<p>I’m an Iowan, I’ve spent 4 years of my life in Austria. I’ve applied to both schools and have yet to hear back from either of them. I have a 4.0 college gpa as a sophomore biochem student who has already taken some tough classes. So I am hopeful that my shots are good at either option.</p>
<p>Is there any obvious preference I should have? I realize BC is more prestigious, however prestige is not everything…</p>
<p>There are MANY threads in this forum on BU vs. BC. Do a search.</p>
<p>well.. i looked all 6 pages back and i didn't find 1, so if you would provide a link that would be helpful.</p>
<p>BC is not more prestigious than BU. Period. Until fairly recently it was considered in the Boston area as a noticeably less serious school. Times change and all the schools seem to have better reputations, and the two are now considered generally equivalent. One piece of advice: there's a difference between going to MIT and going to BU (BC, Northeastern, most schools in the US) but not between going to school A and school B that are remotely close to each other in some nebulous, bull of prestige. If anyone thinks that being number 25 or 35 or 55 or 85 really matters in life, they need a reality check. It matters if you get into number 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and maybe a few more spots on the list, but not generally.</p>
<p>The best fits are where you're comfortable and where you find what you want socially and academically. </p>
<p>So just in general and not with any regard to the specifics that really matter to your needs, BC is a good choice if you are Catholic, if you really want a major sports environment and if you want a more traditional campus in a more suburban setting. BC has decided to set itself apart in the market as being the only Division 1 sports school. (And according to the latest study, that generates about 8% more applications.) If you're non-traditional or are in important ways "alternative" in your outlook and/or lifestyle, you probably don't fit well at BC, which is a Jesuit institution. If you don't like a lot of attention paid to athletics (and athletes), then you probably don't fit well at BC.</p>
<p>having lived and europe, and still periodically making stays in europe I do prefer the broader perspective which I feel would be more available and BU, but the tight nit campus at BC is something I find attractive. My biggest priority would be the academic focus in the Sciences, Biochem and Biomedicine. I want to be challenged more than anything. Not to sound conceited but, I want to be around students who won't let me set the curve on an organic test by only studying the day before via Midwest state schools. That shouldn't happen. And am I correct in assuming from what you said that the students tend to be very comparable at either college?</p>
<p>BU is great in the sciences. Don't worry. You will almost never be the curve-setter in those courses. Most of my friends are premeds, very smart kids, and they tell me stories of some of the geniuses they have that always screw up the curve. You will certainly be challenged. My friends would study weeks for exams. Haha if I even suggested the idea of them studying for only a day or two, they would write the F on their tests in advance.</p>
<p>"If you're non-traditional or are in important ways "alternative" in your outlook and/or lifestyle, you probably don't fit well at BC, which is a Jesuit institution. If you don't like a lot of attention paid to athletics (and athletes), then you probably don't fit well at BC."</p>
<p>Most of the things you said seemed right except this one. I don't remember you being a student at BC. Do you have any close family member who is attending BC? Do you know what the Jesuits are? Why did you utter such bull?</p>
<p>I'm excited.. i'm getting slightly nervous because I have yet to hear back from either institution (until mid may) and I'm worried as I didn't have as much time to invest in a thoughtful essay. However I'm hoping for my grades and bilingual multicultural status to carry a small amount of weight. The chem department at my school is the best in the state, but I'm from Iowa. And I'm not saying I don't work my but off for those grades either but, when I take the tests its not a matter of if i can get an A but how little I can get away with studying. I get distracted without the push. </p>
<p>How much of am emphasis is going to be on the essay for a biochem student? Also how does Boston University rank with top med school acceptance rates? One reason I've been thoughtful before leaving Iowa is I have a very good shot at the number #8 Iowa Roy Carver Med school. But my goal is a little more long term than primary health care, I want to specialize, a lot.</p>
<p>Also how are dorms as far as convenience and studious atmosphere?</p>
<p>pawne4, I'd suggest browsing the forums for your various concerns. </p>
<p>Reddune, the answer to the first question is no. I've been out of college for many years. The answer to the second is yes, but not right now. The answer to the third is absolutely and very definitely yes. </p>
<p>BC is much more conservative than BU and is much less accepting of gays and lesbians. Since kids pay so much attention to stupid rankings, BC was in the top 5 a few years back for most gay unfriendly. That's an overstatement, from what I hear but it makes the point. </p>
<p>BC has a significant number of athletes on campus. BC does a great job relative to most schools at graduating athletes, particularly in football, but it is a Division 1 athletic school with a large number of athletes on scholarship and sports is a significant part of the school's image and social experience. It's certainly not required to be a jock or to be a rabid football fan but that is a big part of the BC experience - and many believe that's a positive, not a negative.</p>
<p>"BC is much more conservative than BU and is much less accepting of gays and lesbians."</p>
<p>What does that even mean? BC is less friendly. Are the students homophobes running around with t-shirt saying "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve"? 80%+ of the student population had voted in favor of a referendum supporting the establishment of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender in the Undergraduate Student Government with a 33% share of the total funding. I guess we must be all public gay-bashers and closet gay-supporters. The board of directors is certainly conservatives. They are old school Catholics. But the only time you'll be up in arm about their action is when they raise the tuition.</p>
<p>I don't recall BU being on top of any "#1 Liberal Campus" list and I haven't seen BC on any "I heart Ronald Reagan" list either. I fail to see where this "much more" distinction comes from. At best BU can claim to have more liberal Board of directors. </p>
