Junior in CSOM- AMA

much appreciated @jpm50

@appplicant do you know anything about the computer science program at BC? I have heard that it is not terrible but lacking when compared to other schools in the area and top schools.

@appplicant What are the living conditions like? What are the bathroom situations? Is there something like a student lounge?

@TransferKid14 My freshman / sophomore roommate is going for a B.S. in comp sci; he had an insane amount of work his first two years but i believe it has leveled off for him a little bit now. He’s said that BC’s program definitely isn’t the best but I’ve gotten the impression from others that it’s fairly solid, with a few majors getting fairly prominent tech internships. Obviously we’re blown out of the water by some nearby schools like MIT, but the extent or specifics behind the advantages of each program is beyond me. Unfortunately I don’t have anything more to pass along than that.

@1zogden1 They’re decent. I’ve never had any complaints. I lived in a forced triple my freshman year, a double on College Road my sophomore year, and am currently living in an 8 man suite on lower campus. The forced triple was obviously the worst of the three, but it didn’t live nearly up to some of the horror stories I’ve heard from other groups. Bathrooms are communal for singles, doubles, triples and upper campus/co-ro quads (shared by floor, which is separated by gender), 4-man suites on lower campus get one bathroom, and then 6, 8, and 9-man’s on lower campus get two, all in their suite. Small student lounges also exist in all dorms, sometimes as frequently as one per floor, but sometimes as few as one per dorm hall.

@appplicant if you had to give your top 3 reasons for choosing BC over other schools, what would they be?

@1zogden1

  1. The business school (I’m a rankings guy)
  2. The area; Boston is my favorite city in the country
  3. The campus; it’s just a classically amazing college with beautiful stonework, great quads and groundskeeping

Alternate: Sports, I’m a big football fan, and it’s cool to go to a school that has alums like Matt Ryan, Matt Hasselbeck, Luke Keuchly, and of course Doug Floutie. We’ve had less than stellar seasons the last few years but when we beat USC my freshman year (in 2014), it was probably my favorite college moment thus far

Ultimately, candidly, BC was in the middle of the pack on my list. After everything shook out decision-wise, I was deciding between here, UVA, and Villanova’s Honors College. No regrets even in the slightest, but I’m sure many students with similar choices but chose differently would say the same.

@appplicant How is recruitment and job placement for Econ majors at MCAS for IB, consulting firms, and other business related fields?

@appplicant I was wondering, I applied for the entrepeneurship concentration for CSOM, but looking through the webiste, it seemed as something fairly new at Boston College. Do you have any details and information relating to this concentration?

I got accepted into CSOM EA and I was wondering if you could answer a few questions:

  1. What was your first semester like? How was the course load?
  2. What are the classes you recommend one MUST take (it can be outside of CSOM).
  3. What's better? Newton or Upper?

@Dontskipthemoose Really solid, I’d say. Top firms like the idea of diversity both in demographics and in focus of study. Econ through arts and sciences is not really a hindrance at all to solid recruiting and your broader job prospects, especially if you’re able to weasel yourself into a few CSOM classes over your BC tenure, which is definitely possible. I obviously don’t have first hand experience, but I know plenty of people, particularly through the IBST club that I mentioned, that got great jobs without needing CSOM on their resume. Most of the time, they just want to see a genuine substantiated interest in the material, and if you can display that, then it often transcends major.

@jvjvjv I can’t speak too in-detail of the concentration personally. I can confirm as you said that it is a newer offering relative to others. It was actually established my freshman year, if I remember correctly. I can say that there are a number of classes with entrepreneurial themes (entrepreneurial finance, as an obvious example) that I’ve heard are definitely solid, with a good professor whom I know and could speak highly of. Oftentimes, I’ve heard of the more entrepreneurially-inclined students double-concentrating with Computer Science, as a coding background opens up several doors in that space, which I would recommend if you have even a remote interest. What’s nice in your case is that it is extremely easy to switch concentrations. I originally applied for econ, and then switched to add finance and business analytics after my first semester. So, while I can’t be as thoroughly helpful in my answer as I’d like (because I’m not familiar too personally with the concentration), you are free to gather your own impressions of entrepreneurship at your leisure until the end of sophomore year, which is when I believe a concentration must be officially declared.

@wolverinefan2017 'grats on the acceptance.

My first semester was deceptively easy. I took Portico (business ethics), business law, theology, microeconomics, and computers in management. Most of them were incredibly low workload and many of my friends (all but one of whom are in STEM fields) were working their respective asses off, taking calc 2, 3, physics, and the like. It skewed my perception of college and then, second semester, it all metaphorically hit the fan, as I got some bad class picks. I entered with a lot of credits and was thus slightly ahead in working my way through the university and CSOM core requirements, respectively. That said, my lack of seniority (which is the basis for your class selection pick times) hurt me pretty badly, as I got the harder sections with the worse times and the less-than-stellar professors, because everything else was taken. Unfortunately, there’s little to be done about that issue.

