I’m a current freshman at BC, in the College of Arts & Sciences. I’m currently pre-med and majoring in biology but I may be switching to psychology. I’m also in the CAS Honors Program, and I live in Honors housing.
I’m from the northeast and although I was born and raised a Yankee fan, I LOVE Boston.
Some quick stats:
-SAT: didn’t send, but 2050 superscored
-ACT: 34
-SAT IIs: didn’t send
-GPA: 94/100 unweighted (my school didn’t weigh our GPAs, or rank, or do percentiles.)
-APs: World History (4), American History (4), Biology (4), Calc BC (3, AB subscore 4), Physics (3), French (3)
-School: large suburban public (one of the best in my state)
-I got in regular decision.
I’d love to answer all of your questions about campus life, the Honors Program, honors housing/housing in general, the dining halls, the city of Boston, the pre-med program, the sciences, or anything else! Please, ask away, as I am home on break and I am very bored and I miss BC after only two weeks.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
Would you be willing to read my BC supplement essay tonight as I am submitting it soon? I can also send you my stats if you want to tell me my chances of getting admitted @tiva_mcabby5
I was just accepted into the BC CA&S HP and I was just wondering if it was still possible to study abroad during the school year as an honors student? I know that you have to take the honors classes so will that prevent you from studying abroad? Thanks!
@Tony10107
Hi! Most (or all?) BC kids that are going to study abroad during the school year go their junior year. The Honors Program understands this, so instead of being a full-year course, the junior year honors course is two completely separate semesters. If you study abroad in the fall, you take your honors class in the spring. If you study abroad in the spring, vice versa.
Another thing a lot of students do, usually if they feel they couldn’t spend an entire semester away from BC, is do a summer program. There are dozens each summer, and they usually last about 4 weeks. They go to Europe, Asia, South America…The Honors Program actually offers a 4-week long program in Paris during the summer before your junior year, so instead of completing your honors class on campus junior year, you complete it within four weeks in Paris!
So, long story short, it is completely possible to study abroad, and professors highly encourage it!
hiii!
so i was accepted to BC under Lynch, and I do know that I’m allowed to take other majors in CAS, but is there a way that I would be allowed to transfer out of Lynch completely to solely focus on A&S? And I am interested in seeing if i would be accepted to the Honors Program for A&S, so would there be a way in the future to be able to apply to the Honors program?
@vball12 First of all, congrats! Now, for your questions. You can definitely transfer out of Lynch, although I am not sure how you would go about that until you commit to BC and talk to your advisor. If you commit to BC, you’ll have orientation over the summer, where you get to pick classes. I would suggest emailing BC (student services, maybe, or the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences) BEFORE your orientation so you don’t have to worry about figuring it all out there.
About applying for the honors program: As far as I know, you can only get into the HP by being invited.
I believe its true that you need to wait a year. Keep in mind though that you have to complete core requirements no matter what school you attend. So transferring sophomore year shouldn’t really be an issue. You can factor it in when choosing your freshman schedule.
Hello! Can you please explain what a typical BC student does on the weekends? My daughter applied RD, hoping to be accepted! We are from the midwest and she is worried about schools in the northeast because she reads on various sites that the kids mainly sit in their dorm rooms and drink a lot of hard liquor. Is this the case at BC? Also, she is a musician, interested in the Screaming Eagles, but worried it might not be as fun as being in a midwestern or SEC band. Thank you in advance!
Hi @momofmykids! First, I hope your daughter is accepted!
Second, weekends: It is true that BC has a very “loud” drinking culture. That is, a lot of kids do go out and they make sure they talk all about it the next day. However, there are so many more things to do on weekends. Personally, I don’t participate in the party culture. Here’s my typical weekend: there’s usually some sort of hockey or basketball game on a Friday night, so all of my friends go. After, we usually stop in the dining hall for mozzarella sticks. Then, we’ll go back to our dorms and either watch a movie together or play a card game or board game. During the day on Saturday, it really varies, but it’ll usually involve going into Boston for some reason, be it a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts with a class, or a trip to the Aquarium, or a trip to walk around Quincy Market. Boston is very easy to access, and the T isn’t expensive or very confusing. Saturday night is kinda the same as Friday night, and Sunday is usually spent doing homework.
So, to conclude, there is a lot of drinking. There are still a lot of things to do that don’t involve alcohol though!
As for the marching band: I personally am not involved with the band, but several of my friends are! It’s a lot of hard work, but I know they have a lot of fun. Band kids arrive a week early in August for “band camp”, so they find friends easily and quickly within the band. During the football season, they’re very busy. They only play for home games, as far as I know, and only travel for the bowl game, but that’s over break anyways. After football, a lot of kids stay on with the pep band. There’s a rotating schedule for the pep band, so if your daughter is in the pep band, she won’t play at all of the games. You can do pep band without doing marching band, and vice versa. Our band is really great and it always looks like they’re having a lot of fun!
