Boston University Top Questions

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.

What are the most popular groups/organizations/clubs/teams on campus? hockey and broomball Tell us about a group you’re involved with. as a Dean's Host, I give tours of the school and work at the Dean's functions Do students in dorms leave their doors open? only when they're still on the floor How popular are athletic events? hockey is popular. the rest, not so much Guest speakers? we have some great ones Theater? not so much Tell us about the dating scene. it's Boston, there's college students and yuppies everywhere How did you meet your closest friends? freshmen year class If you’re awake at 2am on a Tuesday, what are you doing? before senior year, studying...senior year, drinking What traditions/events happen each year? knightings at the pub, beanpot, painting the rock How often do people party? every weekend or so How important are fraternities/sororities? not at all What did you do last weekend? drank with friends What can you do on a Saturday night that doesn’t involve drinking? anything - explore the city, go to a show or movie, hang out with friends, go out to eat in the North End What do you do off campus? shop, explore the city, eat out

The sports scene at BU is pathetic. The hockey team is the only sport that gets a lot of attention. Even the sports that we're good at, like girl's soccer, have terrible fan attendance at games. We don't have a football team. It doesn't exist. I thought they were joking at on the tour for prospective students, it wasn't until I got here that I realized they weren't kidding. There are a lot of opportunities for kids interested in theater. Personally, I'm involved with Stage Troupe, a student-run theater group for non-acting-majors. It's been a blast, and a great way to meet friends. My freshman year we always left our door open, but there have been a couple sexual assault incidents this year, and now we're all encouraged to lock our doors especially at night. I met my closest friends either from living together freshman year, or from doing theater. The dating scene sucks for girls: in a group of 20 students, 7 are guys, and 3 are straight. I'm awake at 4:54am on a Thursday, and I am filling out this survey at the Information Technology computer lab. I do not recommend coming here if you have deadlines or hope to complete actual work. There are always parties if you know where to find them. Greek life is not a big presence on campus. Last weekend I was in a dinner theater performance of Anything Goes. We live in Boston, there are a thousand things to do off campus. If you have a 2 hour break between classes you can go to walk around on Newbury Street.

Hockey is the only popular sport. Good theater, dance, music opportunities. Lots of organizations to choose from. Closest friends met in class and dorm. Most people party on weekends, mostly at MIT frats or BU dorms. BU Central puts on free events for weekend nights but not many students attend.

Not many traditions -- BU needs more! Off-campus has fun parties, but you gotta know where to look. Freshman year can be hard to find parties, but Sophomore year can be awesome. Freshman year definitely start off in Warren Towers, the Towers, or West Campus. That's the best way to make friends -- I had a blast. Partying is totally your choice - some people do it, some don't. There are plenty of things to get involved in other than

BU Hockey is huge, and many students get really involved with the BU vs. BC rivalries. However, overall there is not much school spirit. If you meet somebody who went to BU but has since graduated, even if you are in an entirely different state, there is little to no enthusiasm in that common ground. This ties in with the size of the school. There are SO many students that the BU Experience is entirely different for every person. There are people in your graduating class who you might see for the first time on the day you graduate.

Everyone has to go to a hockey game at some point, men's or women's, it doesn't matter. The fans are passionate. I'm one of the fans that paints my face for all the games...we just get so into it it's hard when the season ends! The different dorms have different types of students in them, for sure. I lived in Towers my freshman year, which holds about 800 students. I really liked it, and many of my friends are from living in the same dorms. Warren Towers, which holds 1600 students, is a zoo. You couldn't pay me to live there. The upperclassmen dorms, like the Student Village or South Campus, are great when you have a friend base already, because people tend to be less outgoing in those buildings.

The most popular groups on campus are typically sports teams. I have been involved with WTBU radio and it was fairly unprofessional. I was surprised that the so many violations were made when BU was actually put on air in Boston, even though our shift WAS in the middle of the night. Students in Warren, Towers, and West leave their dorms open - Shelton, Myles, and brownstones tend to leave their doors closed. Athletic events (especially hockey) are very important. Some political guest speakers are popular. Theater and CFA events appeal to a fairly sizable portion of the student body (especially because CFA is fairly sizable itself). The dating scene varies. BU has a good party scene but it isn't a party school. Hook-ups happen, as do drug and alcohol use, but the dorms are generally very strict in their alcohol policies. If you get caught once with drugs or alcohol (while underage or in the presence of minors) there will be significant repurcussions. If you're awake at 2 am on a Tuesday you are likely studying in a common room. Sororities are not allowed because of an old Massachusetts law stating that a group of 8 women or more alone in a house constitutes a brothel. Because BU is in the city of Boston there are TONS of activities for a Saturday night that do not have to involve drinking - most notably just wandering around and exploring the city. There must always be at least two expeditions to North End per semester!

