Chances?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>I am a Latino (Peruvian) male living in CT. I am planning on applying as a bio major intent on going pre-med</p>

<p>GPA (Unweighted): not done at my school
GPA (Weighted): 3.95/4.5</p>

<p>SATs:
1450/1600 (800 reading 650 math)
2100/2400 (800 reading 650 math 640 writing) writing was only low because my grader gave me an 8 on the essay which is strange considering my subsequent writing scores</p>

<p>ACT with writing:
32 - English 35, Math 28, Reading 33, Science 31, Writing 10/12</p>

<p>SAT IIs:
720 chem
790 spanish
670 literature (i took the test before ever having took the class, hence my relatively low score. should i bother reporting this?)</p>

<p>APs:
Spanish - 5
English - 5
Chemistry - 4
Planning on taking exams for Psych, Literature, and Statistics this year</p>

<p>ECs:
Choir 1,2,3,4
Acafella 2,3 (selective, male a cappella group)
Choraliers 4 (internationally recognized honor choir, extremely selective)
Symphony on ice 1,2,3,4 (yearly charity concert, constitutes about 80 volunteer hours total)
Odyssey of the mind 1,2 (placed 3rd in state one year, 1st in state and 11th world wide another year)
Varsity Volleyball 2,3,4 (co-captain)</p>

<p>Awards:
National Hispanic Merit Scholar 4
National Society of High School Scholars 1,2,3,4
National Honors Society 3,4</p>

<p>Volunteer Hours - 120 (mostly from the charity concert)</p>

<p>what do you guys think? Vocal music is obviously my main focus for ECs and my academic record is pretty strong. How much will the race factor come into play?</p>

2

<p>I think you are a strong candidate. I don’t know how strong the hispanic card will be at BC,but even without it, you are a good candidate. Are you an international student? Are you looking for financial aid? You drawback as I see it right now is that you are from the NE. I know kids who were not accepted last year with numbers similar to yours for that reason. But vocal music is a nice perk, your URM status is some plus and being male helps too.</p>

3

<p>Dear torchamp : Let me offer the flags on your profile rather than singing praises for what is obviously a strong set of board scores. Your overall “weakness” in math compared to other areas will standout. </p>

<p>However, you want to be a Bio Major/pre-med and did not take Biology AP? This is an immediate flag for me which makes be question if you really understand the pre-med pursuit. Next, you will need the full Calculus sequence, not a Stats AP program. If your school had any of these AP courses, I would argue that you were “ducking” the coursework that would really highlight your application. Hopefully, that is not the case.</p>

<p>Your weighted GPA does not appear to be top ten percent material, but that might be incorrect on my part.</p>

<p>Without more information, it would be difficult to come out as a strong “yes” vote on this profile, but there is huge potential if the AP courses offered were limited.</p>

4

<p>I understand that the math weakness will stand out. Math has always been one of my weaker points and it took a decent amount of work to get the scores in it i did. The school would not allow me to take AP calc (even though i wanted to) this year because they said a B in pre-calc was too low. I have taken the full calc sequence save for AP calc this year</p>

<p>As for the AP Bio issue, this is one of my greatest High school regrets. I did not take it for 2 reasons. The first is that i had a completely different career path in mind until sophomore year (which is when you take AP bio at my school). I took Honors Bio that year and wanted to switch to AP but the class was full. My Guidance counselor (who i later realized is awful) recommended me not to take AP despite recieving an A in honros science the year before. My guidance counselor will address my desire to take the class but the unavailability of it in his letter of recommendation.</p>

<p>I appreciate your honesty scottj</p>

5

<p>Dear torchamp : As a lesson in life, never let an adult (counselor or otherwise) tell you not to take a course that you want to try. You might fail the course; it is a far better result than a lifetime of wondering “what-if”. Who knows whether you might have just managed to click with the definition of the derivative!</p>

<p>So, you got a “B” in precalc - so what? Exposure to the Calculus AB or BC curriculum would have better prepared you for college regardless of the results. What if you took Calc/AB AP exam and … heaven’s forbid … gotten a “2”. Was guidance afraid that the school’s overall score report would look worse for that?</p>

<p>As for the Bio/AP coursework, why could you not have taken the course as a senior after completing the Chem/AP work in junior year? So, you would be with sophomores - you would have shown your PASSION for the subject. Why didn’t you take that challenge?</p>

<p>Your High School needs to do more than write a letter to Boston College; I think that they need to examine the overall value-add of the existing guidance program.</p>

<p>A guidance program that would discourage or prevent a student from partaking in their AP program could not possibly write a letter of sufficient content that would convince me that they are worth their salt.</p>

6

<p>sophomores get priority in AP bio, and even some of them don’t in. tust me, i’ve done what i could to try and correct my mistake. The school is understaffed and the guidance department is nothing to write home about. This the reason they wouldn’t let me take AP calc, because there weren’t enough spots to let someone who only got a B to take the class.</p>

<p>I can focus on past mistakes i can do nothing to correct anymore, i need to look to the future and what i can do to improve my chances NOW. I appreciate the honest criticism scott, it’s something offered by few people, but i need to do if there’s anything at present i could do to improve my app. High school was not just a bunch of grades over the years, it was a learning process, and i have learned the lessons you describes and many others, but i cant spend my time brooding over old mistakes</p>

<p>BTW, i dont know how much it factors in but my essays are (in my, and the opinions of my AP teachers) very strong</p>

7

<p>Dear torchamp : If you are really passionate about Boston College, do not wait for your guidance counselor to write an explanation as to why your High School curriculum reads as it does. Contact your area’s admissions counselor at Boston College and sincerely explain your situation and ask for advice. Actually, you might want to stay in touch, not to the point of pestering, but to show sincere interest.</p>

<p>Your application is about overcoming brick walls and how badly you “want it”. If you want to invest one hour and fifteen minutes of your time to understand what it means to break through brick walls, please see the Randy Pausch Last Lecture : Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.</p>

<p>[YouTube</a> - Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo)</p>

<p>You have had brick walls put in your path - different from Professor Pausch’s, but as important to you and your life. I encourage you whole heartedly to break through your brickwalls. Good luck!</p>