Hello. What is your opinion of Freshman living alone in an apartment off campus. We can provide a studio 5 minutes walk from campus for our student who has no interest in the dorm lifestyle. This is a bright person interested in the educational experience but not interested in the party scene. Are there enough opportunities to socialize in clubs and the many programs we see listed in the calenders? That seems to be of more interest to them at this point.
Actually, your idea of fun is exactly what they want but they were not accepted to the Honors program and a forced triple would be an unacceptable experience. Thank you.
@kmarsian
First of all, I was under the impression that all freshman and sophomore are required to live on campus, unless they are a commuting student.
Second, there are singles available on both Upper and Newton campus, and students are able to request them (not a guarantee, but BC will do whatever possible to accommodate).
Third, forced triples can be daunting but I have many friends that have made them work.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that by not living on campus, your child might feel pretty alienated. Especially as a freshman, the easiest way to make friends is in your own dorm. It is not just the Honors dorm that is full of kids who don’t party - every dorm has that. There’s even a “Healthy Living floor” on Upper campus.
All of that being said, if your student does live off-campus, they can definitely still join clubs and participate in fun activities. (Keep in mind that joining clubs is not a good way to avoid the drinking culture - most clubs host parties every weekend).
To sum things up, I don’t know what your child’s situation is, but I highly discourage living off campus, especially as a freshman. Not only would the commute be a pain (especially during the winter!) but not living in a dorm means that they have just lost an easy way to make friends.
@kmarsian:
After seeing our son go through BC and all that he gained from the campus/dorm life, I wouldn’t wish it on any freshman to live off campus (alone or not). So much of BC’s value comes from outside of the classroom, and much of that is seeded by friendships that develop early on. As @tiva_mcabby5 said, your child will definitely feel left out.
How do you find the honors housing compared to regular? I was accepted to the Honors Program for nursing but heard that the honors housing can be a bit isolated from the other students and that it is less of a social environment. Has this been the case for you? Also, how do you find the Honors Program in general? I’m pretty torn between whether or not I should accept since I’ve heard that nursing classes are very demanding and I was planning on using AP credit to lighten my workload, which I don’t think I would be able to do under the Honors Program.
I don’t know anything really about CSON Honors. Their honors classes might not be the same as A&S honors. For housing, I know that no one currently in Medeiros is in the nursing school (only A&S and CSOM) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed to live here.
I do not feel isolated at all, and I certainly don’t think its less of a social environment. I really love A&S honors, but like I said, I don’t think nursing honors is the same thing.
Hi,
I’m actually looking at a psychology major as well. Hope it’s not too late to ask a few questions…
I noticed you took AP US History. I did the same, and it was one of the few APs my school offered. Were you able to get any core requirement waived with that AP?
Would you say that BC has a large, diverse selection of courses to take? Especially when it comes to satisfying core requirements, it would be nice to know if there are courses that are somewhat “out-of-the-box,” even if they’re in a subject I don’t necessarily like. BC struck me as somewhat traditional, which is why I’m asking. For example, to satisfy the history requirement, hopefully there are more courses other than the typical ones like European history or something like that.
Which summer orientation did you go to? Do you know if there are any advantages to choosing an earlier session in like June, as opposed to July?
AP US History unfortunately doesn’t count for any core classes. I only got out of the history core classes because of AP World history.
Here is a link with all the classes you can take to fulfill every core requirement (check the side bar): http://www.bc.edu/offices/avp/core/coure-courses.html
There are some really cool ones for all of the requirements. Some have more than others. For example, there’s not many options for theology or writing. Check out the list!
I went to Orientation 5, which was in the middle of July. I don’t think there are any advantages of one over the other. They’re really all the same and classes do not close out for kids in later orientations. If you live far away, you’ll be eligible for orientation 7, which is literally the weekend before move-in day. This has its advantages (esp. because you won’t have to pay for flights twice) but at the same time you won’t be able to order your books early.
I chose the July one because I didn’t graduate until the very end of June and I would have felt weird attending my college orientation before I had technically finished high school. But that’s just me.
My son (well-rounded and serious student with 2300 + SAT accepted to BC Biochem, WL in Harvard) is not quite sure whether he will be pursuing Med school. He is also admitted to NEU honors with Dean’s scholarship but not BC C&A honors. The costs are about the same (He received a very generous package from BC that makes BC about the same cost as the cost of a flagship in-state college). He loves BC campus and LA curriculum. He is caring and loves talking to people. He is also a big fan of sports.
Could you answer the following questions for us?
(1)Should honors school be a factor in his decision between BC and NEU?
(2) Is it easy to change majors in BC if he decides to pursue Business major/minor or other majors in CAS?
(3) We know that Pre-Med is tough anywhere. Is BC Pre-Med program particularly difficult?