It’s Great to BU

A view from within Boston University’s Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Science

There’s cold, and then there’s wicked cold. That’s the only kind of cold on an early December morning while standing outside a locked door at Boston University’s modern, glassy, Leventhal Center, 45 minutes early for a 9:30 information session. They wouldn’t let us in. Why wouldn’t they let us in? We could see them inside, nice and warm. 

Oh, well. Maybe we could find a Starbucks or something. We pivoted and took a right, finding ourselves facing this amazing, gravity-defying architectural wonder that looked like the world's tallest game of Jenga. How else to describe it? Chunky clusters of the edifice were stacked and staggered – two, three, and four floors at a time – as it reached for the sky. 

Its doors were open, and it turned out to be the Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Science. Even if STEM is not your thing, this building would be reason enough to apply to BU. We never advanced beyond the soaring atrium of the ground level, but were instantly mesmerized by the kaleidoscopic staircase rising above, and impressed with the energy of its denizens, grabbing coffee, waiting for elevators, and catching up with one another, palpably eager for the day ahead. 

The day before, we had walked the main part of the Harvard campus. It’s always awe-inspiring and also a bit intimidating to be there; you can almost feel your IQ melting in the intellectual ooze within earshot. We didn’t enter any buildings, but couldn’t help but notice how old and fusty it looked. Sure, it may be state-of-the-art inside, but the Yard projected a storied past more than a tantalizing future. 

It was now 9:00, so we headed back to the Leventhal Center at BU, where the doors swung open wide, and the warmth was evident in more than just the room temperature. A sophomore named Nick greeted us with a giant smile as he checked us in on his iPad. 

He said he was from Georgia, and when we asked him what he liked about BU, he didn’t miss a beat. He said it was BU Hub, the university’s clever way of combining ostensibly disconnected subject areas, like philosophy and biology, for example. Even more important, it enables you to amortize your general education requirements across all four years. This mattered to Nick because it meant he could dive right into his public relations major as opposed to dispensing with all of his mandatory subjects first.  

We later learned that BU Hub is composed of hundreds of courses organized along various themes: Scientific & Social Inquiry, Communication, Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Global Citizenship. The overall approach is creative, such that if you are not a math type, you can fulfill your requirement by taking a philosophy course called “Puzzles and Paradoxes,” which focuses on critical thinking, logic, and life's big questions through analyzing absurd conclusions from basic beliefs (e.g., everyone is bald).

Nick also mentioned that he appreciated BU’s flexibility, which enabled him to switch his major easily from journalism to public relations, where the job market is stronger. This was echoed during our information session, during which Sofia, a junior, described her circuitous journey to become an English, Spanish, and Pre-Law major. BU prides itself on enabling students to switch majors as often as they like and still graduate within four years. 

The info session, by the way, was among the very best we’ve seen (and we’ve attended scores of them). It wasn’t the usual PowerPoint data dump that’s numbingly reminiscent of every other college, but rather an honest-to-goodness dialogue between Maddy, an admissions counselor, and Sofia, a student. The two of them sat before a jumbo screen displaying hero shots of the campus from every imaginable angle as they spoke extemporaneously to each other and to us.

It was outstanding – possibly the GOAT - and very different from the last time we had attended a BU information session, several years ago. Back then, we were jammed into a basement space, with an admissions counselor droning on behind a podium, with no visuals of any kind. At the time, the BU admissions rate was about 36%, compared to about 11% today. We’re not suggesting correlation or causation, but times certainly have changed at BU as they have at many other schools (Harvard excepted, perhaps :).

Another thing that really stood out: BU offers study abroad programs that guarantee an internship as part of the experience. Also, BU covers 100% of tuition for households earning less than $200K, and about 20% of each class are first-generation students. Fifty-nine percent of accepted students applied for early decision. If you submit your application by December 1st, you are automatically considered for financial aid. 

As we left the Leventhal, it was still brutally cold outside, but hey, that’s Boston in the wintertime, and it’s worth wearing a few extra layers for the vibe alone. There are college towns, and there are college towns … and then there is Boston, arguably the best of them all. Greater Boston is home to upwards of 75 colleges and perhaps as many as a quarter million undergraduates. BU or otherwise, it’s hard to imagine a more exhilarating college community than that.

It's a thing of BU-tee.