Dorms are not left open. On a Tuesday at 2am I am in the Engineering Computer lab working on homework/a project. A great event is Bean Pot and Marathon Monday. Both are exclusive to the Boston Area.

Most students don't join groups. Debate team is pretty cool... all I got to say. Students in Warren and West do, but in other dorms they don't. Hockey games are popular; female hockey games are not. Some guest speakers are more popular than others. Zizek for example packed a whole room. I don't know what a dating scene is, but it isn't that hard to find someone I suppose. I met almost all of my friends by smoking cigarettes in front of dorms or at parties. At 2am on any night if I am awake I would probably be either talking to my roommate about WWII, having sex, or drinking. BU hates tradition. I party a lot, other people don't party at all, but the party scene at BU isn't that great because parties end to early because they run out of alcohol. Frats and Sororities are unimportant, but freshmen sometimes might have no choice but to party there... they shouldn't. What would you want to do on a saturday night that doesn't involve drinking? To answer I don't know. I live off campus... I hang out off campus. I only study and go to class on campus, but that is a trick question because BU doesn't have a campus.

I think it would be impossible to say which groups are most possible due to the sheer number of them. I've been to two athletic events in four years but a lot of people are really into it. Frats and sororitites are negligible. People party a lot. There is always a lot to do in Allston/Boston itself. If you don't feel like drinking there are tons of movie theaters, bowling alleys, arts events, etc.

I'm involved in a theater group called Stage Troupe, which is very popular on campus. All the shows are student run and everyone involved is a non-theater major so there's a lot of different skills comming in. Again, Hockey is big. There is no football team at BU (though we do have a statue of Mr. Agganis in a football uniform hmm...). Especially as a freshman, you meet a billion people in like 2 days. Most people leave their doors open and everyone just all of a sudden becomes outgoing. Everyone is in the same boat so it's ok. Things tend to settle down a bit seconds semester, there are more routines, and friends get closer or drift apart. My roomates and I are really close, but people tend to meet friends in their extracurricular areas. My schedule deffinitly shifted at college. I used to go to bed like 11pm and get up at 6:30am for High School. Now, a weekday night is probably till like 1am and someone will taste my wrath if I see daylight before 9am. Never take 8am classes! Traditions tend to be withing your groups because BU is so big. Though I'm excited for Marathon Monday. Greek life is here but not huge. One of my roomates joined a sorority, not my thing really. There are lots of things to do on the weekends that don't involved alcohol, I promise. Boston is a city, so there are lots of city things to do. I also love a good old fashion movie night with the roomates.

Does BU have athletics? JKJKJKJ! I was involved with the Daily Free Press, which was great, but I've heard it's gone way downhill in the years since I graduated. It allowed me to feel like I was part of something bigger, and yet still feel like I was making a large contribution to my future. In the freshman/sophomore dorms, most doors are left open. You're weird if your door's closed. Elie Wiesel speaks every year, and I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep both times I went. At 2AM on a Tuesday night, I'd be coming home from Karaoke Tuesdays at T's Pub, because all of the bars close by then. Is there anything better than Marathon Monday? No. I didn't drink all throughout college - and I still don't - and I had a great time going out to clubs when I was underage, going to bars when I was 21+, and just hanging out most of the time at people's apartments. There's so many people and opportunities that you can just do whatever you want, whenever you want.

I believe I am typical of many students at BU in saying that some of my most enduring friendships were formed freshman year while living in the Warren Towers residence hall (the second largest non-military dorm in the country, as they never tire of telling you on tours). My floor just seemed to mesh from the beginning of the year, and it was definitely the kind of place where doors were open and people were in and out of each other's rooms all the time. We drank together, played cards together (in particular the card game Mafia, generally at around 2 AM in the common room after everyone got home--we may have gotten a few noise complaints), watched movies and sports; I'll never forget when the Red Sox won the world series in 2004 and we crowded into a corner room, shifting our attention from the news on TV to the real scene right before our eyes before deciding to venture outside and see the riot. I lived with six other guys from that floor my sophomore year, and have continued to split an apartment with one of them ever since. We've never really lost touch, and I think that's one of the benefits of the larger dormitory-style residences. There are simply so many people to meet--even if your floor doesn't come together like mine did, there are 17 floors in each of 3 towers. That's a lot of people, and definitely one of the perks of going to such a big school.

