Midterm Madness

Hey guys,

These past couple weeks have been pretty crazy. It's been midterm time here at BC, and it feels really great to finally be done. In the past couple weeks, I have had tests in Math for Management, Financial Accounting, Chemistry and Society and Midterms in Asia in the World and Business Law on top of a few essays. Phew.

Things have been pretty hectic, but that has certainly made this past weekend a rewarding one. Students here at BC are very motivated and driven, but of course it is important to relax and have fun when possible. On Friday, my friends and I had a great dinner at UNOs to benefit the Carroll School of Management's Honors Program, which was a blast.

We didn't have a football game here Saturday, which sometimes is a nice change of pace because I could actually get things done! My friend Alex and I went around campus taking pictures for the SAP website (check out my pic) so be on the lookout for those to go online, and we bought materials for a poster for the Haley House Cookie Campaign mentioned in the previous post. Hopefully we can benefit the House significantly in the next couple of weeks.

Until next time,
Paul

Helping Haley House

Hey everyone,

I thought I would let you know about something I have recently become involved in. Just a few weeks ago, I volunteered along with a group of five other students to help work on a marketing campaign for the Haley House Bakery Cafe. The Haley House, opened in 1966, offers food, shelter, and hospitality for Boston's underprivileged. Going beyond temporary relief, Haley House's mission is to help the less fortunate gain economic independence and lead meaningful lives.

The Haley House started selling chocolate chip cookies two years ago in the Boston College dining halls in order to raise proceeds to help the community. However, as the new classes of freshman have arrived at BC, the mission of the cookie has been lost and sales have been recently declining. My goal over the next few weeks will be to help run a marketing campaign to spread the word about the Haley House cookie through posters, samples, presentations, and an article in The Heights (the school newspaper). We just have to let people what a good cause they can support by doing something as simple and delicious as eating a cookie. This is just an example of how easy it is to get involved at BC and help a meaningful cause.

Talk to you soon,

Alex Mannherz
CSOM '12 Finance
mannhera@bc.edu

Some Advice on Advisors

Hello Friends,

With registration for classes right around the corner I thought I would delve a little into advising and class selection for CSOM students. Like every student at Boston College, students in the Carroll School of Management have an academic advisor that is assigned to them. You are required to meet with your advisor to receive your degree audit and the access code needed to register for classes. Each of these advisors are great resources for students but you should never underestimate the value other professors can have for your experience here at BC.

Case in point. I recently declared my concentration so my official academic advisor switched from who I had last year. Although my advisor for this year is great and is in my department, I really liked Professor Clarke, who really helped me figure out what I wanted to do with education and time here at BC. So I went back to her. In fact, I’m meeting with her tomorrow and she’s introducing me to another professor who she promises I will absolutely love. By the end of tomorrow I may have 2 more academic advisors! It truly is the hallmark of a BC professor: someone who is truly dedicated to the undergraduates.

In terms of registering for classes, you’re going to want to find a balance between both the University Core Curriculum, which all students must complete in their years at BC, and the Management core. It’s nice to have a balance of liberal arts courses along with your more focused courses like economics or marketing principles. Feel free to shoot me an email if you’d like some recommendations on great classes to take.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Comedy and College GameDay

Hey Guys!

My name is Paul Holder and I am a sophomore in the business school's honors program. This weekend was great- on Friday, the freshman honors class and various members of the other classes including myself went to the Improv Asylum in Boston's North End. The show consisted of a group of 5 improv artists who did various comedy sketches, and it was hilarious! Of course, one of the perks of being a BC student is being close to the North End, where a 40-minute T ride can take you to world famous restaurants and delicious dessert shops.

As Alex mentioned in the previous post, Gameday and the football game on Saturday were fantastic, and the tribute to cancer patient and BC football player Mark Herzlich was truly inspirational.

Tonight, however, I have to study for 3 tests in 2 days, so I should probably get started! If you have any questions about the honors program, Boston, or anything, feel free to contact me!

Take care,

Paul Holder
CSOM '12
paul.c.holder@gmail.com

Great Weekend!

Hello,

My name is Alex Mannherz and I am a sophomore in the business school. I just wanted to let you guys know a little bit about my weekend at BC.

My weekend focused around the BC's football game against an ACC rival in Florida State. My friends and I woke up early Saturday morning to go to College Gameday; a football pregame show on the ESPN network. I was in the front row and it was crazy. The show focused around the inspirational story of Mark Herzlich's (a BC football player) battle with cancer. Following the show, I went to the actual football game at 3:30 in Alumni Stadium. The student section had a great turnout and the stadium was loud. I was lucky enough to go early and get seats in the second row. It was an exciting game and the BC Eagles were able to come out with a BIG WIN thanks to a long touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Saturday was an awesome day full of football and school pride!

If you have any questions about football or anything else about BC feel free to shoot me an email at mannhera@bc.edu. I look forward to hearing from you guys.

Talk to you soon,

Alex Mannherz
CSOM '12 Finance
mannhera@bc.edu

Read All About It!

