<p>My S would like to join BC as a premed student. Would the core curriculum interfere with his premed requirements. How easy is it to complete the core curriculum and score and mantain your GPA? My S primary interests are Math/Science. He is not a big fan of the arts or philosophy.</p>
<p>The core does not interfere at all with the pre-med requirments. My roommate is a psychology major and he is also pre-med. He has had no problem fitting in all of his different requirments.</p>
<p>As far as maintaing a high GPA, it al depends on how smart you are and how hard you are willing to work. Pre-med is intense everywhere but at BC you will have the added pressure of getting core requirments out of the way. If your son does not like the arts and humanities, then the core will be a problem for him, as the core is mostly subjects in the humanities.</p>
<p>There are many courses in the core at BC but they help students develop certain skills and become well-rounded. One of the jesuits on campus were telling me that people should not see the core as a distraction on the road to a career. If your son does see the core as a distraction (which is not uncommon) then BC might not be the right place for him.</p>
<p>The core is not popular with incoming freshman because it looks pretty daunting. But if you ask graduating seniors their experience with the core, the majority believes the core has really help make their college education broader and more meaningful. Furthermore, core is not restrictive toward your major when you do out the math. You need a minimum of 38 classes to graduate, and 15 of which are core. Most major requires between 10 and 12 classes, therefore you you still have 11 to 13 classes left to do whatever you want. And with the core, you get a sample of everything, this helps you decide what minor or other concentration you want to try. Futhermore, there are many different classes that fulfill the core, so no one person's core curriculum is the same as another. For example, with the Philosophy/Theology core, you can take them as seperate classes or as a joined class known as Perspective; if you don't like the theoretical approach to the subject, then you can do PULSE, a service-oreinted class that place you in volunteering jobs that united theory with practical life. The core is blessing in disguise, it gives you a sense of discipline and well-roundedness.</p>
<p>Inquiring, I would tell your son to not keep his option close. I know one professor in the philosophy department who were a math major during college and through out most of his grad school, but decided that he likes philosophy more so he switched field. I personally changed my major 3 times already. Nothing is set in stone, and the core really helps your explore what is out there beside your own interested field.</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight Nicoljs and Reddune. My son is keeping his options open. How are academics in the science related fields at BC? What about research opportunities for undergraduates?</p>
<p>The sciences are pretty good at BC. I do not really have much experience in them but from what I read they seem to be good. I do not know if this can be used as a guide to tell how good the chemistry department is, but here is an article about them - <a href="http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/07/bruner-antibiotic.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/07/bruner-antibiotic.html</a></p>
<p>As for research opportunities, I know two people who work in research labs. They are both juniors and pre-med. I am not sure how many people get to work in research labs because I do not know many people in the sciences.</p>
<p>Why go to a liberal arts college if he isn't interested in most or all subject areas?</p>
<p>It is rare to find anyone who is interested in most or all of the subject areas. At some point in time everyone will (hopefully?) find out what ones passion is. I think that having a core curriculum gives a student the opportunity to learn things out of ones basic interests and explore different areas. Its not that my S dislikes the non science subjects (or Liberal Arts) rather he has a greater liking for Science and Math and specifically within the sciences his preference is Biological Sciences and basic research. He also likes Economics and Music. I am trying to get a feel for the pre med program and how well the program prepares the student to succeed in securing a place in a medical school are there opportunities to work in a hospital, do research , interact with professionals in the medical/scientific research field and similar questions like that .. BTW I would not call BC a Liberal Arts school. Granted that it has a strong Liberal Arts Education, but it does Offer degrees in both Science and Arts namely - Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science degree. </p>
<p>**Thank you nicholjs **for pointing out the kind of research BC scientists are involved in. Impressive stuff.</p>
