admitted to be a freshman in the fall. I am an undeclared major + premed. Any advice on finding a major and how to finesse premed or things u wish u knew? And west or warrentowers? What r the ppl like, community, which is better for classes, etc. And any other advice is appreciated
If you’re an athlete or want to take classes in the college of fine arts, then west is best-location wise. Otherwise, you’re looking at a 10-15 minute walk to class each day. Or you can catch the BU shuttle bus if you’re lucky, it’s usually packed. If you’re planning on taking classes in the college of arts & science or STEM classes, Warren is the better choice. I lived in Warren, and while there was the occasional elevator breakdown, I very much enjoyed it there. Especially with the convenience of its location to the dining hall within the building and its location to classes. Classes are what you make of it tbh. Put in the effort to study and such, classes can be demanding at times as a premed student.
Is there a good chance that a freshman will end up in a dorm close to classes? My S would be in engineering. Also we’re wondering what the “Other Education Cost” listed in the Cost of Attendance on his Financial Aid would be. And can local public transportation add up to $600/year? Trying to figure out how flexible these estimated non-direct costs could be. Thanks!
Hi! There’s a pretty good chance. One of my friends is an engineering student and most of their classes took place in Photonics or the ENG building which is really close to Warren which is the usual freshmen dorm. As long as he puts that Warren is his first choice when housing opens up, he should be good! Of course, if he would like he could also try for better housing like the brownstones on Comm. Ave, or Bay State Road. Any housing on Central/East campus will be really close. And even if he ended up in West, it’s really a 10-20 minute walk to wherever he would need to go. I would want to say that the other education cost may be referring to fees, like student fees, community fees, textbooks etc. You can’t really get out of paying those fees but for textbooks and such. You could always rent them out as opposed to buying them. Sometimes the library has some of them so you can always if need be go to the library and rent them out for like 2 hours and use as needed, or even scan them. Additionally, sometimes you can find textbooks online. Plus, there are often student reselling books on FB groups or elsewhere. My recommendation would be to wait until the first week of classes to buy unless you need to complete an assignment by then. Sometimes classes list textbooks but don’t really use them. As for non-direct costs, it all varies really. If you’re an OOS student, you should think about transportation in terms of breaks and such. Plane tickets can be expensive especially around breaks so I def recommend buying earlier if possible. Addtionally, MA requires students to have medical insurance so unless he already has a qualifying medical insurance, you might have to buy BU’s own insurance which is almost $3k/year but you can use it in your home state. This is an expense that I didn’t see coming so just an FYI. Public transportation really varies on how much he would go out honestly. There is a BU shuttle set up on campus that runs along comm ave that you can use for free, but the green line also runs through campus should he need to go out towards the city. A one-way trip is 2.40 per trip so $4.80 round trip, you can calculate how much he would spend. Then there’s costs regarding ubers, etc. I frankly didn’t spend too much on transportation given that I felt like I could easily walk everywhere I need to be, but I also didn’t mind walking for 10-20 minutes. There are also year-long passes BU offers to students for the T (public transportation) for like 300 or 400 a year I believe, but I don’t recommend it unless you plan on using it daily. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any more questions!
Thanks! The Cost of Attendance lists Tuition and Fees, Room and Meals, Books and Supplies, Transportation, and then Other Education Costs, which is why I’m confused. Maybe that’s just misc. like laundry? For transportation we’re a 3-hour drive or a bus ride away, so good there. My son walks a lot, so that’s fine.
Do you know whether mental counseling options are good? This was a rough year for him away at early college and he talked with a counselor a few times.
Hi, it could be costs relating to personal expenses or even technology like buying a new laptop or a tablet. Laundry is $1.50/wash and $1.25/dry if my memory serves me correctly. As for mental counseling, I don’t have any personal experience utilizing the services available but my roommate did have the need to talk to someone about her anxiety and stress of adjusting to college and it definitely took time (weeks/months) for her to have a chance to talk to someone, unfortunately, and even then, she mentioned they weren’t much help. So based on that experience and from what I have heard, mental counseling can be hit or miss. Your best chance to get help would be to most likely get a referral from Student Health Services as opposed to waiting to talk to a psychologist at SHS. Hope this helps!