Chances Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>3.5 UW, 3.7 W GPA,
Rising senior, total of 7 Honors/AP classes so far, taking 3 AP’s senior year
ACT: 30
Somewhat of an upward trend in GPA: 3.5, 3.85, 3.72(Weighted)
EC’s:
Freshman yr: Cross Country, JV Baseball, Volunteer Baseball Camp Counselor </p>

<p>Sophomore yr: Varsity Track, JV Baseball(captain and MVP), Habitat for Hummanity Club, DECA(marketing club), Volunteer Baseball Camp Counselor </p>

<p>Junior yr: Varsity Baseball, Youth Basketball Coach, FBLA(business club), National Honor Society, Volunteer Baseball Camp Counselor </p>

<p>Senior yr: Will coach youth basketball again, good chance at being Varsity baseball captain, NHS again, Volunteer Baseball Camp Counselor </p>

<p>Also took microeconomics at University of Richmond over the summer, got an B+ (89%) and received credit</p>

<p>Essays should be good, pride myself on my writing capabilities. </p>

<p>Recommendations should also be solid, coaches/teachers seem to really like me</p>

<p>From a very high ranking public HS in VA, difficult grading scale</p>

<p>Senior year grades should be very good, most likely close to straight A’s, if it matters at all. </p>

<p>I know this is a reach, but this, along with USC and Michigan, are my reach schools. I would just like to know if I stand a shot or if I’m wasting my time </p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>I think you’ve correctly summed up your situation for all three of your reach schools. At a 3.5 UW (though I’m a bit confused by the up-trending GPA numbers, it seems like your UW GPA should be higher) and a 30 ACT your going to be below the mid-point on GPA and ACT at all three of your schools. About 25% of the BC population has numbers similar to yours, so you have a chance but it is going to be a reach.</p>

<p>FWIW, here is USC admitted student profile for '10-'11.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1011/FreshmanProfile2010.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1011/FreshmanProfile2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>While BC doesn’t provide a similar sheet, I believe the schools are very close statistically. As you can see from the profile, you have some strong competition.</p>

<p>As for Michigan, the statistics can be deceiving. As a state school Michigan has a mandate to accept a substantial portion of the student body from in-state; the belief locally is that OOS students need stronger profiles than average to get accepted.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the reply.To clear up the GPA thing, overall I have a 3.5 unweighted and a 3.7 weighted. Our grading scale is rather tough and therefore my GPA is lower than kids at other schools who took the same classes and got the same grades. I still am iffy about applying to Michigan because I’ve looked at stats some places and looked at the Michigan gpa recalculation(if they still do that) and tell myself I have no chance, but data from kids who applied last year from my school shows that I might be able to slide in.
If someone could recommend a good school that I could possibly get into that would be great, I’m either going to major in business or law, and prefer schools with decent sports and not frigid weather</p>

4

<p>I think that Michigan stopped it’s recalculating of GPA but I’m not sure. The colleges on your list will probably have a good idea as to the rigor of your high school and they’ll adjust accordingly. Another factor will be class rank; a student with a 3.5 UW GPA who is ranked top 5% is different than one with a 3.5 and 25%. </p>

<p>Other school ideas:</p>

<p>Villanova - Possibly a little easier to get into than BC
Pitt - Weather’s not great but no worse than Michigan
Indiana (Bloomington) - The Kelley School of Business is well regarded and I think you’d definately be accepted to IU (though probably a 50/50 chance of pre-admit to Kelley)</p>

5

<p>Holy Cross -very good alumni network and nice campus.</p>

6

<p>thanks, actually I am applying to all of those schools you mentioned, though they aren’t as appealing as BC, USC, or Michigan. I wasn’t really a big fan of the Villanova campus, and IU is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Pitt was nice, but their business program is just average. I’m also taking a shot at Miami(FL) and possibly Tulane. I think I should be able to get into those two schools, I guess they are my realistic reach schools. Looking at recent USC and BC data, it appears that I have no chance of getting in.</p>