I am involved in Chi Alpha Christian fellowship which is currently one of the best things I could ever be involved in. I love going every Friday nights and singing with my friends and talking about our weekly issues and then praying about them. We have an awesome leadership team that is always there to encourage us and makes me feel like I am home sometimes. The dating scene I guess is poorly. The female to male ratio here in BU is 60:40. We, women, don't have many options since the majority of the males here, we feel are either gay or just sketchy. If I am awake at 2am on Tuesday, its because I am doing homework. I just did that last night! Fraternities and Sororities isn't that big on campus. I am in an interest group for a latin sorority which is great for me but I feel many do not bother to get to know a lot of frats or sororities. It's not on a BU student's agenda really. On Saturday nights, things that don't involved drinking are going out salsa dancing or going to the movies. You can occasionally go to the wonderful "Cheesecake Factory" which is by far my favorite place in the world!!

The hockey games are pretty popular, especially the Beanpot games. It seems like a lot of people here try to come here with a boyfriend or girlfriend from home, or pair off pretty quickly. My closest friend is actually my roommate. And my other closest friend I met in the dining hall over a waffle. People do part here pretty often. Tuesday is the new Thursday and Thursday is the new Friday it seems like. But there really isn't any obligation to go out every night if you don't want to. Fraternities and sororities are an option if you want them, but are by no means a crucial part of social life. The frat parties here are pretty bad (usually overcrowded in a disgusting house on a sketchy street), but there are a thousand other things to do because you're in Boston. I've been to movies, comedy clubs, restaurants, and sporting events, and there are still a ton of things I haven't done yet.

Most popular groups are cultural groups and community service. I'm not really involved in any of the popular ones but the Indian clubs throw a lot of good parties with good dance music. Doors are mostly closed in dorms. Guest speakers can get very popular. I have no idea about athletic events. The dating scene at BU is notorious for having way too many girls and the guys are either taken or gay or ineligible for one reason or another. I've met a lot of good guys here, so just keep an eye open and be willing to talk and flirt and get to know people. I met my closest friends in Warren. Everyone was networking freshman fall semester so we all collided with each other and quickly found that we were a good match. I'm awake 2am on a Tuesday because I'm always awake at 2am on a Tuesday because I don't have class till 3 the next day and I'm watching Scrubs with people. People party a good bit. It's either clubs if you're old enough, small parties with friends, or frat parties. Frats are important for big parties, but I tend to go to MIT ones on BU campus. Last weekend, we had the Back Bay Ball. I got dressed up with a few friends, had a nice dinner, and went dancing. Then my friends and I went the next day to Teavana and found a tea that smelled like smoked bbq ribs so we got some and tried brewing it. Was not good. Also met up with different friends for dinner just to chat, one of them wanted to figure out a way to live in France this summer. Otherwise I relaxed and studied. Saturday night, no alcohol: see a movie, go to a party and.. not drink if that counts, bundle up with some good friends and just be crazy and hang out and take pictures, walk around outside where you will run into people who will be doing something crazy, join them. You could walk around Newbury Street or Boylston. Order a few pounds of chicken from Wings Over Brookline and see who's the man of the group. Off campus: movies, Boston Symphony, farmer's markets, Copley Place, Prudential Center, Cambridgeside Mall, hot chocolate from Burdick's in Cambridge, party, get into a 21+ anyway, people watch

frats are big. but the mit frats are much better. being in an urban enviornment is great for going out and doing stuff on the town!

Some of the most popular clubs are the sports teams, such as skiing, sailing, soccer, etc. Community Service Club also has a lot of members. I am part of the Community Service Club and find that they have many opportunities for students to get involved, and lots of different options. There are many things for studnets to do off campus- we live in boston!-and it's just a matter of whether people take advantage of these things. 2 am on a tuesday, I am asleep! Last weekend I spend time hanging out with friends from out of town, did homework, and watched movies. If people aren't in to drinking, they can find things to do in Boston or at the Student Union. Athletic events are unpopular, aside from hockey.