Current BC Freshman Answering Any and All Questions

<p>Hey guys. Was wondering if u could chance me.
I’ll be flying to Boston next month to look at a few schools (I’m a junior) and I really like Boston College. But I know that it is a veryyyy far reach. I just wanted to know if I should even bother touring while in Boston. </p>

<p>3.751 GPA
Honors English, AP History, AP government, accelerated math, etc.
27 ACT. Will take again Atleast 3 more times. What should I aim for?
My school offers little in AP, but I’m currently taking the hardest schedule possible.
I have over 150 hours community service
Hold 2 steady jobs
Class President all through high school
Very involved in my church
Volunteer as a 2nd grade religion teacher, on a selective bishops council.
Began a shoe drive at my school, who donates used shoes to children in impoverished countries.
Involved in 2 varsity sports.
I believe I can write really good essays, etc.
I know my GPA and act are low…so do I have any chance or should I not bother touring?
I’m also looking at college of holy cross and was told I would have a better chance of admission.
Any advice is helpful. Thanks</p>

<p>Help! Anybody?</p>

<p>HSkidCA12:</p>

<p>If you are already flying to Boston to visit other schools, then by all means include BC. </p>

<p>You stated BC is a reach for you. How serious are you about trying to improve your chances?</p>

<p>Your ACT score of 27 is deep into the bottom 25% range of accepted students (per BC’s factbook at <a href=“http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/publications/factbook/pdf/10_11/10-11_fact_book.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/publications/factbook/pdf/10_11/10-11_fact_book.pdf&lt;/a&gt;). </p>

<p>I have seen many HS students make some serious sacrifices to improve weaknesses in their academic profile. A few examples include a) giving up varsity sports for a season in order to spend full time studying for the SATs, b) saying no to numerous social events in order to focus on studies to pull grades up, c) taking summer school classes to beef up areas of academic weaknesses. And while there is no guarantee those serious sacrifices will get you into your dream school, every HS kid I’ve seen do it has gotten to a much better place (often getting into their choice school), and every one of them was glad they made the investment.</p>

<p>No one here can tell you not to apply. It all boils down to how badly do you want to improve your chances.</p>

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</p>

<p>BC’s mid-quartile range is 27-32, so higher is always better. And for a unhooked applicant (to any school), above the mean is always the target to aim for (at the minimum). (A 27 probably won’t help your app at HC either. Instead, you can improve your chances at HC by interviewing on campus while you are there.)</p>

<p>I would not plan on retaking “at least three more times”. It is a waste of your time. Instead, focus and prep hard (over the summer?) to score much higher on the next retake. If your low scores were math and science, those are the easiest to improve upon with practice.</p>

<p>Whether you should apply? To paraphrase the Great One, ‘you miss every shot that you don’t take’… (Gretsky) Also, it might be worth a tour to contrast BC’s size with HC. Even if you don’t get into BC, you might find the size of campus more to your liking than a LAC. If so you can then focus more on small-to-midsize Unis in addition to HC.</p>

<p>You seem to have a good app surrounding your ACT score. I would work hard to improve it, but remember that one out of four people that got in last year have a lower score than you do now, so I would still give it a shot regardless.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help and advice.
Since holy cross is test optional, I was only gonna submit my scores if I get them to a 28 or 29.
What do I need to work on if I plan on applying to BC?
What ACT should i shoot for in order to be taken seriously. </p>

<p>I heard that HC is a harder school but easier to get into, and vice versa for BC. Is this true?</p>

<p>@HSkidCA12</p>

<p>Study hard, do a bunch of practice tests, try to be aiming for 30+ on the ACT. As for BC v HC difficulty in terms of academics, it’s a pretty subjective question. Much depends on the courses, professors, etc. I’m sure there are easy classes at Caltech, but easy to who? And does that necessarily mean the entire school is easier?</p>

<p>I’m a sophomore in a Jesuit high school as well. Ever hear of BC High? (Boston College High School) It technically isn’t affiliated with BC but it’s similar (jesuit, eagles, maroon/gold…) A good amount of applicants from here make it to BC each year. There are about 1400 students i think. I dont want to list everything about me right now but does the fact that i go to BC’s “little brother” school have a positive effect?</p>

