@isl4ndsurf3r Thanks for your opinion. I have two questions though. It seems like the other people agree with your list except one thing. Why do you consider Bucknell a reach? What would the chance be if I applied ED?
I have received great thoughts from all who have shared their opinions. However, I can never have enough. The more opinions the better.
@CTkid47 Bucknell has been getting more and more competitive and your ACT and unweighted GPA are below the standards of a typical accepted applicant. I would try to raise both of those and write very good essays. Also, what is your intended major and which school within Bucknell are you applying to? The school of management, social sciences, and engineering for Bucknell all have acceptance rates below 30%. Whereas, the school of arts and humanities has an over 40% acceptance rate. Definitely apply ED if you are sure that Bucknell is your number 1 choice!
Bucknell appears to be more competitive than it is. When a college does not have a supplement essay requirement it gets a bunch of applicants below standards just taking a shot. Colby dropped the essay requirement this year and applications went up by 25%.
There is a story on Bloomberg about Bucknell reducing the application fee to $40 and eliminating the essay and applications went up by 40%.
@CTkid47 Bucknell is a Reach school for countless NJ students that honestly know it is a long shot. In my son’s class there were 13 applicants with an ACT between 24 - 26. The published acceptance rate is not accurate.
If you look at the distribution of GPA and test scores you will see you are in a good position to get in. You are right in the middle. Anyone that says you are below standards clearly isn’t reading the data.
@BatesParent2019
“Anyone that says you are below standards clearly isn’t reading the data.”
The OP stated that he is applying to the school of management within Bucknell, which also happens to be one of Bucknell’s most competitive schools. The average accepted Unweighted GPA is 3.59, which is dragged down by many of the students recruited for sports, URMs, and those students accepted to the school of arts and humanities. OP has a 3.50 unweighted GPA and is an unhooked applicant. With the business school, one would definitely need a much higher unweighted GPA than the average unweighted GPA of all of the accepted students combined. The same applies to the ACT. The business school would simply expect to receive higher ACT scores than those of the other schools within Bucknell, because the business school is simply way more competitive. Also, considering the fact that Bucknell has received an influx in applications this past year, I would expect the standards to be much higher for next year’s class. In fact, I also went to a prestigious high school and many students on Naviance with 4.0 unweighted GPAs and 2100 SATs/32 ACTs were waitlisted.
P.S. @CTkid47 Bucknell does not superscore the ACT.
Northeastern and Bc are your biggest reaches. I’d be surprised if you didn’t get in everywhere else. Good luck!
Chance me back please:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18676261#Comment_18676261