If you want to have your best odds of being accepted at one of these three schools: Colgate, Lehigh, BC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

The Jesuit core leads to a more well rounded education than one might find at the Lehigh School of Business. Also, Lehigh’s Dean is leaving and a replacement has not yet been named.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, obviously your son has picked out some great reach / target schools. I’m curious - with a list like yours, what are his safeties? Would he attend a safety or try a gap year?

He would LOVE a gap year (and that's actually not off the table - but I would prefer he get accepted somewhere and defer.) His safeties are some combo of the following:

Providence
Holy Cross (maybe more of a low target)
Indiana (because he meets criteria for direct admit to Kelley)
Lafayette (although that might be a low target)
Fordham (4th generation legacy, literally has 14 family members who attended)

Considering adding Bentley or Ithaca, but we haven't visited them and right now we need a break from college talk/visits. So those are maybes.

He likes all of them and says he would be happy at any of them (of the ones he's seen.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, obviously your son has picked out some great reach / target schools. I’m curious - with a list like yours, what are his safeties? Would he attend a safety or try a gap year?

He would LOVE a gap year (and that's actually not off the table - but I would prefer he get accepted somewhere and defer.) His safeties are some combo of the following:

Providence
Holy Cross (maybe more of a low target)
Indiana (because he meets criteria for direct admit to Kelley)
Lafayette (although that might be a low target)
Fordham (4th generation legacy, literally has 14 family members who attended)

Considering adding Bentley or Ithaca, but we haven't visited them and right now we need a break from college talk/visits. So those are maybes.

He likes all of them and says he would be happy at any of them (of the ones he's seen.)

Nice reasonable list. Indiana is an outlier though, huge compared to the others. If he likes it, maybe add another big scoop to the mix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, obviously your son has picked out some great reach / target schools. I’m curious - with a list like yours, what are his safeties? Would he attend a safety or try a gap year?

He would LOVE a gap year (and that's actually not off the table - but I would prefer he get accepted somewhere and defer.) His safeties are some combo of the following:

Providence
Holy Cross (maybe more of a low target)
Indiana (because he meets criteria for direct admit to Kelley)
Lafayette (although that might be a low target)
Fordham (4th generation legacy, literally has 14 family members who attended)

Considering adding Bentley or Ithaca, but we haven't visited them and right now we need a break from college talk/visits. So those are maybes.

He likes all of them and says he would be happy at any of them (of the ones he's seen.)

Nice reasonable list. Indiana is an outlier though, huge compared to the others. If he likes it, maybe add another big scoop to the mix

Thank you. TBH I think he's only considering IU because he has a lot of friends who are going there, and because of the "direct admit" qualifications. We've tried to interest him in UMD, UConn, and Wisconsin, to no avail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all! Thanks for the input. Not STEM, but econ (if Colgate) or finance (if Lehigh/BC.) Reasonably high stats -- 3.92 unweighted, but mixed in with all those As is a C+ in APUSH in 11th, ughhhhh. 1500 SAT. Has consistently taken the most rigorous classes, great ECs, essays and rec letters should be strong.

We go back and forth between applying ED1 to Lehigh and probably nailing it down and being done, vs. shooting their shot at BC and Colgate -- for some reason Colgate is a tough admit from our school; 0/7 last year and 1/11 the year before. TBH I don't think Colgate is a great fit anyway, but for some reason my son is enamored with it. We are full pay so that helps at need-aware Colgate, I guess.

What is your counselor's input on this question? Ours was able to talk to two of these schools and give frank advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

For OP, whose DC is interested in business school - there is a difference in the BC liberal arts core that requires you to spread the LA courses as noted (ensuring you are exposed broadly) vs Lehigh where you can mostly choose non-business courses as you wish (for example, never taking a philosophy or history if you don't want to). Just having gen-ed requirements is not the same as having a true liberal arts focus requirement. Whether this is good or bad in your college search depends on your own goals. At BC - these are the same requirements as students in Arts and Sciences - so it also means in your early years you are meeting friends/classmates in a way that does not pigeon hole you to just kids in School of Management. It makes for a cohesive community across all of the schools.

Not sure why you’re talking about school of A&S for BC. Wouldn’t a finance kid apply to the Carroll school of management? And therefore not have the same liberal arts core requirements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

For OP, whose DC is interested in business school - there is a difference in the BC liberal arts core that requires you to spread the LA courses as noted (ensuring you are exposed broadly) vs Lehigh where you can mostly choose non-business courses as you wish (for example, never taking a philosophy or history if you don't want to). Just having gen-ed requirements is not the same as having a true liberal arts focus requirement. Whether this is good or bad in your college search depends on your own goals. At BC - these are the same requirements as students in Arts and Sciences - so it also means in your early years you are meeting friends/classmates in a way that does not pigeon hole you to just kids in School of Management. It makes for a cohesive community across all of the schools.

