Boston College

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2 per semester

Fall Semester: Late August - Mid-December
Spring Semester: Mid-January - Mid-May

See the academic calendar here 

English

Important: While every effort is made to enroll exchange students in the courses requested on their applications, no guarantees can be made. Exchange students are urged to be flexible about the subjects and classes they take, and to be certain that they have had any prerequisites required for each requested class. Due to high demand, the Economics and Finance Department will enroll students in only one class. Exchange students who wish to take Finance & Economics classes should not plan to take classes that are considered core classes required for graduation at their home institution. Additionally, the psychology and neuroscience faculties will also only allow registration in one class. There is some possibility of adding more classes in the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester, though students should not count on this.

Boston College has five levels for courses:

• -Core: Basic courses, open to any student
• One: Undergraduate elective courses open to students from any field of study
• Two: Undergraduate courses designed primarily for those specializing in that field of study.
• Three: Upper-level courses for undergraduate and graduate registration. Most suited to those with background knowledge of the general subject matter and specializing in that field of study.
• Four: Graduate courses, rarely open to undergrads.

The level can be recognized in the course code: after the first two letters that indicate the field of study, the next digit indicates the level. (EG. HS181 is a one-level history course.) 

For the most part, classes at Boston College are assigned 3 credits each for 45 class hours. Classes generally meet two times each week for 90 minutes each, or 3 times each week for one hour. UC students are required to take 15 BC credits which translated to 30 ECTS. As one course corresponds to 6 ECTS, you will need to take 5 courses. 

The Boston grade system is exactly similar to the UCU- system - both the A-F scale and the corresponding 0-4 scale.

On-Campus
Campus housing is extremely limited. Students interested in on-campus housing will be put in a housing lottery. The Office of Residential Life will contact students directly with their placements. Some dorms require a meal plan and students living on campus must pay the Health Services fee. Additional information is available here

Private Accommodations
Students who opt for private accommodations will be provided/connected with off campus housing resources. Additional information is available here

We strongly recommend going in the Spring semester, since housing cannot be guaranteed for Fall semester exchange students.

Obtaining your visa

Students must prove that they have a bank account with sufficient funds to cover their exchange period. Currently, the amount is $23,925/year or $11,804/semester.

Costs

• Room: On-campus housing: $7.609 per semester. The majority of exchange students live off-campus.
• Board: $2,656 per semester for meal plan (required by certain dorms). 
• BC Mandatory Medical Insurance: $1.600 per semester
• Books/supplies: $1,000 per semester 

Apart from the ‘regular’ Orientation program, a special International Student Orientation will be organised, including a compulsory English Placement Test for non- native speakers. It should also be noted that fall semester exchange students have a full week orientation, while spring semester students only have a day. BC has begun asking our exchange students to come prepared to plan an event (individually or in a group/team) that will introduce the BC community to some aspect of their country or culture.

Founded in 1630, the city of Boston is a blend of the past, present, and future.  Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings are interspersed among tall, modern structures; the city is surrounded by a corridor of high-technology industries.  Boston boasts the greatest concentration of higher education institutions in the United States, and is a hub for the arts and culture with world-renowned museums and a wide variety of sports, music, and theater. 

Boston College has about 15,000 students. It has a historical campus on the edge of Boston. There are sports facilities and clubs on the campus that are free for students. There are also dozens of student clubs for all sorts of cultural and social activities. Lastly, there are arts performances and exhibits. 

Students who visited Boston College so far had a great time! The classes at BC are of ‘incredible quality’, the professors of an extremely high level. Class participation is highly encouraged and indeed almost everyone participates and engages in discussions. With the metro, you can be in downtown Boston within half an hour. The town has ‘a million things to do’ and there’s ‘always something going on’. Buses to New York are cheap as well and you can also easily get to Canada. The closest ski areas are at a distance of 3 hour travel!