<p>I am a graduating senior this year and I graduated Valedictorian of my high school. I applied to ivies and got wait-listed close to everywhere so with the places that I did get into I decided that Boston College was the best option and have sent my deposit in. I’m just curious, what kind of reputation does Boston College have? I thought it was a top school, comparable in reputation to the ivies. I’m just starting to have some doubts and just want a solid answer as to what kind of reputation it has. I guess I’m kind of asking, should I feel like I got in somewhere incredible, or feel disappointed that my college application process failed? Just let me know what you think of Boston College and what kind of reputation this college has as far as academics and maybe I can get a better idea of what kind of school I’m going to. I LOVE the campus btw and am so happy with it, i just want the academics to accompany it, because I’ve worked my entire life to go to a top school and I just want to know if I accomplished this goal.</p>
<p>Boston College holds a good amount of weight in the Boston area. It’s considered a very good school and seeing how Boston is very Catholic & Irish and it is a religious Catholic-affiliated school there is a lot of affiliation/respect for Boston College. </p>
<p>Forbes has also ranked it #15 in the country. </p>
<p>Although Boston College is a very good school, many would place it below Brandeis and Tufts in the Boston area. It has a different culture compared to those schools as well.</p>
<p>In my school, getting into Boston College is not particularly hard but it is seen as an accomplishment. I don’t know too many valedictorians going to Boston College. You’ll probably do very well there. </p>
<p>Are you a President Scholar Program at Boston College? I know people who got into Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and turned those schools down for the Presidential Scholar Program (mainly for financial reasons).</p>
<p>But I understand how you feel. I worked my entire life to go to a top school. I got into a good school, a very good school people say, but I’m still unsure if I accomplished my goal since it wasn’t my first choice but third.</p>
<p>I’m not a presidential scholar and i think its because so many people like me had similar waitlist/rejection experiences. </p>
<p>what makes you say that it is below brandeis and tufts? i feel like the three of them are on very similar tiers and are almost equals… i don’t know i could be wrong.</p>
<p>you said that you had your own insecurities, what school are you going to?</p>
<p>Dear Swimrat7 : Both of our children attending Boston College and both were class valedictorians from their classes of 300+ students here in a competitive school district in New York. Both were waitlisted at Ivy League schools. The eldest chose Boston College over Georgetown, Williams, and Cornell. The younger chose Boston College over Swarthmore, Lehigh, and Skidmore. Both accepted and enrolled into the Honors Program; each has met no less than ten valedictorians both inside and outside of the honors environment.</p>
<p>Note that as the Presidential Scholars are strictly drawn from the early applicant pool, in general Presidential Scholars are NOT valedictorians as most of those students, like you, are pursuing Ivy options. Presidential Scholarships are NOT available in the regular decision pool - a blind spot overall in the administration of the program itself, however we will leave that topic and merit based aid as a tabled conversation for now.</p>
<p>Boston College is reviewed among the 25 New Ivies by various sources. BC retains an outstanding statistical reputation among several published sources as a Top 40 institution (US News and World Reports) and much higher in other polls if such data is worth value to you including a Forbes ranking at #15 nationally.</p>
<p>As for comparison with Brandeis and Tufts, all three schools have strength in some areas. For example, if you wanted to study International Relations, Tufts would be and obvious choice along with Engineering. If you wanted to study Chemistry (sciences in general), Boston College would be a strong choice.</p>
<p>thank you so much scott j. that really makes me feel a lot better about my choice. i definitely feel like i made a good decision having read that because i didn’t know any of those things before. I am studying chemistry as well so that last part was especially good. thank you so much for the info.</p>
<p>My son just completed his first year at BC and had a wonderful experience. He is a chemistry major who is also pre-med. Most of his professors were ivy league trained. Besides having an excellent education so far, he plays in the marching band, recently ran the Boston marathon, and has easy access to the city of Boston. He has met and are friends with a large group of very nice kids. The values this college is teaching him should serve him well in the future. It is hard to believe he would get a better or more rewarding experience at an ivy or higher rated school. By the way he was fifth in his high school class and a Connecticut scholar athlete. Don’t worry, you chose wisely!</p>
<p>thank you so much for the positive reinforcement everyone i feel a lot better about the decision and honestly can’t wait to go having heard about all of the experiences BCeaglesdad just mentioned</p>
