Please chance me for my dream school!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>Hi everyone! BC is my #1 choice, and has been for two years. If you have any input or experience, I would really appreciate hearing from you!</p>

<p>SAT: 1400/2150 (710 CR, 690 Math, 750 W)
SAT IIs: 710 US History, 690 Math 1, 670 Lit (don’t think I sent Lit)
ACT: 32 (34 Eng, 30 Math, 35 Read, 30 Sci, 10 W)
GPA: 3.73UW, 3.92W
Rank: top 10%
Classes: all honors and college-level; AP English Lit (5), Eng Lang (5), US History (4), taking Biology, Gov and European History now (so I’ll graduate with 6 of 8 APs offered at my school)</p>

<p>Essay: my teachers said it was great, related to my hook and community service
Teacher Recs: didn’t read them, but my counselor said they were excellent. one was from my Spanish teacher, who attended BC, and the other was my AP English teacher
Counselor Rec: excellent
ECs:
Student Council-Executive Board, there are no elected positions (this is the highest office)
National Honor Society-secretary
Writing Center tutor
Big Sister (mentor)
part-time job (15hr/week)
250+ hours community service at my school, church and public library</p>

<p>Awards: National Merit Commended Scholar, AP Scholar, Spanish Honor Society, High Honor Roll every semester
Hook (if any): interest in a career in International Law
State or Country: NY
School Type: private Catholic
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female</p>

<p>I’m also considering writing a letter to admissions about BC being my absolute first choice…good or bad idea? Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>Oh, scottj, where are you when I need you? hahaha :)</p>

3

<p>I would try BU–closer to Fenway Park anyway making it the real dream school of Boston.</p>

4

<p>I’m also applying to BU, as a main draw of BC is the location, but BC offers the traditional campus that BU lacks, as well as a smaller student body, both of which I see as advantages.</p>

5

<p>I’m no Scottj but…</p>

<p>GPA: Average for BC
Rank: Top 10%. Good (Of those reporting rank, 80% of students accepted at BC were top 10%)
SATs: Math 50th%-tile, CR 75th+%-tile. Average & Good
ACT: 75th%-tile Good
Rigor: 6 out 8 APs with strong scores to date. Good
Leadership: adequate
Volunteering: good
Sports/Arts: none listed</p>

<p>I think, on average, you fit the profile of the typically accepted BC applicant. My only minor concerns are no sports/arts in your profile (either would make you a more rounded candidate) and ethnicity/geography (white females from private Catholic schools in NY are pretty popular applicants to BC). Your are swimming in the middle of a very large school of fish. But, assuming strong recommendations and essays I think you have a very good chance of acceptance. Hopefully you made it clear how much you want BC in your essays, so I’m not sure that an additional letter will change your chances much.</p>

<p>Just remember that neither Scottj nor I work in the Admissions Office and lacking any analysis of our guesses to actual results means our opinions are just as good as yours. Good luck.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the input! I don’t have sports or arts because I attend a school with very competitive athletics and, unfortunately, I have zero artistic ability. My biggest fear with BC is that there are many "me"s floating around, who have similar stats, and BC obviously can’t take all of us. Fingers crossed that they see something in my application they like though!</p>

7

<p>I think you’re getting in</p>

8

<p>Dear nelly29 : One of our very respected colleague here on College Confidential, vinceh, has already responded to the “scottj callout” with quality information. Aside from a potential soft spot with your 30 scores in math/science on the ACT, your board scores are certainly in the BC sweet spot. </p>

<p>Your being called out in both the sports and arts areas is somewhat important as your profile fails to answer the question “what do you add to the Boston College fabric?” I often use the term “campus fabric” in this context to explain a very simple parameter in the application process. Students want to apply and attend a college campus that is complete from an academics perspective, but also fulfilling from a social perspective. How will you make Boston College a better place for other freshmen and upper classmen? Easy to ask, but very tough to answer - once you clear the academic hurdle, this is a central differentiator.</p>

<p>You mention your 250+ hours of volunteer efforts. This is admirable and I am going to challenge you, nelly29, by saying “so what?” Please do not take this as a negative, but again to challenge your essays and thinking. If you had not done those 250 hours, what difference would it have made other than to your profile. Think about the IMPACT of your volunteerism - that will make it very much more meaningful to the reader.</p>

