Boston University

Boston University:

Name: Harita Ganash
Year: BU class of 2023
Major: Psychology, Biology
Contact: haritak@bu.edu

Hello everyone! Many congratulations to all of on your acceptances and a very warm welcome to all you Terriers! I am Harita, currently a rising sophomore at Boston University (BU). I plan on doing a double major in psychology and biology in the College of Arts and Sciences. There are many aspects about BU that would provide you with one of the best college experiences. For starters, the campus. BU is an open campus spread across the commonwealth avenue, which is surrounded by many fun things! The Fenway park is at a walkable distance with its stadium, Red Sox merchandise stores and many eating places around. There are museums close by where entries are free with your BU ID card. For shopping, the Prudential Center and Quincy market are also at a good distance from the university. Getting to these places is extremely quick and accessible. Boston is known for its best public transport systems and BU’s location makes it even more accessible. Famously known as the ‘T’ or the MBTA lines are the easiest and cheapest way to travel around as these trains run underground and, on the road. For BU students, the green line is the primary access to the trains as there more than five stations on the commonwealth avenue. Another best part is the Charles river and its exuberant atmosphere in the evenings! There is an outdoor gym, space for going for a run, cycling and to have a laid-back evening with your friends at the docks, also called the ‘Esplanade’. BU’s location makes it an even better place to spend your next four years at J

Other aspects of BU that makes it the place to be:

• As a BU student you have the flexibility to study across colleges and within. This means you can do a major from the college of arts and sciences and a major from the college of communication and graduate with a dual degree diploma in the four years. This applies to any colleges you want to do a dual degree across. This is extremely important because you have the opportunity to explore with different majors and decide what you want to do with absolute freedom!
• I love the Faculty at BU! Starting from your senior directors, heads of departments, professors, teaching fellows (TF), chefs in the dining halls and the staff at your residences, they are down to earth and very welcoming! Make use of your professors’ and TF’s office hours, they are very helpful. I faced academic difficulties in my first semester due to some of courses and the only reason I ended up doing well was because I made use of every single office hour and discussion section for my lectures well. So please make the best use of every opportunity you have to meet your academic faculty members.
• There are umpteen occasions to excel outside academics. BU is known for its clubs, from Sailing to photography, rocket propulsion to religion, there are over 450 student organisations to keep you busy. At the start of each semester there is a big event called Splash where all the organisations are displayed in the Nickerson field, don’t miss it! As for research, BU is a member of the Association of American universities, making it one of the United States is leading research universities. One way you all can make use of the research program is through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). You will be receiving funding for your research so you would not have any financial problems.
• For international students on F1 visa you have many on-campus jobs available, so be sure to keep yourself updated with the student link! There are many recruiters coming in throughout the semester so you can look for internships as well. However, they will need you to have your resume for all the meetings, so keep it handy!
• For those of you party animals, BU is the place to be. There are many sororities and fraternities and every weekend are a blast! The Fraternities are also a great place to learn as there are subject specific ones and to have a community of your own and, so do check them out.
• In terms of housing, freshmen are usually allocated between the West Campus dorms and Warren Towers for housing. Both of these have dining halls and late-night café and Warren Towers has the best location, so you are all set! However, with personal experience I am not the biggest fan of these dorms so I would recommend incoming terriers to look for other options like the dorms in Bay State road, South campus dorms. Even if you do not get these in your first year, there are amazing for the forthcoming years. Student Village is housing for juniors and seniors, so if u plan on staying on campus, it’s a great place to be with one of the best views of the city.
• For more information on student life at BU and student opinions check out our virtual events for prospective students and Instagram pages. They are very helpful. Instagram pages would be @applytobu and @bostonu. Below is the link for one of the virtual events I was a part of, so feel free to look at it in case you have more questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZIk-u23jZE These are some great ways to learn more about the university life apart from the official websites.

I hope this information helps you guys! Don’t hesitate to contact me anytime, even when you are at BU, I am I always here to help! Good luck to all of you!