2018 BC Grad - Ask away!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
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Good morning! I’m a 2018 MCAS grad who’s been reminiscing about her BC days. I’m happy to answer any questions during this lull while you’re waiting for decisions (or for those who have been admitted ED - what do you want to know?)

About me:
-I was admitted regular decision to the MCAS honors program (unfortunately does not exist anymore) with 94/100 GPA (unweighted, and we did not rank) and 34 ACT (didn’t submit SAT)
-came from a highly ranked public high school in upstate NY
-female 2018 graduate (May 2018)
-Psychology BA major and Medical Humanities minor (public health focus)
-lived on-campus all 4 years: Medeiros (upper), 66 Comm Ave (lower), Gabelli, Mods [1st 3 years were honors housing so I did not do the housing selection until going into senior year]
-had two different on-campus jobs
-was involved in research in psych department
-extracurriculars included Appalachia Volunteers and Bystander Intervention (through the Women’s Center)
-favorite activities included football and hockey games, traveling into Boston, seeing on-campus dance and a capella shows, you name it!

After graduation, I got a job in healthcare consulting in the Washington, DC area - and I firmly believe that would not have been possible without such great support from BC (especially my professors)

Please, parents and students - ask away!

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Hi, I was wondering how applicants are notified of the decision? Are they sent via email or through the mail?

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@1234rht via email. For me it was mail (big envelope if you got in, little envelope for a rejection) but they’ve since become a little more eco-friendly

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Hi, thanks for offering to answer questions! I have a few…
~Why you chose BC? Would you do it again?
~Anything you’d like to change about BC or areas for improvement?
~Thoughts on academic advising? Pre-Med advising?
Thanks again- appreciate your input!

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@Cambriamom

~Why did you chose BC?
I was deciding between BC and one of NY’s top state schools. Cost was almost the same (got a lot of aid from BC) and I felt that Boston had more opportunities for me than the town in NY for the other school.

~Would you do it again?
In a heartbeat. I miss BC, and all the wonderful friends I made, every day.

~Anything you’d like to change about BC or areas for improvement?
Here are some things I think BC still needs to work more on:
—more support for students who need counseling services
—better resources for LGBTQ+ students
—improve diversity. BC is overwhelmingly a white, upper class school. This has gotten better over the past few years.
—BC has a strict policy banning contraceptive access on campus. Even for women who would like to be prescribed birth control for reasons besides contraception.

~Thoughts on academic advising? Pre-Med advising?
—So I was not pre-med for very long (not even all of freshman year) so I didn’t learn much about pre-med advising. However, my experience with advising was as follows. Personally, my academic advisor was a psych professor that I saw twice a year - only for him to approve my course selection and get the code for course registration. I developed much closer relationships with a few professors, who I consider to have been better advisors.
I think the most important thing is that advising is what you make of it. You can see your advisor often, you can see them 2 times a year, or you can find other professors that you connect with better to give you advice.

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Hi -
What was a typical weekend like? How did you find the rigor of classes compared to high school? Is it competitive to get involved in clubs or fairly easy to join if you’re interested? Thanks!

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@Newyorkmom2girl, I am a current BC MCAS student and while I realize your question was directed to Tiva_Mcabby and I am not looking to steal her thunder, I would like to address the 2nd question you raised;

“How did you find the rigor of classes compared to high school?”

Let me answer it by sharing an unofficial saying that circulates here at BC; “C’s get Degree’s”

If you haven’t heard yet, BC has an opaque/ pseudo official/ or unofficial (Still haven’t figured this out yet) policy of grade deflation. So, when it comes to academic vigor, BC’s academics are on a totally different level compared to HS and frankly, most colleges.

BC’s prof’s award A’s with all the frequency of a cheap radio. So, freshman will need to climatize and manage their expectations where grades are concerned. Getting an A in a given course - is not a given. If a student gets an A for a final grade, they have truly mastered the workload. My own experiences included my Poli Sci prof’s openly proclaiming they seldom give out A’s (Yup!) Last year, a family friend’s daughter was accepted pre med but while visiting and talking to current students, was told by these current students that BC is a great school but very demanding academically and they are concerned their grades wont reflect well when applying to med school. (That’s not a soft recommendation for you pre med readers)

I have friends in CSOM, and I am told the same grade deflation policy exists there as well. Student body? My 3 roommates were wait-listed to U-Chi, U-pen and accepted Cornell, and each of them are fighting to barely stay above a 3.5 GPA…Yes, there are some smart people here, but make no mistake, the workload is TIER 1A. Now, can some students hide? Yeah possibly, but it’s no easy feat to do so.

All that aside, I do enjoy the challenge. BC has a beautiful campus, great student body- Men and women for others (ala Wells Crowley) strong school spirit, a good sports program, very convenient proximity to a great city and the best manicured lawns of any college east of the Mississippi!

Good luck.

