Rachel

BU is a college whose "campus" is spread along Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. For me, it was the perfect mix of a college experience, and a city-integrated university. Having come from a smaller town, Boston was a great place to attend school. As a city, Boston is a comfortably sized, moderately populated, entertaining city that was fun and exciting to explore during my four years there. With the newly built Agganis Arena, many huge music acts as well as sports team land on the BU campus during their tours through the country, making it a great place spend a Friday night for BU students and Bostonians alike. The on- campus housing is impressively beautiful, particularly if one stays on campus until their junior or senior years, when one becomes eligible to live in the new high-rise of 10 Buick Street. I lived in 10 Buick for a year and still have yet to find another apartment that rivals it in terms of comfort and it's unmatched view of Boston along the Charles river. The largest complaint overall is the price of tuition. At $40,000 and rising, it can be an added burden that sometimes can raise question marks when places such as the Fine Arts Building or the College of General Studies suffer from long-overdue ned of renovation. However, that voice is being heard to some extent - on a recent trip back to BU, I saw changes being made not only within those colleges, but across campus. It is definitely a college for people wanting a more city-integrated experience within a large university.

My experience is limited to the College of Fine Arts, where I was an acting major and had a wonderful and unique experience. I would recommend BU highly to anyone looking for an intensive conservatory style training while also having the "college experience" of growing and finding one's self within a university setting. My teachers were not only passionate and strong in the classroom, but always had their doors open for conversation and questions. My biggest "regret" is not taking advantage of the university's liberal arts classes as much as I could have. While I took a few wonderful classes in art history and photography, there were classes with such acclaimed professors as Eli Weisel that I wish I had taken greater advantage of.

Again, my time at BU was mainly spend within the College of Fine Arts, where I was fortunate enough to have a close knit community of friends. BU's campus is a large one with an even larger population of students. At times it can be hard and overwhelming to meet new people, but overall I would say that I was surprised with the diversity and friendliness of BU students. To go into the GSU, a popular place to eat and study, one would see a room full of 100+ tables with moderately diverse students. Most of which would be eating a slice of pizza or a salad while studying with a group of 10 or more other classmates, all with lap tops open. It seemed to me that while there were a good number of students from the Northeast, the balance came in students from not only other parts of the country, but from overseas as well. BU benefits from a large number of study abroad programs across all Colleges and Majors. People always felt open to letting me and other friends join in at a table or in a game of frisbee on the BU beach.

I wasn't involved in any BU groups, although there would be many advertised all over campus. I met my closest friends in class, and roaming around the dorms during freshman year. On the weekends, we would typically go to parties at friends' houses. There was a larger party-population at BU which included the few Greek organizations on campus, and while those always had a reputation for being great fun, I only found myself at one or two during my time in school. Often, friends and I would go around the city to eat in Boston's "little Italy" the North End, or catch a Red Sox game, or go to a local bar and shoot pool. The benefit, for me, of going to college within a city was there was never seemed to be a shortage of anything to do. Even if I wanted to spend some time alone, I could go to the park or to a museum to spend a few hours in quiet.

The dating scene at BU is probably similar to that of any larger university. I dated guys I was in classes with or knew from friends, and while I didn't make it through my 4 years with my college sweetheart, many of my friend are will with the people they began dating while at BU.

I sometimes ran across the stereotype that all BU students are extremely wealthy - an understandable assumption based on the high tuition prices. However, I come from a middle class family with a modest income. It was with hard work and scholarships that I attended BU.

To some extent, certainly there are a great many people who can attend BU and pay for the $40,000+ tuition without the aid of student loans, grants, or scholarships. However, I knew a lot of people who worked their way through BU, received scholarships and grants, and came from households similar to my own.

On a side note, I was at BU during the beginning of the war in Irag, and was impressed by the voices raised at BU. I participated in several walk outs and protests that were supported by faculty and administration alike. BU was really where I was able to find others with similar political leanings as my own, and it provided me with an open space to be able to explore that side of myself. While I am speaking from a bit of a liberal point of view, there was certainly space for conservative voices as well.