Important factors to get into BC?

TheDukeofEarl
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:18:28 +0000

Yeah BC does not publish their CDS. It may be buried in some government (or Vatican – ha ha) vault somewhere, but not openly published as it is at, say, Brown. The BC factbook is the filtered version for public consumption.

Having said that… regarding multiple admits from one school: Local high schools near BC (Boston and suburbs) have probably 20 or 30 or 40 students apply to BC, and most schools end up sending between 1 and 5 students from an admitted population of maybe 5 or 10. And there are schools in Boston (especially the city proper) which can end up sending 20 kids every year (e.g. Boston Latin; Catholic Memorial). While some schools do reject (or most likely, waitlist) based on who else applies from your school – rumor is that Georgetown does this – I don’t think BC does it. But I do not know for sure. Good question for your Admisions session.

Legacy is supposed to have little to do with admissions at BC, but students at BC will tell you that legacy matters for sure, and in fact some legacy students can many times seem to have just snuck in possessing credentials at the low end of the academic requirements scale. I suspect this is as true at BC as it is at many other schools looking to get cash out of successful alums with college-age children. Bottom line, though, is that although it may be a slight “push” for you, you can’t be an idiot and go to BC. I mean, any more than an idiot can survive at any other top school. And there are dozens of stories of legacies not getting in (just search here – there were 4 or 5 distinct cases here on CC I can remember just from last year). So although legacy may help, I think you have to have the credentials first, and then legacy may make or break the deal. Again, this opinion is anecdotal, and if someone from BC admissions is lurking they may have the official stance.