Hi, I was a bit worried about my chances of getting into a couple of colleges. My dream schools are Boston University, Boston College, Penn State, CU Boulder. A brief memo: I am a first-generation, immigrant, and because I spent my early life moving from country to country I can fluently speak 5 languages in addition to English and am conversational in 2 others. and have both a perfect SAT (Took the test 3 times) and a 36 on my ACT (Took only once). I spent the majority of my junior and freshman years slacking off, and I ended up with a 3.5 GPA and a 4.034 weighted. I am the founder and president of a club and am active in the Red Cross, FBLA, and MUN among other clubs. I volunteer part-time, and I spend most of my day teaching young children CPR. I am interning in the ER of a big midwestern Hospital. I recently talked to my counselor but she thinks Boston University is too out of reach and I shouldnāt even try to apply. Although she decided that I shouldnāt apply to BU, she didnāt give me any recommendations on anywhere that could be a target for me because I must āfigure it out myself.ā I understand that my chances for BU is pretty low (around 19% considering other factors of my application according to a chances simulator) Iām confused because it isnāt only BU she thinks I shouldnāt waste my time applying too, but also the majority of the colleges I applied to, some of which have acceptance rates as high as 50%???
First off, there are no dream schools - there are many schools, many like schools and there are ones out there for you.
First affordability and then find schools you like or schools like them.
CU Boulder and PSU have similarities. But not really any, at least environmentally, compared to BU or BC which are not alike themselves.
All of these are expensive - so do you have a budget, etc.
As for BU, I wouldnāt say out of reach - but unlikely unless you ED.
Iāll say this - if you donāt apply, then you canāt get in.
You have 20 Common App slots - so you can use them. You can only go to one school - so if one rejects you, so be it.
Schools similar to BU - removing NYU as itās equal in difficulty, GW would be easier - others than could sort of fit in as similar in that they are urban - Pitt, VCU, and Minnesota. I donāt know your major but these are likely.
Iād say PSU and CU are also likely - but it depends on major. For example you might get into CU but not engineering or business if those were your interest. An Alabama would be a safety in similar vein.
As for BC - perhaps other jesuit colleges - maybe a St. Louis or Creighton, etc.
A lot will depend on your majorā¦and budget.
But youāll have lots of colleges out there who will want you.
Good luck.
Very likely that you will be accepted to BU, Penn State, & CU-Boulder. Very likely. But, are they affordable options for you ? Will you be seeking need based financial aid ? If so, focus on schools which meet 100% of a studentās financial need.
BC is within reach.
BU with a 3.5? And not ED?
Agree CU and PSU but major matters - CU for engineering, as an example, might not happen although admission to exploratory would.
What year of high school are you currently in? What is your unweighted GPA (on a scale of A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1) for each year by itself? What is your intended major?
Are you considering medicine as a possible career? If so then the good news is that there are a lot of universities (pretty much anything ranked in the top 200 in the US) that are very good for premed students. You should be able to get accepted to many of them. The bad news is that becoming a medical doctor is a long and demanding and expensive path.
If you do go into medicine (whether as a doctor, nurse, or some other patient-facing role) speaking 5 languages is going to be a big asset.
Are you currently a senior? If so, how are your grades from this year?
I have seen students come back from way worse and do well. One ended up as a tenured professor at a university that he could never have gotten accepted to straight out of high school. The main thing is to do well from now on. You are going to want to learn to be a good student from now on. Attend every class. Always pay attention. Keep ahead in your homework. Over time this will catch up to you and you will do well.
When you get to university your opportunities to goof off and avoid class and avoid homework will be obvious. However, the consequences of goofing off will be bad. Once you get to college or university you will need to become a very good and responsible student starting on day 1 if you want to be successful.
Another very important thing as others have suggested is your budget. Do you know what you can afford to pay for university without taking on debt?
You might look at the Common Data Sets for your schools of interest, especially at Section C7 ā which lists both academic and non-academic admissions factors employed by each school. Section C7 should tell you how the particular school weighs GPA vs. standardized test scores; so you might want to focus applying to schools that give more weight to standardized test scores rather than to GPA, since your standardized test scores are excellent.
As others have asked, what is your budget? You have two fairly-expensive public Uās on your list (PSU and CU Boulder), and presumably you canāt be in-state for both of them. Is the OOS cost for Boulder and Penn State affordable for you? (Hopefully you already understand that they donāt give any need-based aid to OOS students, and merit is limited and not to be counted upon.)
If the full OOS cost of these is affordable, other options to consider could be universities in Canada, which donāt consider grades from 9th grade and which have a pretty straightforward application process. For that matter, if your AP scores are as high as your SAT/ACT, you could consider top UK schools.