If you can take a class with Mike Barry, I’d recommend it. He’s in the finance department and teaches basic finance, corporate finance, and investments (I had him for the latter). He’s not only extremely well-connected to most of the major recruiting banks (because he taught several of the recruiters), but he also has a quirky sense of humor and his classes are tough but rewarding. That was one of my hardest earned B’s and I think he saw the effort and was able to subsequently give his “seal of approval” to any banks who’ve seen my resume to that point. I’d also recommend Can Erbil’s microecon class and Erkut Sonmez’s operations class. Several professors teach the same class (lots of overlap), so professor picks are key.

I was in a forced triple in the back corner of upper and didn’t hate it. I’d recommend it but I say that with obvious bias. Newton kids are pretty inclined to recommend Newton as well, so I wouldn’t place too much weight in whichever you end up with, because it’s a solid experience both ways. Therefore, I’m not gonna go too in-depth because I don’t want anybody freaking out over not getting the one that I say is better.

@appplicant Does BC make you apply to any of the clubs? I know some schools do at least for the main ones, and this is a huge turn off for me, so I was wondering if BC did the same.

@1zogden1

They do not. It’s all your choice, regarding what you’re a part of while on campus.

@appplicant
Is there either grade inflation or deflation?
How much competition is there to get better GPAs than your classmates?
For like university core requirements, like fine arts, would you recommend taking an easier class that doesn’t interest you, or would you recommend taking a harder class that sounds interesting?

Do you know how competitive it is to make the club teams? I’m specifically interested in tennis and there is no intramural tennis, so club is the only option.

@1zogden1 There is some marginal instances of inflation; can’t say I’ve heard of deflation. It’s just one of BC’s ways of keeping its students competitive in the job market by having competitive GPA’s on their resumes. It’s not outlandish by any means though, and it varies hugely by major.

I wouldn’t say it’s crazy competition. Everyone in high school was usually among the upper echelon of their graduating classes, with the rare exception, so it comes as a point of pride when anyone competes for the highest GPA, and its harder for some than for others to acknowledge that there is a significantly higher likelihood now (rather than in high school) that the person sitting to your left or right has a higher GPA. I’d say there are a cluster of drivers that lead to GPA competition (and even then, it’s not nearly as bad as I make it out to be, by any stretch of the word). Those would be jobs, study abroad, grad school, and personal pride.

The first usually pertains to certain cutoffs that higher tier firms use to arbitrarily draw a line in the sand to limit the wave of resumes they get. The cutoffs can range, and usually go no higher than a 3.6 at the very highest.

The second also has a series of cutoffs. The more prestigious the program (i.e. Oxford), the higher the GPA (3.8ish for that one). The lowest cutoff is a 3.0. These programs, while I believe all have associated application essays, are most heavily based off of GPA, so that can drive some competition headed into junior year.

The third, grad school, is also pretty insane, but is usually major-specific to the programs that are inherently prerequisites to a grad program (i.e. pre-med) so there is some definite competition there, probably moreso than any of the other 4 points I’m mentioning.

The last one is hinged off the fact that nobody wants to be last, and everyone (whether they admit it or not), likes to look over their friend’s shoulder and see that they themselves got a higher score. Everyone was used to it in their high schools and it can be hard for them to give that up just because they moved on to college. That varies much more on a case by case basis. Consequently, prevalence varies based on who you hang out with.

For your question about the core, that’s up to you and how heavily GPA is a determinant in your career prospects. If you’re pre med, take the easiest. If you’re something that leans more toward the liberal arts, employers or subsequent schooling may not be as discerning of the highest GPA in an applicant pool. Hard to say for sure, though, so that’s something to be dealt with as you weigh interest and utility of the course versus its difficulty in any given semester.

@HSStudent938 Extremely. I’ve never tried out personally, as I prefer intramurals, where there aren’t practices, but my freshman roommate tried out for a spot on club soccer (and made it), and if I remember right, they collectively took like 6 of the 90+ that came out for a spot. I don’t know how relatable that is to tennis, but know that a large proportion of the people at BC were captains of their respective high school varsity sports, many having the additional regional honors that go with it as well. So, on the whole, yeah, it’s realllly competitive. Unfortunately, the tennis specifics I do not know.

Hope this helped.

From the BC groupchat, I have realized the existence of BC-BU rivalry, but is there any other rivalry we would need to know? Furthermore, I saw that you are doing business analytic, which I saw in the page that also included info about the Operation Management concentration. Do you have any further knowledge about the Operation Management nd Business analytics concentration?

@appplicant I saw you respond on the IB- sales and trading club in another thread and wanted to ask some follow up questions.

  1. You said that you would advise to apply as a sophomore. Can freshman not join this club?

  2. Previously you said that you don’t have apply for clubs, is this just a rare exception?

  3. I saw the numbers you presented in the other thread, but how competitive is it to get in? Like how qualified does one have to be to get in?

