chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

Sex: F
Hooks: 1st gen
School: In the most richest county in the world with excellent schools (Thomas Jeff. High is in the same county)
Race: Asian

Overall UW GPA: 3.6
Freshman Year GPA: 3.4 UW
I take the most rigorous courses in my school: HN Geo, HN Eng, HN Bio, HN History, Chinese 1
Sophomore Year GPA: 3.09 UW
Again, most rigorous courses: HN Alg2, HN Eng, HN Bio, AP World, Chinese 2
the reason why my GPA was so low this year is because i have a C in AP World which obviously brings me down a ton):
Predictions/Goals:
Junior Year: 3.9 GPA
Physics, Precalc/Tric, AP Lang, AP Psych, HN US History, Chinese 3, Peer Helping
Senior Year: 3.9 GPA
AP Physics, AP Calc, HN Govt, HN Eng/AP Lit??, AP Macro/Micro, AP Chinese, AP Stat

I also have extremely unique and great EC’s (I am a very competitive figure skater who skates about 15 hours a week with a handful of medals from local competitions and I am in the highest level possible (Senior). I am also a dedicated figure skating coach who works about 4 hours a week for children, seniors, and people with mental disabilities. I can ask my boss to write me a good rec, because he really likes me and thinks im an incredibly active instructor).

My family has a history of doing incredibly well on the SAT’s because my dad is very good at helping me and my sibs prepare. My oldest sister who graduated HS with a gpa of 3.3/4 UW gpa and went to VT engineering had a near perfect SAT score, with maybe 50 points off (the 1600 SAT) and my sister who went to TJHSST and went to Columbia got a 2350 on her SAT, so my prediction would be:
2200-2300

I am interested in majoring in business, but to increase my chances, I will first apply as an engineer, since they are looking for females in that department, then switch to international-b if i get accepted!

2

^^did you mean to post on Boston University’s thread? (Boston College does not have an engineering program.)

3

No, I meant BC. I guess I would go for geology or something!

4

Also, as I understand it, pretty much no one switches into business at BC

5

As daddio said, it is nearly impossible to switch into business at bc, they are onto people trying to get into an “easier” department then just transfer internally. Also, your predictions are very far-fetched. You anticipate a huge transformation in gpa, and the fact that your family has done well on the SAT is completely irrelevant. Finally, the fact that you don’t know what programs/majors bc has implies you have done zero research and just randomly picked it out.

6

@jvapor12 The only reason why my gpa has been so low during freshman year and sophomore year is because I have literally had the toughest teachers in each subject, you can ask anyone PLUS the fact that I had no idea AP world would be so ridiculously hard. AP world is the hardest AP to take in my school, and nobody told me this until after I signed up. I have learned from this which is why I requested specific teachers and have decided to take a few regular classes, only 1 honors class, and 2 easy ap’s, Lang and Psych (at least in my school) so that I can make up for my crappy GPA.

If you want the long story, I think my SAT score will be good is because of my dad, who is incredibly experienced in training students to get high SAT scores, like my sister for example, who graduated with a 3.3 gpa and managed to get a higher sat score than a lot of people who got into ivies (she ended up in VT engineering), and my other sister got a 2350 (columbia/juilliard).
I have been studying SAT vocab since I was in the 7th grade, and every summer I have been forced to take at least 1 SAT practice test every day (I recieved a 680 on the very first math SAT). I just wanted to cut this “sat prediction” part short on my original post because I knew nobody would read the whole darn thing, since there is a lot of explaining.

Lastly, how could you just “assume” that I chose to take interest in BC on a whim? I am not a fool and am actually really offended by that. You seem to want an explanation of everything, so here goes:
I have been looking into this school since I was 13 (currently am 16), for various reasons. The biggest one is that there is a huge figure skating club, one of the biggest in the US, and if you join the club then you get to skate for free (skating is really expensive). Not only that, but it is also one of the top universities and would be a good low-reach for me if I can reach my goals/predictions. The campus is gorgeous (Saw many youtube videos of it), and it is only a 20 minute bus ride to boston, I am sure there are many opportunities for internships. There also is no greek life and great athletics which is a definite turn on because i love college spirit.
I am sorry that you “implied” that I didn’t know anything about BC because of one small detail. If you read my post, you can see that I didn’t know BC didn’t have engineering majors because I am only interested in business, and just thought If i first applied as an engineer major then I could get in easier since I am a female. Yesterday I learned that that that trick only works for some colleges.
I swear i’m not trying to be arrogant but I promise you, I am most likely the #1 sophomore in my school who knows the most information about colleges. Instead of watching TV or surfing the web in my free time, I research all the different colleges, so clearly I did not randomly choose to be interested in BC. Just because I have a low gpa at the moment doesn’t mean i am ignorant.

Tbh with you, this is only my 3rd day on this website and you are literally the 4th person to actually criticize me instead of giving constructive criticism. I thought this website was supposed to help students receive advice & learn more information about colleges instead of making us feel bad for not knowing about a tiny detail about a college? I know you genuinely mean well and are just trying to help, but I was offended by your attitude towards this post (there was 120% negativity), and this is definitely not the first time someone made me feel like crap on here.

7

^^ also, their business school caroll is supposed to be really good

8

cowy:

no one can really do a chances with guesstimates of grades and test scores. BC’s test scores are publicly available, so as long as you are above the median, your transcripts will be of paramount importance. Typically, ~90% of students are in the top decile of their graduating class.

That means GPA+rigor. That means A’s in most classes, with the ‘most rigorous schedule’ box checked by your GC.

btw: even with a C in WH, my math suggests that you only have one A this year. Unless you are TJ, that is probably not going to be successful for BC. High test scores will not make up for a bunch of B’s, unless you can be recruited for skating.

