***BU RD 2020 Decisions ONLY ***

ctavella
Sun, 20 Mar 2016 13:36:43 +0000

Decision: Accepted to the College of General Studies
(originally applied to the College of Arts and Science)

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1730/2400, 1310/1600
ACT: N/A
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 1 AP, 4 honors classes, 3 ACP classes (this is my first year taking any AP/honors classes at all during high school)
Major Awards: N/A

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School Newspaper (staff writer)
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours
Summer Activities: community service (building houses in Tennsessee), went with my school to Europe on a WWII educational trip.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8 – my essay was okay but I’m not sure how it compared to everyone else’s
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I’ve only read one of them and I would say it was a 5-ish? It was pretty generic.

Teacher Rec #1: ACP English teacher (junior year)
Teacher Rec #2: ACP Geometry & Algebra teacher (sophomore and junior year)
Counselor Rec: Really long, and probably is the thing that saved my skin. It described why I did crappy in school but also described all my personal hobbies and traits.
Additional Rec: Social Worker at my school that I’m friends with – she wrote about how I constantly mentioned that BU is my dream school.
Interview: no interview

Other

State (if domestic applicant): Connecticut
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: not that high, but decent.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Father died, been out of the country more than 10 times, doesn’t need financial aid, applied early decision/sent deferral letter when I was deferred about how I would attend BU if accepted.

Reflection

Strengths: My counselor rec really showed my true personality and I think that BU liked that. Also a very strong increase in GPA throughout high school.
Weaknesses: I had severe anxiety throughout most of high school until I got medication in the end of my sophomore year, so my grades and rigor level were really low for a while. Junior and senior year I got a 4.0, but only in senior year have I been taken more rigorous classes.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Most likely because I come from a good school system in CT and because I’m a decently well-rounded student, I guess? I managed to overcome a mental disorder due to the death of my father, so I guess they liked that. I honestly have no idea. Maybe it was because I mentioned it was my dream school and that I would attend if accepted?
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was accepted to the honors program at Salve Regina University and was awarded with a Trustee Scholarship.

General Comments: SO happy to have been accepted! BU is my dream school, and looking back on it, I’m not sure why they chose me out of so many applicants. I didn’t really do anything during high school until I suddenly gained motivation in junior year, so I’m well aware of how weak my application is. The only good reason I can think of is that they liked my personality or motivation or something?

Also, I know the College Of General studies is for those who weren’t exactly qualified, but I think I deserve to be there. I didn’t work as hard as many of the people on this thread during high school, so I need to prove myself. I’m more than willing to take the challenge.