<p>this may be a silly message but how do you know if you received the trustee/presidential scholarship? I checked my ApplicantLink today and was admitted (to Kilachand Honors aswell) but nowhere does it mention whether i received or am denied a scholarship…</p>
<p>Under the decisions tab, there will be a link to view your merit award decision. The merit award is also included in your FA info.</p>
<p>If anyone from BU Admissions Office monitors this site, can you please address the following?
What are the criteria you consider for admission into the Honors Program? Many universities consider it largely based on relative academic standing (e.g., SAT scores, GPA) as well as other factors. However, given that I believe these tend to be highly correlated with those who received Trustee or Presidential Scholarships, and not all Honors Program acceptances received these scholarships, I have to believe that there are other criteria you weigh more heavily for admittance to the Honors Program? In looking at what some others have posted about their applications, it looks like you have placed a higher weight on significant community service, international experience/exposure, and/or geographic location (with the last two possibly providing a level of diversity in the Honors Program). Is this a correct assumption? Just curious here and helpful to understand the ‘rules of the game’. Many thanks!</p>
<p>Sorry, here are my stats:
Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>CAS and Honors College with the Presidential Scholarship</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Reading - 740, Math - 670, Writing - 670
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Math I - 650, Literature - 660
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/270
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): None yet, but I will test in every class I take (see below)
Senior Year Course Load: History of the Americas HL, English IV HL, Chemistry SL, Math Studies SL, Psychology HL, Latin V SL
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Rotary Youth Leadership Award, various Model UN awards, some National Latin Honor Society Stuff
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model UN (president for three years), Interact Club (founder and president for two years), National Latin Honor Society, competitive Irish dancer, flutist, laboratory internship for two years. Loads of volunteer work in homeless shelter and at a school for children with cerebral palsy in India. I’ve been to 62 countries
Job/Work Experience: Laboratory internship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Volunteer/Community service: Homeless shelter. School in India for children with cerebral palsy
Summer Activities: leadership camp at Yale, international travel
Essays: I think they were good. The Common App one was the best essay I wrote, and I wrote about Irish dance. The Honors College Essay and Trustee Scholarship Essay were also pretty good. I got into the Honors College, but didn’t get the Trustee.
Teacher Recommendation: Really nice!! My teachers let me read them, and they were super sweet.
Counselor Rec: My counselor doesn’t know me at all, so I had my principal do this. His rec was really nice.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: My interview got canceled three different times Thanks to various weather fiascos. I did meet with the director of the honors college though, and that interview was a lot of fun.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: biochemistry and religious studies
State (if domestic applicant): North Carolina
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Jewish</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone else that got the Presidential/Trustee. To those of you that didn’t, I’m sure you have other wonderful options.</p>
<p>Would it say If I was denied? I can’t see anything :(</p>
<p>i don’t really understand why i got the presidential scholarship, with a 1930 SAT and 32 ACT, after reading these posts…</p>
<p>My D got Accepted CAS and Presidential Scholarship. No honors college. 2,190 SAT, 30 ACT, year round sports and captain of two of them, EC’s good: president and secretary of two clubs. We live in central, CT. in the top 10 out of 400 kids. Rejected SCEA Yale. Accepted: UConn Honors, BU and I think BC (got a large envelope that is unopened today in mail).</p>
<p>I wonder if the Admissions people would consider admitting him to the Honors College. It’s worth calling them to see if they’d reconsider their decision.</p>
<p>DadinConn - it’s hard to know what the criteria are, as my son also got Accepted CAS, Presidential Scholarship, but not the Honors College. SATs were 2320, ‘unofficial’ valedictorian of his class of approximately 400 (‘unofficial’ because school does not rank but Principal/Superintendent has told him he is top student), GPA of 3.99, several AP classes with test scores of mainly 5s and a few 4s, SAT subject tests (not required by BU) scoring 800, co-President of one club, volunteer student teaching. Deferred SCEA Yale. Accepted: UMass Honors, College of William and Mary Honors, and Brandeis. Waiting to hear from others this Thursday. No sour grapes here. It is what it is. Just interesting.</p>
<p>I just want to put this out there, but I don’t think sheer numbers can get you into the honors college. I was accepted to CAS and Kilachand with a presidential scholarship. They will include an invitation to the honors college and a scholarship letter with your acceptance letter. </p>
<p>My standardized testing is high for my state, but by no means amazing. I think my SAT was 2260, something like that. My GPA is actually very low, a 3.6 UW. I’m taking a difficult curriculum, but not the hardest one. I haven’t won any insane national awards other than the ones connected to the SAT/PSAT/AP exams. My extracurriculars are strong (captain of some clubs, some minor research, a state department exchange, TA-ing, etc), but I haven’t been to the moon or cured cancer. I think what did it for me were the essays and my teacher recs. </p>
<p>Only one other person I know at my school has gotten in to the honors college, and there are people probably better qualified than I who applied. My point is that there is no magic formula, just be yourself on the app, and don’t sweat it if you didn’t get in.</p>
<p>Based on those who have posted stats, it appears that the trustees and the presidential scholar recipients have very high stats. And, it appears honors school, while having good stats, have considerable interest or experience in community and outreach services and/or international interests.</p>
<p>I received the Trustee Scholarship and was accepted to CAS and Kilachand. To be honest, my stats aren’t that impressive. It took me four tries to get a 34 on the ACT, and my GPA was an uw 3.75 at a public high school. I did take the most challenging classes in school, but many students were able to take those same courses and receive A’s. The main reason for the low GPA and multiple ACT attempts was because I didn’t have very much time for studying. Throughout high school I was highly involved in Speech and Debate (9-12: speech captain senior year), dance (9-12, competition team), piano, show choir (9-10, varsity as a soph), student senate (10-12th: senator, Parliamentarian, Vice President), student-run theater (10-12: director senior year), and a volunteer at the hospital. Nonetheless, I was a good student and teachers liked me because I was a hard worker and liked to challenge myself.
So, obviously you don’t need perfect stats to get accepted into the honors college or receive a merit scholarship. Did I mention that I am also Asian American? I think what they saw in me was someone with promise and potential. I love a challenge, and I know that quality is going to help me get far in life. I was also very dedicated and passionate about the things I did and held many leadership roles during high school. My advice is to work hard in school, but also find a passion in something you do. Be a leader in your school, and make sure your teachers like you! Also, just be yourself in your college essays. Find the true meaning behind what you want the Admissions officers to know.
In the end, I chose not to accept the scholarship. To be honest, I didn’t expect to receive the scholarship AT ALL, so I didn’t know much about the school until I received my acceptance letter. I couldn’t make any of the visiting weekends, and couldn’t really afford to fly out just for one day anyway, so I didn’t end up visiting the school either. It worked out fine though because I realized that BU is a great school, but it wasn’t the right fit for me. Instead, I will be attending Wellesley College this fall.
Best of luck to future applicants! The application process is awful, but just know that there will be a perfect school for you in the end!</p>