Pre-Med Woes

Hello Prospective Students!

Man, that sounds too professional for my tastes. Anyway, sorry for the rush post the other day. While I put off some homework, let me give you a better detailed background of myself.

So I am a Freshman in the College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2013. I live on Newton in the Cushing Building. I'm currently enrolled in the Pre-Med program and thinking of majoring in Psychology. I'm in the VSA and CSA (Vietnamese and Chinese culture groups) and part of the Parkour Group (PARKOUR!). I also go to this weekly meeting called InterVarsity when I can. It's basically a Christian fellowship service. I'm a BIG Celtics fan and fairweather Red Sox and Patriots fan. Not a big hockey fan.

So let me get down to business: Pre-Med is time-consuming. I'm currently taking Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Chinese Intermediate, and Freshman Writing Seminar. Oh, and I should also add a Cornerstone Freshman Seminar, a Chemistry Lab, and a Chemistry Discussion session. The Chemistry discussion is basically tacked on to the Chemistry Class. They can be useful, depending on your TA. However, they don't hurt you and you can ask questions and review for test and quizzes and go over homework questions. Now you're probably thinking that seems like that is a lot of classes. But you know what? You're absolutely right!

For all of you who want to do Pre-Med at the schools you're applying to, you will have a lot of work on your hands! Trust me. I know some freshman are taking Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus in the same year. Word of advice: even out your workload. At BC, you don't need to take Calculus freshman year (just Biology and Chemistry). However, if you want to just get it out of the way while it's still fresh, take it.

Technically, for me, I'm taking three science courses. Psychology counts too! So every week, I'm basically reading around 90 pages for all three subjects combined! I'm lucky I ended up with good professors. Here's a little insider tip for how to pick the best professors at BC:

At the UGBC website, you can evaluations of professors made by students who have taken their classes. There is a tab that says "PEPs" which are great Professor Evaluation Profiles and a few study tips. I HIGHLY recommend it for those picking your classes.

A quick little thing before I go (because I'm looking at the time): Cornerstone classes, like the one I'm taking, are basically classes that you want to take because they're interesting and are your choice to take. My class doesn't have homework except some reading. Every Cornerstone class meets once a week, and the professor of the class is your academic advisor for your Freshman year, which is great if you're undecided and don't have a department advisor.

So that's my schpeel of the day. Any questions, feel free to email me at nguyenec@bc.edu.

Peace!

MUFASA!

Hey dudes and dudettes!

What's up? First post guys! Yes! I'm David Nguyen from Cushing TWO Newton! It's the place to be! Alright, enough of the exclamation marks. So quick bio of me:

- I am part of the FRESHMAN Class of 2013
- Psychology Major with Pre Med
- Clubs I am involved in: Parkour Group, Chinese Student Association (CSA), Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), and Southeast Asian Students Association (SEASA)

I had my interview for Freshman Representative in CSA today. I was ten minutes late for it because I thought the interview was in Campion, and that was the wrong building. But I just finished watching the Lion King with my dorm, which made it all better. It is an amazing movie as all of you know.

If you have any questions about Pre-Med or any of the groups I am in, feel free to send me email at nguyenec@bc.edu.

Alright guys, peace out!

-David

From MY freshman year to YOUR freshman year

Hey all,

Here it is in early April, and depending on where you are at school right now, you may have anywhere from three to ten weeks left of high school. Everyone here at BC, however, has a mere three weeks before finals begin, a week of finals, then off we go into the early summer, eagerly awaiting the day we get to return to the Heights.

For me especially, coming back is going to be great. We "won" the housing lottery, as is an appropriate expression, and 7 of my friends and I managed to get an 8-person suite in Walsh, on Lower Campus (a long shot more convenient than Newton, but I will miss the more comfortable atmosphere). Many people were not as lucky: though one of my roommates right now had a group of 8 that also got it, my other two present roommates (in the same group) didn't get 8-man rooms, and today also missed out on the 4 person apartments. They have one more chance, then may end up on Upper Campus, in the sophomore section on College Road (fondly dubbed "Co-Ro"). Wish them luck with Lower!

It also seems to be time for me to put in a shameless plug for the marching band; we get to come back early for band camp in August (which, for perspective, takes more energy than my football doubles in high school). If you can play an instrument, it's a great way to meet people, practice playing, and keep busy early in freshmen year. You are also welcome to look into it if you decide to go to any college in the Boston area!

AND, just in case you didn't realize it, the deadline for deciding on a college is swiftly approaching. I know how much a struggle that can be, and being (relatively) fresh out of the process, feel free to shoot me an email with any question/comments/concerns, or about really anything. Best wishes and Happy (late) Easter!

Adieu for now!

The verdict of life as a Newton freshman

Hi everyone! This is my first post, but I'm really excited to be able to share what my experience has been like thus far.

