Lessons learned...chances (CSOM)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>I feel like I’m succumbing to taking drugs by putting up a post and I probably should be working on my homework, but…</p>

<p>What are my chances for the following schools:</p>

<p>Boston College (EA)</p>

<p>CSOM</p>

<p>Male
Azean
North Texas
Fairly competitive school (ranked in the top 250 by Newsweek) with a number going to NU, Rice, Stanford and a couple of Ivies each year</p>

<p>GPA: 5.38/5.0 W scale (I guess really close to 4.0 unweighted)
Top 3% (19/713)</p>

<p>SAT:
Oct: 2350 (780 R, 770 M, 800 W, 12 essay)
Mar: 2120 (730 R, 700 M, 690 W, 8 essay)</p>

<p>SAT Subj:
770-USH
700-Math II
(retaking Math II and taking Lit this Dec, gouge me with a spoon…)</p>

<p>AP Exams:
USH-5
Eng lang-5
Span lang-4
Art Hist-4
World H-5</p>

<p>AP Classes (in addition to above and essentially my senior course load)
Marcroecon
US Govt
Euro
Eng Lit
Calc BC
Stats</p>

<p>Other core classes (inc. Span) have all been Pre-AP save for Bio freshman year and physics junior year.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
-Newspaper (section editor for 3 yrs, moving to more “respected” spots each year, currently Features Editor, helped set up website, blog, creative control for section) (10-12)
-Junior World Affairs Council (promote cultural awareness through events and service projects and partake in WorldQuest competition) (officer (12), member (10,11))
-School Ambassador program (do tours, announcements, communications, work closely with faculty, one of 32 seniors chosen) (12)
-Student Council member (9-12)
-UIL Academic Competition (10-12) for math and newspaper
-Spanish club member (do the whole fiesta and support Spanish speaking things) (10-12)</p>

<p>Community Serivce:
-Community Christian Action (55 hours) (10,12, didn’t do it junior year)
-Baylor Hospital (52 hours) (12)
-T-shirt service project (four friends and I are designing, promoting, and selling t-shirts in support of KIVA, currently still selling them until end of December)
-North Texas Food Bank (20 hrs) (12)</p>

<p>Work:
Local newspaper summer intern (10-12) (6 hours a week)
Cinemark theater Usher (June 2008-Sept 2008) (25 hours a week)</p>

<p>Other:
J Camp-one of 42 HS students chosen from around the nation for a week-long journalism program in Boston, all-expenses paid</p>

<p>Awards and Honors:
National Merit Semi-Finalist</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Honorable Mention Feature Page Design, Interscholastic League Press Conference, 2009</p>

<p>Honorable Mention Editorial Writing Class A, The Dallas Morning News High School
Journalism Day Competition, 2009</p>

<p>End-of-Year Outstanding Staff Member in Newspaper, 2009</p>

<p>End-of-Year Academic Excellence in English III AP, 2009</p>

<p>6th Place in News Writing, UIL Academic Competition, 2009</p>

<p>Quill and Scroll member</p>

<p>Honorable Mention Reviews Class A, DMN HS Journalism Day Competition, 2008</p>

<p>NHS</p>

<p>NSHS</p>

<p>Recs:
one super glowing one, other one good but not life-changing, doing a supplemental one to NU and Duke from newspaper adviser who really knows me</p>

<p>Essays:
Good? I mean, the two English teachers who read it loved it and thought it a little different, but who knows really?</p>

2

<p>Looks OK. The only thing missing for a shoe in is some athletics or attempt at athletics, AP science to demonstrate you can carry the work load, and athletic leadership (e.g. captain of a varsity team). Not at all necessary but helps at BC if you are near the margin.</p>

3

<p>I would honestly be very surprised if you didn’t get in. I’d never call BC a safety school, but I’d say it’s a lowww match for you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>BC has yet to acquire the luxury of rejecting 2350s.</p>

