chance me

Colleges & Universities Boston College
1

<p>Race/Ethnicity: hispanic (argentina)</p>

<p>Gender: Male</p>

<p>School Type: very very prestigious private highschool (top 10 in nation)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.3 (unweighted) 3.8 (weighted)</p>

<p>Rank: n/a</p>

<p>Tests:</p>

<pre><code>* PSAT: 210

  • SAT: 1540/1600, 2170/2400
  • SAT IIs: Math level II: 760, Spanish: 760, US History: 690, Physics: 690
  • AP: Spanish Language: 5, US History: 4, Physics: 4, Human Geography: 4
    </code></pre>

<p>next year will take AP Environmental Science, AP Art History, AP Government, AP Caculus AB, AP english literature</p>

<p>Class Rigor:</p>

<pre><code>* 2 honors Classes sophomore Year (AP’s not availiable until junior year)

  • 4 AP Classes, 1 honors class junior year
  • 5 AP Classes planned for senior year
  • Junior year class rigor was one of the hardest classes available to juniors at our school
    </code></pre>

<p>Honors:</p>

<pre><code>* National Merit Commended Student-[11]

  • honor roll-[9,10]
  • Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica-[11]
  • AP Scholar with Honor-[11]
  • National Hispanic Recognition Program-[11]
    </code></pre>

<p>Extracurricular:</p>

<pre><code>* volunteered at dept. of research psychiatry-[10,11,12] , participated in cutting edge research-300hrs

  • member of student athletic advisory council-[11,12]
  • play piano since 5th grade
    </code></pre>

<p>Sports:</p>

<pre><code>* cross country-[9,10,11,12]-varsity since 10th, captain senior year

  • track-[9,10,11,12]-varsity since 10th, captain senior year
    </code></pre>

<p>Community Service:</p>

<pre><code>* volunteered at homeless shelter-[9]-80 hours
</code></pre>

<p>Recommendations:</p>

<pre><code>* principal investigator of the lab i worked in

  • Counselor
  • Two teachers
    </code></pre>

<p>thanks so much in advance to people who reply!</p>

2

<p>noone? scottj??</p>

3

<p>Dear photoboii : How can one resist a curtain call like yours? Seriously, these have been freshman move-in days so time has been a precious commodity over the last 48 hours. As you have seen my bias, we are less impressed by the “prestigious high school” label and want to see what is beneath the individual’s surface in our chance-me threads.</p>

<p>Your standardized test scores are outstanding and certainly worthy of admission. However, your unweighted GPA is a problem and is outside the typical Boston College range. Is your GPA at a B+ within the top 10% of your current class? It does not feel like you are a day-in/day-out top level academic performer in the classroom and you will need to dispell that sense in your essay and recommendations.</p>

<p>In your honors section, more details on school honor societies and their associated activities would boost your profile, particularly if you could show leadership skills in some community impacting events. Not that volunteerism is a deal-breaker, but your overall profile is a bit weak in this space.</p>

<p>In closing, I would certainly be more willing to provide a thumbs-up than a thumbs-down on your profile. That said, the point of these threads is to show weakness and gaps that can be closed in the final months before an application is due. My sense is that you are on the right track and some minor course corrections should help you earn a spot in the BC Class of 2014. Good luck on this application and all of your future efforts.</p>

4

<p>thanks scottj! i would say i am in the top 30% of my class. i will definitely try and bring up leadership positions i held within school.</p>

5

<p>Dear photoboii : It is important that I share some data published two years back by the College Board about Boston College’s then entering freshman class.</p>

<p>80% in top 10th of graduating class
96% in top quarter of graduating class
99% in top half of graduating class </p>

<p>Translation : Only three percent of the entering class was in the second quartile of their High School class. Only four percent of the entering class was outside of the top quartile. If you are outside the top quartile with your GPA, your 3.3 unweighted GPA will be much more of a hurdle than we originally thought. This is going to require some extra care on your part. When you make plans for a campus visit, if you remain passionate about BC, you speak with your area’s admissions reader - the person who actually visits your community for recruiting and would actually review your application. You need to directly discuss your class rank as it appears to be your only stumbling block right now.</p>