<p>Just a little insight from a current student...</p>
<p>Ok, so I'm obviously not an admissions counselor, and what I say is nothing official in any manner, but I just had a few thoughts to share after reading some of the previous posts. I love my school and will do anything to defend it, and although they could be more efficient in terms of contacting applicants in a more timely manner, here are a few things to consider:</p>
<p>1) You may have heard this many times already, but it is still noteworthy. BC receives a lot of applications. A LOT. 28,500 (ish), to be more precise. It is the 4th-most applied to private school in the country, and the three above it (BU, NYU, and USC) have undergraduate populations more than double BC's. Maybe this suggests that BC should hire more admissions people, yes, but at such a competitive institution, they can't just hire somebody off the streets. The adcoms must be familiar with BC as an institution and be able to identify the qualities that BC looks for in applicants, whatever those qualities may be. And when applications rise by 5000 in two years, it is hard to find enough qualified counselors to meet demand. So, for this year, BC extends the deadline to April 15. Not perfect, but seems fair enough.</p>
<p>2) I volunteer in the admissions office. Not with the admissions counselors, but I greet prospective students and their families and (attempt to) answer their questions about Boston College. Anyway, from hearing what goes on in the office, I am nearly certain that BC staggers in sending out their decision letters. Why, I am not completely sure. I assume it is a simple issue of time. After reading and making decisions for the 28,000 prospective students, they start to send out the letters. Is it physically possible to sign, stuff, seal, and send all 28,000 packets/letters in one day? Absolutely not. So I assume that BC prefers to start sending out letters as soon as they're done, so that at least SOME students can hear of their decisions early, rather than the alternative of waiting until April 14th when every single letter is ready to go, and then sending them out. Also keep in mind that students nationally are applying to multiple schools and everyone is expecting to hear on April 1. Think about Boston itself...there's bound to be a mess when BC, MIT, BU, Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, Babson, UMass, and Suffolk (just to name a few) send out their letters at the same time.</p>
<p>I guess what I'm trying to say is, Give BC a chance. I know many of the admissions counselors personally (all of whom are excellent people) and believe me, they understand the students' anxiety and do everything IN THEIR POWER to communicate decisions as soon as possible. I can guarantee that nobody, nobody at BC means to "disrespect" or "ignore" applicants. It just becomes a difficult process when the popularity of the school increases at an unprecedented amount. After all, BC DID say that April 15th was the date for this year, because they realized that with the number of aps they had, it was bound to take more time. If you receive your decisions after that date, I do encourage you to call and complain to admissions, but in the meantime, I hope you will reconsider your views about BC. I can tell you, it's an incredible place and even if this sounds cheesy, it's also "worth the wait". Thanks.</p>