Boston University Top Questions

One thing that people tend to think about BU students is that we are all sort of snobby rich kids. Not true at all. BU really does pride itself in a very diverse community of students. Finding a group of people who are similar to you or branching out and meeting a whole new group of people are both easy to do. Where you live and where you go to school within BU also has a lot to do with the people you'll associate with, but overall, it's not hard to meet students like yourself by just getting out and doing the things you like doing.

A lot of students at BU are really friendly! Introducing yourself to new people is really easy.

The school has a large number of international students and students from city settings so therefore they are often wealthier and up to date on fashion. We do also have a large number of hipsters, but to try and define the entire university by one type is near impossible.

I think the main stereotypes of BU students would be snobby rich girls, self-centered frat boys, and those that got rejected from BC. Neither of which I see as accurate. Some people that attend BU are richer than others, but there are not a lot of them who consistently brag about it. You will always have the few that see it as the most important thing to them so they talk about it a little too much. Boys, well yeah some are self-centered, but I must say most that I have run into are great! Everyone is looking to meet new people and see what someone else's life is like. Finally, not everyone that attends BU got rejected from BC, I know people who got into both and chose BU over BC and personally I didn't even apply to BC because I didn't like it so that stereotype is completely false !

BU is so large that there is no one stereotype for BU students. But stereotypes do exists within each individual college. For example, people tend to think that students in the College of General Studies (CGS) or School of Management (SMG) are mostly foreign students who all drive wonderful cars and whose parents are so rich that they don't actually care about school; they're just going in order to have something to do. NOT TRUE. It is true that many foreign students in CGS but there are tons in all of the other colleges too. Only a few people have expensive cars; Boston in expensive. SMG is one of the hardest school besides College of Engineering (ENG), so don't be fooled. No matter where they're from, they are working hard. That's probably the biggest stereotype at BU that I know of.

One of the main stereotypes of BU students is that we are all slackers from rich families that bought our way into the university, or that BU is the school for rich kids who got rejected from Harvard. While I'm sure some students like this exist since the population is so huge, most people I know are receiving some sort of financial aid to pay for the enormous price tag on the school and have worked very hard to get here. Some students love the challenge and prestige of the university without it being Ivy League. Then, within the university there are more broken down stereotypes, anything from wardrobes to colleges. For example, there is a derogatory stereotype of the "BU Biddy" - the girls who are probably rather intelligent to get into the school but spend their days partying, etc. There is a stereotype of the athletes all being stupid but having people to do their work for them. People are always mentioning a lot North Face jackets, Uggs, and girls who wear leggings as pants as BU wardrobe essentials. As for colleges, there are clever acronyms for them. I don't know most of them but here's a couple examples: CGS, the college of general studies for undecided majors has the name "Crayons, Glue, Scissors" because of the stereotype that anyone spending their first two years in that college was too stupid to get into a 'real' college. CFA, the College of Fine Arts: Also known as the 'College of Failed Aspirations" because of the 'starving artist' stereotype. Most don't understand why some many students would pay so much money for a major that is very hard to succeed in. (For the record, I am in CFA). While I don't generalize the people at BU any certain way, stereotypes all come from some truth. It's not fair to judge most of the students because of the few rotten apples that spoiled the bunch.

BU doesn't have much of a stereotype. Urban hipster maybe? Anyway, it is full of variety and the diversity of students and faculty is apparent every second on campus, whether you're walking down the street or sitting in the dining hall. I am constantly hearing Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and so many other languages just in passing. There's a student group for basically anything, and if there isn't, you can probably create one that people will want to join.

I think the stereotypes include everyone being rich and spoiled. A lot of people also assume that the students are "ivy-rejects" and that we're a second-choice school for a lot of high-achieving high school seniors. These stereotypes are definitely NOT accurate. With so many students here, you're going to find people from so many different backgrounds. As soon as you get here to BU, the lines really blur between those who come from money and those who don't.

I think the stereotypes include everyone being rich and spoiled. A lot of people also assume that the students are "ivy-rejects" and that we're a second-choice school for a lot of high-achieving high school seniors.