Please defend BU (vs small liberal colleges)

Colleges & Universities A-Z Boston University
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<p>I really hope this isn’t too long…I really appreciate any comments at all…here is a quick thing to my grades and whatnot. if you don’t feel like reading this just skip to the list</p>

<p>male, white, I go to a very wealthy public school in MA
GPA 3.3 UW, 3.6 W, ranks 50s in my class of 250
ACT 29 r27 m27 sci31 e28 (taking sat in fall)
SAT II - US History 740. Taking Biology in fall
EC - I play in a band and we have done large gigs in boston area (all the guys I play with are in their early twenties so we travel a lot), Model UN, secretary of Socialist Youth Group, Environmental club, head baseball coach of 7-8 graders for 3 years by the time I graduate (I was sporty until I tore a shoulder tendon playing football fosh year), I do all the token charity things everyone else does like cancer walks, food collection, etc. In my free time I am one of those sterotypical teenage nihilists who read philosophy and play music. </p>

<p>(boring career interests next paragraph)
my interests are definitely in Philosphy, Biology (physiology), Social Sciences (very keen on politics), History, Psychology, Music. That is rather broad, but I am not a fan of Math or English. I’d like to major in Premed, but I’d also like to think that I am *not *one of those smiling teens that say ‘I’m gonna be a doctor!’ and then drop out when they realize they hate organic chemistry. I took a summer course taking pigs apart, and just have a big interest in how the human body functions. My interest in history/politics/philosophy could end up as a major but I feel like it would ruin it, so it might just end up staying as a minor in college and a hobby when I become an adult</p>

<p>Okay (sorry for that), BU has been my favorite school for a few year now. Both my parents and an aunt went there, I have been to the university before I even thought about college, I have gone to hockey games there, I go to boston 2 times with my friends a month so we end up in BU sometimes. Boston is by far my favorite city just for everything, its amazing and I like it so much more than other cool cities I have been to (Montreal, NYC, Philly, etc.). But enough about that. </p>

<p>I started visiting colleges with my parents…we have been to, in order of when we went there:</p>

<p>Boston University
Holy Cross
Boston College
UMass Amherst
Villanova (PA schools now)
Franklin and Marshall
Dickinson
Muhlenburg
Drexel
Lafayette
Lehigh</p>

<p>I think a lot of those schools are big reaches (BC/Villanova/F&M/Lehigh), but my parents wanted to see them anyways. </p>

<p>A lot of the liberal arts schools I saw emphasized the personal learning and faculty individual attention to research oppurtunities. So I was thinking about how BU looked against a school I really liked as well, Lafayette. </p>

<p>BU:
pros

  • Great city (amazing food on and off campus)
  • Large Facilities
  • great atmosphere of learning
  • many, many organzations and stylistic diversity of people
  • Variety of academic offerings if I decide to change majors
  • Research oppurunities
    cons
  • grade deflation
  • TA’s
  • Research oppurtunities favoring grad students might suck as an undergrad
  • crappy dorms
  • large classes
  • not as helpful for the huge student body</p>

<p>Lafayette
pros

  • individual attention
  • while they only have 85% premed acceptance rate, I talked to a chemistry professor there and he said that when you get accepted into premed, they support you 100% unlike other schools that might kick you out to keep their premed acceptance rate up. Some premed advisors will refuse to help or write letters of recommendation if you don’t have a high chance of getting into med school.
  • nice campus
  • nice dorms
  • all research oppurtunities go to undergrad
    cons
  • Lack of acdemic diversity
  • Crappy city (old steel towns bleh), middle of nowhere
  • A lot of frats, like most liberal arts colleges
  • Very conservative student body, but most ‘liberal’ arts colleges are, and the ones that are very left have weird grading structures like Hampshire. And if I went to Hampshire, I would not go for Premed when they don’t even use GPAs or have good science programs.</p>

<p>So all in all, I feel like BU would be easier on me lifestyle-wise, but a small liberal arts college like Lafayette suits me more for academics and the direction of my career. could some of you guys please give me some more of BU strengths or tell me that I am wrong about some of their cons? Because I really like BU but I don’t want to get screwed over there, if that makes any sense. I wish there was a liberal arts college in Boston that had good sciences, like Tufts, but one I actually have slight chance for, as I would need to get a 33 on my next ACT to have a chance with my crappy GPA. </p>

<p>Please please please please defend BU, I am not trying to **** you off I want you to be right so I feel like I can go there. Like talk about their strengths in sciences or the plentiful research oppurtunities that I am not seeing. </p>

<p>sorry if this was a drag to read, and post a link for me to chance you because I would very much like to :)</p>

<p>cheers</p>

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<p>There is no grade deflation at BU.</p>

<p>I can’t compare Lafayette to BU. The sizes are too different.</p>

<p>If you have mediocre grades now, you’ll likely find doing pre-med to be a tough road.</p>

<p>One funny note, BU’s chem department for undergrads is small and has a large graduate program so research is built into the program - like weekly seminars, more opportunities - than anything you’d find at a small school. In other words, there’s the school and then your area of interest.</p>

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<p>I’ve been interested in history/politics/philosophy for as long as I can remember…I’m a political science major now and it hasn’t ruined it for me at all. It’s stimulated my interest and love for the subject. College classes aren’t like high school classes…you have a lot more freedom to focus on what you want. So don’t write off those majors!</p>

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<p>Lergnom, my bad grades are in english and englishy social studies (to a lesser extent) where formal writing style is sorely needed. My best subject by far has always been science. </p>

<p>Thanks Bailey, I won’t then.</p>

5

<p>I don’t think villanova is that much of a reach for you (have you seen the acceptance rates?) If you have a decent shot at BU than you have a decent shot at villanova! Lehigh might be a little jump for you - but still also a decent shot (I know someone with a similiar GPA and test scores who got in).</p>

<p>Seems like you pretty much like the Boston area - clearly from your vacations I would guess. I would say you would best look more into Boston/Boston related schools (bentley, babson)</p>

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<p>cons

  • grade deflation - not true. grade deflation may have existed in the past, but you get the grade you earn at BU now. people who still talk about grade deflation are only using it as a crutch for a poor grade.
  • TA’s - which are no better or worse than any other college in boston.
  • Research oppurtunities favoring grad students might suck as an undergrad - this is downright false. see [UROP[/url</a>]
  • crappy dorms - not true. student village 2 is opening this fall. [url=<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=1396&id=43920]Boston”>http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=1396&id=43920]Boston</a> University: Student Village Phase II](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/urop/]UROP[/url”>Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) . freshman dorms are abysmal, but that’s the point… it’s the freshman experience.
  • large classes - yeah, BU does have its share of large classes. getting more into your major, however, mitigates this.
  • not as helpful for the huge student body - i’m not sure what you mean.</p>
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<p>There was never grade deflation. BU and a number of other schools - most - have not inflated their grades as fast as a few. Some schools have in fact limited grade inflation - mostly tech schools - but not BU, not GW, not most of the other schools to which this rumor gets attached.</p>