THE Boston College class of 2012 Forum

[jaudette]

So I've come to terms with the high rent of Boston, but I don't know how I'm going to make the First/Deposit/Last payment on an $600-$800 apartment without financial aid. Anyone else have the same dilemma?

[belligerentfuture]

So I've come to terms with the high rent of Boston, but I don't know how I'm going to make the First/Deposit/Last payment on an $600-$800 apartment without financial aid. Anyone else have the same dilemma?

Maybe put your stuff in storage and couch-surf with friends or do a super short-term sublet until after loans disperse, and then sign a lease then?

[kiwislug]

Anyone else going to the housing fair this weekend?

[matty]

yep, I'll be there. And in case anyone is not a member of the Facebook Group (Boston College Law 2012), this was posted there:

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 19, THE LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (LSA) WILL BE HOSTING AN EVENT AFTER THE HOUSING FAIR.

Where: White Horse Tavern (116 Brighton Ave; Allston, MA 02134)
When: Friday, June 19, 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Current BC students extend a special invitation to incoming students visiting the area this Friday.

I think I'll be pretty exhausted from running around looking at apartments all day thursday then the housing fair on friday, but I'm definitely going to try and make it.

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

where are the housing fair people staying the night before? turns out my friend is out of town so i cant crash at his place. could use some hotel suggestions..

[etudiantededroit]

yep, I'll be there. And in case anyone is not a member of the Facebook Group (Boston College Law 2012), this was posted there:

THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 19, THE LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (LSA) WILL BE HOSTING AN EVENT AFTER THE HOUSING FAIR.

Where: White Horse Tavern (116 Brighton Ave; Allston, MA 02134)
When: Friday, June 19, 4:30 - 6:30 pm

Current BC students extend a special invitation to incoming students visiting the area this Friday.

I think I'll be pretty exhausted from running around looking at apartments all day thursday then the housing fair on friday, but I'm definitely going to try and make it.

Oh cool, thanks for the update -- I hadn't checked the Facebook group in a few days and had missed that. I'll definitely be at the housing fair, and the White Horse meetup sounds like a great idea!

[matty]

where are the housing fair people staying the night before? turns out my friend is out of town so i cant crash at his place. could use some hotel suggestions..

is the guest house all booked up? http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/summe ... House.html

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

where are the housing fair people staying the night before? turns out my friend is out of town so i cant crash at his place. could use some hotel suggestions..

is the guest house all booked up? http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/summe ... House.html

sorta didnt check yet...using it as a last resort. i think i might wake up early and come up the day of. turns out i have plans on thursday night in ny.

whats the best way to get to the building (corcoran commons) from the green line? i found it on the chestnut hill campus map at --LinkRemoved--

its in section d1. it doesnt seem to be too close to a train station...

[matty]

where are the housing fair people staying the night before? turns out my friend is out of town so i cant crash at his place. could use some hotel suggestions..

is the guest house all booked up? http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/summe ... House.html

sorta didnt check yet...using it as a last resort. i think i might wake up early and come up the day of. turns out i have plans on thursday night in ny.

whats the best way to get to the building (corcoran commons) from the green line? i found it on the chestnut hill campus map at --LinkRemoved--

its in section d1. it doesnt seem to be too close to a train station...

You can see the T stop in quadrant E1 along commonwealth avenue opposite St. Ignatius Church. Thats the only T Stop at BC and it actually looks pretty close to the commons. The stop is called "Boston College" iirc and remember there are three green lines and the BC one is the 'B'. Also, if you're coming from one of the main stations like Park St. or Govt. Center, I have a feeling its going to take a long time, like at least 45 minutes.

Finally, pm me if you can't find a place to stay in Boston--I could probably find you a couch to crash on if it comes to that.

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

where are the housing fair people staying the night before? turns out my friend is out of town so i cant crash at his place. could use some hotel suggestions..

is the guest house all booked up? http://www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/summe ... House.html

sorta didnt check yet...using it as a last resort. i think i might wake up early and come up the day of. turns out i have plans on thursday night in ny.

whats the best way to get to the building (corcoran commons) from the green line? i found it on the chestnut hill campus map at --LinkRemoved--

its in section d1. it doesnt seem to be too close to a train station...

