The following reviews are the views of students or alumni at this school and are unrelated to the school data and other editorial content on usnews.com. These reviews neither reflect nor impact a school's position within the Best Colleges rankings.
BC is an unreal place to be for the best four years of your life. There are tons of colleges, large and small, within a taxi ride away, so any time you want a different scene, you can get one. The best thing about BC is its location and the feel of a real college campus. 15 minutes from Fenway and the North End or Fanuiel Hall... yet you could think the campus was in the middle of a small town. A gorgeous campus with great architecture and layout. The worst part is probably the way housing works. Not that it's a life or death situation, but the housing lottery is a stressful time of year, and the sheer lack of space makes some living situations less enjoyable than others. I was stuck in "bad" freshmen housing, then "bad" sophomore housing, and then "bad" senior housing, but I loved every experience that came from each year. If you are good at making the best of situations, and not worrying about status or location of housing, you're going to have a great time wherever you are. The school spirit is not a real high-point of BC and its athletics. Everyone loves the college, but we travel TERRIBLY to away football games, and even have home games where the weather or too much tailgating takes away from the student section. Its sad when a big football game is on campus and there are empty seats around the stadium.
Harry Senior
I think that BC is the perfect balance of a lot of things. It is not too big, but definitely not too small. I can still go out at night and meet tons of new people, yet a have a large group of really good friends. Though the school is in the suburbs of Boston, access to the city is so easy that we get all of the benefits of being a city school without actually having to deal with the city daily. BC has its own campus, which is beautiful all year (though some people don't know how to appreciate the winter). There are so many things for people to get involved in, that if anyone complains about being bored it's because they clearly aren't trying to be a part of anything. Though athletics sometimes seem to be help on a higher level than academics, going to a school with a strong and enthusiastic athletic program is awesome. The school comes together and you really feel like something. I think that my favorite thing about the school is that for the most part, students know how to take their education very seriously and work hard, but they also definitely know how to kick back and have fun.
Martha Junior
One thing I would change about BC is that students only get three years guaranteed housing making students move off campus junior year. This is very problematic if one plans on going abroad since it is nearly impossible to find subletters and the school does little to help you (and rents in the area are very high). Furthermore, they do give fifty percent of students on-campus housng and a good deal of the students are chosen randomly...so good luck if your friends get four years housing and you don't.
katie Junior
Football. I would'nt change anything. its location was perfect, and I felt its size was just right for me. i spent most of my time eiether in the dorms or on campus. I would not say that it was a college town, because that would mean that the town existed because of the college but it wasnt like that. BCs administration was unliked by many students for different reasons, but i find thats common on college campus. the biggest controversy at BC involved the administration and their decision to strike down a gay/lesbian/bisexual club on campus. but BC is a private, catholic institution and I understood the pressures on the administration not to allow such a group.
Caroline Alum
Chestnut Hill is not a college town at all. Almost all students live off campus junior year, and almost all of them get in severe trouble with the police. It is impossible to have a party without the cops/off campus RA coming, this is especially true because most of them are under 21. BC wants to expand its campus, but to do so, it must have the support of the neighbors. Therefore, they want to stop all off campus partying, so that the neighbors are happy and will let BC grow. Thus the student body suffers. College students drink a lot, there's nothing that you can do about that, but BC tries to get us in unnecessary amounts of trouble. The Mods are the greatest part of BC. I live in the Mods as a senior, and I could not be happier with them. They are a small townhouse community on campus made up of 78 townhouses, with six seniors in each. They are great for throwing parties and especially great for tailgating before football games. The Mods are one of the most important part's of BC campus. Almost all seniors move back on campus senior year, and I think that is one of the things that makes BC so special. As I mentioned earlier, it is very hard to have fun living off campus because the cops break up almost every party. Thus, spending senior year on campus is great because it allows all of the seniors to enjoy their last year in college without any threats of getting in trouble with the law. It's also nice because all of your friends live relatively close to one another, making it easier to stay in touch with all of the friends you've made over the last four years. I think BC is just the right size, at about 2,000 per grade. One thing that was very difficult about my adjustment to college was living on the Newton Campus freshman year. The Newton Campus houses approximately half of the freshman class and is located a little over a mile from campus. Students must take a bus to and from campus for classes and any other events. Making the adjustment to college was very hard to begin with, but having to wake up extra earlier and wait in the freezing cold for a bus every morning, made it even more difficult. Needless to say, my attendance in class and my GPA suffered freshman year as a result. Looking back as a senior, I have a tremendous amount of "Newton Pride." However, I was not nearly as happy to be there when I was a freshman. Living so far away from the rest of BC made it very hard to have a social life (aka go to parties, make friends with upper classmen, make friends with the other half of the freshman class, etc). I joined the frisbee team my junior year, and that was probably the best decision I made in college. I became friends with a bunch of BC student's with the same fun loving sense of humor that I have. It has been a great opportunity for me to get into the best shape of my life, all the while playing a game that I absolutely love. The friends I have made from the frisbee team are some of my best friends in college and will definitely stay with me for years to come. I think it is very important for students to get involved in college in order to make friends who have similar interests. BC does not have any greek life, so it is hard for a lot of students to find a good group of friends. The frisbee team has been that group for me. Not to mention, we're absolutely nasty at frisbee and finished 18th out of 80 teams at a national tournament in Las Vegas last month.
Mike Senior
The best thing about BC is that there's something for everyone. Whether it's getting involved in service organizations, playing some kind of sports, religious groups, or theatre, everyone can find something they enjoy. The size of the student body varies around 9,000 which I believe is the perfect size. Everywhere you go you'll see two people you know, and five you don't so parties and classes are always fun. The school is a prestigious institution without the snobbiness of knowing it. While the students pride themselves in attending here, we're not going to brag about it or rub it in your face (unless you go to Notre Dame that is). While on campus, you'll spend most of your time in one of the dining halls studying or hanging out with friends or in one of the two librarys if you're the studious type. Boston is an absolutely fabulous place to be at school, coming from Texas it's a big change but the city is a big city with a small town feel and if you're ever bored on campus (which rarely happens) there's always something to go see or do at only a T-stop away.
Anonymous Junior
Reviews provided by: UnigoVisit Unigo to see 127 other reviews and videos on Boston College.
