Please chance me for RD

scottj
Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:19:37 +0000

Dear shiloh456 : As usual when I review a chance-me thread, I tend to be overly critical which is my attempt to force the applicant out of their comfort zone to challenge elements of their profile. Your particular profile has several elements that will be subject to that challenge.

Clearly, your Board Scores are within the upper half of Boston College’s Admissions Class and certainly could be top quartile for the Class of 2016. However, was this one exceptional testing or were your SAT II scores (in theory, your subject strengths) an outlier? Your AP scores (4) qualify for placement, but are these grades raising a flag? Why AP Statistics as opposed to AP Calculus, particularly given your advanced science curriculum? How about an AP History course to demonstrate a further element in your profile?

How low is your unweighted GPA? Are you in the Top 10% of your current class? This is a major point as 85% of accepted applications come from this Top 10% pool. (Side note : 96% of accepted applications are within the Top 25% and 99%+ are within the Top 50%.)

Let’s talk about leadership traits which are demonstrated here. Any particular roles (office positions) amongst your clubs? What leadership was required as Captain for the varsity tennis team? Now, tennis is a one season sport - what about the other two seasons? Were there other sports engagements? Club sports?

Anything in the arts to discuss? Music (chorus, orchestra, band), drama (plays), art?

Volunteerism is strong in this profile from an elements perspective, but what did any of these programs matter in terms of community impact? For example, can you define the long lasting impact of your service trips? These elements can play very favorably on a Boston College application if (and we repeat, if) the applicant can articulate the impact associated with the engagement.

Finally, I always challenge the “good essay supplement” statement - after all, how would you know? How many have you personally reviewed and against what criteria are you making that evaluation? Instead, did you answer the question “Why BC?” Remember, the purpose of the essay is to convince your reader that you make the freshman class better by your inclusion than your exclusion. If you can explain why you make the Class of 2016 a better environment and experience for other successful applicants, you will have cracked the code.

In closing, let me say that your credentials are outstanding and you certainly appear to be in Boston College’s sweet spot. That said, consider some of the questions raised here to pause in retrospection on your application.

Good luck and please let us know how your application is received.