Current BC Undergraduate, AMA!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

Hello everyone,

While this is an exciting and also scary time for many students who are applying EA/ED to a college/university, I hope everyone is managing well during the process. I am a current undergraduate at BC, and if there are any questions I can answer now, or especially after admission decisions come out, I will try my best to answer them honestly from my experience thus far. I invite prospective students as well as parents to ask questions.

I am a current sophomore in MCAS studying Romance Languages and Literature.

Note: Please do not use this thread as a “chance me” thread. I am not an admissions counselor. My intention is to answer questions about the school and my experiences/expertise.

Again, to everyone who sees this, I wish you the best in your future, whether your path leads you to the Heights or not!

2

Hi there! I’m just wondering if you could answer two of my questions:

How is student life/is it easy to “find your people” and make friends?

How difficult is it to balance school life with other things; such as, working out, jobs, social life, and clubs?

Thank you! :slight_smile:

3

Hello! I was wondering what the social atmosphere was like. Especially for freshman. Also, I was wondering what type of people go there, or if it is more of a mix? Thanks so much!

4

Hi @hemingways!

I feel it is very easy to find “your group of people” and make friends. There are two experiences I can comment on that helped me find my friend group on campus. The first is the way housing works on campus. All incoming freshmen are required to live in first year on-campus housing. You are either assigned randomly to a 60%/40% split of Upper or Newton campus dorms respectively. Everyone is living in traditional style dorms, with communal hallway bathrooms. My freshman dorm had a smaller occupancy, and I really enjoyed the hallway connections I made. Before I was involved in any clubs on campus, those were the guys that I hung out with the most often. The residence halls also have community events that usually entail bringing some food late during a weeknight. My roommate and I looked forward to this and this was how I solidified many of my relationships with the guys living around me. Even though some of us live in different doms this year, I still visit them regularly and laugh about the good memories we had that first year. (I highly suggest keeping an open door policy during freshman year. This was how I met everyone so quickly.)

The second experience I had was with the activities fair on campus. During the second week of fall semester, every club on campus sets up for the activity fair on a big field on middle campus. All different types of clubs are there, blasting music, throwing pamphlets at you, and inviting you to join their club. The diversity is there to help you find a group that interests you. There are faith-based groups, ethnic/cultural groups, intramural sports, performing arts, visual arts, service clubs, etc… Through these clubs, I have met some of my closest friends on campus because I joined clubs that either aligned with my interests or I joined clubs that were outside of my comfort zone yet I had always wanted to go for it and see what would happen.

Finally, I feel very comfortable with my balance at school. I was a very structured person coming out of high school so I was very adept at making my own schedule and sticking to it. I am able to go to classes, eat lunch with friends, do HW, stay in at night, go out to Boston or something on campus during weekend nights, and still have some “me” time. Now, will there be times that work will be more of a priority over social life (i.e. during midterms and finals)? Yes. But that is the reason you’re at college, to get an education. I can speak briefly about some of my friends who are in STEM majors and premedical tracks. Their difficult subject material, plus extra time devoted to studying that material (as well as Labs and discussions) makes their balance a little more of a struggle. Yet they are still able to manage their work by taking advantage of resources on campus, office hours, and study sessions (plus study sessions might help with the friend group search!)

All in all, I feel I found my group on campus easily, and I manage my work.

Hope this helps!

5

Hi @eo2000!

You should take a look at my prior post above to help answer your question about social life on campus. If you’d like more in depth, let me know.

The student body is diverse. I don’t know which type of answer you’re looking for that signals “a mix.” I will post an article on the demographics of the class of '21. This might help you.

From a personal standpoint, I believe there is a good mix of students who go here. Regardless of your unique story or background, BC has an extensive enough community that will help you fit in wherever you want to belong.

If there is a more specific question you have, I will try to answer.

Hope this helps!

https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/campus-community/students/class-of-2021-profile.html

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What are the challenges for freshman living at Newton? What is your opinion on campus food? Which cafeteria is best?

