I’m seriously considering BU for college, and I like how there seems to be endless opportunities there, but I still have some reservations. For starters, I guess this depends on the class and/or major but how engaged are students in the classroom? Are they participating and contributing ideas? Are professors accessible and is it easy to get to know them? Would opting to do the Core put me in small classes with more engaged students and more contact with professors? And overall, how intellectual are students/ how intellectual can they be? I would like to be challenged not just by professors and the workload, but by my peers also.
Not to be a downer, but I don’t think your peers are going to challenge you regardless of where you’ll go…
All things are relative. What other colleges are you considering?
I graduated there many years ago, so take my comments with a grain of salt as to recent relevancy.
As big as Big & Ugly may be, I got to know some of my profs very well, and had contact with them when I had a reason and/or desire to do so. Students can hide or get involved. It didn’t feel as big as it is, to me.
As far as the student body, was not so great when I was there long ago, but the kids going now are very bright. Those I know who have gone recently, are great kids who would definitely contribute to their peers.
If you love an urban campus, it simply can’t be beat.
Not sure what you compare it too, but if you can afford to go there, it is a great choice.
@blevine thank you for your insight! @TomSrOfBoston other schools are amherst college and brandeis university
Amherst would be a better match for what you are looking for, if it is affordable.
@blevine BU = big and ugly…I haven’t heard that nickname in decades 
@zofro99 My S is applying to BU as a transfer in Film and we both took summer class there for their Film production1, him because this is the program where he wants to transfer, me because I’d like to teach that class in the High School where I work. Perhaps because it was the summer and it’s difficult to find teachers, or because BU is actually Big (I won’t say Uggly), our experience was so so. Students were sympathetic in class but not really sharing their ideas outside the class. It sounded like it was the class they needed to take for their core curriculum and that’s it. I did not feel the passion that I can feel elsewhere, in another film school for example. The teacher was a professional film maker, struggling to make money from it, and teaching was not his priority. We still learned but he never graded my work because I was finishing my homework a little late compared to the others, and because I was not seecking a degree. During the last class, he did not screen my work. I shared my film with the teacher and the students asking them, as a favor, a critic, an opinion, so I could work from there, and I had no answer. No one. It was te last class, they were going on their path and, obvisouly, I was going on mine. I took the same class in another school fall semester, not only the teacher watched my movie made that summer and commented it, but I had help from my peers during the semester. For me, BU is a huge factory, very impersonal. This does not prevent my S to apply. But BU is not the first choice because we think a smaller school will bring what you are talking about: more connections, more accessibility. Anyway, BU is still a good university with good reputation. But if you have better, consider it. Good luck.