<p>Does the CGS classes satisfy many of the core requirements at SARS? It does not appear so. If you applied to the SARS and accepted to CGS how long will it take to graduate? IF you are majoring in PT would it take 8 years for a degree? With the two year program at CGS do you even qualify for an Associates degree? Sorry for all the questions.</p>
<p>That’s a really good question. You should contact someone at CGS and they’d be glad to go over academics with you. You can also attend one of the open houses in April and might an adviser face to face and ask that question. CGS is a 2 year program to fill your general requirements for BU, so you would need to fill similar requirements for any school at BU. You also get one elective per semester. After the 2 years you continue on to any of the other colleges at BU as long as you’ve taken the appropriate entry courses and meet the necessary GPA. Many students that started off at CGS went on to achieve many prestigious awards at BU, so starting it CGS doesn’t mean you’re being held back in any way. I hope this helps answer your question</p>
<p>yes, you really shouldn’t be stuck doing an 8 year degree. you also won’t qualify for an associate’s degree though; that’s not how the program works.</p>
<p>basically CGS just takes up the general ed requirements that all of the schools have. you can start taking classes in SAR your second semester of freshman year, so you won’t get that behind.</p>
<p>As a BU and college of general studies graduate (back when I went “college of basic studies”) I am really surprised that none of you are talking about the elephant in the room. </p>
<p>The Elephant is that the school runs off of a bell curve, and that you need a C to move on. During my time, about 1/3 of my class failed. You cannot avoid that… 10% get an F, 20% get a D, 40% get a C, 20% get a B, and 10% get an A. It is most likely the toughest graded school in the nation… and many automatically fail. There is no way to avoid that, because the program is graded on a bell curve. </p>
<p>For everyone here who is laughing at the program I’d like to say this about it… students earn their way out of it. You do not survive without a C average, and about 1/3 will not get that. It is a statistical fact- at least when I was there. </p>
<p>Your class size shrinks dramatically as the semesters move on!</p>
<p>Two words. “Bell curve”.</p>
<p>CGS is different now. you need only a 2.0 to continue into another college at BU, so as long as you aren’t failing or getting straight D’s you’ll be enrolled. 1/3 of students are not having to leave BU’s CGS due to the Bell curve. At any rate, this is the case at any school at BU…if you slip below a certain minimum gpa, you’ll be placed on academic probation.</p>
<p>I suppose a better way of looking at it is that while a bell curve may be appropriate to look at a specific course’s grades, it doesn’t make sense to use it for the entire cumulative gpa of CGS</p>
<p>BUbaily- This was the 80s- you needed a C to continue, and 30% automatically get less than a C because of the bell curve… in any given class, that means that statistically you are going to lose about 1/3 of your class the first year. You can get straight Cs and a D, and still not make it, for example. </p>
<p>The first year, all four of the courses both semesters were indeed graded about 80% on standardized multiple choice midterms and finals… and 10% got an F, automatically. 20% got a D… only 10% got an A etc. Failure was automatic for some.</p>
<p>The second year we had three core courses and one elective, so you could boost your average using the elective, so failure to maintain a C was not so automatic. Still, those six courses (3 each semester) were still graded on a bell curve. </p>
<p>The hardest part is that a lot of the CBS students at that time were athletes, and they burned a year of eligibility in a program that was designed to fail 30% of those enrolled. I always felt badly about that, because a lot of these athletes were good enough to get full rides at other colleges… and it no doubt had a negative impact on their life. The school did not advertise the simple fact that it was designed to fail students. </p>
<p>If that has changed… that is a good thing. If it has not, it is defeinately something people need to be warned about. </p>
<p>As much as some here have kind of snubbed the program for being “a coloring book school”… they need to realize that it is the hardest graded program at the University, at least the years that I was there.</p>
<p>we lost about 1/3 of the student body the years I was there (85-87)… they failed.</p>
<p>Please be sure to include the fact that the information that you are disseminating is nearly 25 years old when you post on this forum. A lot has changed at BU and CGS since then. Heck, even the name is different! You need to be cognizant of the fact that your audience here on College Confidential is young, impressionable 17-18 yr olds, looking for current, accurate information to help them make an informed decision on college choice. The information you are providing is out-of-date and inaccurate for current students. If that is how it was back then, it is a shame, especially if the students were not made aware of the policy. And I really feel for the athletes that were recruited, passing up other opportunities to attend BU, if this happened the way you say. But as the parent of a recruited athlete, I assure you that things are different now. Frankly, I am surprised that BU could continue to be successful in it’s recruiting efforts if things were as you say. Seems to me their reputation and credibility in athletics circles would have been tarnished by this practice, making recruiting of top athletes quite difficult.</p>