Not sure why you’re talking about school of A&S for BC. Wouldn’t a finance kid apply to the Carroll school of management? And therefore not have the same liberal arts core requirements?

DP. Carroll has the same core as A&S, just without the foreign lang requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

For OP, whose DC is interested in business school - there is a difference in the BC liberal arts core that requires you to spread the LA courses as noted (ensuring you are exposed broadly) vs Lehigh where you can mostly choose non-business courses as you wish (for example, never taking a philosophy or history if you don't want to). Just having gen-ed requirements is not the same as having a true liberal arts focus requirement. Whether this is good or bad in your college search depends on your own goals. At BC - these are the same requirements as students in Arts and Sciences - so it also means in your early years you are meeting friends/classmates in a way that does not pigeon hole you to just kids in School of Management. It makes for a cohesive community across all of the schools.

Not sure why you’re talking about school of A&S for BC. Wouldn’t a finance kid apply to the Carroll school of management? And therefore not have the same liberal arts core requirements?

The reason why we are posting is because BC has a liberal arts core that applies equally to the Arts and Science school and to the Carroll School of Management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BC is very competitive. 15% acceptance rate for class of 2027. If that’s truly his first choice, apply ED1.

They made an announcement that 2027 BC class are all top 10 of their class or most are top 10? I believe it. All of the kids I know attending are A students with very high SAT/ACT scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BC is very competitive. 15% acceptance rate for class of 2027. If that’s truly his first choice, apply ED1.

They made an announcement that 2027 BC class are all top 10 of their class or most are top 10? I believe it. All of the kids I know attending are A students with very high SAT/ACT scores.

They likely meant top 10%, not top 10. BC has always liked high grades, but BC is not Georgetown. If I recall, close to half submitted scores for 2026, likely similar for 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

For OP, whose DC is interested in business school - there is a difference in the BC liberal arts core that requires you to spread the LA courses as noted (ensuring you are exposed broadly) vs Lehigh where you can mostly choose non-business courses as you wish (for example, never taking a philosophy or history if you don't want to). Just having gen-ed requirements is not the same as having a true liberal arts focus requirement. Whether this is good or bad in your college search depends on your own goals. At BC - these are the same requirements as students in Arts and Sciences - so it also means in your early years you are meeting friends/classmates in a way that does not pigeon hole you to just kids in School of Management. It makes for a cohesive community across all of the schools.

Not sure why you’re talking about school of A&S for BC. Wouldn’t a finance kid apply to the Carroll school of management? And therefore not have the same liberal arts core requirements?

DP. Carroll has the same core as A&S, just without the foreign lang requirement.

Got it. I’m finding it difficult to figure out this level of detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To clarify a number of posts, there are the liberal arts and there are Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs). The Carnegie classification for BC is R1 research university. BC may have a core curriculum with a focus in liberal arts (hey, so do UChicago and Columbia), but it is not an LAC.

The core curriculum at BC consists of: 1 arts, 1 cultural diversity (can overlap), 2 history, 1 literature, 1 math, 2 natural science, 2 philosophy, 2 social science (econ usually covers these for business majors), 2 theology, 1 writing

Many schools have gen ed requirements that include history, writing, natural science, etc. BC's core is a little bit heavier than some, with philosophy and theology, but not terribly different otherwise.

For OP, whose DC is interested in business school - there is a difference in the BC liberal arts core that requires you to spread the LA courses as noted (ensuring you are exposed broadly) vs Lehigh where you can mostly choose non-business courses as you wish (for example, never taking a philosophy or history if you don't want to). Just having gen-ed requirements is not the same as having a true liberal arts focus requirement. Whether this is good or bad in your college search depends on your own goals. At BC - these are the same requirements as students in Arts and Sciences - so it also means in your early years you are meeting friends/classmates in a way that does not pigeon hole you to just kids in School of Management. It makes for a cohesive community across all of the schools.

Not sure why you’re talking about school of A&S for BC. Wouldn’t a finance kid apply to the Carroll school of management? And therefore not have the same liberal arts core requirements?

DP. Carroll has the same core as A&S, just without the foreign lang requirement.

Got it. I’m finding it difficult to figure out this level of detail.

It's here if anyone needs it: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/carroll-school/undergraduate/academics.html#tab-class_of_2027 ("Degree requirements: BC Core Curriculum, Carroll School Core Curriculum, and departmental concentration requirements" with link to the BC Core)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all LACs--just apply ED and have your checkbook ready !

Lehigh and BC are not LACs.

np here - Whatever you call it, BC students will have a very LAC-like experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all LACs--just apply ED and have your checkbook ready !

Lehigh and BC are not LACs.

np here - Whatever you call it, BC students will have a very LAC-like experience.

And that’s a good thing or bad thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all LACs--just apply ED and have your checkbook ready !

Lehigh and BC are not LACs.

np here - Whatever you call it, BC students will have a very LAC-like experience.

And that’s a good thing or bad thing?

I found it to be a great thing (management student) - but it depends on what you are looking for.