<p>I am mom to second son. Scottj not sure if you remember me but I was buffalowings mom last year and you helped me out a lot. Son went to Cornell. Had an issue with financial aid with BC. Well we are giving it another chance with son2. He is not son 1 and I am not sure of his chances. He applied regular decision to the Carroll school of management for marketing. His dad went to BC for MBA. Anyway he is an in between student. He got accepted at Rutgers, Drexel (1/2 tuition deans grant), St. Johns (17,000 per year merit scholarship), Penn State University Park (no financial aid yet), deferred at Villanova, and rejected at Cornell (we took the shot at ED with sibling legacy and the known financial aid). He really is not that excited about his colleges except for maybe PSU which we have to go see. He is waiting on other colleges too. But when we look at his colleges they seem to be at or below. So we added BC as a reach but I don’t want too get to excited. So here goes.
3.95 weighted GPA
29 ACT with writing
1890 super score SAT
Academics: 4 AP, 6 honors 4 years English, 4 years Math, 4 years Science (AP Bio now), 4 years Spanish, 4 years History
Sports: 4 year letter Varsity Soccer, 4 year letter Swim and Capt., 1 year lacrosse JV, 1 year letter track (pole vaulting)
Clubs: FBLA, Key Club, Varsity Club
NHS, VP of class Junior year,
Extra: In a rock band, qualified for the finals of Jersey shows battle of bands twice. Goes to a gym every day to work out.
Volunteer: So many hours too hard to count. Juvenile Diabetes Volunteer chairperson this year, Susan G. Komen Breast cancer volunteer, blood donor, Mutts mania, March of Dimes
Work: 3 summers life guard
School does not do rank.
I think that is about it.
PS 1/2 chinese (ORM) and 1/2 caucasian. Essay is about diversity.<br>
Thanks for any insight.
mother to whale18</p>
<p>gpa is low. ur ACT is better than SAT. id say its a regualr reach</p>
<p>Dear whale18/buffalowings “mom” redux : Of course I remember our correspondence last year and happy to hear that your oldest successfully navigated the college selection process for Cornell. Yours was an extremely important story for those on the Boston College board as many readers, once accepted, believe that “need-blind” and “100% demonstrated need being met” implies huge financial aid across the board. As we have said many times before, if you have $150,000 in annual income, $100,000 or more in cash assets, and your own home with relatively little debt, you can be pretty assured that the Boston College financial aid office will find that your need is little to none.</p>
<p>With that public service discussion over, let’s turn from “buffalowings” to “whale18”. As I recall, the only thing connecting these past profiles is that your log-on both contain animal names.</p>
<p>You already know what most will tell you about an 1890 SAT three-way and a 29 composite in the context of Boston College. These scores are right along the bottom quartile. The Villanova deferral combined with the Cornell rejection during the EA round pretty much bookend on the low and high sides what you might expect from Boston College.</p>
<p>While your son’s High School profile is “complete” the number of AP courses (four) will be short of others. Aside from Bio/AP, what are the other AP courses? Is there advanced coursework from math (calculus), science, English, and history? While a 3.95 weighted is strong, the context and AP test scores are missing.</p>
<p>From the school set, Penn State will certainly be an academic fit. Of surprise is that more schools from Pennsylvania were not considered. Also, the University of Delaware might have provided a better campus environment than some of these other choices. St. John’s is less desirable than Hofstra University if you were looking to cross onto Long Island. Hofstra’s Zarb School will be a better experience than St. John’s on the business front.</p>
<p>At this point, selection to Boston College seems like tough sledding. Looking at your existing options with some of the additions I have suggested (together with your financial aid/merit money) should be your focus. Please do stay in touch and provide updates as your second college chase continues.</p>
<p>As much as I may have learned or not learned from son1, this year has actually been tougher. Only 13 months apart and they couldn’t be more different. Son1 is very focused and is doing extremely well at Cornell. Son2 has an easy time maintaining an A- GPA with no effort but bodes poorly for study habits. Although he claims I have lectured him a number of times and that his grades continue to prove me wrong. </p>
<p>He is in AP Spanish, took AP history and is currently AP bio and AP World Civ. He is an A student in math with no effort and is doing Calculus now. He was not on the highest track in Math though. Everything else is honors (Bio, Physics, Chem for science as an example) except for English (CP) which is not his strong suit however is subscore for ACT in English was a 34. We did the ACTs on a whim with no preparation. It obviously would have been a better test for him in the long run.</p>
<p>He is interested in the sports/entertainment/music industry. We are gearing him towards marketing with the hope that he can work in one of those industries. I could see him doing statistics for sports teams (we met someone who graduated Harvard and now works for the NBA doing just that) or marketing in either of the other areas. He is a risk taker and is well liked because he is so outgoing and has no fear of trying new things (the pole vaulting for example) because he can. </p>
<p>With that said Drexel and St. Johns were free apps. Villanova is more selective EA than regular and the admissions counselor advised him that he would probably be deferred and accepted Regular (guidance counselor recommended him for presidential scholarship there which since Villanova actually is not that diverse… vanillanova would look at him as a minority and would be in a different applicant pool for those scholarships). This information is consistent with graduates last year with the same stats from our HS. He applied Syracuse dual major Whitman (marketing) and Newhouse (Public Relations). Husband was undergrad there for engineering. I was engineering RPI so no help. Applied American, Loyola, UCONN (loves basketball … would have tried for a career but the genetics were not there lol), and Bentley. I am originally from the Boston area. Bentley is smaller than he would like but I think might be good for him. He could probably play D2 soccer if he wanted and would keep him active which is what he needs. </p>
