leanid

What do you mean by "...diversity may not be welcome there." -- isn't having a nun present showing diversity -- in a formerly, all-male bastion, no less?!

Ortsac

@maggiedog

Your second point is quite interesting, but I'd just like to let you know that there is a practicing Muslim woman "in full garb" who also regularly works the desk in the admissions office. Anyways, I'm not quite sure why you were so taken aback by the presence of a nun. BC in no way hides its Catholic identity. I'm not a practicing member of any religion and I attend BC. Fully accepting BC is a Catholic institution is something one must do if one is to attend. While BC is certainly not as diverse as other schools, it's not because the school is unkind to diversity, it's because the Catholicism attends to attract a vast amount of Catholic students, who happen to fit a certain demographic.

Reverting to your first point, I also agree Devlin Hall is a quite hard to find/identify for most. Hopefully admissions finds a way to remedy this. The parking situation however, is something unavoidable because of our constrained real estate.

bluebayou

^^The directions, or lack thereof, from stadium parking to Devlin is spot-on.

Perhaps any students reading this thread -- or their roomies -- who work for SAP (Student Admissions Program) can recommend that BC put up a few directional signs directing folks to the right stairs.

maggiedog

In response to the "diversity" comment... Leanid, good point about the nun in a formerly all-male place!

Our reaction, though, was that having a nun as the individual "welcoming" families to BC suggests that consciously or unconsciously, this is a message that Catholicism is the "face" of the school. In reading about BC, the wonderful Jesuit values were emphasized, but there was an impression that one could attend without being Catholic and still feel like you would fit in. That may be true, but the initial impression may make those not in the Catholic faith somewhat uncomfortable.

FWIW, I worked in a Catholic institution for years, so am aware that if you have not gone to Catholic schools, it can take some time to feel comfortable in an openly religious environment. This thread was about BC upping its game. If they want to do that, they may want to consider making it feel more accessible to those of other faiths.

overbrook99

in response to the mention of the nun: i'm a current student at bc and have not seen one nun since i have been here. there are certainly nuns on campus, especially around st. mary's, and those studying at the school, but they are in no way pushed around like political objects to promote an image of catholicism at bc.

on another note: i haven't seen this thread since i first posted and i'm glad it's been getting some attention. as a student at bc, it is easy to understand that many might think i'm simply trying to "up" my school. that is not the case. i came from an area in new jersey (shocker) that is not super acquainted to bc, and have, therefore, found myself very impressed with what the school has had to offer thus far. it has exceeded my expectations in almost every facet. i'm not sure if my expectations were out of line with the reality of the school or if i thought the school was on the rise, but nonetheless i am impressed.

barrk123

Boston COllege is already a top 35 school not much more to up

swimchris

Why do you bump up this thread every 5 months? I am not sure BC is "upping" its game more than any other school. Their 25%-75% SAT/ACT stats are actually much lower than the schools ranked around them at 1930-2150. I have also heard their giving campaign is not going very well, partly do to their poor sports performance. It is also difficult to "up" your game when you do not focus creating strong academic graduate programs of which they do not have many outside of the professional schools (business and law).

askjeeves

Not sure how you came up with this. With the exception of Tufts, nearly every school ranked from 24-35 has a very similar middle SAT range to BC's.

I would also question the "giving campaign is not going very well". Since the 08-09 recession, the endowment has grown to nearly 1.9 billion (from 1.5 billion).

LoveHorses

agreed and had the very same experience Maggiedog.

informative

BC is a very difficult school to get into. They have high statistical requirements for their US News Ranking, but they also seem to look for applicants with a lot of extra curricular activities. I consider this the Brown Model, after the approach taken by Brown University.

Oivoiv

"this is a message that Catholicism is the "face" of the school."

It's a CATHOLIC school. Why would the "face" be anything other than Catholic?

informative

It is a Catholic School but it is similar to Georgetown and other schools where they don't preach to their students. They offer religious classes and you have the ability to those classes should you want to, but the schools makes it an effort not to indoctrinate, unlike some other religious schools. The jesuit schools tend to operate on a more secular-religious option oriented basis, with the student deciding whether they want religion to enter into their life. There are a few required courses, such as one religious course, but it can be any religion or comparative or historical in nature.