You can see the T stop in quadrant E1 along commonwealth avenue opposite St. Ignatius Church. Thats the only T Stop at BC and it actually looks pretty close to the commons. The stop is called "Boston College" iirc and remember there are three green lines and the BC one is the 'B'. Also, if you're coming from one of the main stations like Park St. or Govt. Center, I have a feeling its going to take a long time, like at least 45 minutes.

Finally, pm me if you can't find a place to stay in Boston--I could probably find you a couch to crash on if it comes to that.

oh cool! i was looking at the wrong green line. what time are you gonna be at the fair? im just gonna come up early friday from ny, so i should be there by around 11 or 12. thanks for the offer though

[etudiantededroit]

Something came up and I had to miss the housing fair -- how was it?

[7wood]

Something came up and I had to miss the housing fair -- how was it?

I didn't go, but there's some talk about it over on the facebook group. You might want to check there.

[transferguy]

I haven't heard anything about registering, just that they will let us know what section we are in and give us a book list. To me, that sounds like they will register for us.

That's what I heard too. I think we get one elective in the second semester, but the first is planned out for us. I'm guessing we don't have to register for the elective for a while.

Rising 2L chiming in here.

Ya, this is correct. You don't have to do anything regarding registering for classes. It's all done by the school and you find out your section and LRRW prof during orientation. The elective thing was new for our year (*shudders*), but what happens is you get to rank various classes from 1-12 (or however many electives there might be next year) and it basically becomes a lottery system. You do the ranking at the end of Nov/early Dec.

Also, for all you commuters planning on using the train, make sure to tack on a minimum 15-20 mins to whatever you're estimating for the actual train ride to end of the green line (the end of the line is the BC stop). It's about a 5 min walk from the BC green line stop to where the Newton shuttle picks you up (have to walk up a hill, kind of a pain in the winter). Then the bus ride from main campus to Newton campus is about 10 mins on average.

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

im a little confused to as to the process behind obtaining the resident stickers so that you can park in some of the street parking in boston. am i basically going for Massachusetts residency? would this change the rate on things like my car insurance? is it worth the inconvenience?

im living in brighton

[belligerentfuture]

im a little confused to as to the process behind obtaining the resident stickers so that you can park in some of the street parking in boston. am i basically going for Massachusetts residency? would this change the rate on things like my car insurance? is it worth the inconvenience?

im living in brighton

I believe your car has to be registered (dmv) in mass, which means your insurance will have to be mass insurance at the brighton address.... in-town boston on-street-parking car insurance is likely to be not cheap..... i guess it all depends on how tight the parking situstion in your neighborhood is

[transferguy]

im a little confused to as to the process behind obtaining the resident stickers so that you can park in some of the street parking in boston. am i basically going for Massachusetts residency? would this change the rate on things like my car insurance? is it worth the inconvenience?

im living in brighton

Ya, you have to get your plates changed and your insurance changed. You don't need to be a resident of Mass, however. Car insurance is, on average, more expensive in MA than your average state. I debated doing it, but it's kind of a pain and parking is just a pain in the ass in Boston in general. I'd probably try and find a place that has private parking included. Otherwise, I don't think it's worth it.

[matty]

here are links on the topic of parking/insurance that might be helpful:

info: http://www.cityofboston.gov/transportat ... kprogr.asp

mass.gov insurance rates comparison: --LinkRemoved--

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

cool thanks for the info guys. i think im gonna do it, because my state happens to be one of the few states that has higher insurance rates than massachusetts

[matty]

Jesus, the enormity of starting a new life somewhere else and everything that must be attenedd to just hit me. Example: Health insurance
The BC Health Insurance Plan costs $1,741 for the calendar year and doesn't seem that great in what it offers (eg: no dental, copays for just about everything, etc) I really don't know the first thing about health insurance, so does anyone who does care to take a look at the policy and give some impressions. There is a pdf link to the policy coverage here:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/financ ... rance.html
I don't know what health insurance in Massachusetts generally costs, but if I could save a fair amount of money by getting my own plan I'd definitely do. Or this could be a good plan; like I said I really don't know about this stuff and I'm hoping someone with more knowledge could provide some insight.

Also, re: loans, what lender are you guys using? It seems like Discover has the best deal vis a vis origination fees and rates, but I've heard Access Group's disbursement method can be more prompt. Any thoughts?

Further, BC info indicates tuition is due August 10th or something. Loans will not be disbursed by then, so how do we pay this? I'm assuming you do it by signing up for monthly payments and then paying it out of pocket for the first month or two or otherwise applying BC scholarship money directly to the payments. Does that sound correct?

