Chance please? i don't know much about boston college except people use it for safety

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>'m interested in premed, but i’m not sure is this is the right school for that.
so just to start off, i think my hook will be my future. i plan on joining peace corps after undergrad, and then after my residency, i will join doctors without borders.
maybe become a ob/gyn because they are desperately needed in doctors w/o borders (medecins sans frontiers)</p>

<p>if this has any relevancy, i’m asian (chinese)
but from i’ve heard, being asian is a disadvantage under affirmative action.</p>

<p>my wgpa is 4.3 but unweighted is 3.6
not too good in my opinion.</p>

<p>sat II’s
chemistry 770
i’ll take bio this oct/nov and i think i’ll get at least 750 on that</p>

<p>studied five years of french at my school and im fluent in chinese, if that’s a lang plus?</p>

<p>APs</p>

<p>AP AB Calc- 4
AP Chem- 5
AP gov’t and politics-5
AP Psychology- 5</p>

<p>senior year (this year) i will take
AP Human Geography
AP statistics
AP environmental science
AP biology</p>

<p>SATs (i know i need to improve)</p>

<p>math 650
writing 720
critical reading 660
essay 11 (but i heard essays aren’t that important)
SAT: 2030</p>

<p>ACTs (i’ll raise this to at least a 33)
English 30
Math 27
Reading 33
Science 24
Writing 11
Composite 29</p>

<p>Extracurriculars</p>

<p>Founder of Charity for China (raised $2,000)
Secretary of Technology Honors Society
Treasurer of Fantasy Literature Club
National Honors Society
French Honors Society
Treasurer of Chesapeake Bay Club
Tutoring Club (teach local middle schoolers)
American Red Cross (3 years)
Track & Field (2 years)</p>

<p>275+ hours of community service</p>

<p>thanks thanks.
how important is teacher reccomendations?
my gpa will be the death of me</p>

2

<p>I think you may have a decent shot of getting in, but BC is certainly NOT a “safety” for you. My friend with stats very similar to yours was rejected this past year.</p>

3

<p>How could you get a 4 on AP Calc and only get a 27 on the Math portion of the ACT?!</p>

4

<p>4 isn’t even a good score
and i guess i’m just terrible at math :|</p>

5

<p>I don’t want to discourage you but…</p>

<p>You will find much discussion about which undergrad school and course of study (BS vs BA) to select if your ultimate goal is medicine. Conventional wisdom is that medical schools don’t care what you learned in undergrad because they teach you what you need anyway. Not saying that there are no minimum undergrad course requirements, but the undergrad school is important to only the most elite Med Schools. More important is excellent grades, a good recommendation, and to do well on the tests. Medical school is expensive, and avoiding undergrad debt is highly recommended.</p>

<p>Each student is different, but that being said, BC may not fit the conventional wisdom. It is an excellent school, but if you are sure you want a medical career there may be better options.</p>

<p>As far as the application, what you say you will do in the future has little weight unless you have already demonstrated community service and leadership. If you have demonstrated commitment, then your life goals will have a foundation and will perhaps give you an edge. You may want to think about presenting yourself in a way that shows how you think BC will help you get to your life goals.</p>

6

<p>Boston College is so not a safety for you.
It’s probably a match, but not definitely. It’s extremely competitive.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>Premed in any top college will be a big stretch. You will need nearly all A’s in college to successfully run the premed gauntlet, and you barely have half A’s in HS. While great recs and ECs may help mitigate a low gpa in undergrad admissions, they will do nothing for med school admissions, which is nearly all about gpa+mcat. Good luck.</p>

8

<p>Dear niightingale : The first rule in the college application process is to never assume that schools that are ranked amongst the most highly competitive in the country can be considered safety options. If you consider Boston College in that safety camp for your own application purposes, please consider another set of schools : Villanova, Holy Cross, Lehigh … just another set of options which might provide a little more acceptance room for you. In actual terms, these schools are all not really safety schools at all, but I wanted to open your mind to other options to open this chance-me review.</p>

<p>Your numbers have several flags/questions amongst them including : [1] Your GPA at 3.6 is unlikely a top 10% number in your class, [2] You have a Calc AB score of 4, yet a 27 on the ACT math section, and [3] You have a Chem AP score of 5, yet a 24 on the ACT science section. Those ACT scores are so out of line, you should scrap those grades and just concentrate on your SAT scores for submission. Trying to explain those ACT scores might create more attention to negative detail than you need. Also, trying to move an ACT composite from 29 to 33 is similar to moving a two way SAT from 1300 to 1500 … it just does not happen.</p>

<p>As for BC and premed, the BioChem program is certainly a fine choice for you. Your longer term vision statements about Doctors without Borders might make for an interesting essay topic, but you have four years of hard core science in front of you before making that decision and BC will encourage you to experience the core to see what other passions might stir inside you. Perhaps some of your 275 hours of community service could provide some great essay insights on you as a person and your passions.</p>

<p>In closing, your resume points to some areas where you are still going to need some work. You are another one of the slightly below midpoint applications that need to shine with some type of strong essay and recommendation combination. Be sure to really know what will be said about you in the recommendations and why those recommendations will highlight you as an asset to the BC community.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

9

<p>Try the Univ. of MD at College Park. I think you can get in there.</p>

10

<p>niightingale (OP): Some people probably do apply to BC as their safety, because their stats and resumes are so formidable that they can easily get accepted to the most elite of schools. In all honesty, I think you need to consider the fact that you are not a member of that group. You’re in the “accomplished but common” group with the majority of us. The college application process is ridiculously unpredictable, but what is for certain is that you will very likely not get into one or more schools that you figured were a gimme, and you will possibly get into one or more that you apply to as a lark. Re-read scottj’s posting above (#8) if you have not done so already. He is right on the money; you’ve got some work to do. But there’s time. Good luck.</p>