  4. Would you recommender to do anything now or in the future to better my chances of getting in?

@jvjvjv BC - Notre Dame (see on wikipedia: Holy War, Holy War on Ice), any of the Beanpot rivals (BU, Northeastern, Harvard). Those are usually the best games to attend. All of them in hockey, excepting football against ND. Some ACC rivalries flare up every now and then, but that usually happens when both teams are comparably ranked.

What would you like to know about analytics/operations? There’s a decent number of resources online about the requirements and classes for each, so I’m just wondering if you’d like me to focus on any particular element? A quick overview, I guess: they’re both well-represented within CSOM, and are commonly what most of the finance majors double concentrate in, but there are plenty of other pairings as well. Ops and analytics are usually a bit mathier and more model-y, for lack of better phrasing. If you like statistics, they both have a ton of it. Lmk if you want me to go into more detail or if my summary poses more questions.

@1zogden1

  1. Freshmen cannot join the club. All IB firms hire for the summer following junior year and recruit during junior year fall. To be a freshman in the club would be redundant, as the club is more or less a class, with a curriculum that teaches the mentees of the club the contents of the M&I Guide (which is a fancy interview prep book for prospective investment bankers), among other things. It essentially resets the curriculum with a new class every year, so all you’d be doing as a freshman is taking the same stuff twice. Consequently, no freshmen. You’re either a sophomore mentee, a junior officer (i.e. me), or a senior officer (who were at one point mentors to the junior officers). You cannot be an officer without first being a mentee.

  2. I misunderstood when you last asked a page back. When you said “does BC make you apply…”, in my head, I interpreted that to mean, “are certain clubs made mandatory by the BC administration.” Apologies. Yes, BC does have a substantial number of clubs that require an application and interview process. However, many also do not. There are hundreds of clubs. The biggest ones are the most well known and thus the most in-demand. Especially with BC’s themes of “men and women for others” (i.e. service), it’s insane how people can be turned down from trying to help others. But it happens. Frequently. Sorry to say.

  3. I’d say you need a GPA above 3.5 (because they want you to pass the IB application resume drop thresholds obviously), and then good prospects for a finance position following your soph year (b/c you interview to be a mentee in the 1st half of your sophomore spring semester). Other than that, you should be well spoken (duh), have a good reason for why you want banking, and be able to answer behavioral questions well. We don’t ask technical questions when interviewing mentees, because our function as a club is to teach the technicals (among other things), so to ask them in an interview would be moot.

  4. To get into the club, my recommendation would be to check off all the boxes to what I said above. Do well in class, be driven in applying for jobs, get experience in finance however possible (doesn’t matter in what area of finance), be engaging, and know why you want to do banking. HOWEVER, for someone coming out of high school, it is way too early to prep for an interview for a club that offers prep for your potential post grad job. I know you’re excited. I was looking at grad school GPA thresholds before I graduated high school too. I get it. But for now, relax. Graduate. Enjoy your last “good” summer. Then start slowly checking off the boxes.

@appplicant
Hi, I recently get into CSOM and am considering to enroll.

I have a few questions:
First, how do AP credits work in BC? I heard from others that if you use AP credit to fulfill a course requirement, then you will automatically get a “pass” grade on your transcript, which may hurt your GPA. However, if you don’t use AP credits and just take the course, you can get much higher grade than just simply replacing it with AP credits and get a pass grade. I wonder if this principle applies to BC. Plus, based on your experience, do you think the content I learn in AP courses is on the same level as courses taught in BC. I am concerned that certain intro courses taught in BC may be more difficult and have more content than its corresponding AP courses.

Second, do you recommend the Advanced Standing? I already get enough credits but wonder if it’s actually beneficial to skip one year(assume that tuition is not a factor). Does that means you have to take more advanced and difficult classes with people who are older and more experienced than you. If that’s the case, there will be a lot of competition and pressure.

Third, what kind of career do you think courses in CSOM help prepare. I heard that CSOM mainly focuses on investment banking and a lot of internship provided are also related with this field. However, I am more interested in doing business in a tech company. So, is CSOM better at preparing a specific career path or a more general business-related field. Anyway, if CSOM is indeed closely related with investment banking, I would love to explore this field.

Fourth, some general questions: what do you think freshmen should bring when they first move to campus? Which professors’ classes in CSOM do you recommend taking? What advice will you give for freshmen to adjust to a new college life in BC? What are some clubs freshmen can participate in CSOM?

Sorry for having so many questions. Any response will be appreciated.

AP credits don’t affect your GPA. You simply apply the credit against a core requirement or an elective and have the flexibility to take other courses.

Regarding advanced standing, saving a year of college is very substantial, even if the family is of considerable means. Socially, an extra year to develop may be advantageous. It can also help with regards to internships, as having an extra summer to land one could make you much more marketable.

CSOM does not focus on IB. Finance is the biggest major and IB gets a lot of attention because of the starting salary but finance majors also go into consulting, wealth management, corporate finance and not for profits. For working in tech, a CS or IT degree would be helpful.