<p>I’m still really confused about where I am going (and still disappointed to not get into the Communications School), but I’ve been considering BU General Studies a little bit more lately. So, if there is any current student at GSP, I have a few questions…</p>
<p>1). What are your courses like freshman year?</p>
<p>2). Do other BU students look down upon you?</p>
<p>3). What are the other students like in the program?</p>
<p>4). Do you like GSP? Any regrets about other schools?</p>
<p>5). What should a potential GSP know before choosing to attend?</p>
<p>You take 4 CGS courses during freshman year: Social Science, Natural Science, Humanities, and Rhetoric. During the 2nd semester of year 1, you may take an elective at another BU school. Much of what you learn during freshman year will be things you have come across in high school, some of it even review. Yes there is a stigma towards CGS students, and you will come across this time and time again in many places, even the school newspaper. By no means should this be a deterrent to attend BU, because in 4 years, you will graduate with the same exact diploma as every other 4 year BU student. There is great potential in every aspect, because after 2 years, you transfer into any BU school you wish.</p>
<p>After completing your 2 years of CGS, are the years following CGS enough to complete requirements for a major? In other words, will you complete your degree in 4 years?</p>
<p>vhs216882:
After completing CGS, you need only 2 years to complete the requirements for a major. Each of the different schools at BU, whether it be SMG, CAS or COM have their specific requirements before even entering the schools, as far as what electives you must take during the 2nd semester of your freshman year and the electives you take during your sophomore year at CGS. If you choose to go into the School of Management, be aware that in order to accomplish your graduation in 4 years, you MUST take summer school one year, preferably the summer after sophomore year, or overload during your senior year. Either way, for SMG, you're looking at a summer here in Boston, or a very very busy senior year.</p>
<p>As far as the reading and writing goes, yes it is true that the reading is abundant. You will see as soon as you get the reading lists this summer for the books you need to buy, that their is Plenty to keep you busy. As far as writing, you're lookin at 1 paper for each Social Science and Humanities per semester, which range in size from 5-9 pages, and about 3- 5page papers for Rhetoric class. </p>
<p>If there's one piece of advice I can give you is dont let the above distract you from choosing BU and/or CGS. It may sound overwhelming, and in fact you will be frustrated at times, but the year will go by soo fast, you truly wont notice how much you've done in such short time.</p>
<p>College is what you make it to be... If you go into the situation with ALL that you have accomplished and worked for in the past and allow others to make you feel less than a person than them, BU may not be the school for you. I am just saying the truth in this situation, I mean, just this week, there was a comic strip in the paper that made fun of CGS kids. Boston in not for everyone, but keep this in your head, as much as everyone can hate on CGS, where will everyone be in 4 years? That's right, the saaaame place...</p>
<p>GOBU, another question. You mentioned that CGS was much like high school and almost a review, do you find that you are bored of learning practically the same thing or does the CGS curriculum keep you interested? Personally I worry that CGS will be a redundant extension of high school and that I will be discouraged and bored of the whole thing. </p>
<p>Thanks again for your help. It is really helpful to hear from someone who is actually in CGS and experiencing it.</p>
<p>Sure no problem. I can honestly say that there were times that I was bored, like in Natural Science when we went back to learning the moon phases, and simple things like that. I think there is an equal balance between what is totally new and what is somewhat a review so their is definately stuff to keep you interested and busy. I especially like Social Science where even though the topic is familiar, say we are talking about the great depression, we study it on a whole different level than high school by diving into the psychological aspects behind it. Again, being honest, my freshman rhetoric class I feel was quite useless, as we never learned anything to Improve our writing, rather, we reviewed things like citing and punctuation, yet were assigned quite a few papers. You might be thinking, "this sounds too easy; what can go wrong and why did only 70 people from the freshman class get over a 3.0 this 1st semester?" Well, the answer to that is that SOME people put their social life before school work (as is a problem with many freshman) which leads to procrastination. Procrastination is probably one of the biggest factors in getting bad grades, and not the rigor of the curriculum. </p>
<p>In the end, I realy liked CGS and am glad that I will be graduating in whatever school I so choose and with the same diploma as everyone else. </p>
<p>Please feel free to ask more questions as I am really glad to help.</p>