Hi I am a junior in high school. College applications are just around the corner and my dream school is Boston College. I go to a Catholic private school in Florida. My school has quite a good relationship with Boston College. For example, one year BC admitted 15 students from my school. I would like to apply early decision. I would like to major in finance at the CSOM, which is more competitive than Arts/Science. I would love input on my chances?
Gender: Female
GPA: 3.95 (unweighted)
ACT: (going to superscore but still testing so it is not set it stone) currently have a 27… (my only weak spot)
Extracurriculars: 500 service hours; National Honors Society; Rho Kappa (Social Studies Honors Society); Lacrosse (9,10) due to an injury; JCL (Latin club) (10-12); Medical Professionals Club (10-12); Service Project for the fires in Tennessee
Summer Activities: A camp for 1 week where I take care of those with special needs (have done this for 3 years); doing a BC summer program this summer for 3 weeks (They say on the website that this does not increase chances for admission but my friend went there last year for a summer program and they said it does increase their chances)
Teacher Recommendations: Going to be my Latin teacher whom I will have had for four years in total throughout high school; The Vice Principal who will be my Psychology AP teacher senior year whom I have a good relationship with
Additional Recommendations: The Principal (good relationship)
Ethnicity: Asian
Essay: Will be about being adopted from China by a single mother (the whole thing will not be about it but it will be the foundation)
Senior Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Psychology, Religion Honors (required), AP Latin
Additional Notes:
I was debating whether to take AP Psychology or AP Physics senior year. I understand Physics is a core science. However, I really wanted to treat myself and take AP Psychology because it seems interesting and I know the teacher very well. This means I will have 3 years of a science (biology honors, chemistry honors, 1/2 credit of marine biology honors (summer school for credits), 1/2 credit of physics honors (summer school for credits)
Do you think having 3 years of a science will hurt my application even though I do not want to major in science?
It will be very tough to get in with a 27 on the ACT. You’re going to need at least a 31 to be competitive, especially if you don’t have subject tests or AP scores to boost your application. Your UW GPA is great, but your ECs seem very ordinary. Will you get any club leadership roles in your senior year? You seem to do a good amount of volunteering but I don’t see any demonstrated interest in finance. As of now, I’d recommend that you apply to Arts and Sciences instead of CSOM.
On a side note, Boston College does not have ED. It has Early Action only.
@doorrealthe Do you think a very strong essay and the recommendation letters would help? Also, what could you do to show interest in finance from high school? I am taking AP Calc senior year and AP econ/gov… I will have 3 AP scores when I apply but I am taking 5 APs next year… I know they are big on community service too. Also I’m trying to start a stock market club next year.
The stock market club is a good idea. Try getting a summer internship or job at a local office (doesn’t have to be a financial institution). You could also start a small company
Did you do ACT preparation classes or tutoring? If not then you should do so before retaking the test. Another option would be to do SAT classes and tutoring and then take the SAT and see if you do better (if so, then send the SAT and don’t send the ACT). It might be good to do this over the summer when hopefully you have more time.
We found even a small amount of tutoring quite useful because they will give you a practice test, and can then zoom in immediately to the area where you need the most help. It really didn’t take very long and the tutors that we dealt with were both very good and very pleasant. We used a local outfit where the entire company as far as I could tell had fewer than 5 employees.
@DadTwoGirls I have done ACT and SAT tutoring. I did SAT tutoring since 9th grade and I found out this year that I do better on the ACT. I am a terrible test taker. I do ACT tutoring now.
Raise the ACT score to at the very least a 30 and you’ll probably have a 50% of getting in. If you write incredible essays (and when I say incredible I mean you have to show multiple people your essay and they all have to be amazed by it) then the chances are a bit better. But if you have such a high GPA and a low test score, colleges will suspect that your school has grade inflation since standardized testing provides an equal opportunity for every high school student to showcase their intellectual skills. I would not apply to CSOM unless you get a 32 or higher on the ACT.
@doorrealthe the thing is that they know my school doesn’t have grade inflation though. My school has a very good relationship with them and like I said, one year 15 kids were accepted and this year about 6/7 were as well. If I applied to Arts and Sciences, I don’t know how easy it would be to switch majors
An internal transfer to CSOM is nearly impossible based on posts here on CC. The answer to the question in your thread title is yes, your ACT score will reduce your chances of acceptance, an answer you seem unwilling to accept.
So if you manage to have such a high GPA, then schools like BC will expect you to have a ACT score that mirrors your grades. A 27 and a 3.95 in a tough school does not seem equivalent. You may just be a bad test taker, but you just have to practice a lot this summer to raise that score. Raising it by 5 points is not impossible.
Even with stellar essays and recs, it will be extremely unlikely that you will be accepted. Study over the summer and retake the ACT in September and try to get within the 30-32 range.
A program that may help you to raise your ACT score is method test prep (free at my school) or prepscholar has a program where you pay $400 and if your score doesn’t go up 4 points, you’ll get your money back.