Do I have any shot at getting into Babson?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Babson College
1

<p>It seems a lot of people that come on here have really high credentials and can get into pretty much any school they want. But I’m in no way a “top of my class” student. Babson has been a school I’ve shown great interest in and plan on applying to later this fall. Seeing how some current Babson students visit these forums, I’m hoping I can get a better assessment of where I stand among other applicants.</p>

<p>It is important to notice that I suffered from depression my sophomore year and in result caused me to have a dismal of a year. But I was able to jump back my junior year and had a vast improvement over my sophomore year. I’ve listed numerous things about my achievements thus far and I hope it can give you a better idea where I might stand.</p>

<p>Class Rank: 69/207 (class size was originally 263 freshmen year)</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: 89.410</p>

<p>SAT: M = 520 - CR = 540 - WR = 530 (1590)</p>

<p>Junior Year Grades: Honors English (94), Honors History (96), Spanish III (92), Accounting (98), Pre-Calculus (93), Honors Chemistry (87)</p>

<p>Clubs: Newspaper, FBLA (placed 3rd in state for Personal Finance), and Spanish Club</p>

<p>Community Service: Worked many hours at the local soup kitchen and also managed a web site for a local non-profit organization.</p>

<p>Other EC’s: Started my own web development firm and worked on 3 projects in total with various clients in my local area.</p>

<p>Awards: Most improve student award during my junior year, an excellence in Accounting award, and made honor roll all 4 quarters during my junior year.</p>

<p>I take honors classes in every subject that I can and I’m taking AP history this year (senior). Also, I’m enrolling in my fourth straight year of Spanish.</p>

<p>That pretty much covers everything and like I said, my sophomore year really weighted me down due to low marks. My SAT scores aren’t very high either, but I’m really going for how much I improved through out my junior year. These statistics aren’t very good compared to a lot of people on this forum, but I thought I’d give it a shot.</p>

<p>I’ve visited Babson once and did a tour of the campus and I’m pretty sure an interview will be needed sometime this fall to explain both my situation and my interest in the school. Anyone that can reply with some good feedback will be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Dear Zikomos : A straight review of Babson's SAT requirements shows that each section of your board scores listed are significantly (40+ points) below the 25th-percentile of the acceptance pool. That is before the discussion of extra curriculars, averages, music, sports, arts, and other intangibles. As a proactive measure, be sure to be signed up for each and every administration of the SAT and ACT heading through September and October.</p>

3

<p>I'm planning on taking the SAT again in October, hoping to get my score somewhere in the 1600's. Obviously this school is a big reach for me, but I'm going to give it my best shot. Also, I'm interested in applying to both Bentley and Bryant and was wondering if my chances are any better there.</p>

4

<p>Dear Zikomos : You are strongly urged to do some research using the college board's web site and specifically looking up the schools (Bentley, Bryant) for their SAT/AP accepted scores.</p>

<p>Bentley : College</a> Search - Bentley College - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®</p>

<p>Bryant : College</a> Search - Bryant University - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®</p>

<p>Note that Bryant is heavily business focused and less in liberal arts. Although you did not mention a major for consideration, you will want to give some thought to the strengths of the individual schools.</p>

<p>As for "hope to get your score" into the 1600s, you will want to do some serious preparation work - in other words, you will need a study or review course over the next four to six weeks to improve your baseline scores.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

5

<p>I've done plenty of research on all three schools actually, but you seem to focus only on SAT scores. While I know all 3 scores tend to be higher than mine, does that completely erase any chance of getting accepted to these schools? I take pride in my hard work in and out of school, but if these schools are only looking for intelligent individuals through SAT scores, then I may be looking at the wrong schools.</p>

6

<p>Hey Zikmos,</p>

<p>I'm really glad you're interested in Babson. It is a great school. Let's see, I was in your position about 2 years ago as a senior in high school. Here were my stats at the time:</p>

<p>SAT: 1890
GPA: 4.2 W; 3.7 UW
Rank: 21/312</p>

<p>Those are just the numbers. Rest in mind that I still had plenty of EC's, not to mention the fact that I'm a seriously underrepresented minority. Anyways, I applied to Babson for my freshmen year and I was actually waitlisted. Never got off the wait-list. I was, however, able to transfer to Babson for my sophomore year which was great. But my point is, all universities, no matter what they may say, seriously judge students by their numbers. I'm not saying that there aren't exceptions because there most certainly are, but you've got to present yourself so unique and diverse that it blows them out of the water to overcome an obstacle like numbers. It's not to say that you're looking at the wrong schools, but rather the complete opposite. Colleges with reputations like Babson have to be tough and competitive, otherwise they wouldn't have that rep. </p>

<p>Bottom line, I do think you should try your best to improve your SAT scores and if that means taking every sitting from now through October, then it's worth it. Also, a quick thing to remember about Babson is it's a business school, so convey your interest/love of business in your essay. That's what I did when I reapplied. Sure they love to hear about your trials and tribulations and it helps them understand you, but Babson's ultimate desire is to matriculate a group of students with a passion for business. Good luck and maybe we'll see you next year!</p>

7

<p>YAY for interest in Babson. I'm going into my senior year there, and couldn't have been happier with my choice.</p>

<p>As far as getting in, I agree that you need to continue to take SATs - I took the SATs 4 times to get my scores to mid-range of what Babson was asking at the time. I would also agree and recommend that you write your essay about your love for business - but make it personable. When I met with admissions, they liked that my essay provided some humor.</p>

<p>In looking at business schools, I also looked very closely at Bentley and Bryant (the "three Bs" as my dad likes to say), but its pretty clear Babson has the best all-around business experience of the three. </p>

<p>Good luck!!!</p>