<p>Although Boston College seems to have a reputation for a focus on undergraduate liberal arts, and thus draws comparisons to schools like Tufts, Wake Forest, William & Mary, Brandeis, Lehigh, URochester, Vanderbilt, Emory, ND, Georgetown, UVa, is there ever a sense that the school is beginning to strive away from these roots?</p>
<p>The enrollment statistics on the website indicate that roughly 42% of the undergraduate student body is enrolled in pre-professional programs (CSOM = 1825, LSOE = 682, CSON = 408, Communications = 916). I am by no means doubting the quality of BC’s liberal arts education, but it seems odd for a school that seems to emphasize liberal arts to have a little less than half learning trades.</p>
<p>Many of the other schools that you list also have undergrad biz schools and nursing…at Emory, for example, 33% of the Frosh matriculants are pre-biz or premed. Others offer engineering…</p>
<p>The importance of the liberal arts is still there even if a student is enrolled in one of the other schools at BC, the university core curriculum guarantees that.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t include Communications with pre-professional, it doesn’t take the place of journalism, radio broadcasting, etc. like at other schools.</p>
<p>and BC would agree with you iMac. But I don’t think academia would, particularly since colleges with strong Comm programs tends to have them in colleges other than Arts and Sciences. Thus, even though BC may hold out its program to be different, I doubt seriously whether anyone outside of Chestnut Hill does the same. But ignore my opinion, and look up the requirements for the major at BC. How many of the courses focus on media? How many of the courses have media in their title? Heck, even the first Learning Outcomes includes the word media. Moreover, according to the Catalog, “advanced courses allow majors to the opportunity…to study more applied areas such as advertising, digital communication, journalism, public relations, radio and television.” BC’s Comm program may not “take the place” of journalism, but it definitely includes such courses.</p>