Boston College

Date: Oct 12 2008
Major: Sociology (This Major's Salary over time)
BC is a great school for some people, and an exercise in futility for others. I'm much closer to the latter, but I'll articulate a few good and bad things and let you come to your own conclusions.

Firstly, to answer some of the criticisms of the previous posters- yes, the university is not in Boston city limits. But you have access not only to the B line (it consistently astounds me how people that are going to be graduating with bachelor's degrees and going onto careers and postgrad programs can't explore their public transit options effectively), but the C line and D line as well in Cleveland circle. It takes about 10 minutes to get into the subway system (and Boston) from the reservoir stop on the D line. No major or elite or whatever euphemism you prefer school sits in the middle of a metro area save for a select few- Berkeley is not in the heart of San Fran, Harvard is in Cambridge, UChicago is nowhere near the loop, and so on and so forth. It's not in the middle of the city (not always a bad thing to tell you the truth)- so take the T 10 minutes and deal with it. But yes, avoid the B line, it sucks.

There are talented people at BC, and a more pronounced bohemian/minority/gay/something other than rich kids from Jersey and Connecticut/etc. population than there has been and that people recognize. But it's not a wanton generality to say that most of the kids at BC are the aforementioned- affluent, overrepresented from NY/CT/MA, and as a consequence, usually insufferable. There is a vague air of entitlement that envelopes the campus, and it's not the best thing in the world if you're one of the 10 working class kids that actually gain acceptance.

That said, the faculty are usually top notch, the campus is gorgeous, and you can always find your niche away from the busch-lite swilling J crew sporting vapidity. You just have to work a bit harder. I will give it marks for being mostly unpretentious though- even if the people are obnoxious and frequently insufferable, their arrogance does not ascend to the heights of, say, Harvard students. If you want that though it's just a short ride across the river.