<p>If anyone could give a summary of how their freshman year is/was, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m trying to get a feel for this school now that I’ve been accepted. It seems like I have glamorized views of all the schools I’ve applied to and I would like to know what attending bc is actually like. Thanks!</p>
<p>Seconded. :)</p>
<p>Freshman year is a lot of fun but there is also a lot of adjustment. you have to make all new friends, get used to a new city, school, lifestyle, etc but after about the first week you will be okay.
making friends is easy, i think what is hard is going home for winter break and realizing you don't have that much in common with your high school friends anymore. You also have to learn how to deal with your problems yourself. Under no circumstances should your parent call student services or a professor abotu a grade or coursework. For many students this is hard but its time to become an adult.
The best thing about BC is that as soon as you get on campus it is football season so everyone is already pumped and there is something to do with your newfound hallmates/friends.</p>
<p>oh and just a warning: the kids who had the hardest time first semester were those who were incredibly sheltered in high school. if you have never drank or had a significant other or had sex or pulled an all nighter or cut class, etc., take it easy. don't get drunk and lose your virginity the first night you are there. these things will come but the kids who had the hardest time were those who did too many new things at once.</p>
<p>I love it here. Making friends will be easy since pretty much everyone on your floor and building have no friends at the school, so they're all out to make friends. Football season begins right when you step onto BC. The season helps you when bonding with your floormates as well as other people because it gives you something to do. There is immense school pride here at BC, you'll see many people around campus and in class wearing BC apparel and it's apparent with their high retention percentage. The bitterness that comes between BC and Notre Dame as well as BU combined with the comments flying back and forth from the schools just makes BC that much better. </p>
<p>As far as academics go, it obviously has a very strong academic program, but many of the classes are thought provoking. Some of the classes such as philosophy and theology aren't as bad as you may think; the professors here make the topics very accessible and understandable to many students, including those with no prior experience in those type of classes. However be warned, a few of the classes are taught by immigrants who are not exactly fluent or as fluent as you would hope for, but I guess this trend is prevalant across many college campuses. </p>
<p>The winters are a pain, especially if you're living in Newton. The wait at the bus stop seems to take an eternity in the winter, especially when it's snowing. The snow however makes the already gorgeous campus even more beautiful, at least the trees anyway. The one major problem I have with BC is that they dont shovel the sidewalk. They plow the sidewalks instead, which leaves patches of snow, that turn into slush (when people walk on them) and eventually turn into ice. </p>
<p>The city (Boston) is one of the major attractions to BC. It gives you the small quiet surburban area, with the big city at your footsteps. The city is nice and gives you an opportunity to do a multitude of things such as watching movies, attending sporting events, and take in culture at great museums. </p>
<p>Thats all I can think of right now. If you're wondering about other stuff, feel free to post more specific questions about BC.</p>
<p>miragemage, a quick question, is assignment into newton campus completely random, or can you request it?</p>
<p>Assignment to Newton or Upper is relatively random. If you select that you would live on the multi-cultural floor, the shaw leadership house, honors housing, or substance free floor you will be on upper. Do not, however, choose these options just to be on upper. there are many requirements to living on these floors such as mandatory seminars and events and lifestyle requirements</p>
<p>with regard to honors housing-- i was in the honors program and i chose not to do honors housing and it was the best decision of my life. DO NOT DO HONORS HOUSING! you will be spending a ridiculous amount of time with other honors program kids over the next four years so you should try to meet other people. i had many honors program friends freshman year, but living in regular housing doubled my friend base.</p>
<p>Freshman year is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Almost endless possibilities and responsibilities. One important thing is that you begin the year with a clean slate. All that you know from high school is gone. There are no established prejudices or negativities that are carried from previous years. Since you and everyone else here are new, there is nothing that can stop you except a little inexperience.</p>
<p>I found myself making friend relatively quick here at BC. I joined a number of clubs early on, signed up for special housing that requires special meetings DHRB mentioned above. This allowed me to meet even more people. Since BC does have 8900 undergrad, and about 2250 are freshman, you will bound to meet people who have ton of things in common with you, but at the same time can really interest you. </p>
<p>But freshman year isn't all peach and love. Some people discover that academics isn't as tough as they thought it would be, others might find that it's much more challenging. The workload and the class schedule is definitely different from the highly structured curriculum and class day you're used to in high school. You have to learn to adjust to the different schedule and workload. Some might carry a state-school mentality with them and party all the time--they don't last long. </p>