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</p>

<p>And a “good amount” don’t. If you are in the bottom half of your class, attending BC’s “little brother” will not help, for example.</p>

<p>So i just returned from the Honor’s Day program on Saturday. I loved the school, especially the teachers. They all seemed so into what they taught and it amazed me how much they seemed to care about each individual student. The one thing that bothered me was the lack of campus activity. I was there from 8:30 in the morning to around 3:30 in the afternoon. The campus seemed dead. Besides the student tour guides in yellow shirts and maybe a dozen other students no one could be seen. Is this the norm for a weekend day? What do most students do during the day on the weekends? I talked to one student as I was leaving about it, but she wasn’t much help. She kept referring to today (as in yesterday) as Sunday, and she seemed a little confused. However, she did say that it was normally that dead and that it picks up at night (understandable).</p>

<p>I’m from Chicago, and I am more then comfortable with going to school far from home. BC has always been on the top of my radar, but after Honor’s day I have mixed emotions. I don’t know if i can see myself in a school in which all day Saturday and Sunday i am stuck in my dorm doing homework. Any insights?</p>

<p>(Does the fact that we spent the majority of the day on Upper change anything?)</p>

<p>@ptjanis95 Assuming you are doing well enough to make it to BC in the first place, going to BC High is definitely something that can help you out. You just have to remember that because so many kids from your school are applying, you have to be more attractive to admissions than they are. They accept tons of kids from your school every year it seems like, but I’m sure there are denials also, so find a way to stand out from everyone applying.</p>

<p>@mchs12 That’s a really funny question actually because I asked the same exact thing on my visit. I was astounded that out of the 9000 something kids that go to BC, I saw so few people. I mean when you consider a couple thousand kids are off campus anyway (newton, off campus junior housing, etc.) it’s a smaller number, but I thought it was still pretty odd myself. On a Sunday, practically everyone is sleeping off the night before, chilling, doing hw, and eating. To plan to go out anywhere on a Sunday is pretty rare, so not many kids are walking around Middle Campus, because no one has any business there. Upper freshman and CoRo sophomores won’t venture past the Mac dining hall unless they are going to the gym or library, and everyone else on Lower campus pretty much stays down there all day as well. Let me assure you that things get much more active during the week, but weekend days are the slowest/emptiest you will ever see most of the campus.</p>

<p>ptjanis95, I also graduated from BC High. I am currently a sophomore in CSOM. My brother is actually a senior at BCH and is hoping to attend BC as well. BCH is by far the most represented high school on campus. There are over 100 of us here. In fact, there are about 10 living in the top couple floors of my building alone and I regularly hang out with a number of them. I even had a professor last semester who had a few of the same teachers that I had when he attended. Standards for acceptance at BC High are definitely lower than at other schools. We also get interviews and nobody else does. Roughly 100 students apply each year. About half get in and half of those decide to attend. The Naviance account that your guidance counselor provides will give you a good idea of where you stand. BC is also much more likely to wait list you than flat out deny you unless you’re GPA/SAT scores aren’t in the right ballpark. If you do become wait listed do not lose hope as BC tends to offer spots to at least a few BCH students in May/June. The BCH guidance department has a good relationship with BC’s admissions office which helps. Let me know if you have anymore questions and good luck!</p>

<p>Hi. Boston College is my dream school. I’ve always wanted to go here and when i was younger i told myself i was. However, this is not the case now. i just received my report card and it was an eye-opener. first quarter i had a 90.3 average, second quarter i had a 92.6 average but when it came to my midterms i bombed it. i studied hard but i just didn’t do as well as i thought i would. i had an 82 average bring my first semester average to an 89.7… i take only one honors class… hopefully i can make it into APUSH next year but it’s not a definite. i just feel like im never going to get in. i thought this school was the school for me. i mean it. i loved everything about it and now i don’t think i can make it in grades wise. is there any chance?</p>

