@xyz123a My son is a anxious, panic attack wreck now. I may indeed be PMing you.
Trinity would be a fantastic choice. The Cine studio is a rennovated cinema studio and there is a juried film festival annually held there. It is a gem both on campus and in the Hartford Area. Hartford also has the renowned Bushnell Theater. But perhaps the most interesting is the NYC La Mama study away program. I can think of only one other NESCAC that has a better program (Wes). And so many students double major it is actually the norm. Student life and living is also markedly different. Singles are possible as a freshman at Trinity whereas BC has triples from my understanding. As a political science major at Trinity he would also be able to do a research assistantship for a professor as early as coming out of freshman year. I wonder if that is even possible at BC. Finally proximity to State legislature make those pol sci students interested in public policy able to avail themselves of a deep dive into legislative action. If you are getting a fantastic aid package from Trinity, that would be my choice.
It’s worth noting that only four colleges have a more disproportionately high number of wealthy students than Trinity; over a quarter of Trinity students are from the top 1% of income. Many of the other colleges that rank high on that list - Wash U (#1), Washington & Lee (#3), Bucknell (#6), Colgate (#7), and so on - are similarly pre-professional.
BC comes in 32 with approximately 16% of its students from the top 1%.
A recent New York Times article by Director of Admission Dr. Angel Perez highlights the shift in admission from high income to reflect and support more diversity. Trinity College is the only NESCAC where the president and director of admissions are people of color and the only NESCAC where the president is an African American female scientist (neuroscientist). The article indicates the challenges in admission but Trinity has long supported Quest Bridge and more recently Posse Scholars program.
Article here.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/10/magazine/college-admissions-paul-tough.html
Re #23, note that Trinity has dropped out of the QuestBridge program.
Yes it focuses now on the Posse scholars
Program for its depth and support mentoring students of color and first
Generation.
I can’t imagine a political science major/theater coming out of either school is going to have a significant career edge over the other. I would pick based on cost and fit.
Boston College has been asked and accepted a spot as Questbridge scholars school choice.
Note that while recent posts have been informative and interesting to read, the OP has posted elsewhere that her son chose BC.
Thats also helpful and informative, but since posts aren’t deleted in this forum perhaps the discussion would inform future students in their choices as well.
Yes, he chose BC. I am still on the fence as to what was the best choice, but BC was HIS choice. We will see how it turns out after this first year. I agree with continuing the thread. There may well be others that it will be helpful to and perhaps even to him if he revisits his choice in the future.
@WildestDream Can you please elaborate on your statement? My son struggled with this mightily and came to his decision based on BC’s higher ranked academics and its appearance in rankings in both political science AND theatre while Trinity was only recognized for political science. (I will admit I was sad to see the La Mama program go). He also based his decision on the strength of the BC alumni network as he is from the Boston area. What makes you say neither has any benefit over the other? I am truly curious.
If your son wants to stay in the Boston area after graduation, then BC may make more sense.
My point was that the differences in undergrad academics between these schools is negligible and your characterization that “BC offers higher ranked academics” is a bit questionable and is news to me. These are peer schools academically. And let’s be real, most non-arts employers aren’t going to care or know about a school’s perceived strength in theater. BC isn’t really known as a theater school anyway (BU actually has a more robust arts program among colleges in the Boston area). Ultimately, between these two schools, I don’t think he could have made a wrong decision either way. Congrats!
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