<p>To the gal who asked about Sargent College, we did attend CGS, and concur with the above posts that it has completely changed, and is a FABULOUS program and an INCREDIBLE opportunity. Be sure you read the other posts on this forum and others for up to date info. If you look at my personal post after the open house, I tried really hard to do a thorough review. Frankly, I have never seen adults in their 50s so evangelically excited about a program in my life, and the students were just as excited. That said, there were several moments during open house where the question of graduation delay was brought up. Sargent College was specifically discussed as the one program that it is difficult to complete in 4 years if you do CGS. I would HEAVILY suggest calling the college directly and discussing your specific interests and plan. One thing our DD is almost definitely going to do is to attend the summer program between her fresh and soph year - it is six weeks long, but begins in May so she is done by July 2nd. That will leave her room for two more electives so she will get a little more flexibility in her sophomore year. She is not interested in Sargent College, but it seems to me that it would be a great plan possibility in your circumstances as well. I don’t know the exact tuition, but credit for credit it is my understanding that it is less expensive than BU. Pick up the phone!!! They are outrageously nice people.</p>
<p>Sorry - my bad. I meant to say we did attend CGS Open House - not CGS. Our DD starts in the Fall 2011.</p>
<p>No one here is disputing the bell curve. Do they no longer grade that way at CGS? If so, good. If not, you need to be aware of what that means. </p>
<p>I have been honest that I am a student of the 80s… I really only have one question for those who have experience with the new program… is a large % of the grade at CGS still computed using a bell curve system?</p>
<p>No one here has answered that.</p>
<p>Do they still grade using a bell curve?</p>
<p>They do use a bell curve for establishing final grades, but the retention rate is 93%. The graduation rate of students in CGS is the same as their peers that started in other schools at BU.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for all their input. If you can think of anything else, please post.</p>
<p>hi, I’m looking at BU as an option. I know it would be a reach school due to my ACT scores, but what do you think my chances are of getting in?</p>
<p>im white female and out-of-state ,IL (25% spanish but nobody believes me cause im so pale and idk if i should write it down if it helps) and i dont need student loans or stuff like that if it makes a difference</p>
<p>GPA uw 3.8 rank 60/893 93%
w 4.325 rank 132/893 85%
i go to a public highschool thats known for being strong academically, but i think i could have done a bit better</p>
<p>ACT Composite 25, math 29, english 27</p>
<p>-(i did bad on my reading) Im planning on taking it again in September and focusing on that section. i also think i could maybe raise my math score, but with my scores now what do you think my chances are? </p>
<p>-i did traveling vball freshman year, highschool vball fresh/soph
-cross country junior maybe senior year
-lots of volunteer hours for this cat shelter i help at
-i got a job this year
-spanish honors society (not fluent at all)
-i kno i have other stuff at random other volunteer places and stuff i dont kno if its worth putting down though, but i have a lot of hobbies that idk if there unique but are different i guess that i could write about</p>
<p>i mostly get A’s and the B’s i got were in accel classes but i only have one AP class (bio) for senior year but
i have 3 years of spanish (plus 2 years in middle school that they said would count as credits but i doubt it)
5 years of sciences (i want to major in biology, i have always gotten As in these classes and there all accel except for the bio AP, but i did bio, chem, physics, organic chem accel)
4 years math fresh/soph accel ( i kno i probably should have stayed in accel junior year too but i didnt)</p>
<p>please let me kno what shot i have of getting in or even if i do, and some other school that would maybe be good to apply to (my dads being kind of a jerk and wants me to apply to a larger school or something that is recognized) and sorry for not organizing this well and writing a ton!!</p>
<p>I was just writing to my prep school for my fiftieth reunion and my opening sentence was about how lucky I was to be placed in the College of General Studies. Those of us in my class were among the intellectual elite when we moved on to what was then College of Liberal Arts. There was at that time a college for lower scoring freshmen called the College of Basic Studies. But it was not the same thing as CGE. But back then CGE was DGE “Division of General Education.” Inspite of a less than glamorous name the integrated studies were great. I still remember the course section on music and its structure. After my english lit degree (“Oh, do you want to be a teacher?”) I took a degree in Architecture from the Pratt Institute. You can’t beat CGE. It’s like going to a small liberal arts college for two years. And as for science, it was OUR professors who lectured to 1000 students in the College of Liberal Arts in General Biology. Look at the web site and notice: “no teaching fellows, no teaching assistants, no lab assistants, no graders, and no readers.” You have all the benefits of the big U and a small college. And no I’m not a paid plant.</p>
<p>I’m in CGS, i hate it ! But love BU.</p>
<p>Why do you hate it??</p>