<p>PLEASE HELP!!! i love them both !! it’s so hard to decide!</p>
<p>Dear srsrachel : Have you written down the top five things you want from your college experience with a critical eye towards scoring these two schools? Without offering what you believe is important, your question is without context.</p>
<p>I have the same question only it is between BC or Stonehill. son was accepted in the Honors program at Stonehill and they are known for some great pre-professional planning and guidance. Love BC and was estatic when the letter came! He has always wanted to go to BC and thought it would be a no brainer, but after visiting Stonehill, and not sure at the time if he would get in to BC, he started to look at Stonehill very seriously. </p>
<p>I keep thinking that BC is a better school with more notoriety; but does that really pan out in the medical schools? I actually called Med. school and they said it is more important to have the GPA than the school name; as they accept students from all over.
Just wondering if the experience all the way around will be better at BC? He wants to have the ability to talk with professors if he needs to, and on a social note, he wants to play club sports, enjoy a good group of friends, without the emphasis on partying ALL the time, and he does not want to go somewhere where they are snobby. Will BC professors be accessible? Also, because he intends to go on to medical school, he wants to go somewhere where there are opportunities to get involved both in social clubs and community service. He is very active now in sports and clubs and has a great group of friends. BTW: he is a Die hard Sox fans and Boston is his city! Both colleges will get him to the city, but of course BC is right there. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>sox4life: BC is undoubtedly a great place for all the criteria you have listed.</p>
<p>sox:</p>
<p>Two drastically different choices: a LAC (65% female) vs a mid-sized Uni. Small town vs. suburban-Big City. D1 vs. DII.</p>
<p>Yes, grades+mcat are most important for pre-health. But gpa is also dependent on student happiness. Beyond gpa, EC’s are also important. Your S will need to get involved in research, in community volunteering, and such opportunities abound in greater Boston.</p>
<p>BC should be more competitive. It has higher test scores and a higher % of student graduating in the top decile of their HS class (90% vs. 35%).</p>
<p>Did Stonehill offer any merit $? </p>
<p>What is your son’s planned major? Does Stonehill offer the curriculum of primary interest? What about a secondary interest? Double major? (One advantage of a larger school is that students become exposed to other academic disciplines that they never knew existed while they were taking the standard HS curriculum.)</p>
<p>Wow…Thanks so much for responding! I appreciate the help. You raise such good questions and points, and we have run through a few of these but not all. We are often saying that both colleges are excellent for different reasons; and your comments are helping us get more clarity.
Regarding size: what is funny is that he started out wanting something no bigger than say 5,000; but the only exception to that rule would be Boston College. The reason he thought smaller was because he is from a smaller school and he really wants to be able to connect to the professors and was concerned that with larger school he may get lost in the mix when it came to assistance. He knows that his GPA is so important from the get go and has never experienced a large classroom (largest at his school was 30) so wasn’t sure if he would just kind of get lost in the mix. However, after thinking about it, he started to wonder if being in a school of 2500 students may be too much like high school or may eventually get old. While the 65% female sounds great to him ha ha - there may not be enough “guy” comrade.
In regards to the d1 vs dII - I feel he doesn’t know just how awesome of an experience it is to be in the stands during a d1 game, but he loves the thought of getting out to the games and going nuts. The fact that it’s Boston is enough for him!<br>
As far as involvement - we have talked about that and he is wanting to work on that as soon as he can because he realizes that to get into med school he will need to fill his resume up!<br>
To answer your question - he is intending to go into Pediatrics. He is very serious about that and is driven. He knows what he wants when it comes to that.
In regards to Merit $ at Stonehill - yes he received quite a bit. 2 merit scholarships equaling 22,000. dollars. He was also placed into their honors program. He was ranked 4th in his class with a 3.9 unweighted GPA, all APs so this def. put him in the upper tier at Stonehill. We realize that at BC, most of the students are in this tier, so we imagine he won’t get nearly as much. We haven’t heard back yet.
He would be majoring in straight Biology at Stonehill because they don’t have a pre-med dept. He is thinking of minoring in psychology or history.