<p>Although BC makes a very good effort in getting its freshmen feel welcome and excited, some students just shut down for some reason and grow depressed. I personally don't have that experience, but I know one or two that do. This usually happens in the first semester. Strangely enough, once they return for the spring semester something changes and they try more to be active and end up having a pretty good time. Some doesn't and transfered. Those who transfer are relatively rare since we do have a 96-98% retention rate. </p>
<p>I think the most important thing for a freshman is a healthy social life and finding the right group of friends. This will both give you a positive experience while at BC, but also with a good group of friends, you won't be slacking in your academics. Those who work all the time and never socialize are missing out on A LOT of what college is about. Those who socialize 24/7 shouldn't even be in college. I think if you could get in BC, that means you have at least a good functioning brain so the academics shouldn't be overwhelming, but shouldn't be a cake walk (unless you're a genius or at least didn't pack your schedule with cupcakes). The most important thing, again, is getting a good group of friends, everything else will fall in its place if you have a positive support system.</p>
<p>Also by "good group of friends," I don't mean attention whores, they should have academics as their top priority too.</p>
<p>both upper and newton are requestable, but the majority of entering freshman choose to live in upper for the simplicity of getting to classes. However, if you decide to go with Newton, chances are you'll be dorming in Newton during the fall. Although room assignment can get random, so dont bag on being in Newton if you chose Newton over Upper.</p>
<p>My Freshman year so far has been OK.</p>
<p>The academics are definitely easier than I expected. I'm am taking a pre-med courseload and I have a ridiculously high GPA. It is pretty much a widely accepted fact on campus that the academics here are easier than similarly ranked universities. I have had some great professors but the amount of work assigned is often meager. While I have made some really intelligent friends, I would say that the majority of the student population has little interest in academic pursuits. Most people are here to have a good time at the expense of their parents. If you want to be challenged at Boston College you are going to have to push yourself. It is the type of place where moderately smart people can cruise on the intelligence they already have.</p>
<p>The social life is ok. Alcohol is ubiquitous on campus and is the center of social life. Many of my peers have come to class with a hangover. Weekends usually revolve around drinking and trying to hookup. Sports are HUGE on this campus and are another excuse to drink. That being said, I am a non drinker and still have fun with my friends. Sometimes it can get boring but most of the time its ok. The substance-free floor is a cool place but there is virtually no programming. </p>
<p>Overall, BC is average. There are some really great people here but you will find that they are the minority. To be honest, it really isn't that different from high school. The professors are good but you could probably get the same education at a state college. Actually, I'm sure you could.</p>
<p>If I attend I really want upper housing. Maybe I can get a doctor's note. </p>
<p>I don't want to wait in the cold for a bus because I am allergic to cold.</p>
<p>No, I'm dead serious: Allergy</a> to cold weather: Is this possible? - MayoClinic.com</p>
<p>And actually it sucks, considering I'm going to the east coast.</p>
<p>i wouldn't apply anywhere east if i was allergic to the cold, how bad is your allergy?</p>
<p>You won't be spared the cold even if you in upper. Upper has quite a walk down to middle campus where you classes will be. The walk back to upper runs up a hill as well. You will spend at least 15-20 minutes each day walking from and to upper. The bus runs on time most of the time so it's not as bad as some might think.</p>
<p>Interesting I have the opposite experience of the "classical guitar" and also interesting since I study classical guitar...I am in premed also and have met many interesting and determined people who are not here just to have a good time (but we do), but rather are figuring out how to make the world a better place and are already discussing careers. You likely were in some of my courses, and the workload and labs are not easy - the 3.8-4.0's studied ALL the time. I got a 5's on my Chem AP & Bio exams and didn't find the premed courses at BC to be easy and I don't know one person who did (now except for you). Most take classes very seriously, but of course there are a few slackers and the ones who party too much - they are a minority - and these can be found at any college. They won't be around long. One overstatement is "Alcohol is ubiquitous on campus and is the center of social life" - this is absolutely not true! I socialize a lot, season tickets to all the sports, and have been to a lot of parties w/o drinking. I don't drink, and have had an awesome time regardless. Sounds like CG is either a fake poster, a BC detractor or needs to go to transfer to state school where they think they can get more of what you are looking for. I have had a blast my freshman year, met many great people from all over the country who will be friends for life, taken football road trips, enjoyed the city of Boston, been challenged intellectually, have found the profs to be quite good. I chose BC from many other options for college, and I would grade my freshman year 3.9 so far. O</p>
