Boston College

Date: May 13 2008
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
As I'm graduating, I think it would be helpful to provide a more comprehensive view of Boston College rather than some of the more myopic perspectives that have been posted here; especially concerning the social aspect of the student body at Boston College. An observation that has become increasingly obvious to me upon looking back at the social life in BC is the drastic change that people undergo while becoming adults at BC.

The first two years here are hell. Dominated by the same egocentric social jockeying and conformist attitude that pervades high school, the younger students at BC aren't exactly the most admirable or interesting group of people. BC doesn't do much to change that, providing an incredibly insulated environment that allows the students to extend their immaturity to create almost a "Lord of the Flies" type of society. At some point around junior year, however, when everyone goes abroad and begins to learn that a world beyond campus does exist, people really do begin to grow up. Students begin to finally respect and admire individuality. Of course there are those who never grow out of college, but there are certainly plenty who manage to make the leap. The cliques remain right until the end, but can you really blame them? They've spent years with the same people and shared the same experiences. I do have to add one caveat to this assessment. As the admission standards have increased, I've met more and more younger students who have really surprised me with their level of maturity and social deftness. Maybe BC really is becoming the school that it has a reputation of being.

Don't believe the hype about the city of Boston either. It takes a half hour or more to get anywhere by T, and the city itself doesn't provide anything much in the way of good social life. Everyone goes to the same two or three clubs, or gets drunk at the same bars with the same people. It gets boring in about a week.

In regard to the faculty, the Carroll School of Management is excellent. The best decision I ever made was getting out of A&S. In nearly every class I've had in Carroll the professor has brought an enthusiastic, unique and interesting perspective and teaching style to the subject matter. This experience has certainly been a far cry from the bored and often uninterested professors I've dealt with in A&S. We've been ranked 14th in the country for the past two years, and it really shows. I managed to make it in while the transfer was a bit more trivial and it certainly shows in my class ranking. My GPA has stayed the same while my rank has dropped by 50 or so each year. If you can get in, do it.

BC, the school doesn't necessarily the deserve the reputation that its gained as providing the idealistic college life, however it does certainly provide one with an interesting experience. When considering where you want to go to college, don't worry about how pretty the campus is, or nice the buildings look. Ignore the idealistic ramblings of your campus tour guide; its all BS to make your parents feel better about paying 50K a year. Consider the future benefits in life that will be afforded to you by the reputation you've gained by going here. Talk to students that actually go here. Get a feel for whether you really belong in such an insular society, or whether you'd rather be in a more diverse and open environment. That, I think, will make the biggest difference in whether you enjoy your time at BC.