I was just wondering how much financial aid do you think I should expect from BC? Parents make about 170k a year.
@Sexyaznninja unfortunately I don’t have the first idea as to what that number might be. There’s a ton of variables that are factored in to one’s financial aid package so I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.
hi @appplicant I was wondering how hard classes are within the CSOM? I was accepted EA and plan on majoring in finance; however, I don’t know a ton about finance and am just wondering if most students within the CSOM come in pretty aware about the topics we will be covering. Also, how helpful are professors?
Also I am a female and I’ve heard that there are a lot more males in CSOM than females. Is this true?
Thanks for the response!!
No prerequisite knowledge is required for a finance concentration; oftentimes the high schools that many of BC’s students come from do not have any finance-based courses offered in their curriculum. I personally had none and I believe the curriculum does a great job of giving a strong base on which to expand your knowledge of the concentration (and other concentrations as well, given the nature of the CSOM core).
One thing to keep in mind though, with my talks with alums at recruiting fairs, is that you really get a solid base in “academic finance”, but there are such intricacies in the functional financial marketplace that you can get a job in a field in which you know incredibly little from your time at BC, and you just simply learn from the ground up. So many financial firms nowadays are encouraging even non-business majors to apply, as they believe that many of the moving parts of the job can be taught upon arrival, and that an interest and a good working personality are the two main criteria. With that said, don’t get hung up on the difficulties of the classes. Even if the tests are hard, if you hold a competitive GPA that can get your foot in the door on a resume drop (which can sometimes be bolstered from A&S classes and the core, among other things), and feel like you can come away from a class with at least a few solid bits of information put together, you’ll be in better shape than you’d likely believe.
In general, I’ve found that CSOM classes can vary heavily on the professor that you have. At BC I’ve found (both personally and from talks with friends) that financial accounting and basic finance are two of the harder courses that everyone in CSOM takes. However, I’ve heard differently as well. Unfortunately, with the size of each department, there is no cookie cutter yes or no response that I can give with certainty, as different professors have different exams with different difficulties. Oftentimes it’s as simple as a “luck of the draw” scenario. However, I’ve found on the whole that even my worst classes grade-wise (suggesting the hardest ones for me personally) didn’t necessarily equate to a dislike for my professor or the content. In general, I haven’t found CSOM to be incredibly difficult, though I’ve also had one or two classes where I just couldn’t seem to put two and two together, despite how long or intensively I studied. Sometimes that’s just college.
In general, I’ve found the professors to be incredibly accessible and willing to help in any way that they can to see that you succeed. Sometimes, in the case of classes I’ve struggled with, letting the professor know how much you’re trying (by attending office hours and keeping an open email dialogue with occasional questions) can be huge for even getting your grade curved a letter up at the end of the semester. All professors are required to have a certain office hour period as a minimum (per week), and many professors exceed that amount, some even with open invites to just come by and talk.
Yes, there are many more males than females in CSOM, simply based on the fact that a drastically larger number of guys apply to business school than girls. The same can be said for STEM. You’ll see this at any school, unfortunately. That said, the general ratio at BC is 53-47 (girls to guys, respectively). Your classes in CSOM will often be highly group project-oriented, so theres a high likelihood of you being the only girl at least once or twice, however there is no dearth of classes in the broader university that has a more even distribution.
Hope this helps
thanks so much for the response! the info definitely helps in my decision 
@appplicant I was accepted to CSOM early action. I am almost certain I want to go into investment banking like yourself, and I am trying to decide the best course of action to make that happen. I was originally going to major in finance with a double major in either business analytics or economics. After reading your intro I noticed that you double major in Finance and Biz Analytics and have an additional minor. My question is if I could major in the same two things and add a minor in economics and if that would make sense if I wanted to work in investment banking.
@sta2017 Glad to help however I can. Let me know if anything else pops up.
@1zogden1 Congrats on the acceptance. Economics is actually a concentration within CSOM, so that would be interesting to double concentrate and minor in econ, which is done through the A&S arm of econ. What it sounds like you’re looking to do is game the system and find a backdoor around the “no triple concentrating” rule, in order to have a background in three branches of the “business realm” rather than the usual max of two. It’s an interesting approach and to be totally honest I have absolutely no knowledge of anyone in CSOM who is minoring in economics, because, like I said, it’s a concentration. That said, I have no clue if that’s because it’s just so uncommon, or because it’s impossible.
You don’t have to over business-ify yourself to that extent to be competitive in banking. So if you think these are the means to that end, I wouldn’t pigeonhole yourself nearly to that extent, unless you have no alternative double major or minor interests in A&S (hint hint, environmental studies, among several others).