<p>Go Eagles! (and Patriots) Another Boston celebration is just around the corner I hope! I wanna repeat of that Sox World Series party</p>
<p>Well I get hives which are irritating, a little bit itchy, and sometimes painful.</p>
<p>Taking anti-histamines like Claritin prevents them completely, so I plan on taking them every day of college haha</p>
<p>And ironically enough, this disease just appeared a few months ago (it usually shows up around ages 16-18) and usually only lasts 4-5 years.</p>
<p>So essentially, the timing for me being allergic to cold couldn't be any worse. hah oh well</p>
<p>classicalguitar11, you might want to consider transferring to a state school - it's A LOT cheaper (and you wil supposedly get the same education).</p>
<p>Hold on here.</p>
<p>I never said BC was all bad. I have made some great friends and I am active on campus (ensembles, community service, music lessons, etc). The teachers here are great and my classes are interesting. All I'm saying is that compared to comprably ranked schools, it is less challenging. Thats all. For example, in my writing seminar I only have to write 4 papers this semester and in my philosophy class I am assigned 15 pages of reading per night. In my literature class last semester we had a lot of reading (60 pages/night) but most of the students in my class just read the sparknotes. This made for some very uninteresting discussions. If you are really academically oriented, you might find the humanities here a little underwhelming. My science classes have been great. My chemistry professor is really dedicated and teaches the material well. Supposedly it is the hardest section of gen. chem (over 80 people dropped it second semester) but I find it to be the perfect difficulty.
I think any type of student can succeed here, but some will find it easier than others. Be forwarned that if you don't care about sports (like myself) you will definitely be in the minority. Many of the activities here revolve around sports.
I'm sure that if I had gone to my state school (I was accepted into their honors program) I would be getting a very similar education.
I'm sure that as I move into my major I will begin to find students who have similar academic passions. What I have seen is only a small sampling of this school and may not be represenative of the whole.</p>
<p>padfoot my grandmother has had that for twenty years, so im not sure it will go away in 5 years.</p>
<p>classicguitar: you mentioned you take lessons- are they free? i play cello and trombone, and want to continue playing cello at BC whether it be private study or in an ensemble. how does music work at BC?</p>
<p>metfan2121:</p>
<p>Lessons at BC are NOT free. Like everything else here they are very expensive. I think it boils down to about $60 a lesson. The price is less if you take a shorter lesson. For example, a 30 minute lesson is only about $30. Either way you're paying about a dollar per minute. Lessons can only be purchased for the entire semester, not individually. They can be taken either for credit or not for credit. If you take a lesson for credit it has to be a 60 minute lesson. I believe 3 semesters of lessons = 1 credit which is absolutely absurd. My teacher was a cool guy but this semester I'm taking lessons at BU with a teacher who specializes in my playing style. I'm not sure if the credits will transfer over though...
Definitely continue playing an instrument at college. You will meet a lot of new people through the chamber music program, which is excellent. Chamber music has been the highlight of my experience at BC so far.</p>
<p>Reflecting on my freshman year, I think I would agree with ClassicGuitar. It's easy freshman year in the humanity. Physics gave me a run for my money and Honors Program was quite challenging (with the professor I had anyway), but the rest was a walk in the park. </p>
<p>I also agree with him/her that high minded intellectuals aren't the majority, although they aren't exactly on the endangered species list. I've made friends who want to discuss Shakespeare and Freud over dinners, but we ended up arguing over nuclear proliferation. Those friends, however, were made in the Honors Program. BC students aren't exactly your usual state school variety, but they are very practical in their outlook. Career is on everyone's mind. I'm getting ton of emails about internships everyday from the Career Center. But there are still a lot of intellectuals here who abhor Sparknotes.</p>
<p>I don't agree with the assessment that the education is like state school (unless you're from California). Two of my friends transfered from two big state schools--Umass Amherst and UCLA--and they told me the caring professors at BC were a breath of fresh air compared to the herd mentality at these two places. BC professors are generally higher pay and have better tenured position than state university professors. The professors are very high quality. Class sizes are a bit big with the intro classes (especially in the sciences), but the electives are generally small.</p>
<p>P.S.
I think we should be open to both positive and negative feedback on this forum. ClassicGuitar isn't exactly having a miserable time at BC and his/her opinion is valuable as any--heck, if you are forking out $50,000 a year, you better make sure it's the best damn education you can get with the money. The academics has been a bit underwhelming for you (it was for me too), but you have seven semesters left and I think the classes get harder then.</p>