<p>i am only a sophomore, but i have recently realized that BC has become my dream school. however, i am already stressing that I might not be qualified enough to get in, especially because acceptance is getting tougher and tougher and i still have to wait two more years. to avoid being heartbroken come senior year, i want to start looking at colleges now that are similar to boston college, but may not have as selective admissions.
does anyone have any ideas?
thanks!</p>
<p>It depends on the type of factors you look at. Whether it be the academics, the sports, the city, the religious affiliation. However, colleges that are similar to BC with lower admission standards that come to mind are Villanova and Fordham.</p>
<p>Dear verabradley : It has been some time since I have contributed to College Confidential’s BC board, but your post somehow drew me out on this topic. First, do not approach the discussion preparing to be heartbroken. Instead, develop a list of a dozen colleges that fall into three camps : easy acceptance (3), expected acceptance (5), and stretch acceptances (4). This will avoid the letdown coming from being focused on one and only one school.</p>
<p>As for similar schools to BC, students who search out Boston College will also typically cross reference to Boston University (similar location, lower academics), New York University (more city life, similar academics), Northeastern (similar location, internship focused), Cornell University (remote location, largest freshman Ivy class), and Brown University (still Northeast based, Ivy class).</p>
<p>Despite this, these schools all bring a very different feel from Boston College. Someone has already mentioned Villanova which will bring big time basketball to the campus each and every spring. Have you considered perhaps a Lehigh or Bucknell in the Patriot League? Perhaps Georgetown (but also very selective) or George Washington in the DC area? Hope that these ideas help you!</p>
<p>My first reaction was Villanova, though I’m not sure how much easier it is to get into than BC. Some more details on why BC is your dream school would help people make suggestions. Assuming you aren’t tied to the East/Northeast consider:</p>
<p>Carnegie-Mellon Similar size, big city, good academics
Northwestern Very competitive, big city, Big 10 sports, similar size
William & Mary similar size
Colorado College much smaller, good academics, big time hockey, skiing close by</p>
<p>Oh, and though it’s very hard to get into, there’s always the evil empire, i.e. Notre Dame</p>
<p>thanks so much for everyone’s suggestions. this has really helped because I don’t want to get too stuck on one school so early, but i didn’t know where to begin to look for other options.</p>
<p>some reasons why i am attracted to BC include its high standard of academics, its jesuit roots (though i am not strictly catholic i believe the jesuits are some of the top educators), its size (not unmanagebly big, but not small enough where you know everyone and their business), and of course its proximity to boston.</p>
<p>vinceh: its interesting that you suggest colorado college. my brother goes there and he absolutely loves it. i know its an excellent school, but im not sure i want to be following in his footsteps all the way through college!</p>
<p>lehigh, bucknell, carnegie mellon, and villanova stand out as schools that i may start looking into. thank you so much for the input!</p>
<p>I’d say Villanova is pretty similar and slightly easier to get into, but not by much.</p>
<p>Villanova, Providence College (Rhode Island), Fordham, Marquette (Milwaukee, WI)…</p>
<p>VeraB, I understand your desire to blaze your own trail at a different school, but it seems a little convoluted to avoid considering a school because someone close to you is having success there. Just a thought.</p>
<p>You might also consider Emory.</p>