<p>nelly29, you have all the attributes that could make you successful at Boston College. You need to take that final step in your application that answers the question why Boston College needs you. The pieces are all there - you just need to arrange them into the final puzzle image.</p>

<p>On a personal note, vinceh who knows a bit about my background is correct that I am not in admissions. Both of my children are attending Boston College (senior, sophomore) and I am on the Board of Directors at another major university in New York. (Don’t ask as I will not tell, but some aggressive searches might provide some hints.) Since both of my children are indeed part of the admissions tours/panel teams, I do have some inside information that I do like to share with applicants in this forum. In general, what we suggest is just good practice and not Boston College specific!</p>

<p>In closing, for vinceh : you can do stand-in for me anytime! Your contributions are just as valuable or moreso given your having attended Boston College.</p>

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<p>You have the numbers to get in, but you don’t show any passion in extracurriculars. What do you do besides “service?” Describe what this service is. I’d say you have a great shot if you have some good, specific, dedicated ECs, but with just the info you showed in this thread I’d say its a low reach.</p>

10

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<p>Extremely valuable advice from ScottJ, which is applicable to any selective college. Moreover, should you be deferred, a follow-up essay that responds to 'scottj’s prompt" could help close the deal.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

11

<p>I sincerely hope I didn’t offend vinceh, or anyone else, by citing scottj specifically, that comment was solely based on my observation of scottj’s many, many posts in which he obviously had a wealth of knowledge about BC. I respect ALL your opinions, and, as with anything on the Internet, tones and words can be misinterpreted sometimes. I hope that I haven’t offended anyone, because that is the exact opposite of my goal on this site. I truly appreciate all your advice and input, as I have had very little guidance specifically regarding BC.</p>

<p>In regards to my lack of arts and sports- I am fully aware that I do not possess every possible attribute of an applicant, but from what I’ve seen, very few students do. I knew early on in high school that what was, honestly, a lack of natural talent and ability, would have to be compensated by other strengths. That’s why I concentrated on academics, service, and leadership positions in my ECs. </p>

<p>Scottj also says, “Think about the IMPACT of your volunteerism - that will make it very much more meaningful to the reader.” My essay was exactly that- a reflection on my most significant volunteer position, and its effects on the people I helped, myself, and my education/career goals.</p>

<p>Chillaxin raises the point of expanding on my service- I did so in my resume, but I felt specifying my exact projects on CC would give away too much personal information that I’m not willing to share with the whole Internet community. </p>

<p>I also highlighted my work within my ECs on my resume, but didn’t see it necessary to post it all here, as “SGA president” is usually self-explanatory, and that is essentially my role.</p>

<p>Again, thank you all for your input! I appreciate your time and advice.</p>

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<p>Nelly, you seem like a very poised, bright young lady. All of your reasons for not giving all of your information make perfect sense. I truly hope that BC accepts you. You would certainly be an asset to the campus. Good luck!!</p>

<p>And BTW, I don’t think anyone is offended that you requested Scott. Anyone that spends any time at all on CC realizes pretty quickly that Scott is a wealth of informtion:)</p>

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<p>Oh thank you! I really appreciate the kind words :slight_smile:
I really hope not, I didn’t mean it as a put down to anyone, he just seems to be the go-to guy!</p>

14

<p>dont listen to any1 here- ur in… 32 is 75th percentile??? oh please… that guy is saying that 25% have better ACts- BULL SHARK.</p>

15

<p>JonLouis, if you check with College Board and other college databases, you will find that the middle 50% range (25th - 75th percentile) of ACT scores for first year students at BC is 29 - 32. That means that 25% did indeed score above 32.</p>

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<p>ya got me there. Touch</p>

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<p>BC also publishes its stats on its website:</p>

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<p>[Selecting</a> the Class - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/selecting.html]Selecting”>http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/selecting.html)</p>

<p>Of course, these are numbers for accepted students, so the matriculants is likely to be lower.</p>

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<p>@bluebayou: While BC used to mention the scores for the accepted class there, those are actually now the scores for the matriculated class. If you remember, the score range posted for 2013 was up to 2250: those were the scores for accepted students.</p>

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<p>NRG:</p>

<p>Yes, you are correct in that BC does post that the scores are for matriculants to the class of '14. My bad.</p>