Questions about Boston U

[Meas]

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After spending some quality time reading about Boston U on this forum, I have some questions:

1) Someone mentioned that Boston U have "block exams" which other schools do not have. What exactly are "block exams"?

2) Everyone seems to agree that Boston U interviews are very laid back and many who were interviewed felt very confident about how they performed at the interviews. Does this mean that the majority of ppl who were interviewed are accepted? Also, how do they evaluate us given that the interview involves only 1 interviewer and it is non-standardized?

Thanks!

 

[Predoctalk]

After spending some quality time reading about Boston U on this forum, I have some questions:

1) Someone mentioned that Boston U have "block exams" which other schools do not have. What exactly are "block exams"?

2) Everyone seems to agree that Boston U interviews are very laid back and many who were interviewed felt very confident about how they performed at the interviews. Does this mean that the majority of ppl who were interviewed are accepted? Also, how do they evaluate us given that the interview involves only 1 interviewer and it is non-standardized?

Thanks!

1) BU does not have block exams. "Block exams" are taking exams for all of your classes in 2 days or so (comparable to finals week of undergrad). If i remember correctly, BU has a test in a different subject weekly (more like regular semester exam schedule of undergrad) Block exams are difficult when it comes to GPA purposes, but are useful because they prepare one for the boards.

 

[Axoloti]

I was at BU today 🙂

The students explained that the exam schedule goes such that you have one test a week, and basically each week it's a different class but the professors coordinate so that you don't have two tests in one week. The class schedule is complicated to explain, and the girl even said she was at one point "taking 18 classes at once." Basically, they work your schedule out for you so it seems to be pretty even throughout the term, as opposed to where Tufts has "exam weeks" where they get a whole lump of tests in one week rather than spread out.

We were told repeatedly that the BU interview is just very informal and easy, and they basically want to make sure you have a real personality and that you're a real person outside of paper. I would be confident to say that they accept most of their interviewees, as it's a big step just to get an interview, and with the deposit being so high to hold a place ($3000!) it's likely that there will be a lot of acceptances to go around when people withdraw.
I personally felt that the Tufts interviewer was much, much more friendly and easygoing and easy to talk to compared to the lady at BU. Sure, she was nice, but she asked a lot of questions and seemed to want a lot of answers, even just to be conversational. that's how it goes. there weren't any particularly hard questions.