Can someone tell me how the program is at BC? Is it a popular choice? Any thoughts on the rigor of the program compared to other schools? Does Bc have high med school accceptance rate?
premed is popular at nearly every college.
No school has a “high” med school acceptance rate. And if they say they do, they are cooking the books, by limiting applications, and/or counting acceptances to offshore med schools.
I was premed at BC. It is a VERY popular choice - many, many people start off premed at BC, but most drop it as they get older. Being premed at BC kind of sucks, to be honest, but I’m not sure if it’s any better/worse at other schools. The nice thing is that premeds at BC aren’t generally outright competitive. There isn’t an obvious help one another out mentality either, but if you make some premed friends usually they’ll be willing to help you. The classwork is pretty rigorous, but how well you will do is really difficult to guess. You need to focus a lot on your school work and not get too involved in activities/partying. Pick a couple things you really want to dedicate your time to and go on from there. BC culture is weird because a lot of people get super over-involved in that they sign up for a million clubs. Try not to do this - you’ll be stretched too thin.
More on the classes - they’re curved to a B- for the most part. Unfortunately, how you do can be pretty dependent on who your professor is. There is pretty wide variation between the averages for different premed classes. There is MASSIVE variation between the lab TAs. I would get a flat A one semester and a B the next without changing the amount of effort I put in. The advising is generally pretty terrible. It’s fairly well known that they’re likely to shoot down your med school dreams if you don’t have above a certain GPA. You also need above a certain GPA if you want a good committee letter. If you’re determined to go to med school, you have to just kind of ignore it. That isn’t to say if you get a C in every class you should keep pushing through, but if you know your grades aren’t great but not horrible either, don’t be discouraged from sticking with it. You will also be taken much less seriously as a freshman premed than an older student, simply because so many students will drop. There aren’t many premed advisors, so they don’t have time to give close attention to everyone.
One good thing is that BC doesn’t officially weed out students, so you won’t be kicked out of the program for getting a bad grade. The weeding is more artificial, since the classes can be so competitive. This is why you have to take any medical school acceptance percentages with a grain of salt. The number of premed students drops significantly from freshman to senior year, and most seniors don’t apply to go straight to medical school from BC. The ones that do are usually very competitive for medical school, so you’ll end up finding numbers like 70% of premeds go to med school after BC. This doesn’t take into account the fact that many, if not most premeds take a year off to improve their records, and BC students are pretty well represented in post-bacc programs (though from what I’ve seen and heard, BC students tend to do VERY well in post-bacc programs). I do think the level of rigor at BC is excellent preparation for medical school level coursework.
On a more positive note, I will add that I do know many students who have applied and been accepted to medical school after BC. The reality is that premed life is going to suck pretty much wherever you go. This is what I’ve heard from premeds at many other universities. Moreover, the experience varies tremendously from person to person. Someone who got all As at BC is obviously going to think more highly of the program. I was more middle ground, so that might color my experience more. Honestly, I really think it’s more important that other aspects of the campus are a better fit for you than worrying too much about the premed program. Find a school that’s pretty well-ranked if you can manage, a good fit for what you’re looking for otherwise, and just work like hell to get the grades you need. (Unless you hear about a school where premed is so competitive that people will steal each other’s notebooks and crap…don’t go there…)
Thank you so much for your reply . It was so helpful. What type of post bacc programs do students enroll in to boost their future applications? Are these masters programs ? How did you enjoy the rest of BC? Is it a very religious culture?
No problem. There are a lot of postbacc programs, usually master’s programs, popping up. The Tufts and BU programs are popular for BC students because they’re also located in Boston. Not really something for you to think about yet, though - just focus on doing the best you can in undergrad. You don’t want to have to do a postbacc program if you don’t have to. They get pretty expensive.
There were times when I both loved and hated BC, but looking back I think college is a lot less about the school and a lot more about what you make of where you are. I know I was so anxious in high school about making sure that the college I went to was the “right fit” for me, but regardless of how many posts you read about schools your experience is never going to be the same as the experiences other people had.
