Current BC Freshman Answering Any and All Questions

<p>Hey there everyone,</p>

<p>I’m a current BC freshman in the Honors Program about to finish my first semester here. I’ve seen that EA acceptances have come or are coming out soon and that seniors are really starting to weigh their options. I know that for me, between December 2010 and April of 2011 was one of the most stressful stretches of time I’ve ever had, so I’d be happy to help in any way I can as final decisions in May get closer and closer. I will be brutally honest and answer everything and anything people ask, whether it be academics, social, etc.</p>

<p>There was a thread like this a year ago which helped me immensely, so just trying to spread the love here haha, good luck to everyone.</p>

<p>So I’m from California and if I end up attending BC, chances are I won’t know a soul. </p>

<p>Is having a roommate that I’ve never met before not as bad as I’m imagining it to be?</p>

<p>What necessities should I have for my dorm as well as what clothes should I bring? Do people wear rainboots? </p>

<p>Do people use the gym often? </p>

<p>Also, if you are in CSOM, any suggestions on planning out your classes for all 4 years? </p>

<p>Is it alright if you know nearly nothing about business? I know it’s ignorant of me to not get to know this field that I supposedly want to major on so I’ll try to learn some things in the next few months lol</p>

<p>And last but not least, are freshman girls welcome in the mods for, well parties?</p>

<p>How diverse is Boston College? </p>

<p>Are they mainly snobby republicans/conservatives? haha.</p>

<p>Can you tell me your SAT, GPA, and what you wrote your essay on too.</p>

<p>Boston is a reach for me but I love it.
thankssss</p>

<p>@annamations I cannot tell you how many people I’ve met here from the West Coast, especially California, so I definitely would not be worried about finding people you can relate to geographically.</p>

<p>As far as the roommate situation goes, there are kids who have found their best friends through random roommates, and kids who simply tolerate their roomies. When they start doing housing, you can fill out a short description about yourself and do a little questionnaire so you can try and request people who have similar lifestyles as you and not go totally random.</p>

<p>I would personally bring all the clothing you have, within reason. You don’t have to bring your winter coat for the fall semester of course, but bring everything you can see yourself wearing. Most people suggest to pack light, and I know it will be a flight instead of a car ride for you, but definitely back what you can. And yes, rainboots are huge here for sure.</p>

<p>The gym is also a hot spot on campus. Lots of people go through there everyday whether its for the gym, treadmills, basketball, etc.</p>

<p>I should have noted that I was in A&S, sorry about that. I’ve heard of CSOM kids talking about their 4 year plans but I don’t know anything about that myself.</p>

<p>No worries that you know nothing about business, I’d say it’s the exception rather than the rule that people know much about their major before they get into it. I always had an idea that I wanted to study economics but knew nothing about it, but I loved my first intro class.</p>

<p>Ohh yes haha, freshman girls will typically have very little issues getting into a mod or off campus party, I wouldn’t worry about that at all.</p>

<p>@collegeparonia Like I said, I will be honest here, BC is definitely filled with white kids. Can be a good or bad thing depending on your outlook on the issue. There are absolutely minorities around, and kids of different backgrounds do interact.</p>

<p>The majority of kids here could honestly not give any less of a… poop… about politics. I wouldn’t worry about getting in heated debates with floormates about the upcoming election. Depends what you mean by snobby, but no one throws any political stances out there just for the heck of it or to tick people off.</p>

<p>In high school I ended up with a 2200 on the SAT after three tries, had around a mid 90s weighted average, and wrote my essay on my volunteer experience. I believe BC really does look for a well rounded person more than anything else. You can compensate a weaker part of your application by highlighting something unique about yourself, or something you put a lot of effort into. Good luck though!</p>

<p>Hi!
So I was just accepted (yay!) and It will be between BC/Northeastern and I’ll base it on money. I know I got literally nothing from NEU, but I wouldn’t have to pay tuition all 4 years there (because of co-op).<br>
So I was wondering if you know anything about how good BC is with financial aid? i now NEU is known for being ****ty with it…so I am hoping on better news from BC.</p>

<p>also, how are the research opportunities? I want to do research in biology and neuroscience, what are your opinions of those programs?
Finally, would you say it is a pretty friendly, easy to adjust, environment? Thanks!</p>

<p>I am less informed about the science majors at Boston College, but I suggest you look at two research opportunities (below). The first funds independent undergraduate research over the summer term. The second funds undergraduates to work as research assistants. In addition to these university sponsored opportunities, many faculty members will have their own grant money to pay for research assistants. Again, I’m not sure on the specifics in the sciences, but the opportunities below are open to everyone. Senior year, if you’ve maintained a 3.7+ Cum. GPA, you can pursue a Scholar of the College senior thesis, which is even more intensive than an honors thesis. See: [scholar</a> of the college - arts and sciences - boston college](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/services/students/awards/scholar-09.html]scholar”>http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/services/students/awards/scholar-09.html)</p>

<p>[Advanced</a> Study Grants - Fellowships Committee - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/offices/ufel/fellowships/advanced.html]Advanced”>http://www.bc.edu/offices/ufel/fellowships/advanced.html)</p>

<p>[Boston</a> College Undergraduate Research Fellowships - Boston College](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/ufel/fellowships/undergrad/fellowships.html]Boston”>http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/ufel/fellowships/undergrad/fellowships.html)</p>

<p>@soontobesenior Congratulations on the acceptance! I have to say BC is not known for spectacular financial aid unfortunately. Of course they give loans and work-study and all that, but I’m not sure about much in the way of grants.</p>

