Good Stats, Weak EC's - Do I have a Chance?

<p>I am just wondering, percentage wise, what do you think the chances are that I will be accepted next year? I am planning on going into finance and I live just outside of St. Paul. I really want to go to BC, but I am not sure if I will get in or not. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.94 W 3.85 UW
RANK: 32/216 (Top 14%)
ACT:32
-English: 35
-Math: 31
-Reading: 33
-Science: 30
-Writing: 10</p>

<p>Have a number of honors classes, but not the hardest possible schedule. Only will take one AP, American History which I will take the test on in a few weeks.</p>

<p>My EC’s are Weak Though:</p>

<p>-High School Golf Team (10-12)
-MN Junior PGA (9,11,12)
-Work at UMN Gopher Hockey Game Concession Stands to help pay for high school tuition. (9-12)
-Caddy at Country Club - Honors Caddy (9-11)
-Work as a Baseball Umpire at nights (11,12)
-MN Gopher State Traveling Baseball (9, 10)
-Peer Tutoring (11,12)
-Church Service Trip to help restore homes in N Carolina (11)
-Other various awards like academic letter, student of the month, bronze service award, etc…</p>

<p>I might get another summer job on weekends at Domino’s or something to help save up for college.</p>

<p>Anyways, do you think I have a good shot at getting in? And will raising my ACT to 33 or 34 make any significant difference? Also, my school is one of the top Catholic schools in the Twin Cities area and sends a number of students to BC every year, but I don’t know if this makes a difference or not.</p>

<p>Personally, I don’t think your ECs are weak at all. They show that you are well rounded, but not ADD when it comes to commitment to activities. Your ACT score is fine, but the only things that worry me are your class rank, which is low for BC, and your GPA. GPA especially because you are only taking 1 AP, whereas most BC students take several. So a lower GPA with a somewhat mediocre strength of academic schedule is not a good thing. Get the GPA up and your class rank will automatically go up. But I think you need to get into the top 10% at least to have a better than average chance. As of right now, I would say AROUND 50-60%, but who knows what next years applicant pool will bring. </p>

<p>Good luck and work hard!</p>

<p>Personally, I think you would have a good chance, if you would have a better gpa and class rank. From what I saw, BC tends to accept students who are usually 5-10% of their class. I think you have really good ACT, somewhat good ECs. You should take at least 2 APs in your senior year and you HAVE TO bring your class rank up (at least in the top 20). If you can do that I would say, your chance will be around 55-70%, but right now, I would say around 45-55%. So, as the person above said, get the GPA up. That will improve your class rank. Also, take at least 2 APs in your senior year.
Good luck!!</p>

<p>So, basically I am a borderline candidate I’m guessing from your responses which is good because I am searching for one good reach school and I am really likeing BC. The problem with the AP’s though, is that my school only offers four and I am only going to be taking one. Becasue, when I transfered into this school I was not able to meet the prereqs to get into the most advanced track for some subjects, I will not be able to take alot of the AP classes which sucks. And my class rank I posted was from after sophemore year and my GPA went up last semester, but I have not checked my new rank yet, but becasue my GPA improved, I am thinking I might have went up to top twenty-five or so. And I have about a month left in this semester and I am on track for all A’s except one A-, which is good cause I should move further up in class rank.</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

<p>Well that’s good about your GPA/class rank. Nice work. I would, when you start to apply to colleges, explain in the closing comments section of your application, why you were not able to take more than one AP. This will help to clarify your application, as well as reduce the collateral damage of a weaker academic schedule. But that’s just my two cents.</p>

<p>Good luck though!</p>

<p>A word of caution, however. If you check the Official Decision thread on cc, you’ll see a LOT of high stat kids (top 10% and 32/2100) who were offered a place on the WL.</p>

<p>^ Yeah, that makes sense. BC is one of those schools where it’s really hard to get into. So, no one can’t tell you if you can get in for sure unless you have 2300 SAT, 3.90 UW gpa and rank in the top 3% of your class.</p>

<p>I got in with a 3.7 GPA, an SAT of 1890, and even less extracurriculars than you.</p>

<p>So it is possible to get in with weaker grades. But remember: Get really good teacher recommendations and write a damned good essay. That was what I did. Good luck this fall.</p>

<p>Thanks Everyone.</p>

<p>If anyone else has anything else to say, I would be very glad to here it. I am already getting nervous.</p>

<p>Taking the less-rigorous courses can hurt you. “Rigor of secondary school record” usually beats out rank, gpa, SAT/ACT, Recommendations and all the rest. I could not find this in the BC factbook but I have not found their CDS yet on the website – it may be in there…</p>

<p>EDIT: Here’s the info from Brown University, for instance, and it is pretty common across the rest of the elites:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.brown.edu/Administration/...S2008_2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.brown.edu/Administration/...S2008_2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Page 6, question C7. </p>

<p>Like I said, have not found the BC CDS yet, but I suspect it is very similar.</p>