<p>I am a white male from New York (Westchester county). I am currently a Junior. My family makes about 50k-60k a year. My cumulative high school average so far is 95 (unweighted) and 97 (weighted). I am in the top 10 in my class. I will be taking the SAT’s for the first time in June. I received a 490 on the chemistry SAT II and a 510 on the biology SAT II (I know, horrible). I have taken AP World History, AP US History, and AP English Language. I plan on taking AP Calculus, AP Literature, and AP Spanish next school year. I received a 2 on the World History AP Exam (I had a terrible teacher), but I plan on scoring much higher on the upcoming AP English Language and AP US History exams. I have been on the varsity baseball team since I was a freshman. I am also a member of the National Honor Society, Science Honor Society, NYS Math Honor Society, and Mu Alpha Theta. I am also in band, ski club, and chess club. I have a fair amount of community service hours, mostly from volunteering at a local food pantry every other week for about a year.</p>
<p>Would I get in to BC?</p>
<p>Feedback would be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>I am on the math competition team as well, and I plan on majoring in finance.</p>
<p>Assuming you score around 2150 on your SATs and fix those subject tests you should have a chance.</p>
<p>95 ~= 3.9 UW
6 APs
No SAT1s or ACT yet
Very low SAT2s (why did you take the bio SAT2 when you didn’t take AP Biology?)
Lots of sports involvement
Lots of Honor Societies
Some amount of Community Service.</p>
<p>Without the standardized test scores it’s going to be tough to give you any kind of helpful assessment. I will suggest that you not get into the habit of blaming “poor teachers” for test scores; since you have a high GPA I’ll assume that you got a high grade in this “poor teacher’s” class. So did the poor teacher give you a grade you didn’t deserve or did you do well in a class that didn’t teach very much (which is implied by the low SAT2)? Either way, saying it was the result of poor teaching reflects poorly on the value of your GPA.</p>
<p>Study for the SATs. Take the ACT. You may find you’ll do much better at it than the SAT. My oldest son could fall out of bed with the flu and get 700 on the SATs but “only” got a 30 on the ACT; his younger brother worked and worked to move up in the 600s on the SAT but put up a 35 on his one try at the ACT. There are differences.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that any SAT2 scores below 600 are going to raise a flag with admissions. Right now those SAT2s raise questions about the rigor of your high school classes. It may be that you’re not used to taking standardized tests. Work on getting comfortable with the format.</p>
<p>Thank you for the feedback. With the SAT 2’s I could say I was somewhat ill prepared. My school doesn’t offer AP Bio or AP Chem. Instead, they have these “seminar” classes for each science subject every other day. In these classes, the main focus is creating a project for my school’s science fair in the spring. In addition, we are supposed to prepare for the SAT 2, which every seminar student takes. However, both years our main focus was on the science fair project, which left little time to prepare for the SAT 2. I am not blaming my teachers, due to the fact that I didn’t do anything to prepare on my own. So for both SAT 2’s, I only had the knowledge of high school level biology and chemistry, which contributes to my low score. These seminar classes did not have any affect on my GPA though, because they were “pass/fail” classes. This would also mean that they have no affect on the rigor of my classes. I am confident with the rigor of the classes I have taken. I have taken the most challenging courses available to me. I am hoping to get at least a 2000 on the SAT in June, plus I am most likely going to take both math SAT 2’s in the fall. I think I can get at least a 700 on both because math is my specialty. If everything goes as planned, I will be confident when applying to BC. Thank you.</p>
<p>1500, first off let me be clear that I’m not trying to demean your scores. What I’m trying to point out is how a neutral observer might interpret the data you’ve presented. Put yourself in the position of the admission counselor reviewing your file. If I have only limited knowledge of your school and its curriculum what I’m going to see is a “Pass” in a class and an average SAT (I believe 500 is considered the average score). Since I have no other inputs a reader may assume that since you got an average SAT2 score you probably performed at an average level in the class which would be a “C” (yes folks, “C” is considered the average grade). Furthermore, the counselor is probably not going to have access to your explanation of the scores (and you certainly wouldn’t want him reading that you didn’t do anything to prepare for the SATs anyway).</p>
<p>Get at least a 2000 on your SATs and a couple of 700s on the SAT2s and the Bio/Chem scores can easily be ignored. While that won’t guarantee an acceptance, it will improve your chances dramatically.</p>
