<p>Handiman,
My daughter is a recent BC graduate who is now at Yale Medical school in a dual degree MD/PhD program. She was a Biochem major and a Hispanics studies minor. She did research in a BC lab as a freshman and then got a job that summer in a lab at the Harvard School of Public health which is in the Longwood area of Boston – about a half hour from BC. She worked in that lab part time throughout the rest of her college years until she graduated. </p>
<p>She also worked in a lab at the Harvard Medical school one summer but did not feel the research was that interesting. So I wouldn’t get discouraged if you can’t find a lab at BC that suits your interest. There are so many opportunities to take advantage of in the Boston area particularly on the Longwood medical campus. This also comes in handy if you want to volunteer at a hospital which looks great on your resume for med school. My D volunteered at Boston Medical giving eye and ear checkups to children. Since that hospital serves a diverse community, one of the requirements was to be somewhat fluent in Spanish and she was able to practice what she was studying in her Hispanics studies courses – just a great experience.</p>
<p>I’ll just end with a plug for BC sports. Although my D was not into sports before college, she loved going to the BC football games and never missed a Saturday home game. And when she met her boyfriend, a Bates graduate who was 3 years older, he also enjoyed going to the BC football games and was proud of wearing his BC Super fan t-shirt. He said that he was making up for not having gone to a college with D1 sports. </p>
<p>You have some great colleges to choose from. And remember – college is what YOU make of it. Good luck.</p>