<p>Swimrat, BC is an excellent institution, but at the same time, I do understand your concerns. I would say that BC is a very well-known school, but that has more to do with its D1 sports than its academics. Do not get me wrong, BC offers very prestigious/strong academic programs, but I’m just saying that a fair amount of the student body are athletes. I would have gone to BC if it weren’t for their horrible financial aid.</p>
<p>BC will open a lot of doors to you in the Boston area. I’m not so sure what it will be like outside of Boston (whether people will recognize it mainly as a sports school).</p>
<p>I used Boston College as a safety (and I’m not really a can’t-miss applicant myself) and the people attending BC from my high school (about 7 people) aren’t particularly academic.</p>
<p>I could say the exact same thing that Drought just said. But it truly is a very solid and respected school in the Boston area.</p>
<p>i’m not trying to challenge an opinion or anything im just literally trying to get a solid idea here</p>
<p>how can non-academic kids to go a school that is ranked in the top 40 nationally by US news and 15th by forbes? what high school are they coming from? are the rankings faulty? im not challenging i’m just trying to get a solid idea…</p>
<p>Dear Swimrat7: The one thing that my family has learned this past year was that you do not have to go to Harvard, Yale, or any of the top 10 schools in the country to be successful in life. It is more important to feel comfortable at the school you’re at and that the college gives you the opportunities to excel in whatever passions you have. I can only comment from the personal experiences we have had with this institution. I am confident you will understand what I am saying once you go through orientation. You will not be disappointed.</p>
<p>“…a fair amount of the student body are athletes (sic)” What? 300 out of 9000 undergraduates?</p>
<p>dear BCeaglesdad: thank you so much for the words about the school i am feeling very confident about my choice now i guess i just needed some reinforcement. thank you very much</p>
<p>to tomofboston: lol yeah i was saying the same thing and with an average SAT score of around 2060 and a GPA of around 3.8 i don’t understand how it can be seen as a non-academic school</p>
<p>Swimrat7 - I think it is only natural that you have the feelings you have. You had a dream and for whatever reasons, your dream did not turn out the way you thought it would and I understand your second guessing your decision. My youngest just graduated from a five year program at the Lynch School of Education and she absolutely loved her time at BC. We live in the area and are on campus quite a bit, so BC was always her dream. Many of her friends during her time there did not have BC as their first choice, but everyone of them grew to love BC and to respect the education they received there. I am hopeful that by Columbus Day you will also be happy with your decision and can not imagine yourself anywhere else. If not, then you have the option to transfer. You always have that option, but give yourself time. There are so many activities to get involved in and there are many bright, intelligent young people (like yourself!) to get to know. Good luck and go Eagles!</p>
<p>thanks again for the inspiring words everyone</p>
<p>i have heard amazing things about the school and you come out with a degree that is really impressive and does open a lot of doors (due to it’s reputation i never knew it had haha) so i guess i just need to have some confidence haha maybe things work out for a reason</p>
<p>My daughter had a 2300 on her SATs and excellent grades in the most challenging courses from 10th grade on, but had some difficulties during her freshman year of high school which affected her overall GPA. She was waitlisted at some top schools, including a guaranteed transfer offer from Cornell contingent upon successful completion of her freshman year at another institution.</p>
<p>She fully intended to transfer to Cornell but changed her mind after one semester at BC. She became fully immersed in all aspects of the school, writes for the school newspaper, discovered she loves the great athletics, and has made wonderful friends. She also loves Boston, is planning a summer abroad…in short, she couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else although there was some initial disappointment when the admission decisions first started rolling in. </p>
<p>She has told me repeatedly that her peers at BC are very smart - which is important to her.</p>
<p>I will also add that as far as BC’s reputation outside of Boston – my daughter applied for a challenging summer job and the interviewer was extremely impressed that D was an undergrad at BC. She even told D that sealed the “hire.” (We live in the NY metro area.)</p>
<p>To shamelessly add to the boosterism (BC, after-all, did give me a boatload of money to attend the place), the education blog at the New York Times and CNN classified Boston College’s as an institution with a “Marquee education.”</p>
<p>[Weighing</a> the Costs of a Marquee Education - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/cnn/]Weighing”>Weighing the Costs of a Marquee Education - The New York Times)</p>
<p>thats very good to hear that bc has such a reputation as to secure a job. thats great :)</p>
<p>and marquee education? i’ve never heard of that exact term but that’s pretty cool that BC was mentioned as having a good reputation by the NY times. Definitely a little expensive but that’s a covo for another time haha</p>