<p>[Compare</a> Colleges: BC v. Duke.](<a href=“Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.”>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)</p>
<p>[Compare</a> Colleges: BC v. JHU.](<a href=“Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.”>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)</p>
<p>I would suspect you are correct, MommaJ. But one factoid:</p>
<p>BC was #7 in number Peace Corps volunteers for medium-sized Unis. Two other Catholic colleges, Notre Dame and Georgetown, were tied for 10th (altho GU maybe smaller than BC).</p>
<p>Hopkins was #5 in the small Uni category. (I’m too lazy to do the per capita math.) Duke was not in the top 25.</p>
<p>Golden: your comment about BC not being within the top five in Massachusetts has no merit whatsoever. Considering that Massachusetts is the home of a solid amount of the nation’s top schools, not being one of the best five does not mean a thing. In terms of national research universities (not LACs), BC would typically be considered to be in the top five schools in Massachusetts - Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BC, Holy Cross/Brandeis.</p>
<p>goldenboy is a clown; BC is a top school in MA and is comparable to any school in the country</p>
<p>BC has no reputable academic programs and its only claim to fame is its high selectivity, which really isn’t even that high.</p>
<p>^ Boston College has the 9th ranked undergraduate business school.
[Best</a> Undergraduate Business Schools 2012 - Businessweek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>It is ranked very high in almost every criteria including average starting salary.</p>
<p>I am a 1980’s era public school kid from a Boston suburb (think Mitt Romney if you care to read between the lines) with a well regarded public school system. I also come from a long and lengthy line of BC alumi. I am frankly AMAZED - AMAZED - AMAZED at how popular BC has become over the years. I always considered it to be a so -so type of school. The kids from my generation were in no way at the top of my high school class - they were the students who were pretty much all around average and certainly not top students. Boston College, at the time, was my safety school - and there was no way I was going to be caught dead going to BC. As local Catholic colleges go Holy Cross was considered, back in the day, the far better and more prestigious school. I happen to feel that is still the case; the difference is that Holy Cross did not have the enormous benefit of the Flutie Effect. I hope the BC folks over in admissions & administration say a prayer every morning thanking God for sending Doug Flutie to them! </p>
<p>To the OP - yes - BC is & has been trying to up their game. It has been working. It is a very popular school but that is different than being a top school - simply my opinion!</p>
<p>Mass has lots of schools with great academic traditions-Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Williams, Holy Cross, Amherst, Wellesley, Smith. BC, BU, and Northeastern were more local schools until 20-25 years ago.</p>
<p>BC is a good school and its rep has been on the rise for years.</p>
<p>In terms of “upping its game”… just thought I’d throw out an observation related to impressions from an info session visit last year. </p>
<p>We were struck by two things that were very different from any other schools we visited. One was related to how difficult it was to find the info session. Yes, that was true for other places as well. But this was ridiculous. The parking lot was very far from the admissions building, there were NO signs, and no signs on the admissions building either. The doors were locked, and you had to go around to the opposite side of the building. I know this may sound silly, but it was the most unwelcoming session we had been to in terms of finding the place. And believe me, we had been to others where we also had to walk a long distance, had to take a shuttle bus, etc. But this was more offensive than most.</p>
<p>Secondly, one of the two individuals greeting guests at the sign-in area for the info session was a nun in full garb/habit. She was very sweet and friendly. But I think having her there gave a clear message that this is a Catholic institution and that if you are not fully willing to embrace a Catholic philosophy, don’t bother to apply. We are not Catholic, but really appreciate the Jesuit philosophy, so were open to the school. But having a nun in full habit as the first person to greet you gave a clear message that diversity may not be welcome there. </p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “…diversity may not be welcome there.” – isn’t having a nun present showing diversity – in a formerly, all-male bastion, no less?! ;)</p>
<p>@maggiedog</p>
<p>Your second point is quite interesting, but I’d just like to let you know that there is a practicing Muslim woman “in full garb” who also regularly works the desk in the admissions office. Anyways, I’m not quite sure why you were so taken aback by the presence of a nun. BC in no way hides its Catholic identity. I’m not a practicing member of any religion and I attend BC. Fully accepting BC is a Catholic institution is something one must do if one is to attend. While BC is certainly not as diverse as other schools, it’s not because the school is unkind to diversity, it’s because the Catholicism attends to attract a vast amount of Catholic students, who happen to fit a certain demographic. </p>
<p>Reverting to your first point, I also agree Devlin Hall is a quite hard to find/identify for most. Hopefully admissions finds a way to remedy this. The parking situation however, is something unavoidable because of our constrained real estate.</p>
<p>^^The directions, or lack thereof, from stadium parking to Devlin is spot-on. </p>
<p>Perhaps any students reading this thread – or their roomies – who work for SAP (Student Admissions Program) can recommend that BC put up a few directional signs directing folks to the right stairs.</p>
<p>In response to the “diversity” comment… Leanid, good point about the nun in a formerly all-male place! </p>
<p>Our reaction, though, was that having a nun as the individual “welcoming” families to BC suggests that consciously or unconsciously, this is a message that Catholicism is the “face” of the school. In reading about BC, the wonderful Jesuit values were emphasized, but there was an impression that one could attend without being Catholic and still feel like you would fit in. That may be true, but the initial impression may make those not in the Catholic faith somewhat uncomfortable.</p>
<p>FWIW, I worked in a Catholic institution for years, so am aware that if you have not gone to Catholic schools, it can take some time to feel comfortable in an openly religious environment. This thread was about BC upping its game. If they want to do that, they may want to consider making it feel more accessible to those of other faiths.</p>
<p>in response to the mention of the nun: i’m a current student at bc and have not seen one nun since i have been here. there are certainly nuns on campus, especially around st. mary’s, and those studying at the school, but they are in no way pushed around like political objects to promote an image of catholicism at bc.</p>
<p>on another note: i haven’t seen this thread since i first posted and i’m glad it’s been getting some attention. as a student at bc, it is easy to understand that many might think i’m simply trying to “up” my school. that is not the case. i came from an area in new jersey (shocker) that is not super acquainted to bc, and have, therefore, found myself very impressed with what the school has had to offer thus far. it has exceeded my expectations in almost every facet. i’m not sure if my expectations were out of line with the reality of the school or if i thought the school was on the rise, but nonetheless i am impressed.</p>
<p>Boston COllege is already a top 35 school not much more to up</p>
<p>Why do you bump up this thread every 5 months? I am not sure BC is “upping” its game more than any other school. Their 25%-75% SAT/ACT stats are actually much lower than the schools ranked around them at 1930-2150. I have also heard their giving campaign is not going very well, partly do to their poor sports performance. It is also difficult to “up” your game when you do not focus creating strong academic graduate programs of which they do not have many outside of the professional schools (business and law).</p>
<p>
Not sure how you came up with this. With the exception of Tufts, nearly every school ranked from 24-35 has a very similar middle SAT range to BC’s. </p>
<p>I would also question the “giving campaign is not going very well”. Since the 08-09 recession, the endowment has grown to nearly 1.9 billion (from 1.5 billion).</p>
<p>agreed and had the very same experience Maggiedog.</p>
<p>BC is a very difficult school to get into. They have high statistical requirements for their US News Ranking, but they also seem to look for applicants with a lot of extra curricular activities. I consider this the Brown Model, after the approach taken by Brown University.</p>