Sorry.

P.S. next year, I suggest dropping peer helping and take AP US Hist.

9

@bluebayou thanks for the input. I actually signed up for AP US Hist, but I am considering dropping out of the class and taking HN history instead because I fear that it will be just like ap world. how do you compare us to world?

Also, you are basically saying that i wouldn’t have a chance at bc atm which i totally understand, but what about if my gpa rose to 3.8/3.9 in junior year?

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@bluebayou I was also considering taking only a few aps junior year, then during senior year load up on aps, maybe 4/5 since colleges only look at your first semester grades and won’t see the ap exam score. What do you think of that"?

11

^sorry one more thing. would you reccomend me applying EA to increase my chances?

12

You wrote such a long reply to @jvapor12 that you were offended by what was written about you (i.e. that it was assumed you chose BC on a whim because they did not have a business school, etc), but you also said the same thing about University of Chicago (that you have been interested in the school for a long time, that you were applying for engineering–even if they actually do not have an engineering school, etc) So what is it really-- BC or U Chicago that you really like, knowing that there is no business school in BC and Engineering School in Chicago?

My other advice would be to not select a major simply because it is “easier” to get into based on your gender or whatever demographic you belong. You select a major because that is what you like.

And finally, I agree with the above posts that it is almost useless to asked to be “chanced” as none of us are admissions officers, we have not read your essays, and we do not have the context of how well you have done compared to others in your school, and also other applicants to BC or UC from other schools. Maybe it is somewhat worthwhile to be chanced if you have your actual grades and actual SAT scores and not predicted ones. Regardless of how good your dad is, and how well your sisters did, it is not a guarantee that you will get the same score (who knows, you might get higher?). And no matter how much you want to get a 3.9 GPA in your Junior or Senior year, it is hard to control for everything. What if a teacher in one of your subject transfers/dies/gets sick/gets pregnant/etc and the new teacher gives the lowest grades ever? Not your fault, but that is life…

I am in agreement of the futility of “chancing”, but if we must, at the very least, it is best done when you have actual grades and scores, not “predicted” ones. Chancing is hypothetical to begin with; so chancing based on hypothetical data is a double negative…

13

@cowycam7:
Your opening post did come across as though you were wishy-washy about what you wanted to study, and it also felt like you were gaming the system. Please don’t blame us for how your words made us think.

What is more important for you, however, is that if numerous readers of your “chance me” words feel this way, how do you think the BC or University of Chicago adcoms will react?

The feedback you received to your opening post wasn’t written with a priority to not hurt your feelings. It was written to provide you real life feedback. Some of the contributors on this forum have a great understanding of how adcoms think.

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@ohiopop @jpm50 @jvapor12
Are you trying to say that I can’t be interested in 2 schools? And by the way BC for sure has a b school i researched it, it is one of the best which is why I am interested in it. Chicago also has a B school (booth), and they have majors in Econ and careers in business. Finally, I am only interested in business, so that Is why I didn’t know about engineering in either of the 2

Also, when the guy asked me on the UChicago post why I wanted to go to Uchicago, I was not offended at all by that, it was a simple question so I answered because it is my top choice. I just reread this original post, and realized that I must have sounded conceited, saying I was in the richest county, my dad was the best sat trainer, i had great EC’s, etc so i apologize for that part. I should have re-read my post before posting on here, but I didn’t have that much time that day, unfortunately. So if UC and BC adcoms read this, I would definitely double check my app without question. Also, since you brought it up, I am interested in 9 schools, so here is my list:

  1. Chicago, EA
  2. Cornell
    3 USC
    4 Berkeley
    5 Notre Dame EA
    6 UMich EA
    7 BC EA
    8 NYU
    9 Wake Forest
    (still don’t know about a right safety school since there are no good safety b-schools in VA)
    To everyone, yes i researched every single one of these schools on sites like collegeapps.about.com, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.com (very good site actually), collegedata.com, this website, etc, some for many years, some just a few weeks ago

You guys (ohio and jpm50) didn’t hurt my feelings at all or anything because it was just constructive criticism. It was only the last sentence of jvapor12 that just dropped the bomb for me. Within 2 days on CC I had to deal with a guy who called me a dissapointment to my parents b/c I stated that I liked parties, someone who said I didn’t have morals and called me a liar, etc. and finally someone on this post accusing me of doing zero research because I didn’t know that there wasn’t a major that I was not really interested in taking! So maybe you can understand where I am coming from

15

^if any of you want to know why I am interested in any of the colleges that i have listed, please let me know and I’ll explain. My reasons for liking uChicago and Bc are incredibly different, actually

16

Chances are, you’ll get into Boston College with those grades. However, don’t let just the numbers define you–it would help to know more about your extracurriculars (hopefully you have more than what you listed even though those are great!)

17

@portraiture97 i have a list of competitions that i have attended for figure skating, probably 10, and i do intend to compete in 3-4 more times this year and then 3 more again the year after that. I think I will be able to make it to sectionals this year (the big competition after regionals) and then maybe even nationals, although I don’t want to get a big head. thanks for your input!

18

Good luck and I hope you’ll be successful!

19

Just so you know, Cornell is an ED school and Boston College operates under a pseudo-restrictive EA policy. By that, it means that you are prohibited from applying ED anywhere else if you plan on applying EA to BC. So, if Cornell is your top choice, apply ED there and RD to BC. Otherwise, you can apply EA to BC and RD to Cornell or RD to both. Just thought it was worth clearing that up for you

20

@appplicant thats a really good tip. What about applying EA to BC and applying EA to chicago?