Hello Friends,

This may serve more as a shameless plug for myself and this blog, but I was interviewed by The Heights, the independent student newspaper of BC. Here's a link to the story. I always pick up a copy on Mondays and Thursdays. They do a pretty good job of keeping administration in check and letting the student body know of issues around campus. My favorite section is the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down section which falls under the Opinions page. If you have time definitely check them out. There are so many clubs and organizations on campus, never limit yourself to just walking the halls of Fulton as a CSOM student.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

As If There Was Any Doubt

Hello Again,

So I know what you may have been thinking. Yeah yeah yeah ... first day of school and one company decided to show up as a favor to some wealthy alumni or connection. Well guess again. I snapped this photo walking through the Dustbowl of representatives from Ernst & Young. (I got a free Frisbee from them too!)

They weren't the only visitors to campus and CSOM recently either. Google stopped by for the day as well. Alums Jeffrey Wu and Tae Kim have worked for Google since before the IPO at HQ and in several of the firm's global locations. Students got the scoop on web search quality, fraud-fighting and Google's overall global efforts! All in all a pretty exciting week in CSOM, and it's only the second one.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Classes have started ... and so have the company visits

Hello Again,

Well classes began today and the campus is electric again. After a long and sometimes painfully quiet summer, the Heights are abuzz with students running from class to class and eager freshman going to the wrong rooms or trying to find their way through the sea of students in the Quad and Dustbowl. I was walking into a class in Fulton and couldn't resist snapping this picture on my BlackBerry.

It's a table representing Deloitte and Touche a major international and accounting firm that is always around campus. They really know the caliber of students in the Carroll School of Management and have had countless students intern and go on to work with them. Just wanted to show that the companies are out early, and you should be too as prospective students. Look for these kinds of opportunities at all the great schools you are considering applying to.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Just Another Manic Monday?

Hello Again,

Greetings from the penultimate week of tours and information sessions here at Boston College. I’ve just finished being on a panel for one of our Eagle Eye Information Sessions and felt like I could use a break and blog.

Although today is Monday (and I’m not happy about it after a great weekend spent at the beach) I’m certainly not going to simply stay in my room and pout. Instead I have a great night ahead of me. It’s Restaurant Week here in the Boston which means all of the best restaurants are offering three course meals for $33 (227 restaurants to be exact!). I actually went to Antico Forno last night in the north end and it was absolutely fantastic. I’m going to try to hit as many as possible this week. It truly is worth it. I’m also going to frequent what has become my regular Monday night hangout during the summer, Trivia at Applebee’s in Cleveland Circle. Myself along with a bunch of the summer staff love to compete with each other and other locals for gift certificates. As a group we have dominated as of late, capturing 3 of the top four places each of the last 5 weeks. I’m really looking forward to tonight because I got a good feeling it will finally be my team’s turn to break out of our slump and jump from fourth to first.

Granted it is Monday and there is work to be done, but this is typical of any weeknight at Boston College, a balance between work/academics and spending quality time with friends. It was this balancing act exhibited by the student body that attracted me to BC in the first place. You might want to consider those kinds of intangibles when are viewing colleges.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Google Map Search: Undergradute Research ... Results: 1 - Boston College

The opportunity to become involved in research as an undergraduate is seemingly limited to the natural sciences. Thanks to the undergraduate focus of Boston College however, all the academic departments are keen to have undergraduates involved in research including all of the departments within the Carroll School of Management.

Professor Sam Ransbotham who taught my Computers in Management course recently won a grant from Google to conduct research on “consumer decision making in the context of visual search tools, such as Google Maps, and location-based advertising, such as Google Maps API ads layers.”

Earlier this summer he spotted me in the Eagle’s Nest (my favorite place for lunch on campus) and told me all about the research he was doing as well as talked about how each of our summers were going. He also offered me a position as a paid research assistant during the academic year with him to help conduct this research.

While BC does have several formal avenues for getting undergraduates involved in research such as the Undergraduate Research Fellows Program, the faculty really are phenomenal about engaging their students in the entire research process.

I guess undergraduate research opportunities was something I never considered when I was looking for schools because I really wanted to go to a school with a great undergraduate business program (and was under the impression there was no research going on in business). Nonetheless, having now been given opportunity to do so, I wouldn’t consider a business program that didn’t have its primary teaching and research focus centered upon undergraduate involvement.

Until next time friends …

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Getting Ready for Portico

Hey readers,

My name is Greg Pidgeon ('11), and I'm going to be contributing to the blog along with Luke. As we get further into the summer (and finally get some sunshine around here), I wanted to talk a little about the Portico program we have for incoming freshman. Portico is a class all CSOM freshmen will take, focusing on an introduction to business ethics, as well as an introduction to CSOM and BC as a whole. It was a pilot program last year, but this year will be extended to the entire freshman class.

