All in the title.
Got into CAS for biochem, and am considering going here. Is the advisory any good? How well does it prepare students for the MCAT and keep up with them for med school admissions?
Premed advising is very good. The Organic Chem and Bio courses are excellent. BC has plenty of opportunities for on-campus research; in addition, the pharma-tech industries offer numerous off campus possibilities for research. One thing BC has in its basic nature is ‘service to others’ which also is a help for pre-health students who need volunteering experience.
MCAT prep will require a lot of self-study to do well, as it would at any college.
What are your alternatives?
@bluebayou Thanks for replying. My other alternatives are are holy cross and BU. BC is ranked higher than both schools and I’ve heard mixed reviews. Also, is it true you have to take a shuttle bus to the Newton campus for some classes??
Holy Cross, another Jesuit school, is a LAC, so a much different environment. My complaint about HC is that its PreMed Committee may not write you a Rec letter if it doesn’t think you are a strong applicant. In essence, they are restricting the weaker applicants from applying; I can only guess its to protect their ‘high’ med acceptance rate. Were you accepted into the premed advising program at HC? If not, you’ll have to apply to get into it later and if not, you might be last to register for premed classes. (The students in the ‘premed’ program get first priority.)
In contrast, BC’s premed committee will write anyone a Rec letter, which is much more welcoming, in the Jesuit tradition.
BU has an urban campus while BC’s is more suburban, altho technically ~half of campus is inside the Boston City limits. I’m a parent of a BC grad (and a big fan of the education that she received), so there is no contest between the two IMO, unless BU is offering you a big merit scholarship. 
99% of classes are on main campus. ~40% of Frosh live on Newton campus, so they take the bus to main campus for class. However, there are a few small and/or seminar-style classes offered on Newton, but those are targeted for the Frosh who live on Newton campus.
Newton dorms are slightly larger, and food is reportedly better. The Newton Frosh seem to bond better and broader, since the bus is the great equalizer and is the genesis of many new friendships.
What reviews have you heard, “mixed” or otherwise? Parties? Lack of Greek scene?
@bluebayou Things like the advising is awful, and that STEM at BC is awful I’m general. Also that the research opportunities are scarce, and it’s hard to connect with professors. Didn’t hear much about Greek life ot and party scenes, mainly because I didn’t care to look into that info.
I also have no idea whether I was accepted into the program or not, the acceptance letter didn’t mention anything, so I guess not.
mg:
not sure that I agree that advising is “awful”. But then my definition of awful advising is a typical large public in California. The UC’s have advising that is beyond horrible. Frosh at UCLA, for example, can “drop in” to the counseling office and wait a few hours, or meet with upper class students for advising.
In contrast, BC requires every student to meet with a departmental faculty member every semester, primarily to discuss course selection but the faculty also offer support and advice on activities and items of interest.
STEM is a broad area. BC does not have an engineering program, so Physics might not be as strong as a school that does have Engineering. That being said, you’ll learn all the physics you need for the MCAT.
Math, Organic Chem and Bio are solid. The Bio program was revamped a few years ago, such that the Bio labs are awesome, and will expose you to lab work that some grad students are not involved in.
Hard to connect with Professors? No way. Sure, there is alway a jerk here and there, but most faculty care deeply about the students and their projects. Of course, you’ll have some large lecture courses in first couple of years, but that is true at nearly every Uni. (Small classes is one plus for liberal arts colleges, if you are not locked out of the class bcos it is full.)
Good luck.