The four schools you list are all quite different in environment and āvibe,ā so itās hard to channel what you like and donāt like in a college. But since you are considering one PA public, and since BU suggests you donāt mind a more urban settingā¦ and also since you seem interested in medical opportunitiesā¦ Iād look at Pitt also. Their admissions are rolling, so you could get your app in early, in August, and hopefully get a decision by Oct-Nov. Once you have an acceptance you could be happy with, thereās less need to be conservative with your other applications. (Also, Pittās next door neighbor, CMU, is another reach, but theyāre another school that doesnāt consider grades from 9th grade.)
As for BUā¦ would you be open to the possibility of their College of General Studies? (Spring-admit pathway, liberal arts core within CGS, and then transition into your choice of major as a junior.) BU may not actually consider you a borderline applicant, with the upward trend, but if they do, they might accept you to CGS.
If you like BC, maybe consider Holy Cross as well (also an excellent Jesuit school, 45 minutes away in Worcester) as well. You can still get into Boston on commuter rail from there; plus UMassā med school and medical center are in Worcester, and HC students do research and internships there.
URochester and CWRU might be other good ones to look at.
Your counselor sounds incredibly unhelpful. As long as you have well-chosen match and safety schools, thereās nothing wrong with having some reaches that are less likely. With your upward trend and strong test scores, plus strong ECās, I see no reason not to shoot your shot at more competitive schools. Just make sure you have one or two that youāre more sure of, and that are also guaranteed to be affordable.
Yes, as OP offers outstanding standardized test scores of SAT 1600 and ACT 36. Only about 40% of all applicants to BU submit test scores. The 3.5 GPA may actually help with admission to BU as concerns about yield protection will be unnecessary.
Proficiency/fluency is 5 languages is impressive and will make OPās app stand out. First generation immigrant who speaks more than 5 languages and has lived in multiple countries should generate an interesting & compelling application essay
P.S. And, yes, I have read BUās CDS 2023 which notes GPA is most important and standardized test scores are only āconsideredā. However, ātalent/abilityā (5 plus languages) is one of the 3 admission factors listed as āvery importantā on BUās CDS. Unfortunately, ātalent/abilityā is only considered for āfine arts applicantsā according to BUās CDS. This is unfortunate, but read the BU article below:
Another approach may be for OP to consider an academic PG year at Andover or Exeter if OP can get generous need based financial aid.
Are you a US citizen or permanent resident?
Is the 3.5 uwGPA for core courses only? Will you have four years in each of the five core academic areas (Eng, SS, Sci, Math, Foreign lang) upon graduation? What proportion of your courses have been honors and/or APs?
And I echo that we need your budget and whether you will qualify for need based aid to start building a list that makes sense.
A 4.0 weighted/36 ACT makes uAlabama a safety, with guaranteed honors and full scholarship + opportunity to apply to āhonors within honorsā. I would apply as soon as the app opens midJuly.
Penn State will check rigor of curriculum - 3.5 would usually mean ābeing branchedā (though to Behrend/Altoona and not Dubois) but your test scores and rigor could make a difference.
Cal Poly SLO and CPP should be worth looking into.
They do not consider ACT or SAT scores, which are the OPās strongest parts of the application. CPP uses the usual CSU HS GPA calculation (grades from 10th-11th grade academic courses with limited honors weighting), while CPSLO includes grades from 9th grade as well.
CPSLO is the most selective CSU (but varies by major), while CPP can be highly selective for some majors but not that selective for others.
I apologize for my mistake, I thought CPP and CPSLO didnāt use 9th grade. Still, assuming thereās rigor for the 3.5 to turn into 4+ and without 9th grade, CPP could be worth looking into.
University of Iowa would require grades from all years but Engineering is reachable with a 265 RAI though not automatic
In addition, a RAI score of 265 is automatic admission to Data Science (you hear back within the week your transcript&scores are received).
OP can recalculate HS GPA for CSU and UC here: GPA Calculator for the University of California ā RogerHub (use the weighted-capped for CSU, and recalculate with 9th grade course grades for CPSLO).
For CPP, multiply the recalculated weighted-capped HS GPA by 1000 and add 450 to get a score to compare with past thresholds listed at Freshman Student Profile . Notice that while many majors had thresholds of 2950 (equivalent to a 2.5 HS GPA as recalculated), some had much higher thresholds (e.g. computer science, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, biology, biotechnology, animal science, animal health science, architecture, psychology).
I think that with your test scores you will be admitted to the 2 state schools and likely to BU, too. BC I do not think will happen.
Could you please explain these:
I volunteer part-time, and I spend most of my day teaching young children CPR. I am interning in the ER of a big midwestern Hospital
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