<p>Does anyone have any personal knowledge about biology/physics and the science programs in general at BC?</p>
<p>Science is adequate, some strong areas but mostly oriented to satisfy med school requirements. So biology and chemistry are the most popular and have some excellent professors, physics is a small department but also good. They have a nice modern area. Introductory chem/bio lab equipment leaves something to be desired. </p>
<p>BC Professors focus on teaching more than research (they are hired based on teaching ability), so the opportunity for in depth research on a specific topic is not the same at BC as more technically oriented schools. On the other hand the opportunity to actually see and be taught by a professor is greater. </p>
<p>BC has a large core course requirement so its difficult to throw some physics class options into a chemistry/biology track.</p>
<p>Science at BC is solid, but given short shrift academically. Since BC counts courses for graduation (and not units), science majors end up working a harder than they might in other colleges, and even harder than non-science classmates. In essence, no graduation credit is awarded for taking the lab portion of a science class.</p>
<p>Any comments specifically on the Chemistry department? Do many chem./bio majors do study abroad? Usually a semester? Is it possible with the science requirements.?</p>
<p>Supposedly, BC has a very strong Chem program – at least I was told by a recent Ivy grad who is doing a chem PhD program (elsewhere).</p>
<p>Study abroad is doable, but just takes some really good course planning.</p>
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<p>I earned a degree in biology from BC. What specifically would you like to know? </p>
<p>For the most part, the biology professors are dedicated and personable. The courses are geared towards molecular biology and genetics, so if you like physiology or ecology, this probably isn’t the right school for you. Also, courses here are taught to prepare you for graduate school. They’re primarily based in theory. There are few practical skills to be learned here, and research positions in laboratories are scarce. </p>
<p>There is an astronomical amount of students enrolled in the undergraduate biology program. A large portion of biology students are also in the pre-medical program. Unfortunately the pre-med students are more concerned with grades than biology, and have thus earned biology students in general a bad name. </p>
<p>They have also grossly inflated the roster of required classes, such as organic chemistry and physics. The professors of these classes are frustrated by the number of students who are there simply because they have to be, and so the courses tend to suffer.</p>
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<p>The chemistry department is small, and the facilities are very out of date. Most of your lower level lab classes (general chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, etc.) will be taught in decrepit teaching labs in the basement of the chemistry department’s building. The corresponding classes are held in large (relative to all other courses taught at BC) lecture halls (with approximately 150 to 200 students).</p>
<p>Many biology/chemistry majors elect to study abroad. With the surprisingly high amount of core requirements at BC, it’s not difficult to organize your schedule to only take these courses during your semester off campus. Also keep in mind that you may be required to live off campus or study abroad during your junior year. On-campus housing is not available to most juniors.</p>
<p>Thank you Paul at BC. THis is very helpful information. I am more interested in molecular bio and physics. BUt now after spending my senior year in an engineering program I want my school to have engineering in case i decide to go the bio medical engineering route. I think TUfts or U of Rochester, U of Vermont or U of Binghamton Universtiy might be a better fit for me now. What do you know of these schools?</p>
<p>PaulAtBC couldnt have described it any better</p>
<p>these descriptions are making me not want to go to bc… o.o</p>
<p>would you guys say that going to a research school such as UCSD would be better then? the main reason i want to go to a private school is because of the smaller class sizes and attention… but the way some of these classes are described… aren’t really what i was thinking of… o.o</p>
<p>Snowy, keep in mind that, although one school may have both engineering and science colleges, it is typically very difficult if not impossible to transfer between them. The two tracks have somewhat different core requirements and focus. You may want to check with the specific school, but typically transferring from A&S Biology to/from Biomedical engineering within one school can be harder than transferring from one school (BC) to another (Tufts). Some schools have a five year like program that you can dual major. I went through this when deciding about Cornell, I was accepted into their engineering school and then had second thoughts, wanting to pursue a more science track. I talked to quite a few professors and administrators there and it was pretty much impossible without losing a year, although a 4.0 grade point may smooth things over…</p>
<p>Unless things have changed quite a bit there, you got some bad information regarding Cornell. The first two year of engineering curriculum are largely taking math & science courses that are actually taught within the arts & sciences college. If you transfered to Arts & sciences as a physics major during that time you could apply virutally all your courses directly, with the few engineering courses you took applied towards your CAS free electives. Your graduation date need not be delayed at all. Only going the other way, from CAS to engineering, might there be some delay, if you did not take the prerequisite engineering courses while you were in CAS.</p>
<p>^^Concur with monydad: transferring from an Engineering school into the liberal arts component is usually not too difficult. Transferring from the liberal art school to the Engineering, however, can be extremely difficult. But snowy, BC does not offer Engineering at all, so that is not an option.</p>
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<p>If fancy-new science facilities are important, the other schools might be a better fit. OTOH, Frosh Chem is Frosh Chem – the labs do not require difficult procedures, so anyplace with a bunsen burner, fume hood and other basics and you are good-to-go.</p>
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<p>Premeds exist at every college, and what you posted is true at every college. Some colleges, like Hopkins, have even more premeds (and frustrated professors). Since BC has such a huge number of Comm-Biz majors, it at least is not known as a premed factory. Plus, BC’s liberal arts focus can only help you on the verbal portion of the MCAT.</p>
<p>Things may have changed as it is currently much easier (at least for females) to be accepted by Cornell’s engineering school than their A&S school and Cornell A&S wants to block the strategy some may employ of entering the A&S school via the back door engineering school. Just saying that Cornell has placed several administrative road blocks to overcome. On second thought, Cornell may just be a special Ivy League case, as I think most engineering schools currently have higher entrance criteria than their A&S counterparts.</p>
<p>Do you know of anyone that transferred from Cornell’s engineering and A&S schools successfully without having top notch grades and professor recommendations?</p>
<p>oh I see now, that’s a different point. I was addressing whether curricular differences would impact graduation date if you transfer from engineering to CAS. If you are not accepted by CAS there is no extension of graduation time needed to fulfill CAS requirements, because you were not accepted to CAS.</p>
<p>I am not current on diffficulty of switching colleges , in my day it was not automatic but was not that uncommon. One had to do decently overall and in CAS courses taken to date, but the standard was far from a 4.0. One also needed a good reason for transfer, which does not sound like “I never in good faith entertained being an engineer for even a second, I was clearly and obviousy using it as a backdoor entry to CAS, duh, so here I am…”. Perhaps the bar is higher now, but it’s still probably not that high. But I can see them telling people that, because they obviously would prefer to accept people who really want to be in their college, and are not at so high a risk to transfer out to Arts.</p>