7

Thanks so much! Your response was very helpful :slight_smile: Happy holidays!

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@mark89unc the biggest thing to get used to about living on Newton is the bus system which operates very well and frequently. I think students get used to it pretty quickly.

My daughter absolutely loved living on Newton. It really becomes the close knit family you hear about. Her best friends now are all girls from Newton that she met freshmen year (with the exception of a few from upper). She loved Stuart (many say it’s the best dining hall!) and the feeling like she and the other freshman had their own little campus. She is a very serious student and used to study in the Law School classrooms and really misses having that opportunity now.

Most kids love Newton and if they had to do it over they would want to live there again.

9

@mark89unc So, I lived on Upper campus my freshman year. While I do not have personal daily experience with Newton campus, I have talked to many students who have discussed their pleasure and displeasure.

Newton’s disadvantages:
-Feeling of isolation from main campus
-inconvenience of waiting for bus (although tbf it does run every 7 min.)
-Difficulty to find study spaces (besides your bedroom and dorm lounges)
-need to plan ahead (i.e. You and your friends want to go to lower campus on a Friday night last minute. If you live on Upper, you can walk there within 5 min. whenever you like. My Newton friends said there is a feeling that you need to plan ahead, since waiting for buses makes the trip feel longer)

Newton advantages:
-Separate community of “freshmen only” helps you build friendships (I mean this)
-Newton parties are fun
-there is a small gym (the “Hut”) that makes workouts a lot closer than taking a bus to Lower campus and the back to Newton
-Stuart Dining Hall does have really good food (more on that below)
-Feeling of “isoaltion” helps you get out of your room and explore. (Newton campus is so close to Mass Pike, uber or lyft can get you into downtown Boston in literally 5 min…faster that Upper kids walking to T or taking uber/lyft in city traffic)
-Newton campus is very close walk to Newton Centre (technically BC’s small, picturesque college town centre with coffee shops, diners, and small shops. I love going here, and I wished Upper was a closer walk to here)
-If you’re a “field” athlete (soccer, lacrosse, field hockey…) your fields are right behind where you live.

Dining:
I personally like dining overall on campus. In a nutshell, there are 2 types of currency you have: Meal plan money and Dining Bucks. Meal plan money is for most dining halls on campus (Carney aka “Mac”, Corcoran aka “lower”, Eagle’s nest, Addie’s, Lyons, etc…) It is a la carte payment, not swipes. Meaning, you only pay what you eat. You get around $2400 of meal plan money per semester. Second is dining bucks. These are reserved for alternate dining locations on campus (Chocolate Bar, Hillside Cafe, Mini-Mart Starbucks coffee,etc…) You get $175 per semester.

To do a quick advantages/disadvantages…

Advantages:
-Food is good quality. There is a push for more locally grown foods in dining halls.
-There is a smaller selection each day than other school’s dining halls, but the rotations keep it fun and interesting.
-Professional nutritionist staff help students with certain dietary restrictions (Vegan/Vegetarian, gluten, kosher, etc…)

  • a la carte makes it easier to not add on Freshmen 15 (haha)
    -Late night food (chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, steak and cheese sandwiches are unreal)
    -you learn to budget your food better

Disadvantages:
-students wish they had more of one type of money than the other (i.e. Some girls I know get Starbucks coffee daily and don’t use their meal plan money as often. FOr them, it feels like a proportional waste of dollars.)
-Many students don’t anticipate budgeting and run out just after Thanksgiving break. (THen you buy more dining money)
-because of a la carte style, waiting lines during peak hours of dining hall are really long.
-(for some) smaller selection

Of course, if you live in housing that has a full kitchen, you do not have to purchase the university meal plan. For freshmen, 100% you have to buy the full meal plan.

Dining link for more details: https://www.bc.edu/offices/dining/mealplan/MandatoryMealPlan.html

10

Thanks everyone