I am planning to apply EA to UMichigan and either BC or UND and ED to Duke, just in case I may get deferred. But regarding BC and UND, I understand they are both different environments but also great institutions where I would be happy to cultivate my academic growth. Can you provide advice on:
1.) Premed success rate/ life
2.) General Social life and Environment
3.) Difficult of getting in early action- (I am Asian Indian, Hindu, Born in India/ I hear UND is 85% Catholic, so several UND students say I may be a underrep. minority, a useful hook)
4.) I guess sort of the Catholic/Religious predominance in judging lifestyle
5.) Grade Inflation?
6.) City Life, I guess nothing beats Boston
7.) Really Important- Financial Aid, I hear Boston is really expensive, but I am curious to the past fin aid packages.
<p>I dont know the stats for premed success at either school, but I can tell you that having visited ND on several occasions during both the fall (football weekends) and the spring I could not find a better atmosphere. Although Notre Dame is one of many schools I am looking at, I have yet to find an environment with happier people. And although I think that ND can be sometimes overlooked when people discuss the top-tier schools I think the vast majority of people who go there love it. </p>
<p>And perhaps its just because I am interested in the school, but I seem to hear a good many stories about people transferring from big-name schools to ND. My cousin recently transferred from Dartmouth to ND and loves it, and a close friend of mine turned down Yale last year for ND and is really happy with her decision. In addition, a view book I received from Williams yesterday mysteriously states that: President Josiah Jed Bartlet, of NBCs West Wing, was accepted to Williams but opted for Notre Dame instead. I cant tell you why Williams would advertise this, but I do know that you can not go wrong with ND.</p>
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Difficult of getting in early action- (I am Asian Indian, Hindu, Born in India/ I hear UND is 85% Catholic, so several UND students say I may be a underrep. minority, a useful hook)
<p>Despite the "diversity" end-all be-all opinions of some of the CC'ers - a catholic school will look at being catholic as a hook, not the other way around.</p>
<p>I almost went to BC, and I am not Catholic at all. I think BC will offer you a better quality of life than ND, as it is right near a great city with a slightly more diverse student body than ND. I'd say the academics are about even at each place, but BC seems to be particularly strong in Humanities and Ancient/Classical History with its Honors program.</p>
<p>I don't think Notre Dame is better at all, especially given your concerns. I'm at a pretty well-regarded public high school north of Chicago and for academics, BC definitely has a better reputation. I know there will be a lot of us applying next year (most who are not catholic). The two people I know who are looking at Notre Dame are very conservative Catholics.</p>
<p>Why did you choose Swarthmore over BC? I'm looking at both and am actually planning to visit Swarthmore next week. I'd appreciate any insight. Thanks.</p>
<p>trev:
BC felt too much like high school to me. It was very hard to turn it down actually, but I felt more comfortable at Swarthmore and just thought it would be a more interesting place to go to for the next 4 years. And I decided BC just was too close to home (home is Vermont).</p>
<p>But you really can't go wrong with either one, especially if you get into BC's Honors College (another reason why BC was hard to turn down, it's a great program).</p>
<p>You cannot be serious, BC is in no way, shape, or form better than ND. Don't bring biased opinions to a thread where a person wants an honest one. Catholic or not, you cannot say BC is better than ND. While BC is a great school, don't get me wrong, ND is just better, people just dont give it any props because it is in the Midwest and has a religious affiliation. I'm not saying ND is top 10 or anything crazy biased like that, but it is easily top 25, while BC would be lucky at top 40.</p>
<p>Thanks, College_hopefully. Vermont .wow must be nice. Any advice on things I should look out for next week?</p>
<p>No need to get defensive, CCShamrock. Note I didn't just say "BC is better." Absolute statements like that don't mean much. I said that given Med_TMuds' concerns, BC is a better choice. Sure this is my opinion but its based on facts that I listed. Youre entitled to your own opinion. Maybe you think Notre Dame really is the best thing going. Great. Tell us why. Just dont knock those who dont agree with you as biased. Exchanging opinions is the point of this forum.</p>
<p>I think being from the Indian subcontinent is considered a minority at BC, Med_TMuds, but I don't think they will take religion into account unless you bring it up in your application essays. No idea where you have a better shot. BC, UofM, NYU and ND are very different so I'm not sure what you're looking for. Impossible to answer without that context.</p>
<p>Depending what you're going into. NYU is a great school but is behind both ND and U-Mich. U-Mich is great for business and medicine (really good), and engineering. ND is good with biology, pre-law, and engineering. Overall, I would give the edge to ND, but U-Mich is a great school, great graduate school too. ND has a great campus filled with tradition and unity, but is surrounded by a crappy city. U-Mich is in a good city filled with stuff to do. U-Mich may seem very big and overwhelming to some, especially during football. NYC is NYC, don't need to say anything else. ND is EA, so there is nothing to loose.</p>
<p>Go visit the schools and see what you like.</p>
<p>If medicine is your thing, look at Duke. While it may be a reach, it is better than both ND and U-Mich and has a wonderful pre-med program. Duke is ED though.</p>
<p>Didnt mean to get on the offensive. While both BC and ND are great catholic universities, I feel that ND has the edge. However, it is soley up to the applicant, and I encouage you to visit both campuses. Pick the one that fits you, don't listen to lists, ask your counsellor.</p>
<p>"I am planning to apply EA to UMichigan and either BC or UND and ED to Duke, just in case I may get deferred.'</p>
<p>UMichigan is rolling admissions. Plan on using your EA somewhere else, but get that UMichigan application in by the end of September. That way, should should hear from UMichigan before the EA decision date of December 15th.</p>
<p>My son just received this year's application materials to BC along with the associated view-book. On the page right before the actual application it lists a number of Vital Statistics. Here is what you are looking for:</p>
<p>"Medial School: 90 percent of BC applicants with at least a 3.2 science grade point average and at least a 9.0 on the MCAT were admitted to medical school"</p>
<p>I saw that someone answered this question about ND in another thread. Good luck with your decision.</p>