<p>I thought this thread fell apart and I had no open questions but I revisited out of curiosity and see I was wrong! Sorry for the very late response gaels1234, but I feel compelled to answer. Even if you never see it, hopefully it will help someone out there out. Also, with acceptances coming out in just a short couple weeks I thought I would revive the thread regardless, maybe bump it once or twice as the acceptance date rolls through.</p>

<p>@gaels1234 There are a TON of other things that are considered outside of grades. I’m assuming you are a junior, if not, feel free to let me know. I will have to say that a 90 with one honors class isn’t going to help you get in. However, you’ve got a year of school left. Take advantage of it, study your butt off in more difficult classes in the final stretch to show some upward trend in your grades. Also, community service is always big with BC. If there’s a huge project abroad or big opportunity in your area, take it. I know some kids here with below average grades and GPA but had some solid community service that ended up in their favor. Finally, if you are absolutely desperate to make it into BC, there is a bit of a loophole. If you are a guy, you may have a much better shot at admission by applying to the Lynch School of Education your freshman year rather than CSOM (business) or Arts & Sciences. In CSOM, girls are underrepresented, but it is probably much more competitive regardless. However, it’s up to you whether it is worth studying something you really may or may not like just to attend BC. Good luck though!</p>

<p>Could you guys chance me?</p>

<p>Gpa: 3.88
Rank: N/A
State: WA
Gender: Female
Race: black, parents were born in Nigeria
SAT: CR 580 Math 440 W 500 This was my first time taking them in January, I WILL get them up. Right now I’m doing practice tests and getting 1800, I didn’t study for the one 's in January.
I’m a junior and I’m taking college classes at my local community college, and I also take some high school classes.
College Classes taken so far
Env. Science, Pre Calc 1 &2, History (2 quarters), English (2 quarters), Advanced Chemistry,
High school
Band (playing flute since 3rd grade but no awards =(
EC
Volunteer @ Environmental organization since 2009 twice a month
Volunteer @ Church on regular basis
Jobs
Festival Company during summer
Boys and Girls club basketball referee.
Coldstone Creamery (Ice cream store)
Sports
Track
Cross Country</p>

<p>I know it’s bad but what can I do to improve, and what colleges do you recommend for me to apply to? Thanks so much.</p>

<p>I also have a question, how is the diversity on campus? Like is there a little bit of everything or just a bunch of Asians (Stanford comes to mind), or does it just not matter? How is the support for the sports teams?</p>

<p>According to IPEDS – a great data source, btw – BC is:</p>

<p>63% white, 9% Asian, 9% Hispanic, 5% Black, 3% International, and 10% race undeclared.</p>

<p>When will we be hearing from Boston College in regards to admission to the college? It is one of my top choice schools, and Im not wealthy at all so Im hoping that I get accepted and receive good financial aid.</p>

<p>@bunny2015</p>

<p>You’ve got an interesting background that you could spin to your advantage when doing applications next year. Do you have any involvement with Nigerian or African organizations or travel there regularly? Regardless, your ethnicity will help. You have a pretty good GPA, are you taking any Honors/APs in your high school though? Rigor of schedule will be important, not just the number next to GPA. It’s also good you’re showing effort for continued study outside your high school with college classes. As far as the SATs, you’re definitely going to want to get those up. However, it’s great you’re putting time into studying it. Feel free to take them a third time, and study hard for that one too, taking it three times definitely helped for me. Keep up the hard work next year and it’ll pay off!</p>

<p>As far as diversity, you can see from bluebayou’s post that it’s a pretty decent majority of white kids, but people from all backgrounds can find ways to thrive here.</p>

<p>BC has many good teams. Of course the men’s teams are far and away more popular, but women’s have several teams also. Football is always really big with freshman, although the luster for the games apparently fades each year. It doesn’t help that we are going through a rough period in football since Matt Ryan left =/ However, hockey is always HUGE and is the shining star of BC athletics year after year. From local, highly competitive tournaments like the Beanpot to national championship titles in the past few years, hockey is definitely a bunch of fun.</p>