<p>If you are taking APUSH, take the USHistory subject exam. But looking at your schedule, there are no other ST’s to take in which you will be strong. Math 2 is typically the choice if Juniors who have completed precalc.</p>
<p>Take a couple of practice tests at home with the REal Subject Tests by CB. If you can’t comfortably score 650+ at home, put all of your effort into the ACT.</p>
<p>I understand what you’re saying vinceh, and I appreciate your honesty. From now on, I will be doing everything in my power to improve my resume. Thanks</p>
<p>Vinceh I highly doubt your son could easily get 700’s on the SATS if he got a 30 on the Act’s. 30 Act is the equivalent of a 1900 sat</p>
<p>^^why do you think vince would lie? What’s the point? </p>
<p>fwiw: my S, winner of four years of HS class awards for math, scored mid-700s on SAT M and ST-M2 with no prep, pulled a 29 on ACT math. “It” happens. My D was just the opposite. 34 on ACT-M, but mid-600 on SAT-M.</p>
<p>While most students do equally well on both, some do much better on one than the other.</p>
<p>Of course, feel free to “doubt” my post as well. :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>Well then, all evidence to the contrary, I guess it didn’t happen. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The SAT and the ACT are different tests asking questions in different ways. While the many conversion charts show that a certain score on one will imply a certain score on the other, nowhere on those charts do they guarantee the outcome. The same way that some athletes perform better in certain venues, certain test takers perform differently on the two tests. Prevailing opinion is that the ACT does a better job testing existing knowledge while the SAT does a better job identifying problem-solving skills. The following link should clear up any ignorance you may still have of the differences between the two tests.</p>
<p>[Answers.com</a> - What is difference between ACT and SAT](<a href=“http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_difference_between_ACT_and_SAT]Answers.com”>What are the SAT and ACT? - Answers)</p>
<p>Actually, the equivalent to a 30 ACT is around a 2020 SAT, which sadly was both my SAT and ACT score. I guess it’s better than doing significantly worse on one than the other…</p>
<p>Dear 1500toNothing : You have already received inputs from two of our most respected contributors in vinceh and bluebayou. They have provided some of the same analysis that I was about to type. </p>
<p>However, I will try to paint the problem with your numbers based on a regional/location basis.</p>
<p>I am left to question how your average is currently a Top 10 performance in your High School with a 490 (SAT II), a 510 (SAT II), and a 2 (AP Exam) on the standardized tests that you have posted. Can you share the Westchester School District from which you hale for some additional background? Right now, all of the extra curriculars in the world will not offset the academic competition and expectations that will accompany an application from Westchester (or New York in general) unless the district is somehow underprivileged. These numbers, if representative of your expected SAT performance, are 150-200 points … per section … outside of where you will need to be given your location.</p>
<p>When I say Westchester, I’m referring to Westchester county, which is known to be one of the richest and successful counties in the nation. Also, SAT II’s and AP Exams have no effect on gpa. They also have no influence on my expected SAT score as I have received 2000 or above on all three PSATs that I have taken in previous years. Don’t be too quick to judge someone’s intelligence and student performance based on standardized tests, especially if they aren’t the SAT.</p>
<p>op:</p>
<p>no one is “judging your intelligence”. IQ is not an an issue and not an admissions factor. Curriculum tests ARE a factor. What everyone is trying to suggest, I will state much more clearly: great test scores will not get you into a college, but poor test scores WILL keep you out (if you are unhooked). For HYPSM, “poor” means any test below a 700, and really 750. For BC, and other selective schools, scores lower than 650 decreases your chances significantly. 500’s are in auto-reject category, unless you are D1-caliber athlete.</p>
<p>It’s great that you are confident that you can do better, but vince is spot-on:</p>
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<p>btw: Subject Tests were not designed for students taking AP/IB courses. They are designed to test material taught is a standard HS College Prep/Honors-level course.</p>
<p>honestly I recommend taking the ACTs and just forgetting about the stupid subject tests cause they’re such a waste of time. BC has this thing where you either have to take SATS + 3 Subj Tests OR the ACT as the “standardized test” requirement. I took the ACT, got a 32, submitted no subject tests, and was accepted to Boston College for fall of 2011. The ACT, in my opinion, is easier</p>
<p>Thank you, that’s good to know.</p>