The Office of Undergraduate Admission admitted 3,170 students to the Boston College Class of 2022 in December, about 31 percent of a pool of 10,350. This pool represents a 15 percent increase over last year’s Early Action applicant pool of 9,000 prospective students and a 2 percent decrease from last year’s 33 percent acceptance rate.
Admitted students averaged a 33 on the ACT and a 1453 on the SAT, which the College Board updated with a new 1600-point scale and Evidence-Based Writing and Reading section two years ago. Last year’s Early Action admits averaged a 33 on the ACT and a 1425 on the SAT, representing a 28-point jump in the SAT score. Director of Undergraduate Admission John Mahoney believes that the increase in the SAT score reflects the process of adapting to the new test.
“You’re probably looking at around the top 5 percent of national test takers,” Mahoney said. “It’s an extremely competitive group of students that is vying for great schools.”
Students were accepted from 49 states and 37 countries, displaying “great geographic distribution and ethnic diversity,” Mahoney said. Last year, students were accepted from 46 states and 30 countries. AHANA students compose 31 percent of the group of admitted students, compared to 27 percent last year.
Students who applied under BC’s Early Action program were notified of their admissions decisions on Dec. 14. Mahoney asked The Heights to wait until after Winter Break to report on the statistics.
The Office of Undergraduate Admission is looking for an incoming freshman class of about 2,290 students. From the group of students admitted in December, the office hopes to see a yield of 750 to 800 students enrolled. Admissions officers also identified finalists for the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program, who will interview for it in early February.
Georgetown University, the University of Notre Dame, various Ivy League schools, and high-ranking public universities like the University of California, Berkeley, are the primary schools whose applicants overlap with BC’s.
Because BC has to compete with many prestigious institutions for students, the Office of Undergraduate Admission has boosted its efforts to increase the yield of accepted students. The office has put a significant amount of effort into its social media campaign “BC 2022” and hopes to sway students through Admitted Eagle Day on Jan. 28.
BC’s Student Admission Program will also start soon, meaning that student volunteers will call the admitted students to encourage them to come to BC. Furthermore, in conjunction with BC’s alumni network, the Office of Undergraduate Admission held 50 events across the country over Winter Break for admitted students in places ranging from Wilmington, Del., to Seattle, Wash.
The Office of Undergraduate Admission is currently in the midst of reviewing applications for the Regular Decision pool. This year’s total applicant pool reached over 31,000 applications, a 9 percent increase over last year’s group.
BC looks to enroll about one-third of its incoming freshman class through the Early Action program. Mahoney said that about 20 percent of the students deferred from this applicant pool will be accepted in the Regular Decision pool.
“The way we market Early Action is that there is no advantage to applying to it,” Mahoney said. “Students can be deferred through Early Action that will ultimately be admitted in the regular pool.”
This article has been updated for clarification.
Featured Image by Anna Tierney / Graphics Editor and Nicole Chan / Graphics Editor