Thanks

[belligerentfuture]

Jesus, the enormity of starting a new life somewhere else and everything that must be attenedd to just hit me. Example: Health insurance
The BC Health Insurance Plan costs $1,741 for the calendar year and doesn't seem that great in what it offers (eg: no dental, copays for just about everything, etc) I really don't know the first thing about health insurance, so does anyone who does care to take a look at the policy and give some impressions. There is a pdf link to the policy coverage here:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/financ ... rance.html
I don't know what health insurance in Massachusetts generally costs, but if I could save a fair amount of money by getting my own plan I'd definitely do. Or this could be a good plan; like I said I really don't know about this stuff and I'm hoping someone with more knowledge could provide some insight.

Also, re: loans, what lender are you guys using? It seems like Discover has the best deal vis a vis origination fees and rates, but I've heard Access Group's disbursement method can be more prompt. Any thoughts?

Further, BC info indicates tuition is due August 10th or something. Loans will not be disbursed by then, so how do we pay this? I'm assuming you do it by signing up for monthly payments and then paying it out of pocket for the first month or two or otherwise applying BC scholarship money directly to the payments. Does that sound correct?

Thanks

From what I've seen, the BC health insurance (Blue Cross) is quite good-- $1700 is not high for comprehensive health insurance. Many many plans don't include dental. Their prescription coverage is good, and their copays are normal. I've had much worse insurance, and seen much worse insurance offered by other schools I've considered. However, if you are a person with no health problems (don't take any continuous prescriptions, no previous injuries etc), and don't see much risk of having expensive bills, you might be better off with either the 'BC Health Services' plan (maybe like $600, only can see the student health services on campus), or buying insurance as an individual (which tends to be much more expensive than group plans, but not if you want to have very large deductibles for this like hospitalization because you think you won't need it).

My previous school had similar insurance, but charged us $2300 for it. They just cut back coverage and increased copays, and raised it to $3400. But we had dental...

[matty]

Thanks bf for the helpful info.

I never really get sick (haven't been in 3 or 4 years, though I'm sure I'm jinxing myself now)and even when I am normally don't go to the doctor, so if I could find something primarily designed to provide coverage for major injury I might try that if its substantially cheaper. If not, I'll just go with the BC plan. God I fucking hate dealing with insurance of any kind. It always makes me realize how much I pay for something I never use (but I guess that's just the nature of the beast, since if I ever do need it in a serious situation it will wind up saving me a ton).

[SpAcEmAn SpLiFF]

compared to my current insurance (ghi ppo), bc's policy is a little bit worse, but it's also cheaper. overall though, it seems alright for what you pay. like bf said, a lot of policies dont include dental which i dont care about.

personally i stopped paying for my dental coverage about a year ago because i never have dental problems, but that's just me. dont know if that's the smartest thing to do though...

[PieLady]

Any idea on when we can sign up for the health insurance? Or is that coming with our tuition bill?

[matty]

Any idea on when we can sign up for the health insurance? Or is that coming with our tuition bill?

here's a couple of links:
http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/financ ... rance.html
--LinkRemoved--
and go here and select college students then choose boston college
It looks like unless you submit a waiver opting out of their plan for a policy you've purchased on your own, you will automatically be enrooled in the BC plan and it will be billed to your tuition. A few other things I noticed that I didn't see before: (1) There is a program set up to allow you to obtain dental work from approved providers at a discount (though still out of pocket and probably pretty hefty for anything more than a simple cleaning); (2) There is a $150 fitness benefit you can apply towards membership at a fitness facility which is pretty cool, though I'm sure there's some fine print to go along with that; (3) there is coverage for one eye exam per year and a program for discounts on contacts, eyeglasses etc; and (4) pre-existing conditions appear to be covered the same as ony other covered sickness or injury.

So all in all it looks like a pretty decent plan I would say. It says the coverage starts August 7, 2009, btw.

[belligerentfuture]

Any idea on when we can sign up for the health insurance? Or is that coming with our tuition bill?

They told me everyone is automatically enrolled starting August 6th unless you submit a waiver, but unless you ask they don't give you your cards and numbers until we get there, since so many people decided at the last minute to opt out (or remember to submit their waivers). If you give student health services a call after Aug 6th, they can tell you the subscriber numbers and stuff.