Dash my hopes last minute

Chance Me / Match Me
1

white female, cyber charter school
1320 SAT
3.91 weighted GPA/unweighted unknown, 4.18 last semester
school does not report percentile

AP Art History
AP English language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Psychology

Course load:

8th grade- high school French 1
9th grade- career planning, health, French II, honors english, algebra 1, Biology, World history, emergent computer tech, game design
10th- career planning, phys ed, honors english 10, geometry, drivers ed, physical science, pyschology, US history
11th- career planning, college prep with SAT, ap art history, sign language 1, Conservatory course (internship prep where they made us make a linkedin, a resume, taught interview skills), ap english lang and comp, algebra 2, Honors chemistry, honors american gov
12th- sign language 2, intro astronomy, college planning, personal finance, conservatory 2 (actual internship with a library), ap lit and comp, precalc, physics, AP psych

extracurriculars:

9th grade-
Computer Science Club
Peer Mentoring (Assigned new students by a school counselor to assist with navigating the learning system, website, and classes.)
Société Honoraire de Français (ongoing member)
Private Guitar lessons (6 years ongoing at 30 min/week involving practice 30 min/day. These lessons have taught me how to read sheet music as well as tabulature, play lead and rhythm guitar, and music theory.)
Script supervisor for Gore Orphanage by Principalities of Darkness, LLC. (Indie movie that filmed for 2 weeks in July of 2014. Full time job, 60 hr workweek/120+ hours total. Was in charge of continuity between scenes, organizing scenes, checking sets for out of place objects, and cold-reading lines when actors request it).
Creative Writing (I enjoy creative (fiction) writing as a personal hobby. I have written and planned pieces ranging from short stories to scripts to novels and have done collaborative work with peers. My favorite genres to work in are sci-fi, fantasy, and historical.)
Reading (I enjoy reading both fiction and nonfiction as a personal hobby. Like my writing, I prefer sci-fi and fantasy, though I also enjoy young adult realism stories, and authors ranging from contemporary to classic. My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.)
10th grade-
Peer Mentoring
Guitar lessons
Creative Writing
Reading
Volunteer work at redacted church
Volunteer work at redacted different church
STEM Camp with Penn State [redacted] Campus (one week at a Penn State campus, in which we attended lectures and interactive classes with real professors at the school in the STEM industry as well as a public speaking class. This week ended with a speech component in front of family, friends, staff, and heads of the campus.)
Principles of Sociology with CALU (took a real-credit, 100-level class as a High School Early Admit student, online)
11th grade-
[redacted] Junior Orchestra, solo guitarist, merit award
Private guitar lessons
Volunteer at [redacted] Free Public Library (Includes working the circulation desk/customer service, cataloguing, and shelving. Also includes use of computer science and library management system software. Average 3hr/week service)
Intro to Forensics with California University of Pennsylvania (real-credit, 100-level class as a High School Early Admit program which involved research and a final group project)
CCA Sketchup Competition sponsored by Crabtree Rohrbaugh and Associates, 2nd place (architecture competition involving creating a classroom from given blueprints in Google Sketchup, a rendering program, and filling it to create a “makerspace”.)
Creative Writing (hobby)
Reading (hobby)
12th grade-
[Redacted] Junior Orchestra, solo guitarist
Private guitar lessons
Broadcast Club (explores the distribution, production, and editing of audio/visual content.)
Classic Film Club (shows a wide range of movies from classic to little-known, blockbuster to arthouse, and encourages the exploration and analysis of these films)
Journalism Club (students create a school newspaper)
National Honor Society
Volunteer at [redacted] Public Library (3hr/week, ongoing)
prom committee

awards: besides a writing award from like 8th grade and my NHS and french NHS memberships + the architecture award not much.

i used the above activities list for penn state and got in at university park. the other schools im applying to are:

university of pittsburgh
duquesne university
boston university
northeastern university
emerson college
carnegie mellon university

i’m going to be majoring in communications, specific major not decided (likely journalism) but i applied for the appropriate subcollege within these schools. assuming my essays are up to par how likely do you guys think my chances are?

2

carnegie mellon university: reject
emerson college: accept
northeastern university: reject
boston university: hmmm… i’m not sure about this one
duquesne university: accept
university of pittsburgh: accept

3

That’s about what I expected due to my SAT. I’m not so sure about BU because my SAT seems about 50th percentile. I attended an official/registered tour at northeastern and they showed us an average student profile and all my academics and extracurriculars seemed on par, my SAT was the only thing that was a bit low. It was a 730 RW/590 M if that helps. I also did the essay and got a 6/5/5.

4

I’d also like to add that since French 1 was my only high school course in 8th grade I ended up with a 2.5 GPA for the class due to a C the first semester. I’ve noted this in the extra information section in a non-whiny way, simply stating that my overall GPA is lower due to this and I got a B in the second semester of French 1 and received an A overall in French 2.

5

CMU: High reach
Northeastern: High reach
BU: Reach
DU: Safety
UPitt: Match/possible safety

Your GPA for BU is not 50th percentile, considering the average is a 1450. Your SAT is not near average for Northeastern either, the average is a 1450 as well. Your GPA is about 30th percentile for Northeastern, not sure for BU. You haven’t listed any leadership roles, so I do not know where you’re getting the idea that the ECs are pretty similar. Also, your course load is very light, most schools at this level look for at least 8 APs and the courses you took are renowned as some of the easiest APs. Please don’t take this as rude, I’m simply using the stats these schools have posted and common knowledge for these schools (top 40).

https://www.bu.edu/admissions/about-bu/profile/
https://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/

6

Just in case you aren’t aware there is an Architecture cc forum, which has been very helpful when my D began the whole Architecture process. If you have any questions there’s a whole slew of parents, architects and students that chime in. Good luck everyone.

7

Thank you for the rec! I’ve decided not to go for architecture after spending a day job shadowing a firm.

8

@ab2002 Thank you for your comments. The APs I took were some of the few that my school currently offers- it doesn’t even offer 8 APs, and I’ve supplemented with honors classes wherever I was able to handle the workload. As far as ecs I was basically going off of what I saw on my tour, I know my SAT was off but I felt like my ecs were consistent with. As for BU I was going of data by a few different sites, haha. Again thank you for your help, I guess ill just have to wait and see.

9

You may have luck getting accepted into CGS for BU, but I believe the College of Communications will be difficult.

10

do you know if they automatically defer me to CGS if i’m denied from COM if i havent put a secondary preference? @taverngirl