Boston University

Date: Aug 22 2015
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I want to start out by saying I couldn?t see myself at any University besides BU. It was my dream because I thought being in such a ?smart? city and prestigious school would be amazing. I got in to all 13 schools I applied to, but this was ?the one?. Nothing in my review is fabricated or over dramatic. I purposefully wrote this months after transferring so it wasn't bias. I feel like you guys deserve to hear this before it's too late.

This part of Boston is really not nice or safe. I had a class in west campus and had to cross over the MassPike everyday to get to class. It was hideous. Not to mention the homeless panhandlers who would hang out on the BU bridge and approach girls on the island you HAD to stand on IN THE MIDDLE OF FOUR WAY TRAFFIC to wait for the lights to turn red so you could cross. You have to experience this yourself to understand how awful it is. They don?t take you here on the tour or accepted students day. They take you to SMG, the pretty nice new building you?ll only use if you?re a business student.

Everything here is extremely cut throat. Grade deflation is real. No matter how hard you work, they only want, let?s say 5 people in the class of 100 to get A?s, so they curve down so that happens. The average GPA in CAS is around a 2.7 or 2.9, which is terrible if you want grad school, forget med or law school.

People here are extremely snobby. I came from a private high school in New York, which is known for snobbiness compared to the Midwest or south, but I was in for a shock. Everyone here dresses and acts like they?re 25 working on Wall Street, and NO one wears BU spirit wear and you look tacky if you do. Trust me, I got the evil stares and smirks.

Also if you don't like to go to clubs or have a fake ID, forget making friends or having a social life. Extra circulars are a joke unless you join a frat or sorority, but again those cost thousands of dollars a year, and you have to dress the part and fit the "mold" that exists here.

Basically, everyone here is filthy rich and spoiled. I felt way too poor and pathetic to be here, which is insane because I attended private high school, have traveled many places, and my dad went to college and has a decent job.

Also, a giant chunk of the school is the rich international students that barely speak English so they clique off together. Then there?s the engineering and pre-med students on scholarship that make school their LIFE and never leave the library. Then there?s everyone else who just wants to party and burn their parent?s money at clubs.

The living conditions are disgusting and way overpriced for such an ?elite? school where housing is double what my sister pays at her state school. Warren towers is overrun with freshman who drink a lot, which means there is vomit everywhere which is expected I guess, but the cleaning people were constantly on strike and don?t work on the weekends so it was disgustingly dirty almost always. I constantly encountered pee in the shower from the large percentage of international students that BU caters to because they?re full pay and donate a lot of $$$$ that BU can brag about having students from 300 countries or whatever. Everyone constantly had colds and the old carpets smelled like mold from water dripping out of everyone?s loud and old heaters. Not to mention my floor had TWO TOILETS and TWO SHOWERS for the whole floor of like 40 girls, which means unless you showered at 3 AM it was ice cold and clogged with hair in the drain from over usage and there was always a line. Also, they were always having problems with the pipes so there was hardly running water at this time of night anyway. The escalators and elevators were ALWAYS broken which meant long assembly lines up the stairs constantly. These towers need new infrastructure because they?re awful.

The food was a JOKE for their overpriced meal plan. I know that college food isn?t good anywhere but they didn?t even have basic American staples like grilled chicken or hamburgers. If you like sushi, kale, and tofu, this is the place for you. And on the weekends they hardly had ANY food, and when people would complain they would say ?because of less volume we scale back? completely disregarding the kids who stayed on campus on the weekends. But I guess this makes sense because everyone just comes here to go out in the city in a business suit, not to be a college student on a campus, especially on weekends, which were creepy and desolate.

I am extremely sad it turned out this way because I really wanted it to work out. I love Boston because it really is an amazing place full of history, culture, and charm, but my heart was broken because of how depressing and close minded this school is. There is a mold here and they do a very good job of convincing you otherwise at accepted student's day. I am now at a different university and am in shock of how different and diverse other schools are.