General BC questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>Maybe these things have been over-asked, but I did try searching (to give me some credit)

  1. Being a Catholic school and all, how religious is the university really? I mean my high school was Catholic and was pretty religious, not sure if BC is the same thing. Does this have any effect on college life (to any extent)?
  2. My sister goes to BU, and I was wondering how close it is from BC to BU? Like I remember taking the T-train to BC a few years back, and it was the last stop…but I’m not sure how long it took me to get there. I also realize that BC is not really in Boston, but it’s still relatively close, right?
  3. I’m currently a freshman at GT (Georgia Tech) considering a transfer to the Boston area, and currently I’m looking at BC. How competitive is it for transfer students?
  4. To any pre-health majors (in BC) out there, how strong do you think the program is? Are the pre-req courses challenging?
  5. I’ve browsed through the forums and have seen that quite a few people consider BC’s first year to be similar to high school in terms of work load. However, does this work load change as years progress? If so, how quickly does it change (like do you get a radical transition from no work to a lot of work between Fresh and Soph years?)
  6. How strong are their science colleges? What are they known for (academically)?
  7. Random: What’s up with the name? It’s not really in Boston (Chestnut Hill I believe) and it’s not really a College (it’s a Uni)? Or am I getting some completely wrong info here?</p>

<p>I might have more questions, but I think this is enough for now, lol</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>I can answer a few of your questiosns.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Try searching the CC archives; there have been several postings on this issue in the past six months. Although BC is a Catholic institution, Jesuits are very liberal and non-Catholics do not seem to feel at all out of place at BC. The only mandatory religious aspect is the requirement to take a one-year theology course (which can be a class focusing on Judaism, Islam, and/or other traditions besides Catholicism.) No one is required to attend mass or chapel services.</p></li>
<li><p>BC and BU are only a few miles apart. They are both on the same T-line (Green Line - B), but that line runs on the street and stops nearly every other block so it takes about 20 minutes to travel between the two schools. BC's mailing address is Chestnut Hill, but the Boston city line runs through the middle of the main campus, so part of the school is actually in the City of Boston.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't know anything about the transfer process at BC, but you should search the CC archives about this topic too. I seem to recall some recent postings about transfers.</p></li>
<li><p>Boston College was founded in 1863 in Boston's South End. It outgrew the site there and moved to the suburbs (Chestnut Hill) in 1913. It was incorporated as a university from the very beginning but it didn't offer graduate courses (which makes a school a "university") until the 1920's. It just never bothered to change its name -- probably since Boston University was already taken!</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>worriedmom answered most of your questions I will try to answer the pre-health major quickly. I am a biochem-math major planning on attending medical school. BC has a program with Tufts for the med school acceptance/ you should check out the BC site to learn more. It's too much information for me to write about here (well maybe I'm just too lazy) The courses have been tough, challenging but not overly so. Freshman year chem and labs seemed harder than this year. They are VERY competitive. Not sure how your science credits would transfer - but if you were in the premed track with excellent grades at a well regarded school like GT, you should get credit. BC has a good rep with med schools, and a very good acceptance rate. It think it is 100% for dental school. Good luck with transferring to BC.</p>

<p>And how about we are in the AP Top 25 this week?? Go Eagles!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>

<p>I checked the BC site on Transfer Applicants, and it looks like it's very competitive (last year the average GPA for admitted students was a 3.65.....). As a GT student, I know that GPA's here tend to be lower than most universities, would that hurt me when they're reviewing my files? Surely they'll know how hard my school is :(</p>

5

<ol>
<li><p>Worriedmom hit the nail on the head. The only think BC forces students to do is the year long theology classes to fulfill the core. Mass is held on the first day of orientation; however, students are not required to go, but most go anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>There are many different aspects to transferring into another college. Freshman GPA obvious is one of those aspects; however, there are many other things adcoms look at, such as your high school record. Adcoms should know schools with grade deflation and infaltion, but I do not think it'll make a huge difference in the outcome, because in the end, your GPA tells them how well you're doing regardless of the grade deflation at GT.</p></li>
<li><p>pre-health as in pre-med? I am not on the pre-med track, but BC's pre-med program is exceptional. On average, 75% of BC students move on to medical school, considerably higher than the national average of just under 50%. (Reddune should have articles somewhere)</p></li>
<li><p>My freshman year was easy. I did minimal work and still came out with a respectable GPA. This year; however, my workload has become much steeper. I have to read more and do more homework to keep pace with the class. For the majority of colleges, more work is to be expected as the years pass.</p></li>
<li><p>BC's science department is very good, but not as recognized as CSOM, their most respected department/school. </p></li>
<li><p>Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? It's really a petty question, but I'll try to delve further into it. BC was originally located in the south end of Boston, way back when it founded in 1863. BC was then relocated to the Chestnut Hill campus some years later and has kept it's name. How would you feel about going to a school named Chestnut Hill University? Probably not as catchy as BC or Boston College.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>GO EAGLES!</p>

