My daughter is only just finishing up her sophomore year, but seems to have her heart set on Boston University for a variety of reasons. I won’t bother going into that here, but I agree that it is probably a good choice for her. She is an excellent student, but in conversations with other parents in my community, including those who have older children already in college, everyone seems to say that it is very hard to get into BU.
This makes me a little bit nervous! I’m not sure if it’s really that hard to get into, or if these parents are basing their perspective on a more average achieving student than
my daughter. Here’s a profile as of third quarter sophomore year:
GPA: 95 UW, 104 W
Taking all honors and AP classes since freshman year
APUSH exam (freshman): 3
PSAT (sophomore, very little prep) 175
Entering IB diploma program next year, GPA might drop a little
Excellent writing skills
ECs: No sports, but a serious musician, has played viola with a youth orchestra for three years and is in her regular school orchestra and chamber orchestra, both first chair
NYSSMA every year, participation in All-County and other selective orchestras
Some volunteer work, planning to start a club to perform music in hospitals, nursing homes
Does Relay for Life
The best way to find that out is to look at your school’s naviance or talk to the guidance counselor. For our high school BU can go either way. There have been students that thought it sure yet they did not get in and vice versa. If your daughter was in our high school and had SAT’s close to 2000 then she would have a very good chance to get it. In general though with any school above a certain selectivity index admissions should never be taken for granted, especially for a school in such a desirable location. Make sure the application is very well thought and of course have great back ups. But for sure I think BU is in her range assuming she will get a good SAT.
Also, BU has an acceptance rate in the 30’s and yes that is considered competitive. If it remains your daughter’s first choice AND you think the price is right for your family you could go for ED.
Your daughter may be competitive for the Trustee Scholarship and the Presidential Scholarship at BU. For the Trustee, she would need to apply for an earlier deadline (though not ED) and write an additional essay or essays and be nominated by her high school. Trustee is full tuition, Presidential is $20000/year She might have to up her SAT from her PSAT, but she is just a sophomore, so she’ll probably be able to do that.
GPA and ECs look good. I would work on raising the SAT from PSAT and/or taking the ACT. 30% admit rate is not 5% but it still means that 70% of applicants are rejected so I agree that early decision or early action might be a good idea.
Before your daughter gets her heart set on BU, you should go the website and run its net price calculator to see if your family can afford BU. And if your family has any unusual situations – self-employed, owns a business, divorce – then the NPC cannot be relied on. It would be pretty sad if your daughter got into BU but couldn’t go because you can’t afford it.
College admissions has gotten much more competitive. Schools that were comparatively “easy” to get into 10 years ago are now more selective. I wouldn’t take BU for granted.
BU is competitive but not competitive in the conventional College Confidential sense - it has an acceptance rate in the low 30’s and keeping with the push for more selectivity amongst Boston area schools, BU’s acceptance rate might be closer to the high 20’s by the time your daughter applies.
At my school, all of the students who were admitted had an SAT of at least a 2000; people who fell short of that SAT floor were rejected. Our Valedictorian only had ~1800 and was rejected, along with Class President and a few three season athletes, which leads me to believe that BU cares first and foremost about the objective (and is slightly less holistic in that sense) and everything else is pretty much icing on the cake. Presidential Scholarship is 20k a year but is really competitive (no one in my graduating class received it - not even the kids who went onto Yale and MIT.)
I strongly recommend visiting - it doesn’t have anything even resembling the stereotypical campus structure - it is interspersed within the city of Boston itself. Some people love it but some people aren’t too much of a fan - but either way, it’s definitely something you should see first hand.
If it means anything, I was accepted to BU with a generous blend of financial need and merit aid - but when I was a Sophomore, I certainly didn’t have your daughter’s qualifications (my GPA was closer to the B+ range at that point in my high school career and I didn’t have nearly as many extracurricular activities), so she’s in a really good place.
It’s good that you are thinking about college. But it seems to early to fall in love with just one, especially when it is a pricey private. Although it’s possible that her SAT score will naturally go up from PSAT, it could not hurt to do some studying.
Just to clarify, BU’s acceptance rate was about 29% this year, and more applications are coming in every year.
I will be joining BU’s freshman class this fall, and it was my dream college all throughout high school as well. If I could offer any piece of advice, it would be to connect with your regional admissions sooner than later to stand out among the 60,00 applicants.
I’d like to add that I’m pretty sure their transfer acceptance rate is higher than for college freshmen, if that’s something you might one day find yourself considering! I was accepted to BU as a transfer from a well-known but not super great university in the South, with a strong college GPA but very average high school stats. It’s competitive, but they wouldn’t have admitted me unless they felt confident that I would thrive there. Just thought I’d add my two cents!
Good violists are valuable!- if she makes her All State Orchestra and wants to play in college, that will be a plus, all other things being equal. But I agree that a lot can change in the next couple of years and I hope your daughter at least explores some other options.
Thank you all so much for the feedback so far! She does want to play viola in college, but is unlikely to major in music, so one plus is that BU allows non music majors into ensembles.
Of course she will be well prepared for the SAT and score higher than her PSAT, just not sure how much higher! Her lowest score was on the math and she told me it was because there was a lot of math she just had not learned yet. She was in the 98th %ile for writing and I think the 93rd for critical reading. I don’t remember math but of course it was lower, maybe 87th?
Her best friend just visited Northeastern and BU yesterday and HATED BU! She said she felt it lacked a campus feel, was not pretty, and the freshman dorms were tiny. She loved NE though. We’re touring NE in two weeks and will self-tour BU as the have no tours that week. I’m wondering what my daughter will think. Her friend said she won’t say much so my daughter can form her own opinion, but I have to say the not-a-traditional-campus factor has been concerning to me from the beginning! I don’t want her to miss out on that cohesive community feeling! I recall very fondly all the big events on the quads and laying on the grass and so on when I was in college. She does want a city-like location, but I know there are schools with “real” campuses (like NE) in cities or great college towns.
NE is also very competitive. I think acceptance rate is now less than 30% (28? new this year) and their 50% SAT is 2020-2190. They are getting a lot of top students now with their honors and scholars programs and the co op is still famous.
My kid’s PSAT score and SAT score had no correlation and he did not even study that hard. For writing he did not even study at all since most of the college he is interested only look at M+CR yet he improve 150pts from his PSAT. Go figure…
Is your daughter taking the new SAT? No idea how those score will work out…
BU does have the BUMO ensembles for non-majors. But I’m not sure being a viola player will really strengthen her applications in a large way…unless she plans to major in music. Yes, being a viola,player is a good thing to have on her application, but it’s not like it’s a hook for admission.
My older kid is a BU grad. He loved the “campus”. The whole city of Boston was the campus. He wanted an urban school, not a suburban school planted in the city. BU was a perfect choice for him.
@coolweather Yes, BU does take into consideration demonstrated interest. I learned this at a session for alumni and children of alumni with BU’s admissions counselors last year. Also related: when completing your application, do not say you are interested in BU because it is in Boston. There are plenty of schools in Boston and Cambridge. Say specifically why BU’s programs appeal to you.
(I am a parent on this forum and a BU grad – loved it and loved the location/setting. Also, my older son almost went to BU but went elsewhere when he got off a waitlist.)
" one plus is that BU allows non music majors into ensembles." - That’s an important factor for a musician that wants to continue the passion, even thought majoring in something else. The good news is that many other schools also offer that. Sometime audition-only, sometime open to all, and sometimes both flavors at the same school.
I think math SAT can be improved with studying. Simply getting further into the math studies will help, but doing practice questions can get students more comfortable with the format at timing.