<p>White female from New Hampshire
Large (>1600) public high school
Rising junior</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Junior Yr Courseload:
Honors Chemistry I
Honors Pre-Calculus
Honors Economics
Honors Sociology
Honors Human Geography
AP English Language and Composition
AP US Government
CP Debate (only level available)
CP Psychology (prep for senior year)
Drawing
Ocean Science (only level)</p>
<p>Sophomore Year Grades:
Honors Biology I: A
CP Spanish III: A
Honors American Lit: A
Honors Algebra II: A-
AP US History: A
CP Health (highest level available): A
PE 10: A</p>
<p>Freshman Year Grades:
Honors World History: A-
Honors Freshman English: A-
PE 9: A
Intro to Art: A+
CP Geometry: A
CP Physical Sci: A
Honors Spanish II: B</p>
<p>Do you think my upward trends in terms of both grades and course rigor would compensate for my weak freshman years? Would an upward trend look good?</p>
<p>Standardized tests:
AP US History: AP Exam: 5 / SAT II: 690
SAT I: Taking it this fall in October
PSAT: Taking it this fall
SAT II to take: Biology M, Chemistry, Math Level II</p>
<p>EC’s / work (including projected EC’s for 12th grade, 11th grade EC’s set in stone) / any awards:
Basketball (9th)
Field Hockey (9th)
Math Peer Tutoring (9th, 10th)
Soccer Ref (paid job): (10th)
School Paper: (10th, 11th, 12th)
Link Crew (11th, perhaps 12th)
Debate team: (11th, 12th)
School’s literary magazine: (11th, 12th)
Model UN: (11th, 12th)
Student Senate: (11th, 12th)
Summer of 9th: Took writing and drawing classes at Phillips Andover
Summer of 11th: Taking online classes via Coursera (so it’s not official, so I don’t know how to convey this on my application. Any ideas?) in Chemistry and Astronomy. Also did work on the school paper and link crew.
Summer of 12th: MAYBE (depends on if I get in): Internship at BU in a chemistry lab</p>
<p>Awards-
Yeah I don’t have many so far…
1st place in a poetry contest</p>
<p>**I have the GPA to get into National Honors Society and Social Studies Honor Society, but they don’t send out letters until mid-Junior year.</p>
<p>How are you taking so many classes junior year? It’s kinda meaningless to chance you until you get your SAT or ACT scores. No idea what CP stands for also.</p>
<p>Ha, I question the Junior year courseload too! I’m guessing “CP” means College Prep, which means accelerated?And SAT/ACT scores are part of the admissions considerations. It’s easier for people if you just post your total GPA (weighted and unweighted) instead of posting each class and grade. Seems you have great grades, so your SATs should be decent and you have plenty of extracurriculars. I think your resume looks solid for admittance to BU. I don’t think you even need so many honors and APs to get into BU. My son took 1 honors and 3 APs and a GPA less than yours and he was admitted, although his high school is a well respected college prep school where "B"s are almost as good as "A"s. “Weak freshman year grades”? Where’s the “weak”? The two minuses and the “B”?! Don’t be so hard on yourself - the AP points will cancel out the “B” and colleges give the least consideration to freshman grades, so if you are going to get lower grades, freshman year is the best time.</p>
<p>You might try applying to higher level colleges too because yours looks like an Ivy/elite school resume.</p>
<p>The book, “Admission Matters” by Sally Springer is recommended by our high school counselors: <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Admission-Matters-Students-Parents-Getting/dp/1118450272”>http://www.amazon.com/Admission-Matters-Students-Parents-Getting/dp/1118450272</a></p>
<p>Best advice: Start writing your admissions essays the summer prior to senior year. There is the main/personal essay and colleges have 2-6 additional essays to complete (look at their websites). They just changed the personal essay questions so I think they will be the same for another 6 years (but find out for sure). At least have a rough draft prior to school because writing the essays and having homework is super stressful - colleges want the grades of the first semester, senior year. You can’t just sit down and crank out the essays - you will probably revise repeatedly. </p>
<p>If you are taking a hard class during senior year, take it the second semester because colleges don’t see the grades until after they admit you so you don’t need a stellar GPA by then - in fact, I hear that most colleges will not withdraw admissions unless you totally bomb. Our counselor only heard of one college which withdrew the admission because the person failed English, thereby changing the coursework so that the person did not have 4 years of English, which is mandatory for admissions. Our counselor said to be safe, keep a 3.0 GPA if possible.</p>
<p>P.S. Visit BU if you can - it’s super urban - the subway goes down the middle of campus. My son did not like it so urban. And there is no AC in their freshman dorm, Warren Towers. Visiting campuses during Spring Break, senior year, is a good time because you can see the students and feel the campus vibe, and often, you know which schools have accepted you. Consider applying to schools in Early Action (no commitment) or Early Decision (committed to attending if accepted). The schools look at stats through Junior year. You will have to have essays done by October (I think) but you will have a decision earlier than regular decision.</p>
<p>A word of advice, if you need financial aid its best to apply to schools regular decision so you can compare aid packages. </p>
<p>@Vlklngboy11 I am considering applying for RD, but don’t your chances increase if you apply ED? And in response to your earlier comment, I am taking a lot of junior year classes because some of them are semester classes. And CP is like a regular class at my school. It goes (from lowest to highest): Academic, CP, Honors, AP.</p>
<p>Your chances do increase slightly if you apply ED, but you could miss out on a better scholarship package. If you know you want to go to BU and that you will be able to afford it then applying ED makes sense.</p>