I'm a freshman and I live on Newton Campus. At first, I was upset to have to rely on the bus to get to main campus and to be so isolated from the rest of the school, but the prospect of living with all freshman has greatly outweighed its few disadvantages. Living on Newton is one of my favorite parts of school. Unlike Upper Campus, you get the feeling of going "home" at the end of the day, and you have the opportunity to leave campus and classes behind you.

I found that my first few weeks at school back in the fall were eased by the fact that I knew everyone was in the same boat as me. Walking into the dining hall on Main Campus, I walked over to a young lady and asked if I could sit with her, to which she responded "I'm not a freshman". Ok, so not all people here are so rude; in fact, most aren't. But at least walking into Stuart Dining Hall I knew that everyone was a freshman and I felt more at ease walking up to people and introducing myself.

Living on Newton brings everyone really close together in the sense that we all see each other some way or another from time to time, whether it is in the dining hall or waiting for the bus, or riding the bus to and from main campus. If you're considering living situations, definitely give Newton a chance. Riding the bus is not as big of a deal AT ALL as I thought it would be. Having the beautiful campus around allows us to be able to throw around a Frisbee or sit on the ground with friends and do work. It's such a great place to be!

-Dana

Spring Awakening?

The spring semester is beginning, and while not exactly warm and relaxing, it has started with some pretty sweet moments.

First, and most importantly, of course: it is absolutely prime sledding season. Though the weather is WICKED cold, everyone came back from break with nice warm winter gear, which I enjoyed seeing after having waved goodbye to a friend going home to California in flip flops. Seriously, though – it’s winter. It’s supposed to be cold. Good old Mother Nature dropped a foot or so of snow, which I naturally had to shovel, being home for the holidays. Now, many have found hills around campus, especially here on Newton, to get trays and sleds out and fly down in all kinds of creative - and slightly insane - ways.


We started classes a week ago; we have until tomorrow when Add/Drop period ends to finalize our schedules, and I am still moving around in my schedule. So far so good, though – my professors are great and class times are really quite convenient.

I just went to a meeting for College Bowl, similar to Academic Bowl apparently, which I was never part of, but it deals with trivia. Last night was Zombie, Pirate and Ninja themed night. I hope to go to Laser Tag this Saturday at the O’Connell House, the center of freshmen social life on Upper, and maybe back into the city – my friends and I visited the Museum of Fine Arts for free, since we go to BC. Other extracurriculars abound, and I just applied for a job with the IT support staff.

In Organisms and Populations class, we learned that a blue whale’s testicles weigh over a ton, but a fruit fly has the largest sperm, longer in fact than its body… and this actually related to the lesson in evolutionary progress. In chemistry, we passed around blocks of dry ice that could freeze our fingers off if we held them for too long. Cold potato, anyone? In my philosophy/theology class, we discussed the various college-life habitats, the mating and courting patterns of freshmen, and social structure based on a BAC of 16.7 (or something ridiculous) and the goal of college students in general being able to replace their blood entirely with alcohol. Believe me, these classes are not boring – and far from being inapplicable to life. Except maybe the biology facts… but as a lesson, make sure to put plenty of effort into choosing courses at any school. The teacher can make or break your future in that subject.

Anyway, that’s it for now, I am not envying those that have to go through the selection and application process, though I do sympathize. Good night and good luck!

Joe M.

My Entire Life! (But Not Really)

Hey all,

My name is Joe, originally from Medway, MA, and I am a freshman (woo high school… I can still feel it in my bones…) here at B.C. in the College of Arts and Sciences. Well, that’s all I have time for, I need to get back to reading Plato’s Republic (and rereading, according to my professor). Goodbye for now!

Just kidding! B.C. definitely has kept me busy, but not so much that I don’t have a couple extra minutes to talk about myself on a blog occasionally. And perhaps run down to the local ice cream parlor, soaking wet, every time it rains… but that’s a story for a different day.

So the really abbrev.ed “me”: I am double majored in music and biochemistry, taking classes of General Chemistry, Music Theory, Calculus, and Perspectives (philosophy and theology all combined into one really sweet class). I am in the Screaming Eagles Marching Band (fantastic gig, I am sure I will have a post about it later on), and hope to photograph for an on-campus magazine.

I live in Keyes, on the Newton campus, with 40% of the freshmen here at BC, and absolutely love it. If you later hear anything bad about Newton campus, disregard it immediately!

Anyway, that is my life as of yet, which I am sure will get a lot more interesting very quickly, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading this far, and please feel free to leave questions or comments or concerns or any other just heaping piles of words strung together in any legible way! I would love to be able to reply to people curious/interested in BC (or just people that have no idea what else to do).

BBFN,
~Your friendly neighborhood Joe