Hope that helps at least a bit
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What advice would you give someone to succeed in the business school? Is there anything you are doing now that you wish you were doing in your first two years?
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Does CSOM ranks its students, and, if so, how is it done? How important do you think this ranking means?
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As a finance and business analytics major, what are some of the classes that I should be sure to take that are not necessarily required? Are there any specific business professors that I should want?
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How easy was it to find internships in your field of interest? How much assistance did BC give you in finding these internships?
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What clubs or activities do you think would be interesting and/or helpful for a person interested in investment banking, particularly the sales and trading aspect?
I know that the standard semester is 5 courses, but does being a double major with a minor mean that you have to take 6 classes in some semesters?
I was looking on BC’s website, and I found several classes under the finance major, but I only need to take one of them. Will there be time to take some of these classes as electives?
I’m gonna try to answer these in order; all good questions…
I would definitely say that keeping an active dialogue with professors, via email or office hours, is usually a key to a good result ad a more thorough understanding of the subject matter. In my freshman year especially, I was a bit intimidated by my professors. They were all incredibly nice and more than willing to help but I just had it in my head that they had better things to do than help the likes of me (one of their hundreds of students that they teach on a weekly basis). Reading the Wall Street Journal is also a great habit to get into; if you ever have Professor Michael Rush for basic finance or one of the later finance electives, he’ll actually love you for it.
CSOM does rank, as do all of the other schools at BC. You are only ranked in the context of your respective school and your grade (i.e. I am never matched against sophomores in A&S or seniors in Lynch). Therefore, I am ranked against about 500+ CSOM juniors according solely to GPA. I wouldn’t say rank matters, as long as you’re in the top half. Elaborating further, I wouldn’t say anything is worth putting on your resume until you’re in the top 25%, at the very least. Beyond that, it’s not a huge deal. I was never asked that in interviews and everybody takes different classes with different professors and they have different minors, majors, and concentrations. Therefore, an employer rarely relies on rank in their line of questioning for a CSOMer, because they could easily have a math double major that pulls them down or an easier major/minor that may pull them up. If you have a high rank in spite of difficult professors or course requirements, more power to you.
I haven’t really gone too far beyond my requirements for either finance or business analytics. Both concentrations are about five classes each and, coupled with the general CSOM core, give a pretty accurate level of post-grad preparedness. Again, you are also taught a ton of things on the job that you could have never learned at BC, considering the intricacies of each position you could have. I could have about 4 open spaces to go above and beyond my senior year, out of the 10 classes I have left to take (yikes), but I’m choosing to learn some abstract classes that aren’t too relevant (other than maybe an introductory comp sci class, which I’d probably take pass/fail). As for professors, they’ve almost all been good (and I’m not going to bad mouth anyone in particular, so I’ll stick only to the positives, rather than the few to be avoided). I love Mike Barry and Mike Rush, who are in the Finance department-- both extremely nice guys who run hard classes but they’re probably the most rewarding B’s I ever got. Joy Field is also incredibly nice and down to earth. She’s in operations, which has heavy overlay with analytics. Erkut Sonmez is also another great ops professor whose class I really liked. Those are probably my top 4 through CSOM.
Internships are a bit rough the first two years. For the summer after freshman year, I would say that the large majority of CSOM students who get internships do so through connections (myself included in that demographic), in order to get their foot in the door and start resume building. For the position I got the summer after sophomore year, that was definitely a bit rougher, as I was really out to prove I didn’t need a family connection to hold my hand through my intracollegiate employment pursuits. We have a careers portal which is usually the ideal intermediary for internship searching, mainly through deadline-fueled resume drops. Unfortunately, most jobs prioritize juniors more heavily, which leaves sophomores with the remainder. I applied to about 30-40 jobs, and I got three responses, and two of them were “we don’t take sophomores.” Furthermore, the position I did get was one of three spots from an applicant pool of approximately 350. That said, it reinforces the idea that its slim pickings for sophomores, but the BC (specifically CSOM) name definitely helps get your foot in the door, if you’re vigilant. As for the internship I’ll soon be doing, that is much more straightforward (referring to the process as a whole), as juniors are the most highly demanded, they often have the most experience, and it’s the last intern cycle before post-grad fulltime employment. I had about 5 interview offers in total, and I dropped out of it early, because my top choice was one of the first respondents. Through the whole process, BC had resources to help, but I mainly got help from the Investment Banking-S&T Club and some assistance from BC alums of the companies I was applying to, whom I networked extensively with.