<p>"BC was in the top 5 a few years back for most gay unfriendly. "</p>
<p>Might need to have a citation for this one. I don't trust people's memory. This might have been true 50 years ago, but then again, there was an Ivy-League quota on Jews 50 years ago.</p>
<p>I'm not reconciling well these two phrases:</p>
<p>"If you don't like a lot of attention paid to athletics (and athletes), then you probably don't fit well at BC."</p>
<p>"It's certainly not required to be a jock or to be a rabid football fan but that is a big part of the BC experience - and many believe that's a positive, not a negative."</p>
<p>It has been a problem for BC to get many of its students to really really care about other sports beside Football. If you have attended any B-ball game and hockey game, you will see empty seats. The BC and its love affair with D1 sports have been overly exaggerated.</p>
<p>I would guess that BC has a better sense of community and alumni loyalty than BU. The strong football program and Catholic identity have something to do with that. BU has no campus - just Commonwealth Ave. BU probably has stronger academics and a more diverse student body.</p>
<p>Princeton Review, my friend. And the BC campus paper has written about gays on campus, saying that they have few problems with the students, not many with the faculty but feel they get little support from the administration. As you note, that would be as expected. I don't remember saying gays are harassed at BC; that's you reading the worst into my remarks. BC does have a school-approved gay / lesbian group, but it's only about 3 or 5 years old. They were late allowing people to come out openly on campus and the general vibe, I understand from kids, is more of a don't ask, don't tell variety. That's not bad and it's certainly better than at many schools I could name where gay kids are not only harassed but the administration does nothing about it. BC has done a better job than some other Catholic schools at dealing with modern society. </p>
<p>I've been to many BC games of all kinds. If BC is playing over-matched Iona, the stands are pretty empty. That's not true at Duke but then they actually camp out for an entire term at Duke for tickets, which is a sign of insanity. (That was described in a recent book about behavioral economics, btw.) I don't know why my comments about this bother you so much. Some people like schools with a big-time sports program. Others don't. </p>
<p>The only major sports program at BU is hockey. </p>
<p>BU's attitude about students has historically been that if you follow the rules then we don't care. The rules used to be quite strict and remain strict about drinking and drugs on campus but have been relaxed about guests. BU never cared about sexuality, just about who has the right to stay in your room, who can get into the dorm and when, and other "good citizen" stuff that drove kids crazy until the Brown administration changed the rules. BU has cared about student morals only in that "good citizen" way, not with any religious overtones. </p>
<p>I have no idea what you're talking about when get into Reagan stuff. I haven't seen any surveys of BC student political attitudes. The ones I've seen about BU are that the students are extremely liberal but that the atmosphere is not as poisoned by political correctness as at many schools.</p>
<p>i appreciate the comments, how selective is this place? I hadn't realized it was quite as competitive as it's sounding. and i couldn't find statistics, but what type of percentages and numbers are there for students getting in as transfers?</p>
<p>Transfer admission is not that hard. Your comment above about not setting the curve because the others won't study is kind of funny; you'd better learn that in sciences, especially if it's pre-med, you won't be finding slackers. </p>
<p>To continue the BC discussion - which I intend to be amicable - I've talked only about gays / lesbians but another issue is choice / life. BC's administration is hostile to pro-choice people, as one would expect. BU has an active reproductive rights group. In 2006, BC enacted a "values" clause for official student groups when they invite speakers that required a "Catholic perspective" to be presented if the speaker was somehow opposed to those views. BC is very naturally torn between academic freedom and openness and church values and control. They generally do a decent job but one can't pretend they aren't a Catholic institution.</p>
<p>The value clause is an appeaser to conservative Catholic alumni—who, I will admit, are loaded. The clause is highly ambiguous that could be interpreted in a variety of way. One possible interpretation is having two individuals representing two different views debating (which must be a highly unusual thing for a university to have.) It could also mean that the topic should be tied to Catholicism to see how it contradicts Church teaching and in what way. No speaker has been turned down because they have an alternative view that is contrary to the Church teaching. Last fall we had a gay sex columnist came to speak about sexual issues. I don’t recall anyone burning a cross in front of my lawn because of the event. BC also has a no co-habitation that is still alive since the 50’s. And as a college student, I can tell you that the policy is enforced as often as a comet hitting the earth. Having arcane Catholic doctrines on the book for show doesn’t equal the real thing. Whether a school is deemed “conservative” or “liberal,” “open minded” or “provincial” depends on the student body and the professors. The administrators can ask people to stick to some highly abstract and ambiguous thing like “values and principles espoused by Boston College as a Jesuit Catholic university.” But it doesn’t mean a thing about the soul of the school, which I might dare say is the students and the professors, and not pencil pushing administrators.</p>
<p>obviously there is a bias. the only kids going to BU from my school are the ones who got rejected from BC. so that is the only impression i have of BU</p>
<p>not exactly...my friend chose BU over BC :-)</p>
<p>Reddune, I agree and I think we've drawn out what was originally meant by some of the differences between BC and BU, focusing on what the nature of a Catholic institution might mean to a kid in high school - who might want or might not want that. The point is not to say BC's way is wrong but that kids belong where they fit.</p>
<p>accepted to both...chose BU.</p>
<p>aztec, do you mind telling me what your major is, what was influencial in your decision? because.. i'm in a very similar boat.</p>