Boston College Responses
After not receiving anything for a month, we
sent our questions again. Much to our surprise, we received two
responses from different people.
From: shogan@tony.bc.edu
To: Sonia
Subject: BC INFO
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 1997 10:04:30 -0500
Dear Sonia,
Thank you for your thoughtful inquiry and great questions!
I work at the Admissions office and I also recently graduated
from Boston College in 1997 so I will be able to answer your
questions.
Campus life at BC is very community oriented. We have 8800
undergrads at Boston College, but have the feel of a small town.
While students take advantage of the city of Boston (6 miles
away) on a regular basis, our social life revolves around campus
life and activities. We have over 140 clubs here at BC which put
on a variety of shows, theatrical performances, and concerts
throughout the year. Students attend these shows to support their
roommates or friends. We don't have a Greek system at BC, but we
do have a very active undergraduate government (UGBC) which runs
a lot of campus programs, like big-name concerts (Adam Sandler,
Rusted Root, Letters to Cleo, etc.), scholarly lectures, dances,
and other fun activities. People love living on campus-- most
students receive three years of housing-- and choose to live on
campus their senior year, typically after living off-campus or
abroad during their junior year. There are at least 3-4
activities going on each night of the week on BC's campus. The
problem isn't "WHAT am I going to do tonight" but
rather "WHICH event should I attend tonight?"
We like to stress the Jesuit nature of Boston College as a
unique factor. We are a Catholic Jesuit university here at BC--
which means we are taught, in part, by the Society of Jesus, a
sect of Catholic priests whose emphasis is education and
teaching. There are two distinct components of a Jesuit
education. First, BC has a committment to the liberal arts
tradition. All of our students at BC, regardless of major, take
15 Core courses. The Core is as follows: 2 semester of theology,
philosophy, English/literature, social sciences, natural
sciences, European history AND one semester of fine arts,
mathematics, cultural diversity. That comprises our 15 Core
courses. There are a lot of options within the Core-- for
example, I might take Catholicism to fulfill my theology
requirement while you might choose to take the Religious Quest,
which is a multidisciplinary study of Islam, Christianity, and
Judaism. I might take the Political History of Europe while you
take the Cultural History of Europe. I could take Theater, while
you might enjoy Music Theory. But everyone fulfills courses in
these requirements before graduation, in addition to completing
either one or two majors.
The second distinctive part of a BC education is our
committment to service on this campus. There is no service
requirement at BC, but we find that most of our students do some
sort of volunteer activity before graduation. Students volunteer
at homeless shelters, suicide hotlines, and elementary schools.
Some students even go to Appalachia or abroad (Jamaica, Belize)
during spring break or Christmas vacation in order to do a
volunteer service project. This is part of a Jesuit education
because it epitomizes the ideal of Jesuit education, "Men
and Women for Others."
In Admissions, BC considers the strengths of each candidate.
We do not have a quota system at BC but we do value diversity. We
would never invite unqualified students to this campus. Our
retention of African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native
American students is 88% over 4 years. That is a very high
number.
Our criteria for admissions has the following order.
- grades/GPA and the difficulty of classes taken
- SAT and ACT and SAT II's (must take 3 SAT II's - one in
English, one in Math, and one of your choice)
- Leadership activities, clubs and organizations, writing
samples, and letters of recommendation
Athletic
participation is not a criteria for Admission. If you
wish to play a Division I sport at BC at the varsity
level, you must contact the particular coach of your
sport to schedule a conversation.
I hope this has helped you out. We really do encourage
a campus visit in the summer or during the school year.
In the summer, we are open from 9-4:30 from Monday
through Friday. Tours and info sessions occur hourly,
until 3:00 pm. Also, during the school year, we do day
visits. We will pair you up with a current BC student and
you will get to see a class, go for a meal at the
cafeteria, and feel what it is like to be a BC student
for a day.
Contact me with any further questions.
Sincerely,
Colleen J. Shogan
Boston College
"shogan@tony.bc.edu"
From: ANNE R
HARRIS
To: Sonia
Subject: (FWD) Boston College response
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 97 16:32:00 EST
Dear Sonia,
Thanks for your email inquiry; we're glad to hear you're
interested in Boston College. In answer to your
questions:
1) campus life--due to our location on the outskirts of
Boston, there's a whole city of things to do, but there
are hundreds of clubs and organizations on campus as
well--Division 1 sports add interest, too.
2) what sets B.C. apart--first, the fact that it's
Jesuit, which provides opportunities to explore issues of
spirituality, as well as many community service
activities. Second, our location (above) and our
campus--we're in a strong position financially, and our
facilities show it. Third, our academic offerings--we
have 4 schools and colleges, offer countless majors, have
graduate programs and have very high retention rates--our
students succeed.
3) we practice affirmative action and actively seek to
draw a diverse student body on campus.
4) criteria for admission, in rank order:
grades and difficulty of program
SAT/ standardized tests
essays
extracurriculars
teacher recommendations
Hope this fuels your interest. Best wishes,
Anne Harris
Transfer Counselor
Copyright(c) 1997 Jaime and Sonia. Created: 7/16/97 Updated: 1/10/98