5

<p>I know of two individuals that had above 2350s with otherwise excellent applications that BC rejected. Amazing and perhaps an error, but they were certainly disappointed.</p>

6

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<p>This is true at many schools. While better grades and test scores do increase chances of being admitted, no one here can predict the exact criteria the adcoms will be using when any given application is being considered.</p>

<p>I remember talking to friend of mine who worked in admissions at a top college. She stated, and I’m paraphrasing, that the grades and test scores where largely used as a first-pass filter to see if the candidate would proceed to the 2nd round of consideration. Then they looked much more closely at the person as a whole (individual accomplishments, leadership, character, passion,…).</p>

7

<p>In that case, all those students need to do is appeal the decision. I was actually rejected from BU (not BC) with a 2390. Did these students apply EA? Some schools reject kids because they don’t think they’re actually interested in the school. On a similar note, applicants with ~2400 SAT have a 50% chance of being admitted to MIT. It’s a similar statistic to CalTech. Is it possible the OP will be rejected? Yes, of course. Is it plausible? No, definitely not - not when students whose SAT scores are in the 1820-1900 range are being accepted.</p>

8

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<p>There are probably tens of thousands of students every year who wished it were that easy. Definitely true for a few isolated cases, but this technique won’t scale for the masses.</p>

<p>Adcoms have to look beyond just grades and SAT scores to understand the difference between an applicant who has good scores because of deep-pocketed parents who have paved the way to make it easy to shine - vs the applicant who has personally invested and contributed much more to the successes in his/her application.</p>

<p>Lots of high SAT scoring applicants get rejected all the time, while those with lower scores get accepted. (I got into MIT and my highest SAT score was a 680 in math).</p>

9

<p>Right, but the fact remains that students with ~1800s have an acceptance rate at MIT at around 4%. Students with 2400s are accepted at a rate above 50%. Kids with SAT scores in the 99th percentile rejected at schools with much lower averages have a much easier time appealing decisions. Someone with an 1820 couldn’t do that - but a 2350, 4.0 is a different case.</p>

10

<p>Techy233, it is one thing to say that students with higher standardized test scores generally have a greater chance of admission; that statement is certainly true. But it is quite another thing altogether to say about those who are denied admission that “all those students need to do is appeal the decision.” That rather cavalier statement of yours is dead wrong when it comes to highly selective schools like BC that have hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants with high test scores. </p>

<p>Test scores are not the sole criterion for admission. If they were, there would be no need to fill out an application form, write essays, or get letters of recommendation. The school could just rank order the test scores and then start at the top and work its way down the list, accepting students until the entire freshman class was filled.</p>

<p>If a student with very high test scores is rejected, there is a reason why. Apparently the Admissions Committee felt that other candidates – who were accepted – offered to bring something more to the campus: perhaps a more balanced academic background, a particular skill in music or sports, a compelling life story, etc.</p>

<p>To imply that all one has to do if he/she has high test scores and is rejected is to appeal the school’s decision and it will be reversed is extremely misleading. It gives false hope to many students who will find themselves in that situation when decision letters go out this year.</p>

11

<p>I agree that Boston College is highly selective, and that having high standardized test score is not all you need for admission - but my argument is founded.</p>

<p>A score of 700 on the SAT is about the 75th percentile for accepted applicants to BC. 610-650 is about the 25th percentile. There is much more to college admissions than standardized test scores, true, but BC is not Princeton, Harvard, MIT, CalTech - or, even a school I’d put on almost the same exact caliber as far as selectivity and inherent prestige - Williams. I really don’t think that a student with a 2350 has much to worry about in terms of the admissions cycle at BC - and, if rejected, I do not think it would be very difficult for these students to appeal a decision. I think an obviously (very bright) person with a hugely demonstrated interest can tip things over. LACs and other prestigious schools sometimes feel that highly qualified applicants aren’t taking them seriously and are holding out for Harvard.</p>