<p>There are definitely research opportunities available if you seek them out. Pretty much all courses of study have internship or research opportunities with a professor. I can’t admit to saying I know much about neuroscience or biology, but I know some prospective pre-meds and bio majors that seem satisfied so far with their intro level courses.</p>

<p>As far as adjusting goes, I suppose it really depends on what your background is, how far away you live, what kind of high school you went to and all that. Obviously everyone is pretty open to meeting new people, and i haven’t met any outwardly mean people myself. As with most schools, people will eventually settle into cliques just to get a sense of constancy, but the adjustment isn’t any worse than other universities I’d imagine.</p>

<p>How likely or unlikely is it to get accepted to BC after being deferred?</p>

<p>@amelia101 There could be a number of reasons for deferral. They may want to see more of your senior year grades before making a decision, or they would rather wait to see the strength of the RD applications relative to yours. So how likely or unlikely it is is in part up to you, and in part dependent on the number of fellow applicants. Acceptance after deferral definitely does happen, and the way to best increase your chances are continued hard work into first semester senior year. The slacking can begin later on in the spring =P</p>

<p>Hi, I’m currently a high school junior and am looking into BC. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the nursing program? Like how hard it is to get into and what not?</p>

<p>Also, how do you like the campus, the dorms, etc? And, would you suggest that I take a visit to the campus or not?</p>

<p>Thanks! :)</p>

<p>@LiveLife98: I can tell you a little bit about the Nursing School. BC admissions for all schools is done together, so it is not harder or easier to get into the Nursing School. Your objective chances, without knowing your background, are simply what the general admissions rate is for BC. Admissions accepts the best students and lets them fall where they may within the specific schools at Boston College. This means that from year to year, the number of students in Nursing changes, but it is usually somewhere around 90.</p>

<p>I might suggest you visit the campus if you have never been there before. BC is one of those schools where you can get a very good feel of the culture and the spirit of BC on a visit. The campus is also beautiful, even though there is some construction right now.</p>

<p>@LiveLife98 I think EagleAlum summed up the nursing questions pretty well so I won’t comment further on that.</p>

<p>The campus is really nice, and by the time you would get here if you get in/decide to come here, it’s going to be even nicer. There are currently building an entire, huge new building that is really going to step up the level of campus beauty. The dorms really depend on where you end up actually living. Overall though, they are pretty good as far as compared to other schools I think. I’m pretty sure the upperclassmen dorms have been more recently renovated, but no one really complains about their dorms at all. If it is not a reach school for you, I would recommend a visit, definitely at least before you decide where to go next year. Good luck with everything!</p>

<p>Ok, thank you so much for your help!</p>

<p>One last question, do you know what the average SAT/ACT score is? I’ve tried to research it but am having trouble finding it.</p>

<p>Thanks again, happy holidays!</p>

<p>Websites like Princeton review supposedly provide information on chances of a school admitting a candidate based on a student’s GPA, SAT Scores and couple of simple question on extra-curricular activities. After being accepted into BC in the Honors program, I tried the website to rate my chances at BC. The results came back saying BC was a “Reach” School for me.</p>

<p>Here is an email I got from someone that used to be an admissions officer on SAT scores and how they relate to admission:</p>

<p>…7’s are the magic numbers in college admission. In fact colleges collect and will often report out the percentages of admitted students with scores at or above 700. This reminds me of a saying in admission: “what’s the difference between 690 and 700 on the SAT?”</p>

<p>The answer: “admission!”</p>

<p>I guess what I am tying to say is that GPA and SAT scores seem only to be a starting point. The strength of details on extra-curricular activities, strength of cores work, essay and a whole lot of other subjective material that go into determining In or Out. </p>

<p>‘Average’ don’t really say much unless you compare your chances within the context of your school. Naviance did a much better job of my chances into BC than Princeton Review did.</p>

<br>

<br>

<p>BC, like most other schools, publishes a factbook each year. This year’s is at:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/…_fact_book.pdf%5B/url%5D”>http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/…_fact_book.pdf</a></p>

<p>On page 31 you’ll see the middle 50% range of SAT scores for the admitted freshman.
Here’s last years, for the class of 2014:</p>

<p>Critical Reading: 610-700
Writing: 630-720
Math: 640-730
Composite: 1910-2125</p>

<p>Forgot I hadn’t been back to answer some questions, glad people were here to answer them for me in my temporary absence haha</p>

<p>could you please give a little insight into your experience (so far) with the honors program? did you choose to live in the honors housing? how are the honors classes? do the kids in the honors program integrate well with kids that are not in the program?</p>

<p>thank you!!</p>

<p>Hey bronovan, hope that I can hop on in on this discussion too to answer questions - I’m also a freshman at BC. Though i think you could probably answer the above question better than I.</p>

<p>ANYWAY, myself, a non-honors student, have had mixed experiences with the honors program. I live in the same hall as two kids in the CSOM honors program, and they are both my very close friends and absolutely great kids. The opted to not go for the honors housing because of the stigma of honors kids having no social life and whatnot.</p>

<p>As for that stigma, my honest perception has been that it’s partially true. There are a certain group of kids who will just study all day every day, and have no social life. However, there is a silver lining in that these kids are found in all dorms, not just in Medieros (the honors dorm). Though, medieros does have a higher concentration than the other dorms, based on personal experience.</p>

<p>Integration wise, I’ve had great integration with the kids in my classes that were in the honors program. They, to me, are down to earth. They weren’t necessarily identified by a scarlet letter that made them stand out as “Honors Kids”, everyone is pretty intertwined.</p>

<p>Does anyone at BC feel that they are socially stigmatized in Boston because they don’t go to Harvard? I mean, I can see Harvard guys trolling at BC parties, but not the reverse.</p>