The investment banking-sales and trading club is your one-stop-shop for that career interest. You apply to be a mentee as a sophomore though, so you can occupy yourself with other clubs in the meantimes like the investment club (which I’m personally not a fan of) or possibly the student business consortium, which helps serve as the intermediary between companies who want to meet students that are interested in getting hands on with the job as early as possible (through entry level group assignments and case competitions). It gives lots of noteworthy experience early on and it’s a good way to set yourself apart from the crowd.
I, personally, have never had to overload in a semester (nor will I). I came in with 42 credits already fulfilled from AP’s and extra college classes, so I was far enough through the core upon entry for that not to be an issue. If you’re not in the same boat, a semester or two of overloading an extra class wouldn’t surprise me (if you’re dead-set on double concentrating and minoring).
The finance “major” is really a concentration within your broader business degree (sorry if I had ever said otherwise). I get lazy and its easier to refer to it as a major, even though it’s not, technically. I would personally be shocked if you only had to take one more class to fulfill the concentration before setting foot on campus, unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean. The concentration entails fulfilling the CSOM core (as does any other concentration in CSOM), plus corporate finance, investments, and 2 electives. Having this almost completed through credit-worthy college classes before freshman year is admittedly almost impossible (if not, completely impossible). Apologies for the curtness of that reply. Regarding your secondary time-based question: It varies, and I couldn’t possibly answer that question without knowing your AP credits you’ll be entering with, in addition to a set degree path (major, minor, concentrations, if you’ll be studying abroad, if you’ll be overloading, etc.). Sorry I can’t help much on that one, but realistically, it’s too early for there to be such a black and white answer for you.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you want me to go into anything a bit further or if you have any other questions.
Does BC have good support for professional assistance and development? Something that helps prepare students for “the real world.” Any programs or similar for this?
I’m not quite sure to what you’re referring. I can say that BC’s career center makes a concerted effort to help however it can, and there are a number of career fairs over the course of the year that offer networking opportunities to grow your career prospects. In terms of actual on-the-job assistance, I’m not aware of any such resources (but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, I just may have not ever had exposure to it/them). Informally, there are loads of BC alums that are usually more than happy to speak on their experiences and transitioning periods from being a student to being a part of the working world. However, I personally know of no such formal programs in place.
If I’m not really approaching your question correctly, feel free to rephrase. I just thought I’d take a stab at it.
Dear @applicant,
I am curious as to why you are not a fan of the investment club?
Thanks.
They had a pretty high learning curve with no solid accommodations for underclassmen to understand the content or the jargon in general. So I went to the first semester’s meetings totally clueless. Additionally, everyone that seemed to speak out to question stock pitches or inquire further about the subject seemed to do so only because they liked hearing the sound of their own voice.
While I don’t necessarily think I’m the minority in this opinion, there is of course alternate perspectives which I’m sure are more favorable.
Can CAS students take courses at CSOM? Is it possible for a CAS student to minor in business?
Yes absolutely they can. However, CSOM kids obviously get priority in the class registrar, so it’s definitely a bit harder. Most people who take these classes informally are upperclassmen who take courses that have plenty of sections, such as organizational behavior.
The minor is also possible, and can be declared only as early as the beginning of your sophomore year (I believe) as it requires you to have an established GPA of at least 3.5 at the time of declaring. The minor title is “management and leadership”. A quick google should probably give you a good foundation in what you can expect.
In general, if you have an interest and haven’t already been accepted, I would apply CSOM, as it affords much more flexibility than A&S. If it’s too late, the most business-y degree path would be any combination of Econ, Math, and/or Comp Sci with a Mgmt & Leadership minor.
Hope this helped
Are there opportunities/have you ever heard of anyone graduating early? I have a ton of AP cred and would hate to pay for an extra year of tuition and such.
@lindsgal It’s called Advanced Standing. You’d need 24 AP credits and would need permission from the dean by the end of first semester freshman year.
Pretty much what @gobosox said. Although if you can foot the bill, I wouldn’t recommend it. BC is such a great place and I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to be out the door. I shared a similar sentiment, as I entered with about 18 credits over the minimum for advanced standing, but I realized the class credit advantage can surface in many other ways than just graduating in three years. It’s afforded me to double concentrate, minor, AND have room for electives, which has made my experience all the better. For others, it has allowed then to double major and study abroad.
Obviously, finances are paramount, but if you can stay four years, I’d go that route. I can’t imagine following through with my original goal of being here just three years. That would mean I’d only have a few weeks left here and just the fact I have only two full semesters left is terrifying in itself.
I’m in definite agreement with applicant above.
If you want to skip your 4th year at BC, you really have to ask yourself why you applied there in the first place.