<p>BOSTON COLLEGE Undergraduates; what don’t you like about BC? What do you like?</p>
<p>My opinion only</p>
<p>Dislikes: the high cost, freshmen lab equipment is poor condition, not all professors inspire, you have to work your behind off to get A’s (i.e little time left for life), not all students are the highest quality (how did they get accepted, legacy?), not all professors grade on a curve, the bus to newton dorms, difficult to get AP credit against core courses, Core science major course workload doesn’t leave enough room to explore the arts or community service, student gym facilities poor and not air conditioned (Newton campus is awful), not all teachers are top shelf, advising is pretty much hit or miss - you are on your own - must take initiative, if you are on the tail end of the class registration lottery, the optional classes you want to take are probably filled, meal plan has little options for vegetarians.</p>
<p>Likes: Boston area, many professors inspire, sense of community, college life, many quality students from all over, relatively safe and beautiful campus setting, relatively nice student housing compared to other Boston schools, the school’s emphasis on excellence, dinning plan, feeling of community, most students are approachable and friendly, most students are tolerant, good social networking, nice quiet places to study, opportunity to take more advanced (Honors) courses with AP background, well regarded among peers, finance/billing administration, wireless networks, many senior professors teach freshmen class (large lectures however), most students want to be there and are happy, early class registrations and registration system. </p>
<p>A pretty good school in balance, happy to be attending. Hope the football team pulls together and hockey recovers.</p>
<p>I generally agree with the above, but I dont think the Plex is that bad. It sucks compared to BU’s, but it’s adequate enough.</p>
<p>Also, BC’s not very diverse for a college campus, although each incoming class seems to be getting better in that area, oh and by the way some of the legacy students are some of the stupidest people I’ve ever met … I’m all for mommy and daddy giving BC money, but they’ve gotta draw the line sometimes!</p>
<p>Finally, I dont care too much for hockey and we’re screwed for football but be on the watch for the basketball team. We’ve got a solid core of players who are getting better with experience.</p>
<p>My DD will be starrting her JR year at BC…she is very happy there…truly loves BC . One thing that bothers me ( and her to some degree) is that tho she has a near perfect GPA with 2 majors and 1 minor she is a little fish in a big pond whereas if she went to one of her other choices…mid high liberal arts colleges she would be a big fish in a little pond. Inspite of her trying there were no BC connections for a internship, no assistance from BC…She only has housing for 3 yrs ( her original acceptance…she has been in honors now since before her soph year, she appealed for more campus housing…denied). She has friends who attend far less noted schools who have great internships via their schools connections, fullbright scholars, etc… I just hope that the BC name really will open doors after college, thus far I am not impressed</p>
<p>Hi Goingtobebroke, you should have your daughter utilize the Alumni Career Network, access it through Agora under “Career Services”, she can search this network for alumni to email; some alumni are very eager to help out, a lot ignore you.</p>
<p>However, I agree with you. You kind of new to be very proactive at BC. The advising is very random / sporadic (i’m almost positive my advisor doesn’t even know my name) and the student often needs to take it into his / her own hands to find new opportunities.</p>
<p>My sister graduated from BC last year from CSOM. She still has not found a job and is going back to grad school this upcoming fall.</p>
<p>One thing that turned me away from BC was that the science department isn’t very strong. Hence why i chose WPI.</p>
<p>Dear superstar12 : Per your post - “…One thing that turned me away from BC was that the science department isn’t very strong. Hence why i chose WPI.” First, your assertion regarding BC’s science department could not be further from the truth whether measured through medical school placement rates, research grants, papers, or backgrounds of the professors. </p>
<p>Some time back when you were posting here about BC versus WPI (which you were), you were concerned about a variety of subjects other than the quality of the science program. </p>
<p>Seriously, there is nothing wrong with offering what you dislike about Boston College, but shouldn’t one of the criteria be that you actually attended the school?</p>
<p>Dear Scottj:</p>
<pre><code>Before i transferred out of BU i took a course at BC as a visiting student (introduction to vibrations and waves) which was ok but the teacher was not up to par. Obviously this warrants no basis for judgement but i have many friends who are enrolled at BC who declared science majors and are either transferring or switching majors. BC relatively speaking is not very strong in sciences. Its main strength is business and theology/humanities. I think i have every right to post my opinion because i was in fact accepted as a transfer student.
