Rejected! :)

Decision: Rejected

Objective: Communications Major (Honestly, I don’t remember what school the major is under…)
ACT (breakdown): 30 composite, 34 essay
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/640
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Calculus (3), AP English Composition (5), AP U.S. History (4), AP European History (3), AP Psychology (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Environmental Science, AP Statistics, AP English Literature, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Art
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Honors Society, California Scholarship Federation, College Board’s AP Scholar Award

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Virtual Enterprise (Leadership), ASB (Leadership), Forensics (Leadership), Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Leadership), High School Swim Team (Captain), Club Swimming, Link Crew (Leadership), and Mathletes
Job/Work Experience: Clerk for Local AG Business, Nanny, Swim Instructor and Lifeguard for local swim school
Volunteer/Community service: Sunday School Teacher, Valkyeries Girl’s Community Service Club, Key Club, NHS, The Prom Dress Project, FLOOD Ministries
Summer Activities: travel, teach swim lessons, camps at UCLA/USC/University of Colorado, Boulder
Essays (rating 1-10, details): My personal statement was a 9/10. I spent a few months perfecting it and it accurately portrayed who I am as a person… something that you wouldn’t get from my transcript and resume. My why BC essay was so-so I give it a 7/10…

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: AP US History and AP European History teacher. Writes stellar letter of recommendations 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: My swim coach and Virtual Enterprise coach. He knows me well but his letter of rec was a wildcard and I wasn’t able to read it… 7/10
Counselor Rec: My counselor doesn’t know me that well so I am sure it was just a “She’s a good student and does lots of stuff” generic type essay
Additional Rec: None
Interview: None

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Communications
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large (4,000+) and extremely diverse public school
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper-middle class

Reflection

Strengths: Abundance of extracurriculars, essays
Weaknesses: Test scores… I am genuinely a crappy test taker.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly, I feel like my essays could’ve been stronger…
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was accepted to the University of Alabama Honors Program (back up school). I applied to UChicago, Cornell, Syracuse, Elon, Wake Forest, USC, and American University and currently are waiting to hear back from them.

General Comments: Boston College wasn’t and isn’t my first choice but that didn’t lessen the sting of the rejection at all. I am still a little disappointed because its a great University and I would be happy to go there. I decided to post this because every thing I’ve read on this thread has been acceptances and deferrals. Good students don’t always get accepted everywhere!! :)) Good luck to everyone and congratulations if you were accepted!!

Lord.
I’m sort of worried now lol.

Same. My application isn’t nearly as good

Very hard to say, Ella. The class rank and APs are obviously very strong, as are your extra-curriculars. The “Why BC?” essay is a very important part of the application and you don’t seem to think that was very strong. A generic letter from your guidance counselor wouldn’t help but it shouldn’t really hurt, either. The swim coach may have hurt your chances. You have leadership roles in both areas, so the coach would know you well (as you indicate). Anything less than a very strong letter would hurt. BC draws well from California, so you wouldn’t really add to geographic diversity.

All that said, you have a record to be very proud of. The school that does land you will be very happy they did. I’m sorry it won’t be at BC. All the best to you going forward!