<p>Now for the crazy part. He applied to Brown because he is a good fit personality wise but maybe not stat wise. However I did find 8 ED acceptances on 8 pages of College Confidential that had stats equivalent or less than his (our bet to make him apply). He also applied Vanderbilt because I think he would enjoy the music scene. </p>
<p>Again he is an in between student. It was a dilemma finding colleges that fit his criteria which were for the most part, large rah rah school with campus (no city), good reputation and of course for us the alumni network and career placement. BC is ranked very high and is known for looking out for their alumni. It is hard as most people are finding that if you are going to pay tuition it is important that you are getting your moneys worth. This is the hardest part. Can we justify x amount of dollars for x school. Some you can answer maybe. Others not so much. So in the end we probably did way to many applications as his college selection factors/career ideas changed. So I will of course keep you posted. </p>
<p>Thanks again scottj…
…
PS Never really though about the screen name connection. BuffaloWings is a nickname a teacher gave him because his initials are BW, the 24 is his soccer number. Whale is a nickname my daughter gave my other son because he loves the water (swim team, lifeguard etc) and 18 is his soccer number. So the screen names fit in a weird way for them. I really need to make my own acct. My husband has one which is related to finance… I don’t think I really even know it. He hangs out on the financial aid boards (Financial Analyst that he is). I am the typical mom who just wants her children to be happy and tries for fit with lots of potential. </p>
<p>Don’t worry though scottj… I have a couple of years for my daughter. She will be the easiest I think. Stay tuned as our college adventures continue. It definitely is an interesting journey, but in the end will work out I am sure. </p>
<p>Mom of whale18, buffalowings24 and maybe Kat5 ???(her nickname is Kat and soccer number is 5)</p>
<p>Everyone sorry for the long post. Its been a long few months.</p>
<p>Dear “whale18” mom : As I started reading your note, I got halfway through the article and said to myself “I wonder if they thought about Syracuse and American”. A friend’s son, one year younger than my current sophomore, was a valedictorian at a nearby school district here in New York and chose Syracuse due to the combined Sports Management/Business School options which could not be obtained at NYU and similar schools. </p>
<p>Drexel’s trimester system is so “out of step” with many east coast schools that it is difficult to recommend their programs. They do not start classes until later September, do not conclude until later in June (think about job seeking), and have a very short Christmas/Holiday season break.</p>
<p>Loyola is a solid choice academically and, of course, consistent with the Jesuit teaching tradition. UCONN is not in the same academic category but you will get used to good old Exit 68 off of Route 84 in Northeastern Connecticut (as anyone who drives to Boston College will recognize)!</p>
<p>Please keep us updated.</p>
<p>Hi whale18,
You mention Villanova as a possibility for your son, so I wanted to weigh in since you think BC might be a reach. </p>
<p>We have a daughter at BC, and a freshman son at Villanova planning to major in marketing at the business school. Although VSB does not offer a specific sports marketing major, the school is very highly ranked (#11 by Business Week for 2009; #20 by BW for 2010), and our S is very happy there. Like your son, he loves sports and has found many like-minded friends whom he plays with on a club team and a few intramurals. He’s also become a huge fan of Villanova’s basketball team (most kids seem to be). The campus is residential, appealing, and easy to navigate, and the short train ride into Philly is a big plus. S also reports many kids participate in community service. We were told career placement and alumni network are strong, and that the school has relationships with several professional sports-related organizations.</p>
<p>We also looked at and liked Loyola very much. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Good luck!</p>
<p>Along with seconding American in DC I’m going to suggest the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. The school is “BC-sized”, has a business school, is just outside of Miami (think Brookline in the Coolidge Corner area), with a rapidly strengthening academic reputation (don’t buy into the old “party-school” reputation). Statistically your son would be around the 40th to 50th%-tile; I know it’s late in the day for apps, but you can apply and if he gets in then go visit. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Kelly - did your son get in EA last year to Villanova or regular. Villanova had 7,000 apps this year EA compared to 4 or maybe 5,000 last year. My oldest was the only one to get in EA last year and 4 others got deferred and then ultimately accepted. Only 1 went.<br>
Vince - my husband suggested University of Miami. He has friends that applied. A little far for me … but I agree the reputation is changing.</p>
<p>scottj - I always read your posts aloud to my family. son2 just said what is scottj saying? We respect your honesty and insight. One thing I learned last year with son1 is that nothing is a sure thing. Common app and economy have changed dynamics dramatically. Hence the increased number of “safety” apps for son2 but he really isn’t excited about any of them. </p>
<p>We are scheduled to look at PSU believe it or not we have never visited and it was an additional app after recruiting ranking.</p>
<p>If he gets into American we will look. We should hear next month. They have a new program … business/music management that is intriguing for my son. </p>
<p>Villanova and BC we have visited multiple times as well as Syracuse since my husband went to Syracuse/BC. Sons room is actually Syracuse colors due to his love for basketball…sorry BC. We live on a street that to the left of us is a Cornell alum and to the right a BC alum. My neice who is a BC alum just got engaged to another BC alum. We went to the engagement party and over their fireplace is their tailgating banner for BC with all the BC graduation years embroidered on it from his family. There had to be 15. That is the environment both my sons want. That family/school feeling if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>Thanks again and I will keep everyone posted as I think it is important for people that are in our situation to be honest and share ideas so we may all succeed.</p>