What struck us about Stonehill was they seemed to have a good ratio of students that get into med school from there. it was 7 out of 11 I believe. They attributed that to good mentoring. I believe he would have to be soooo much more pro-active at BC to get that mentoring??? Lets face it - that’s something you have to do or learn quickly to do anywhere! How are the professors at BC when it comes to accessibility; would you know?
As far as the curriculum at BC - I agree with you! I feel the exposure to such diverse classes could make his experience sooo much more interesting.
Question: Do they party to the point where you feel as though you have to all of the time in order to maintain those friendships? He just doesn’t want to make that his primary experience. He is real, non-pretentious, a guys guy who is well like by all of his peers because he is true blue - so naturally he is the kind that likes to form real relationships. Also, he wants to get involved with club sports, so not sure how easy/hard that it is to get into that. He is a good athlete but just didn’t know if there were more students than positions?
Sorry so much info. This is a huge help, it really is and we appreciate it! Boston College is just so Awesome but he wants to make sure it’s the better fit. We are hoping it is!</p>
<p>can your s overnite at Stonehill? It would give him an appreciation for the campus climate. </p>
<p>Visit BC during accepted students day and meet others making similar decisions. He can ask current students how accommodating their professors are. (My sense is very accommodating.) He can also ask about class size. (BC offers numerous Frosh seminars that are capped at ~18 students.)</p>
<p>BC does not offer merit aid, however, so you might find that the costs is a significant factor.</p>
<p>Ask the premed advisor for a list of allopathic med schools that have recently accepted Stonehill grads. (I’m guessing that the number is really small.)</p>
<p>Premed advising, while beneficial, should not be much of a selection criteria, IMO. (The great advisor who is on campus today might retire in a year or two, or take a job somewhere else.) But more importantly, premed is just 8-10 courses that one needs to take. And the premed thread on cc will tell you all you need to know.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, premed at any college can be a grind, which is why some kids drop off the premed track. It’s not that they can’t do the work, they just decide that doing the extra to earn the A is not as important as other things in college life, including socializing. Lab write-ups for college science courses can be a lot more difficult than a Lit paper, for those desiring a high grade. And so, the premeds start to hang with the other science majors with whom they can commiserate.</p>
<p>Biology and History are two disciplines than any college should do well at the undergrad level. BC has an excellent Psych department, btw. It even offers a BS in Psych for those considering grad school.</p>
<p>hey blue, thanks for the quick response! </p>
<p>Stonehill doesn’t allow overnights; which is very unfortunate.</p>
<p>He is definitely going to the BC open house and will ask those questions. He was planning on getting a hold of some of the students to really get a good feel.</p>
<p>We will absolutely ask the premed advisor for that info! A great suggestion. We asked a more blanket question than that which can be misleading. The answer should be very interesting. </p>
<p>Again you make a solid point regarding the Pre-med advising. Never thought about that! </p>
<p>True, although there really aren’t a lot of specific classes required to fill the requirements; he is aware of the impending grueling schedule. I think that is why he is concerned about the professor relationships. </p>
<p>The fact that BC has a great psych. dept. is a huge positive! Also, we assumed that there wouldn’t be smaller class sizes at BC so this too is a great thing!</p>
<p>We are currently waiting to hear from Financial Aid. This will have an impact on decision. We are hoping for something, but also are realistic. As we are doing everything we can for our son to avoid large educational debt, he too is paying close attention to the numbers because he realizes, that at least for now, he has a long road ahead of him!</p>
<p>Your help is so appreciated! You have made me feel a lot better and I will be passing this info. on to my son when he gets home! This info. is really invaluable when going through this decision process! Seriously, thanks!</p>
<p>He is definitely looking forward to the open house!</p>
<p>OP - go to whichever is cheaper, unless you have a preference for one over the other. They’re both great schools!</p>
<p>I would say UVA HANDS DOWN. I was rejected, but I still am obsessed with the school. It is apparently the absolute most fun school in the world. The town and campus are both beautiful! BC is a great school, but nowhere near as prestigious or wonderful as UVA!</p>
<p>I would argue strongly against the assertion that UVA is “hands down” and “far more prestigious and wonderful” than BC. They are two very different schools for different types of students. I would know because I visited both.</p>