<p>GPA Cumulative (core 5 classes, recalculated by myself on 4.0 scale): 3.53
Freshman: 3.14
Sophomore: 3.54
Junior: 3.95</p>
<p>i had family responsibilities freshman year that my GC mentioned in the letter of recommendation, but they weren’t life-threatening or anything.</p>
<p>Senior courseload:
AP Physics, AP Lit, AP Gov/pol, AP Calc BC, AP Micro, Latin II Honors</p>
<p>Dear NJSterling : Your profile includes such a radical range of grades that you will absolutely need to explain the scoring differences (3.14 to 3.95). In short, the latter grades fit with a BC application, but your earlier academic scores are far from the standard. Your cumulative score at 3.53 is short of a Top 10% performance and therefore does represent a hurdle to your application. Your senior course load is significant and shows a commitment to academics. Highlighting your early senior year grades in the application process will certainly help your case if those numbers substantiates your junior year performance. Your SAT scores are certainly in keeping with a Boston College application.</p>
<p>Now, let’s move beyond academics and into some intangibles that are used to augment your application. Your application has no sports engagement listed at all. Although you have private guitar lessons, you do not show any involvement with organized music or fine arts programs. Your model UN and cultural diversity club are listed without any leadership roles or information as to how they impacted the school or community. Certainly, hospital volunteerism is noble, but there is no indication here as to the amount of time involved.</p>
<p>So, are you competitive for a CSOM regular decision application? Academically, your junior and likely senior year performance is in step, but your freshman and sophomore years appear weak on paper. Your board scores are on target, but the high school involvement seems limited compared to your competition. Based on this, you would seem to be clearly in the “stretch pool” for the regular decision pool on the whole. Our assessment suggests that you are in the 50/50 range overall - a borderline case, but not for the usual board score reasons. Hopefully, your application will be reviewed with an eye towards your later academics. Good luck.</p>