chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

High School Junior (rising senior) at a catholic school in New York

Hooks: I am a URM (Hispanic), a first generation college student, and I’m also adopted

SAT I (breakdown): 2400 (no need for subscores lol)

ACT (breakdown): not taking

SAT II:, us 750 , math 2 740 Lit 730 bio 750

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesnt rank

Course Rigor: Frosh- Stage Band Honors, Integrated Geometry Advanced (took Algebra 1 in middle school).
Sophmore- Biology Honors and Global History Honors,
Junior Year: APUSH

AP: US - 4

IB (place score in parenthesis): not available at my school

Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit AP Government Honors Calculus Honors Physics

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing aside from National Honor society and foreign language honor society

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 150-200 volunteer hours, golf team, bodybuilding, peer tutoring 4 yrs of band, National Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society

Job/Work Experience: 3 different jobs in three different businesses

Summer Activities: Worked 20 hrs per week summer of freshmen year
worked 30-35 hours per week summer of soph year
Summer of Junior year got 100 hours of service volunteering at a nursing home

Essays: Extremely strong have been working on them for many months

2

You should get in for sure.

3

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You should get in for sure.

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This is an example of why “chance me” threads get a bad rap.

4

Dear bigdreamer14 : Rather than offering “you look good for sure” reviews, my chance-me responses are generally more detailed and point to the flaws that I see (or that an application reader might see more accurately) in your candidacy. Personally, I do not think we are looking at a slam-dunk application in your profile. We see one incredible sitting for a standardized exam … which is followed by some credentials seem on 15,000+ other applications from the pool of 30,000+.

To that end, consider the following views.

[1] It is very rare to see a three-way perfect SAT I score that is accompanied by three or more subject tests at 750 or below. Now, none of this is bad news - they are all excellent scores. While they are different, an 800 SAT I math usually is accompanied by a similar big score on that SAT II Math 2 exam. Similarly for the literature offering.

[2] Students often fool themselves into saying “my school does not rank” so that they avoid the Top 10% discussion and measurement during Boston College admissions. (The metric here is that 85% of the freshman class comes from the Top 10% of their individual high school ranks; 97% now come from the Top 25%.) So, how are you getting ranked? One of two ways. First, when your transcript is sent from your high school, there is typically a decile rating along with the school profile that indicates the range of grades in the top 10%, next 10% and so forth. Hence, BC will indeed know if you are top decile. If your high school does NOT present this information, BC will construct that profile from past applicants or attempt to construct it using other data in your grade report. In either method, BC will construct a rank for you, particularly as GPA increases in import over the standardized tests.

[3] Your course rigor (three AP courses in total) will be below the average applicant for Boston College. Many of the top candidates will have eight or more AP exams with scores largely in the 4 and 5 range. Noteworthy is that you will have no coverage in the sciences, calculus, or foreign language. This seems to be a major gap with a GPA of 3.7/4.0 which is an A- without necessarily taking the most rigorous courses available.

[4] In terms of sports, the three season year aside from Spring golf is missing. Not that you need to be a sports-person (you might not be), but I am missing the connection between you and school activities that create “school spirit”. When seen through this prism, an admissions reader will think “why does this person make Boston College a better place for others to attend?” Think about this : based on what you have written, what is the compelling element in your profile that makes the student body better at your high school? If you cannot identify it for your secondary school, how will you be able to define it for a college?

In closing, great test scores are just one axis against which a profile is considered. Think about some of the other dimensions that are frequently discussed here on the Boston College board.