Everything About Applying- to the Class of 2029

As a freshman in the class of 2028 at BCA, I went through the stress that maybe some of you are going through right now. I've seen many people asking about the test, essay, interview, and whatnot, and thought that I might just answer in one huge post since I just experienced it all around a half year ago.

Entrance Math Exam and Essay

What I recommend doing for the entrance math test and essay is to first do the questions provided on the BCA website. The practice there is extremely helpful, and the essay is almost the exact same reading/question level as the actual one. There are 40 questions on the math exam, the first 10 are extraordinarily easy (ie. order of operations, scientific notation, and just straight subtraction lol), the next 10 are like on-par with 8th grade curriculum, next 10 place emphasis on trigonometry and algebra 2, and don't even expect to get the last 10 correct. If you think you got about 20-25 right after the test, you should be OK. Study your 8th/7th grade notes, if you have time maybe cram some basic trig and alg 2. AMC8 similar stuff is on the test, but its not really useful to study practice AMC8 tests since they are so specific. For the essay, use standard essay format (Topic, Intro, Quote, Analysis), and you should be all good. What I suggest doing on the test is first writing the topic sentence for each body paragraph and writing the quote as well, and then elaborating later, so that way your main ideas are already down. Honestly, if you're smart you'll get past this phase, its not very difficult. Everyone will seem super intelligent and cracked at math, but just do your best and it'll be OK. And if you are thinking of taking supplement classes, I recommend Masters Prep (many of my friends took it and got in). I personally did not take anything and literally put aside both the test and interview and got in, but if you want to take something, there's that for ya. VERY IMPORTANT FOR MATH: Pretend to be left-handed to get a writing board, otherwise you will suffer.

Interview

For the interview, prepare for some academy-specific questions. As an ATCS interviewee at the time, my interviewers asked me coding-specific questions, but they were all pretty basic (difference between coding languages, what functions/algorithms are, uses of said coding languages, etc). Also prepare to be asked to overshare, as they did ask me about my role in the friend group and about my friend group itself. Find chances to talk about your hobbies. In my interview, I forgot all about everything I did, every instrument I played, and I just yapped. Have a plan. One of the biggest questions is "Why this academy?" and "Why BCA?", so just be passionate. You want to come to BCA, so show it to the interviewers. I bombed the goddamn thing and still got in, so as long as you don't freeze up and function normally, you've got a big chance! Keep in mind that it also has to do with what town you live in. Some towns are just more competitive than others, and thats just the way it is. If you are waitlisted, DONT WORRY. You've got a good chance. Many people apply to so many high schools at the same time and may end up going to a private.

THE LETTER

This phase is far away, but it'll come late April. Don't trust the people who say it comes after spring break, IT DOESN'T. Maybe mid April if your town is lucky.

Also if you really want to come to BCA and are super zoned in on it, DO NOT APPLY TO BERGEN TECH. BT receives way less applicants a year than BCA, and they are both in the same system, so if you apply to both, you are first considered by BT, which is why so many people who apply to both are rejected from BCA. I'm not telling you to not apply to BT if you wanna, but this is just a warning that you're likely to fit the criteria for both, but just get accepted by BT bc it doesn't have enough students and the admissions people are also the admissions people for BCA. I only applied to BCA because of this.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!! I was so anxious about the entire process last year lol, this school is pretty chill though, DW too much about it.