Visit to BC “Cura Persoanalis– care of the whole person” Jesuit values for a modern world.
Boston College on a sunny fall day last week was every reason you think about going to school on the East Coast. Trees absolutely aflame with red leaves in front of towering gothic churches and Hogwarts like halls, stories high with stained glass and filled with marble sculptures of angels and demons and lots of serious students studying quietly.
I didn’t know what to expect at BC but what I found was a Catholic Ivy in its own gated beauty a short Green Line trip from the heart of Boston. What sticks with me are the three questions at the heart of the curriculum:
What brings me joy? What am I good at? What does the world need me to be?
The info session in the plush admissions auditorium was filled with hopeful families, many who knew each other from the regions top prep schools. The panel of four students represented a range from a young woman who’d grown up Catholic, to a Jewish guy who joked “they haven’t converted me yet” and told about when he’d visited BC four years earlier: “I loved the campus and all that but what really tipped the balance was that everyone just held the door open just a little bit longer than I was used to.” He had also just been on something called the Kairos retreat, something our tour guide later had also been on despite a very long waiting list, and both seemed in awe of the experience. The other two panelists, a nursing student from New York, I think, and a young South Asian woman.
I didn’t take a lot of notes because the whole place was just magical. I walked the labyrinth behind Babst hall, read art books in the library as light slanted in through stained glass, grabbed a coffee in the student union and bookstore, and was generally impressed by the friendly and generous, and yes door-opening spirit of everyone I met. Of course, since I visited right after the urban, sprawling and very diverse vibe of Boston University, by contrast it seemed a bit sedate- but judging by our panel, life at BC (where 95% of students live on campus) is filled with hard classes, traditions, football games, and fun times. Our tour guide told a story about Mud Volleyball Mondays and rushing to take a test while dripping in Mud. For every Boston Marathon, classes are cancelled so students can cheer on runners at mile 21, which runs right by campus.
Creaky doors, marble floors, stained glass and gothic towers. Since BC offers no Merit Aid, (but does offer 18 full scholarships each year) the song I’m gonna give this place is “nice work if you can get it”
Caveat: They do say they have need blind admissions.