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@newyorkmom2girl

@bbfan1927 ’s comments above are great (no, you didn’t steal my thunder! I will note that it’s Welles Crowther, in case anyone wants to look him up) and far more comprehensive than I would’ve answered.

Here’s what I think w/ regards to BC vs. high school.

I agree that BC courses are more challenging that high school - for the most part. I say that because I think that one thing that makes a course “easier” is if you enjoy it. I had a really hard time freshman year as a pre-med student and my GPA suffered. I really hated my classes. Then, sophomore year when I switched to be a psychology major, I turned my GPA around. Were the classes easier? Maybe. But they were still challenging. The difference is that I LOVED them. And I really really loved my medical humanities classes.

TL;DR- yes, harder than HS but it helps to enjoy the courses

Weekend life:
It’s totally up to the student! If they do not want to party, they do not have to. There are other things to do! My freshman year, a lot of weekends were filled with football games (in the fall), exploring Boston with my new friends, game nights, etc. We rarely trekked down to parties (mostly because unless you know someone, it’s hard to get in) but we had more fun playing card games in someone’s dorm (occasionally with beer).

I think generally what we did was Saturday was your “fun” day (football, Boston, etc.” and usually Sundays were for homework, group projects, laundry, and sometimes club meetings

Clubs/extracurriculars:

Some clubs are very competitive to get into, such as the dance/a capella/singing groups, the newspapers, clubs through the Women’s Center, and service groups like 4Boston and Arrupe.

On the other hand, some are wide open, such as Appalachia Volunteers, Word of Mouth, and different cultural organizations.

I was involved in Appalachia Volunteers (aka “Appa”) for 3 years and I cannot speak highly enough about it. It’s an alternative spring break program that sends about 400-500 students around the country for a week of service. I LOVED it. The only reason I did not continue with it senior year is because my roommates and I did the typical Caribbean spring break that year. “Appa love” is very real and I still am friends with many of the people from my trips.

Another group I was involved with was Bystander Intervention, through the Women’s Center. I did have to apply for this group (late freshman year). This group is made up of trainers (all genders) who give presentations to every single freshman student (regardless of gender) about preventing sexual assault, campus violence, etc. (The name comes from the “bystander effect”). Bystander is easily one of the best, most important things I did on campus.

I hope that answered your questions! If you have more, please send them my way.

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How would you describe the student body? What was your experience with roommates and making friends freshman year?

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@crazymocha

Student body:
BC has a reputation of being overwhelmingly white, Catholic, and upper-middle class. A lot of kids are at least one of the above. However, BC continues each year to have a more diverse class. With regards to religion - yes, a lot of kids are Catholic, but many (most) do not attend mass or really pay any attention to religion besides their core theology classes :slight_smile:

Friends:
I made most of my friends in my dorm. I lived in honors program housing so we were pretty tight-knit, but made other friends in other dorms too! The people I met within the first few days are still my closest friends, now over 5 years later. Like with high school/life in general, friend groups change! You’ll meet new people each semester (each week, in fact) and your friend group may shift, expand, get closer, etc.

Roommate:
I went random freshman year, and then roomed with friends the next three years. (Freshman year - double; sophomore - double; junior - 4 person apartment; senior - 6 person apartment).
For reasons I will not get into, my freshman year roommate experience was not the best. However, I made great friends with other people in my building and outside of it. You do not have to be best friends with your roommate. You just have to coexist. Some people wind up being great friends! My situation just wasn’t like that.

With regards to going random/finding a roommate through the Facebook group: There’s no difference between which situation works out better more often. I had friends go in with roommates they thought they’d be best friends with and they definitely were not.

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Wanted to share the link to another question thread I did a few years ago. Some of this is out of date (e.g. discussion about honors program) but there is helpful info about dorms, classes, and college life in general.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/1946227-welcome-class-of-2021-current-bc-junior-willing-to-answer-questions-p7.html

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Hi. If you guys are still on this thread, can you tell me what BC might be like for a student who is on the more liberal side, is not religious, and is a member of the LBGTQ community?

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@tiva_mcabby5
Did you end up finishing as a pre med and going to med school?

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@brown2024

I most definitely did not - I was not cut out for general chemistry and realized I did not have a passion for medicine and rather had a passion for public health

If you scroll up you can see my reply to newyorkmom about my path towards finding my major

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Hi @GP2020 !

I think that in general, you will find that most of the student body is not very religious and leans liberal.

I cannot speak to being part of the LGBTQ community, but I want to note that I had many friends from BC who are part of the LGBTQ community. I do not want to speak for their experiences and would instead recommend you read reddit.

Overall I want to say that you will be welcomed with open arms by your classmates, professors (yes even the Jesuits), and staff members. Historically however, the administration is more conservative and there are defi

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^my reply was flagged so the links I posted did not get included. I would recommend searching “Boston College LGBT” and looking at the reddit thread. In addition, I posted the link to a current petition going around to have BC make a dedicated LGBTQ resource center

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Bump

Congrats to all those admitted to BC 2024!!