</code></pre>
<p>As for the med school rate i heard that BC is incredibly anal with reccomendations. There are only a small % of students applying so your data could be misleading, and sure I would love to see the data for my own and public intersts.</p>
<p>*background of professors is meaningless if they arent good at teaching. One of my teachers this past spring @ WPI is very distinguished ranked 2nd smartest person in India, plethora of publications, gets a boat load of funding for research, and has a great educational background at top schools but could not teach.</p>
<p>I believe superstar12 and his friends have a very narrow perspective and as a result probably incorrect in his opinion. Certainly has a right to opinion, and express it here, but it is not supported by the wide body of evidence at hand. Readers here should do your research, and not jump to conclusions based on the incorrect assertions here. BC being anal about recommendations is ludicrous, he may be confusing BC with Johns Hopkins? .</p>
<p>To make the assertion that my friends and I have narrow perspective is also wrong on your part. If you are defending BC than so be it, but to flat out claim that my opinion is wrong makes you and BC superficial. Truth of the matter is, is that people excel and absorb at a different pace. I felt the one course that I took was relativley weak and if you are familiar with WPI’s course structure you would understand why. </p>
<p>My other friends that have either transfered or switched out simply did so because science wasn’t their cup of tea or they felt they could get a better science education at other schools. Sure the science program might be a good fit for others but not for everyone. Also if you were to comb through prior threads there are people who claim that recommendations are hard to recieve at BC, which can also be confirmed from a couple of my friends who are pre-med. I am sure you can recieve terriffic recos but you have to be nearly at the top of your class.</p>
<p>Truth is BC isn’t a perfect school so stop claiming that my assertions are wrong because the matter is subjective. BC has some amazing programs and offers a great college experience but science is relatively weak.</p>
<p>can someone please comment further on sciences/pre med at BC?
I found that I was accepted off the waitlist but I’m still torn as to whether to attend… many thanks! :)</p>
<p>MK</p>
<p>med school is (almost) all about the numbers: gpa + mcat. Thus, pretty much any top college can get you there as long as you pull A’s.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated in 2008 with as a premed biochem major. She thought the BC science program was very good and was challenged by the 4 semester honors chemistry program. She felt most of the professors were interesting and helpful. She took advantage of being near Boston by doing research in labs in the Harvard Graduate School of Public health and the Harvard School of Medicine. And also volunteered for 2 years at the Boston Medical Center. She has just finished her first year at Yale Medical and is in their 8 year MD/PhD program. </p>
<p>She praised the BC pre-med committee and found their advice to be extremely helpful in compiling her medical school application. Her experience with the committee was very positive compared to friends at other schools who were applying to med school as well as comments she read on the Student Doctor’s Network site.</p>
<p>As others have commented, getting into Medical school takes a good GPA (doesn’t have to be a 4.0), and good MCAT scores as well as in-depth participation in a few activities that you are passionate about like research and volunteering or any other activity that you are interested in.</p>
<p>I visited BC (didn’t apply to it), but I didn’t like how it was not very diverse and the buildings in BC were so close together…it made me feel a little closetophobic.</p>
<p>WPI is an excellent but very different kind of school than BC. WPI focuses/specializes in certain sciences, math, and technology while offering little of anything else. If you want certain sciences or math to be your life and that inspires you, then you will likely be much happier at WPI than BC (there is nothing wrong with that). That doesn’t mean BC’s science program is relatively weak. It may have a different focus than some intellectuals prefer, but not most.</p>