I personally don’t think honors should be a factor. BC is an amazing school otherwise and your son would still get a fantastic education here without honors, especially since the honors class is only one class that’s actually a lot like a class called Perpectives, which is offered to all freshmen.
It is very difficult to transfer into BC’s business school. Some minors in the business school are available to kids in other schools (I would check out the CSOM page for more information). It is however easy to switch between majors within A&S, especially freshman year.
Pre-med is very tough at BC. General Chemistry is the class that gets everyone. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart but if you son starts pre-med he can always drop it.
Thank you so much for answering our questions. My son will stay in A&S so that he can try many different things in A&S. Do you have any suggestions for him to prepare for biology and chemistry subjects before he comes to BC? He did take college level/AP chemistry and Biology in HS but is thinking about re-taking these courses in order to have a better foundation. Thanks again.
Do you mean he’s planning on retaking those classes before he gets to BC? As in over the summer? I don’t think that’s necessary, personally. He’ll probably have to take General Chemistry and the intro bio course Molecules & Cells freshman year. To review, he can always just read over his old notebooks. Both classes are designed for kids who have never taken AP bio or chem, or kids that took the classes a while ago, or even for kids who took them recently. It’s not like your son will go into Gen Chem and all of a sudden it’s 100% new stuff starting where AP chem left off. A lot of it will probably be review, although it will go more in depth.
Parent here, with a D who graduated BC last year. I would agree with the first two points, but strongly disagree with the third. Organic Chem is usually the class that trips up premeds everywhere. (It requires higher level thinking skills to do well, whereas Gen Chem only requires Alg I.)
BC revamped its Bio a couple of years ago and is excellent; the lab does tests that some grad students have not yet completed at other colleges. Definitely take it. (Due to BC’s bio program, my D obtained a federal research stipend for summer research.)
Premed is all about the A’s; take Gen Chem and ace it.
You’re completely right about organic chem. What I should have said is that gen chem is a big hurdle that trips a lot of people up, but Orgo certainly gets more people
Also to answer your other question @WhatshouldIdo101
That depends entirely on how well your son knows his chem and bio. I know one girl who skipped the intro bio classes because she did very well in AP bio senior year but ended up regretting it because Cell Biology (usually one of the next courses in the sequence) can be really hard without having taken bio in a college setting.
Personally, I would suggest retaking them because there’s a difference between taking an AP course and taking the same course again when it counts for your major. But that’s just my experience.
good point, tiva. I also recommend taking Bio 2000 Cell and Molecules and only 2010 if you are interested in Enviro & Evolution. Definitely take Bio Lab (2040). Premeds can skip Enviro and take something else instead, such as Physiology.
How is the career center at BC. I know those who graduate from CSOM have wonderful job opportunities, but how is it for CAS students (thats where I was accepted). Are both the alumni network and career center excellent for helping physics/science-in-general majors get jobs post-grad (because it can be quite difficult for people of these majors to get jobs in general with a bachelors)? Also, are there/ how are coop programs and internships? Do most people do one or two?
@matusa96
I haven’t actually used the career center in person much this year but I’ve heard from others that they’re pretty helpful with compiling resumes and stuff like that. I don’t know if BC had a co-op program like other colleges might (like Northeastern).
I do know this: For students interested in medicine there is a database called EagleDocs or something compiled by the pre-med office that has a list of all BC alumni (those who choose to participate) around the country who are involved in medicine (doctor, PA, vet, dentistry, etc). This is only accessible once you’ve gotten to BC and been given the password.
Here’s the Career Center website for more info. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
I’ll check the link and see what additional info I can get!