Can I have some insight on to whether or not I will be able to get into these schools. My lack of course rigor has been worrying me. My schedule thus far
Freshman
Honors Geo
Honors Bio
Honors Eng
CP World
Sophomore
Honors Alg 2
Honors Chem
AP Eng Lang (5 on exam)
Junior Year
Honors Pre Calc
Honors British Lit
CP Physics
CP USII
SAT:1450
GPA: 4.26
EC’s (Varsity/Club soccer player, mentor , soccer trainer, work for 2+ years same location, Charity organization project, etc)
Long story short, things were not the easiest in highschool. I moved cross country right before high school due to finances/divorce, by the time my mom had saved enough money from her two jobs to move us out of our aunts home, I had started working to cover expenses my mother would not be able to fit in her budget (soccer, new clothing, I wanted to save for a car, etc) I worked about 30 hrs a week up until now (have reduced hours to focus on school). I have always been extremely busy, I’ve never been sitting around, but i realize working came at the cost some of my academic potential.
Do i have a shot at schools like:
BU
Boston college
USC
Villanova
(tuition pricing being irrelevant)
I plan to take AP calc BC, APES, AP Eng Lit, and AP stats next year. + honors Spanish 5. Will colleges care about this rigorous course load senior year and will it help make up for my lack thereof in Junior Year?
Did you only take 3-4 classes a year?
Why is price irrelevant?
No I took 8-9 I left out electives , gym , etc that weren’t core subjects.
Price irrelevant because I’m only trying to get an idea of whether or not I would be a competitve applicant at these schools @MYOS1634
Villanova-match/almost safety
BU-low match. GPA and test scores are in range but they are becoming more selective in their admissions.
BC-low match
USC-low reach
I would consider taking another SAT to perhaps increase your chances at Top-20 schools.
It doesn’t matter if you can get in… Applying to colleges that you cannot afford is pointless and often sad.
When you say low match does that mean I would be on the bottom portion of other applicants? And low reach? Is USC almost out of the question? Thank you! @Hamurtle
I understand I don’t intend to apply to schools that will not suit financial needs. Just asking in general terms if these schools are within my reach @MYOS1634
OP, low match means almost a safety. Low reach means almost a match. However I must disagree with @Hamurtle’s assessment. The OP’s SAT score is obviously very good, but for the schools listed it’s not anything amazing. I don’t know how their GPA is weighted and they didn’t provide a rank so I don’t really know how good the grades are, but I do know that their course load is not very vigorous considering that they only had 3-4 core classes throughout most of high school. My predictions would look more like this:
Villanova: Match (maybe low match)
BU: Match
BC: High Match
USC: Low Reach
The reason for this is because although I understand the OP had legitimate reasons to focus on working instead of school, course rigor still matters to these schools. A lot. And a more rigorous senior year can help some but it doesn’t make up for three years of easier schedules. Your SAT score could save you at Villanova, but it’s just average at the others. And even at Villanova I don’t think it’s above their 75th percentile. According to BU’s website, their average SAT this year was 1452. I wouldn’t consider any schools with a <40% acceptance rate to be anything lower than a match if your test scores are below average and you have no hooks. None of these schools are safeties in my opinion because for a school to be a safety, there should be almost no doubt as to whether you’ll get in. So overall to answer the OP’s question, yes, you do have a shot at those schools. However there are no guarantees.