6

<p>1) Being a Catholic school and all, how religious is the university really? I mean my high school was Catholic and was pretty religious, not sure if BC is the same thing. Does this have any effect on college life (to any extent)?</p>

<ul>
<li>None whatsoever. Many students wear their religions very proudly, some don't. I'm not a Catholic nor a Christian (I'm a secular humanist, aka agnostic), but I do find BC's religious tradition very appealing. It asks you tougher questions about yourself and what you can do to better the world. </li>
</ul>

<p>2) My sister goes to BU, and I was wondering how close it is from BC to BU? Like I remember taking the T-train to BC a few years back, and it was the last stop...but I'm not sure how long it took me to get there. I also realize that BC is not really in Boston, but it's still relatively close, right?</p>

<p>-Those who are experienced with the how Boston public transportation works, it usually takes 20-30 minutes to get to downtown Boston. From BC to BU is about 15-20 minutes. From BC to Harvard Square is about 20-30, depending on traffic. </p>

<p>3) I'm currently a freshman at GT (Georgia Tech) considering a transfer to the Boston area, and currently I'm looking at BC. How competitive is it for transfer students?</p>

<ul>
<li>BC is pretty competitive with transfer admission. Recent years numbers have been between 16% to 11%. Most of our transfers are from NYU and BU. I have been seeing a few ACC schools. It's good to know we are converting people from the South.</li>
</ul>

<p>4) To any pre-health majors (in BC) out there, how strong do you think the program is? Are the pre-req courses challenging?</p>

<ul>
<li>I'm not pre-health or pre-med so I can't say.</li>
</ul>

<p>5) I've browsed through the forums and have seen that quite a few people consider BC's first year to be similar to high school in terms of work load. However, does this work load change as years progress? If so, how quickly does it change (like do you get a radical transition from no work to a lot of work between Fresh and Soph years?)</p>

<ul>
<li>The workload for the first year is easy. BC has a decent size core requirements. Most students take intro classes to a number of subjects. Intro classes are generally easy. Furthermore, a lot of freshmen find that they have a lot of free time in college than in high school. Upper-classmen usually spent that time doing research, club management or internship, but freshmen are new so they don't have those kind of things going on yet. A lot of free time + generally easy classes = boredom. I wish BC would make intro classes a lot more difficult. Expect that to change when you become an upper-classman. Harder classes and more outside ECs; it's a lot more challenging. Not surprisingly, my freshman year GPA was my highest, it sort of slowly went downhill from there.</li>
</ul>

<p>6) How strong are their science colleges? What are they known for (academically)?</p>

<ul>
<li> Strong academics, liberal arts focused, balanced sport scene, great alumni networking, and great campus. It's a very balanced school. </li>
</ul>

<p>7) Random: What's up with the name? It's not really in Boston (Chestnut Hill I believe) and it's not really a College (it's a Uni)? Or am I getting some completely wrong info here?</p>

<ul>
<li>We were initially going to call ourselves Boston University (it was in our charter) and we were actually in Boston (this was 1863). But we didn't have enough money then to build a graduate school so we just had the undergraduate college, aptly named Boston College. But then space ran out and we moved to Chestnut Hill. Then BU came along (in 1869) and called itself Boston University. Some within the school wanted to sue and get the name back but thought better of it. In the 50's (or 60's) there was a movement to rename the school. Some candidates were University of Chestnut Hill; University of Newton; St. Thomas More University; and some others. Personally, I love the name Boston College. It's lovely. Plus, because we are Boston College, that makes us natural rival with Boston University. If we were St. Thomas More University, I think we would still be BU's rival, but it'd no where be as intense.</li>
</ul>

7

<p>Here's the pre-med article:</p>

<p>"76 percent of BC applicants were accepted into medical school programs. The national average of that year was approximately 45 percent.</p>

<p>Interestingly enough, the average science GPA of a BC student who is accepted into medical school is 3.50 which is lower than the national average of 3.57. "I believe that the fact that BC students get in [to med school] with lower GPAs is a reflection of the esteem with which medical schools view this institution," Wolff said."</p>

<p>Medical</a> school applications become increasingly competitive - News</p>

<p>One thing to note. BC pre-med is open to all. You don't have to have the GPA to get into it (like some liberal arts colleges). At some colleges, if you fall below a certain GPA, you get kicked out. This is to protect their med school yield. BC doesn't do that. The Pre-med track is brutal by itself. Students who can't take it naturally drop out. Hence students with lower GPAs than the national average have a higher admission rate than the national average.</p>

<p>Here's an article about transfer students (but has a BC focus) from the NY Times:
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/education/edlife/SOCIAL.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/education/edlife/SOCIAL.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>