<p>Just wanted to correct myself on my statement about BC not being a Liberal Arts school. **BC is a Liberal Arts school **because it allows you to study a variety of fields before narrowing down to a field of deeper study "major". You do not have to love or know everything about all the fields but I think that it makes for a more "Educated Person".</p>
<p>Speaking of core curriculum, I had a question about the theology component. Is there any course that discusses/focuses on Protestant theology? I know its a Catholic university ...</p>
<p>As far as premed students go, many students enter as premed and find that the path was not right for them. Thank goodness they have a broad education base and the opportunity to be exposed to other courses in which they may seek majors. Additionally, many med schools are taking the liberal arts majors over the science major as the person is from a broader experience and therefore makes a better doctor who can relate to all types of people.</p>
<p>The Protestant religion is an out growth of Catholism and much of the background is extremely similar. Having been brought up Catholic, I am often taken back as to how familiar many of the protestant services are. The religious offerings at BC are vast and varied. They do their best to encorporate everyone... but don't forget it is a jesuit school.</p>
<p>To those who were not accepted to BC for transfer do not fret. It's certainly not the institution that many make it out to be. I just to spent my freshmen year at BC and didnt like it all. The academics are not challenging (hence my near perfect GPA), the people are fake, and the housing is terrible. I'll be at Georgetown next year and im so happy I got away from BC. If you want to be in Boston apply to Harvard, Tufts, or Wellesley. My friend who is at Harvard loves it and I know others who are happy at the others. So to those who didnt get in dont get too upset.</p>
<p>I saw that tdolson88 posted the same thing on like five different topics. It seems like you didnt have a great experience at BC, tdolson88, but that does not mean that you should falsely trash the school. Maybe the academics werent challenging because you are just a really smart kid; but many, many people with very high SAT scores struggle at BC. Maybe you were majoring in something easy or maybe you were taking all core classes. BC has top notch academics.</p>
<p>As for the people being fake, maybe you were making the wrong friends or maybe you have some kind of social problem where people felt uncomfortable being around you. All of the best friends I have go to BC. They are dedicated to service, academics, athletics, and having fun. I dont believe there is a more well-rounded school in the country.</p>
<p>I would have to agree, freshmen dorms are horrible, especially if you live on Newton. The dorms on Newton are nice but the location stinks and the dorms on upper stink but the location is great. Housing gets much better as you progress, though. All of Lower campus is awesome and who wouldnt want to live in the MODS?</p>
<p>I just re-read my reply to tdolson and I want to apologize for being so harsh. I just got offended because when you insult the academics and the students at BC, you are insulting me.</p>
<p>nicholjs i can understand where u are coming from but I feel bad for students who don't get accepted. I feel BC is a good school but people fail to realize that there are so many great opportunities at other schools. So im sorry if i offended u but I want people to "hear the other side of the story" concerning BC.</p>
<p>Seriously tdolson88, if you hate BC, then provide concrete evidence that back up your story rather than making blanket statement that does no service to everyone. I love BC, but I acknowledge its drawbacks and know where it needs to improve. No school is perfect, but your attitude to attacking BC on every single post here shows me that you were either rejected and now is trying to get back at BC with some concocted story and then post it every chance you get, or a person who really has nothing better to do with his/her time. My advice, get a life and move on.</p>
<p>"If you want to be in Boston apply to Harvard, Tufts, or Wellesley. My friend who is at Harvard loves it and I know others who are happy at the others. "
- News alert, students who apply to BC DO APPLY TO THOSE SCHOOL TOO. I'm glad that your friends are happy at Harvard and wherever, but if you don't mind me asking, what does that have anything to do with the caliber of education at BC. I'm guessing you're a freshman, so I am assuming you haven't been here long enough to take the hundreds of different professors here at BC so you weren't challenged, but that doesn't say anything on the challenge of BC curriculum. Georgetown offers a fine education and I hope it offers the intense curriculum that you crave (I'm surprise Chicago and Reed weren't in your list if challenge is what you're looking for).</p>
<p>can current BC students tell us what core classes to take and what to avoid from their experience?</p>