<p>I have come to believe that the only difference between the top 35 (or 135 for that matter) is the caliber of students and the financial aids. The kind of education you'll get is comparable at most places. Nobel laureates don't necessarily make great teachers. Some of the best professors I have had at BC who motivated me to learn don't even have tenure.</p>
<p>P.S.
I guess we are back to last last year's place...not really a big jump. I think we are going to be in this mid-30s purgatory for a while.</p>
<p>If I were to predict the year that BC gets out of the mid-30s into the 20s, I'd put my guess on AFTER the university finishes its drastic campus overhaul lol.</p>
<p>I for one, feel that BC is slightly underrated and that some of the rankings are deceptive, because getting into Cornell engineering school is actually easier than getting into the A&S school there. I'd say getting into the Cornell engineering is only slightly harder than BC, especially CSOM. And I feel getting into UVA can also be easier. There are just too many variables, which is why these rankings will never be more than a loose guide to how good schools really are.</p>
<p>^ I agree that there are too many variables. </p>
<p>Though, I do believe that BC will move up a good amount in the 2010 USNEWS rankings (for the Class of 2012) because BC's admitted student statistics increased significantly this year.</p>
<p>nesh1080, what do you mean by "admitted student statistics increased significantly this year"? Are you referring to the admitted student profile (GPA, test scores, etc.)? I haven't actually seen that for the incoming class anywhere. Have they been released yet? Or are you just referring to the fact that BC received more applications and therefore its acceptance rate went down again this year?</p>
<p>30,000 applications for 2,250 places is like 7.5 % or do you mean the % of applicants that accepted the offer? I didn't see that mentioned in the link.</p>
<p>Dear nesh1080 and all : The interesting thing about the middle 50% stats is that the College Board is currently quoting 1860-2130 and 28-32. The school has increased the midpoint by 90 points on the SAT and about 2 total points on the ACT - both are significant moves in a very short time. Good job by Boston College to take advantage of the top student overflow - while some schools coated in ivy are scouring the world wide universe to find the right students, BC seems to be finding great talent inside the existing 30,000+ applicant pool. Imagine that.</p>
<p>ColdCase~In the past, BC has generally accepted about 6,000 for the available spots. Since they have EA, not ED, they are not sure until the end of April just how many will accept. They can predict, based on past years, but it is by no means an exact science. They had a record number of applications for the Class of 2012, and that has been the case over at least the last 6-7 years.</p>
<p>Reading these threads, it seems like one thing making top students think twice about BC is the possibility of getting housing on the Newton Campus freshman year. That seems to be a legit concern, as one often picks a smallish college or university to avoid the drawbacks of big universities...like being a ways from classrooms and taking the bus everywhere. Has anybody mentioned the possibility of putting all freshmen in the upper campus dorms? They could turn the Newton Campus into grad student housing.</p>
<p>Also, is there any talk of making the middle campus architecture more Gothic, as in making new buildings in the Gasson style and retro-fitting existing newer looking buildings to look that way? If they'd gone through with the original plan from like 80 or so years ago, the place would look like Yale now.</p>
<p>I don't think the possibility of being assigned to Newton is that big of a deterrent -- especially after helping my son move in there last week and being amazed at the number of students that admitted not really knowing about Newton until they had accepted and started filling out their housing preference survey! A student has less than a 2 out of 5 chance of getting Newton if they ask for Upper Campus instead, and even then, it's only for one year, since only freshmen live on Newton. And some students do voluntarily opt for Newton just because it is all freshmen, and/or because it is quiet and has those beautiful trees and grassy areas.</p>
<p>I think a bigger problem is the lack of guaranteed housing for 4 years (for roughly half of the admittees), especially in a big city like Boston, and that's probably one of the main reasons behind BC's stated goal in the new 10-Year IMP to provide on-campus housing for every undergraduate who wants it. Until that has been accomplished, BC is not going to put any effort into providing graduate housing. In fact, BC does not currently provide any graduate housing on University-owned property, but it does has a legal agreement with the City of Boston that allows the school to lease certain buildings from a private company (for a total of 186 beds for graduate students and their families) for 6 years; that agreement expires in 2012.</p>
<p>And I agree with you that O'Neill Library looks absolutely brutal when compared to the lovely old Gothic buildings on the Quad. The IMP is just a conceptual development plan and does not address architectural issues, but the sample rendering of new buildings on Middle Campus does at least reference the existing structures:</p>
<p>i dont think newton is a detterent either.. lots of kids pick it and if you do get stuck there, you will probably wind up loving it or at least tolerating it for a year. and theres no way all freshmen could fit on upper. they already have forced triples tehre and there is no room whatsoever to build more buildings, unless they just add more floors to existing ones.</p>
<p>im one of the lucky few who got 4 years of housing and am DEFINETLY living on all four years. but you CAN appeal if you only get 3 years. ive heard of a bunch of juniors (because thats the off campus year at BC, sr's are guarenteed again) who do and get the housing. expecially if youre going abroad fall of and looking for spring housing.</p>
<p>and yeah oneill is ugly.. but it wouldnt stop me from applying to or coming to bc. it has BEAUTIFUL views of BC and boston from the top 2 floors</p>