<p>How tough is it for Bucknell students be successful in their classes?</p>
<p>Bucknell was one of two favorite schools for my daughter of the colleges she visited last year, and is the most selective of all of the schools she visited. She is considering applying ED.</p>
<p>One question I have is how risky would it be for her to attend Bucknell as a reach school? If she did get accepted, would classes be too hard for her to succeed? She has a 29 ACT composite, which seems to be right in the middle (50th percentile) of the enrolled students, with higher English/Reading scores and lower Math/Science scores, and a Top 15% rank from a good suburban NJ high school, with a rigorous class schedule. Math is not her subject, and I have always tutored her at home in math and science classes. Her ACT scores are better than her SAT scores, which were just above the 25th percentile overall, but with CR above and Math below the 25th percentile. When applying she would probably submit only the ACT score and not the SAT score. Converting ACT individual subject scores to SAT scores, her math score is slightly below the 25th percentile, reading slightly above the 75th.</p>
<p>Bucknell’s 4-yr graduation rate is impressively high, which provides some comfort. Does anyone have any idea how they accomplish that? How available is tutoring for students who wish to take advantage of it? Do the students have time to participate in EC activities, or do they study all the time? </p>
<p>Obviously, her weakness in math would be problematic if she was going to study a math heavy field like engineering, but she isn’t planning that. Psychology and linguistics are under consideration as majors now. Bucknell’s math SAT scores are slightly higher than other similar LACs that don’t offer engineering. But will that matter to a social science or humanities major?</p>
<p>My S will be a freshman at Bucknell in the Fall, so I don’t have any first-hand knowledge to share with you. From my research, however, I don’t have the impression that Bucknell is a big grade deflator. From reading comments here and visits to the school and speaking with faculty and students, Bucknell seems to offer great accessibility to the profs. The school seems to attract students that like a balance of work and play.</p>
<p>If this is a place that your daughter can really see herself, I encourage ED. Bucknell has historically had a fairly sizeable admit percentage during their ED rounds.</p>
<p>My D just graduated magna cum laude with an award for outstanding senior in her major. She was Dean’s List every semester.</p>
<p>She was admitted Ed with stats on the lower end. She did not think she would get in. She is a legacy and figured she got in because of that. She told me she was very scared and that she thought she would struggle and have a hard time.</p>
<p>Fast foward–She graduated thinking she was smarter than most of the students.</p>
<p>I majored in Comp Sci & Engineering at Bucknell, and I found the math and science courses to be more rigorous than the handful of social science/humanities classes I took (particularly math). However, I should point out that I mostly enrolled in introductory level social science/humanities classes. </p>
<p>If your daughter does not plan on majoring in a math-heavy subject, then I would not be terribly concerned. She may have to take an introductory calculus course if she does not have any AP credits to apply. As far as admission goes, I’m sure math scores are scrutinized more closely for engineering and math/science candidates.</p>
<p>Of course, there is no guarantee that my daughter would be accepted, and it seems like applying ED could help with that. But with ED being binding, I want to think through all of the issues before she decides whether or not to apply ED.</p>
<p>She had a 26 in math, which was her lowest score. I think that converts to about a 600 SAT math score. Higher scores in reading and English balanced it out to a 29. </p>
<p>She has said that she would prefer to go to a school where she was an average to slightly-below-average student rather than one of the better students. School is still in session here in NJ though, so she isn’t really thinking about this at all right now.</p>
<p>Elon was one of her other favorite schools.</p>
<p>One thing that I would mention, is that Bucknell WANTS their students to succeed. They are not looking to “weed kids out”. Speaking to my D’s experience (in the school of Engineering) - the profs are all extremely accessible, and anytime that a student is struggling all they’d have to do is knock. There are a myriad of resources available.</p>
<p>sacchi: send a PM to collage1; her daughter made this choice for the class of 2015 (Bucknell v Elon) and is a very happy rising sophomore at Bucknell…</p>