I found the culture at BC to be frustrating on occasion. It’s a relatively homogenous community of mostly suburban, white, Catholic, private school students. This is NOT BC as a whole, there are many students of different types and backgrounds at BC, but it’s certainly a majority. On a different vein, BC has a huge community service component. At times I felt that some of my peers could be very hypocritical - attending church every week and going on service trips, but coming back to BC and treating other students like crap. The superficiality of it started to really get to me as I got older, but it also gets better - people start to care less about keeping up appearances from freshman to senior year. I’m sure you’ll find that at any school.
It can also be very competitive, but in a weird, subtle way. Like I said above, no one is going to outright sabotage you or anything like that, but most everyone on campus is so overly involved in things that it is frustrating at times. It can be difficult to even volunteer, for example, because so many people apply to do things on campus. From speaking with friends at other colleges, this isn’t really the norm at most schools. That being said, I was able to get involved in everything I wanted to be involved in. People who put in the extra effort stand out, because many are spread too thin. It was just a little frustrating at first.
Those are the things I probably like least about BC. That being said, I feel like I received an EXCELLENT education. My classes, particularly my humanities classes, were outstanding. I had great professors who I felt (for the vast majority) really cared for their students. Premed classes are always large because there are so many premeds, and core classes can be big, but the majority of my classes were small enough that the professor knew everyone’s name. I learned a lot about a lot at BC. The core is extensive, but I really loved that, so if you enjoy taking a variety of classes BC is a good place to be. Moreover, I met some truly incredible people at BC. I didn’t always fit in with the bigger culture I mentioned above, but you can find your niche wherever you go. I was really passionate about service-related things, and I met equally passionate students who challenged me to be better. Moreover, it always amazed me how many ridiculously talented people are at BC. There are a lot of smart people there, for sure, but there are also some incredible singers, dancers, artists, comedians, etc. and it was awesome going to arts fest and other events (there are ALWAYS, ALWAYS things happening on campus, literally all the time). The campus was gorgeous and Boston is an amazing city to live in/near. Since students are so involved, there are a million different organizations covering all sorts of different interests to be involved in. I felt like there were so many opportunities at BC that I didn’t even get to take advantage of them, even though I, too, was guilty of being over-involved.
To answer your question about religion on campus…it’s definitely pervasive. Many, many students are Catholic. You have to take a theology and philosophy core (which I, and seemingly most students, really, genuinely enjoyed). There will be masses on campus all the time (you don’t have to attend), religious retreats, and occasionally you might have classes with a nun or two, or a jesuit as a professor. However, what I tell most people is that religion at BC is pretty opt-in or opt-out. Beyond the theology core, there isn’t anything you’re required to do with regards to religion. Moreover, the theology core and most of the religious aspects at BC center a lot more on the community service and spiritual side of religion. For example, one religious retreat at BC called Kairos is super, super popular among BC students, even some who identify as atheists, because the emphasis is more on love and service than doctrine. However, if you want to get super involved in religious stuff on campus that’s definitely an option. There are campus ministers to talk to, tons of retreats to go on (there are also a ton of non-religious retreats that are awesome), at least 2 masses to go to every day, and a lot more. There are also clubs for Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Orthodox Christian, and other major religious groups on campus (there is a multifaith center). Long story short, I wouldn’t worry too much about religion at BC unless you’re super, super uncomfortable being around religious people. I had friends who went to church every week and friends who didn’t - no one seemed to care.
Sorry that was super long, hope it helps a bit.
@LA4928 That was a great post with really great and balanced inside info on BC. Thank you!
Did you end up sticking with premed or did you change to something else?
No problem!
I did stick with premed, but I’m just going through the med school application process now (I graduated from BC in 2015). I think I mentioned this somewhere above, but from what I’ve seen it has become (for better or worse) much more common for students to take a year or more off in between graduation and going to medical school. This is definitely something you need to start thinking about early during your college career, because applying to go straight to medical school after undergrad is a bit more of a time crunch in terms of fitting in your pre-reqs and taking the MCAT. You also have to consider paying back your loans during your year(s) off from school. That being said, if you go to BC they’ll tell you at orientation or early on that you have to take the premed reqs during a certain year in a certain order. Not true. You do have to take gen chem before orgo, for example, but if you’re not planning on going straight to medical school there’s a little bit more flexibility.