I saw that the middle 50% of BC admitted last year was 33-35. I have a 32 and sent it. do you think that will hurt my chances? I was proud of my 32 and now wonder if it just isn’t good enough.
The Boston College Factbook indicates that the ACT 50% mid-range for 2019-2020 freshmen was 31 to 33, not the higher numbers that you report.
Your 32 is right on target for BC.
thanks for the reply but this is what I saw on their website
" Test scores of applicants who choose to submit them will be used as a factor within our holistic admission review as we render our decisions. For admission to the Class of 2025, the middle 50% range for enrolled students was 1430-1510 on the SAT and 33-34 on the ACT."
hence my concern…sadly
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BC has a misprint on either their website or in their Factbook.
@happytimesforever The information appears to be for 2 different years with OP seeing info the most current info for class of 2025 vs the previous class year.
OP a 32 is a great score and you should be very proud of it. What is hard is that so many schools are showing an increase score average for last year, due to the HS class of 2021 either unable to take a test or choosing not to submit and bringing up the average.
I don’t know if there is a right answer in this case, but please remember the score truly is only one part of your application. Make sure you pay attention to all parts of your application. BC is looking for fit, community service and contributors to their current and future communities.
Good luck - it is a stressful time and hang in there.
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You sent it in. So don’t worry
My daughter sent in a 32 because she was proud. To 20/21 schools. All but Rice.
She was same reason.
Most will say not to send but you did and it’s one point and I think it’s fine.
I am likely wrong. But I think scores may settle down this year. More will send in because more have taken. I think a school may look down upon someone who does not submit this year. In most cases it’s available whereas the same wasn’t true last year.
I think you are fine. If you don’t get in, I doubt that would be the reason.
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This is enrolled students. The Fact Book as referenced by Publisher is admitted students. Not all students who are admitted actually enroll.
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Class of 2025 ACT mid 50% ranges from OP’s post are 33-35 for admitted students and 33-34 for enrolled students. Class Facts and Figures
BC’s fact book is not updated for Class of 2025 info.
ACT mid 50% for Class of 2024 (I assume admitted but it doesn’t really say that) was 31-34, with an average of 32. https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/bc1/offices/irp/ir/factbook/factbook_pdfs/20-21_factbook_updated_august2021.pdf
OP, it was reasonable to send the 32 as it was the average from Class of 2024, when there was more normalcy.
Class of 2025 ranges are higher, but can likely be explained by several things:
-fewer people submitted tests
-those who were able to take tests are often the stronger students (they had already taken tests before the pandemic hit)
-Many 2021s were advised not to submit unless at the prior year average (which was a 32) which also pushed scores artificially high.
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The BC Fact Book also shares the top 12 cross application schools for class of 2023 & the top 12 cross-admit schools for the class of 2023.
The Top 12 Cross Admit schools for the Class of 2023:
Villanova, Northeastern, Fordham, BU, UMass-Amherst,Georgetown, Michigan, Virginia, Notre Dame, UCLA, Berkeley, & UC-Santa Barbara.
Re: class of 2025 enrolled data, only 51% of the enrolled class submitted scores. A unique class for a unique time That’s likely the biggest reason for the difference between 2025 and 2024 score ranges for enrolled.
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Would it be reasonable to send a 1430 SAT?
First of all, it’s already submitted. Relax. It’s a good enough score. Unless you are in a "hooked’ group (URM, recruited athlete, wealthy donor child, legacy - in which case it will help you), it will be neither the thing that keeps you out, nor the element that gets you in. It will be seen as part of a package. If the rest of your application elements are solidly within the range, should be okay.
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I believe you can choose the option of not considering test score in Common App even if you asked ACT to send your score when you took the test.
Most schools seem to admit about 40% from applicants without test scores.
I would submit 32 ACT with ED but probably not with RD for BC or its peer schools assuming that your other stats are good.
My S22 has a 31 on his ACTs, 4.5wGPA. He’s thinking about applying ED2 to BC, knowing that it’s a long shot (per Naviance for his school.) Would you submit the ACT score or not in this case?
It’s so hard to know how to approach this - last year’s submitted scores skewed higher precisely because there was so much leniency around TO (understandably given the difficulties of testing during the pandemic.) But it means that only kids with very high scores submitted, and all the middle 50s are way up for Class of 25 applicants and admits at all the schools we’ve looked at. Pre-pandemic, 31 would have been respectable - now I’m not so sure.
31 was below the median for Class of 2024 (when things were more normal in terms of testing), so unless your S is hooked (e.g., URM, first gen, Pell grant eligible) I likely wouldn’t submit it.
Just anecdotal evidence, but I know two students who got admitted and enrolled this year with Regular Decision application. One who did not submit ACT 32 (MCAS) and another who submitted ACT 35 (CSOM).
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Very good point, and something parents should be mindful of when checking published averages and ranges like this. BC gets a lot of applications from kids also applying to Ivies and other extremely selective schools. It’s a tremendous institution, and because of that it’s also a very desirable “safety” for some top of their class students. So yield control is sometimes an issue/factor to think about when considering the data set for a school like this. When you look at the Naviance scatterplot for places like Boston College and Wake Forest and similar places, it’s worth keeping in mind that a lot of the green dots you see in the upper right hand corner got in but didn’t matriculate because it was their backup and they got in somewhere else more competitive, too. And some of the red dots in that upper right hand corner were possibly seen as overqualified/unlikely to matriculate. The sweet spot of numbers for getting accepted is probably lower than the mean of accepted applicants from a given high school.