefulness. For those w 4.0 GPAs, there is probably a fairly large variance in IQ (whatever that means) and intellectual ability, much less so when u compare those with similar SAT scores, albeit within a reasonably wide range. Let us remember, our kids are applying to college. And yes I support diversity and understand that there are many things a student can contribute to the life of the college that GPAs and SAT scores do not measure. But there has to be some reasonable limits. This is not a popularity contest on Tik-Tok.
Imagine this. What if graduate/professional schools admitted students the same way colleges are doing now? I know, colleges are in many ways a different beast. But its primary mission is still education, no?
I did hold off on posting for fear of angering a few.
An aside meant hopefully to be helpful to those who are seriously considering BU: grade deflation there is very real.
2 Likes
Hmmm that may be true to a certain extent, but where does it end? The values of most of these universities include diversity, equity, and inclusion and they try to stand by it.
Although the standards for achieving a certain GPA can vary wildly from high school to high school, the caliber of education at schools across the country varies just as much, if not more. We can’t pretend that all kids in America receive the same secondary education, or have access to the same resources, opportunities, experiences, technology, etc. Most families can not afford private school tuition and funding for public schools is dependent on how much $$ the town they live in has. Hell, some high schools only offer 1 or 2 AP classes while some kids may take 14 or so over the course of the same 4 years.
Studies have proven over and over that kids that come from wealthier backgrounds hold an advantage over kids from low-income families when it comes to the SATs/ACTs. Many recognize the merit of having a nationwide testing system, but it’s not like all kids are given the same starting point. Many colleges are choosing to permanently go TO because they themselves recognize that standardized testing is somewhat reflective of the environment of the applicant rather than the applicant themselves.
Colleges want a diverse group of students each year, not just students who aced their SATs (but mostly came from middle-class to rich families.) Education is honestly the key to changing your life and the opportunities provided at top institutions can open doors that other schools cannot. Kids who were set back at birth just because of where they were born and the high school they attended are also deserving of said opportunities. May their scores be lower? Yes. But if the students from top colleges go on to get the “best jobs” where is the chance to break this cycle? If low-scoring students are admitted to these elite universities, it’s because they’ve earned their place there and offered something that other kids their age cannot - regardless of SAT score.
Holistic review and test-optional are just a few policies that implement equity and inclusion into the college process. Not everyone will understand or support, but colleges are keeping it around for a reason.
5 Likes
If there is any yield protection going on (and not just the usual element of randomness in processing so many applications using holistic admissions), I highly doubt they’d apply it to a hyper-competitive major like Data Science, especially with their brand new computing & data science building opening up. That your DS was able to accomplish all that along with PT employment is amazing. Congratulations on the acceptance and maxed out merit aid!
Dont colleges adjust their expectations based on their scoioeconomic backgrounds and hooks like URM? This unfairness is based on the assumption that everyone has to score the same. If you’re poor, your SAT can be much lower and still be admitted.
What about rich kids who score poorly on the SAT and go test optional? Not only do they have all the resources, but have an exit path if they dont do well.
3 Likes
Colleges compare students from the same high school, socioeconomic background, zip code, etc. I’m sure the rich student who doesn’t submit scores stands out. Either way, colleges can’t make TO a policy for a select few.
My D applied bc of the communications school and the ability to take courses/minor across schools which is something that you can’t readily or if at all do a places like UT Austin to which she was an auto admit. She also loves Boston, so there’s that. She was WL and am pretty sure if she did ED should would have gotten in. Currently, Tulane is where she will probably go which seems to be a pretty great place where one can major across schools, etc. In fact, they encourage it! We, like everyone here just want it to be DONE! UGH.
1 Like
Well stated. I don’t disagree. However, when the process leaves strong candidates with only safety schools to choose from after having applied to 20 or so schools, something is clearly wrong. Things have gone too far in the wrong direction.
My recommendation to kids would be to not stress out any more, do what you like, be yourself, work hard but not excessively, because in the end the correlation between the hard work you put in and your academic achievements with success in getting into the school you want, commensurate with your performance, is much weaker these days.
And for parents I would say, if getting your kids into the more competitive schools is so important, learn how to game the system and spend your $ on college advisors. It is even more vitally important these days to give your child an edge. Good records do not speak for themselves these days.
4 Likes
That being said, my son at least is happy w the several acceptances he has received, one being a top choice. But all the rejections have been demoralizing.
2 Likes
Our daughters sound similar. My 23d also applied to BU’s COM program and being able to minor across schools appealed to her too. She was accepted RD. Since we don’t qualify for f/a, needed merit $ to make it feasible. That didn’t happen so she is declining and looking at other options that make more sense financially and have more green space and trees😀. All the best to your daughter. Tulane is a fantastic school!
And here’s to being done—Almost there!
I would say the same minus hiring people. You can figure it out yourself pretty much in a lot of ways. If it’s feasible and if your child can narrow it down (I think my kid was wanting to try other top places) apply ED or ED2. If the $ doesn’t work out if it’s more than what you calculated on their sites, you can always pull out.
Exact same here!
1 Like
I agree! The most important thing is to become more educated consumers. These schools are businesses. If they are shifting toward a more “targetted acceptance” model, parents too need to adjust. The increased number of applications had definitely changed much about this process. I believe that by sharing our experiences we will add data points to the next generation of students that is looking at BU, or other t-50 schools. I emphasized to my daughter early on that despite all of that hard work, she could end up at one of her state schools and there was nothing wrong with that. Tough process in deed…
4 Likes
Yup, my daughter received the same… Didn’t know this was a thing.
. maybe BU’s AO was looking for a specific criteria that ur kid didn’t have…
There were so many schools on Naviance I had an above gpa for, but got WL for and I am thankful for BU, and sometimes parents and kids need to take an L and move on. No need to blame outside factors for the decisions even though we all know how flawed the college admissions are.
8 Likes
My daughter too. Try to attend an admitted students session. She did a virtual session tonight and there was a lot of discussion about CGS. She’s pretty excited about it now!
My daughter admitted to CGS, but she is not sure about this program!