I'm really excited about the program because I will be a T.A. for Professor Sarah Cabral's 3 p.m. class next semester. The program gets its kick-off a little before school starts with an expedition into downtown Boston to get to know classmates and get the Portico experience going. After that I'll be doing the usual T.A. work of grading papers and helping out with assignments and projects, but for the most part, I'll be serving as a peer mentor for the students. I benefitted from a great peer mentor as a freshman so I'm definitely looking forward to being able to assist the freshman the way my mentor aided me. Through the Portico program, the Carroll School will continue its great tradition of facilitating relationships both in terms of advising and general friendships between its students, a tradition that I have found invaluable throughout my time here.

I think the peer mentor experience really sets BC and the Carroll School apart in that so many of our students love to pass down information to their fellow students. There exists a great sense of friendship and community between all students here and through that stems terrific inter-year relationships as well. I’ve never seen an upperclassmen treat freshmen or sophomores without a tremendous amount of respect and care. Whenever I have had questions about classes, internships, or just life in general, I’ve always been able to go to my mentor or just older students in general for advice. I’m really excited that as I get older and spend more time here I’ll be able to continue this tradition both in the formal sense as a Portico T.A. as well as through the informal ranks of just helping out my younger friends whenever they have questions.

So that’s just a little what’s going on right now as we all prepare to head back to school in another month and a half or so. As always leave me comments or feel free to email me at pidgeong@bc.edu if you have any questions.

Pino's Pizza & The Half-Blood Prince

Hello Again,

This past week was an absolute whirlwind of activity. Highlights included a victory for the Undergraduate Admission Office Softball Team over University Advancement, the Stanley Cup visiting campus, and of course the midnight screening of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

The softball game was played on our Brighton campus which has a tremendous amount of green space available to all students. It was certainly a high scoring affair with our team punching out a 24-13 victory. We're looking forward to our biggest game of the year coming against Boston University in the world famous "Beancan."

But if you couldn't tell from the title of this blog, my favorite part of this past week was undoubtedly going to the opening of the newest Harry Potter movie with a number of the staff in the city. As a group we grabbed a bite to eat at Roggie's, a favorite among BC students located in Cleveland Circle. We then hopped onto the D-Line of the MBTA and headed into the Fenway stop and waited in line at the Regal 13 at Landmark Center for about three hours before the movie actually started. The movie itself was fantastic and the company was just as entertaining.

As we grabbed a cab back to campus we spotted that another BC favorite, Pino's Pizza, was still open. Pino's is a staple of many BC students' diets. Their pizza is great (I personally recommend the sausage pizza) as well as great subs and dinners. I may or may not be on a first name basis with the delivery guy.

If you ever take the journey to Chestnut Hill and want to grab a slice of BC culture, I thoroughly recommend Roggie's, Pino's, and the rest of Cleveland Circle as fantastic spots to taste the local flavor. While the food here on campus is great, you can't let yourself pass up the great dining and culture options along Cleveland Circle. Until next time friends.

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Independence Day

Hello again,

The 4th of July has come and gone and the busy season of college visits is upon us here at BC. Boston is such a great city to be in to celebrate Independence Day, where the Revolution itself started. The largest attraction is the Boston Pops concert on the Esplanade, a waterfront park along the Charles River in Boston.

A number of the staff working here during the summer camped out for the day to get great seats, basking in what could be considered one of the best days of the year so far. Eventually the sun set, and at 10:30pm sharp the fireworks began. One of the staff members snapped the picture above. The fireworks display, when coordinated with the music of the Pops, is absolutely incredible and something everyone should experience at least once.

The easiest and most efficient way to get into Boston on the 4th, or any day for that matter, is by using the "T". The T is the nickname for our public transportation system, also called the MBTA. Boston College is located next to three branches of the Green Line of the subway: the Boston College B line runs right to the edge of campus, and BC provides shuttle buses to Cleveland Circle nearby, where you can find the end stop of the C line and one stop along the D line. BC is a fantastic school for its campus, but you can't forget the incredible city you have at your fingertips everyday. Until next time friends.

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Admissions Softball

Hey Prospective Students,

So it's the summer here in the Office of Undergraduate Admission, but that doesn't mean we aren't working hard. There's plenty to do and tons of visitors everyday. That, of course, doesn't stop us from having some fun as well! Our office began our softball season against other admissions offices in the area by making jerseys in the mail room. You can check out the picture of Julie and I ironing on the numbers. Then it was off to Brandeis!

The crew there put up a fair fight, but BC prevailed with a resounding victory. We have a pretty good schedule for the summer with some other Boston schools and I'll keep you posted on any new games scheduled and the results.

If this post doesn't tell you anything other than the fact that as a staff we take our job seriously, and love working together as well as having fun, that's fine by me, but maybe it can give you a sneak peek into the psyche of a "typical" BC student. Dedicated to their work and responsibilities, but by no means scared to have fun. Talk to you soon friends.

-Luke Lapointe
CSOM '12 Finance
A & S '12 Communications
Student Admission Program
International Coordinator

Hey Everyone!

It's has been awhile since I last blogged, so I will re-introduce myself. My name is Brian Palumbo and I am a freshman in CSOM. That is enough re-introducing for me.

This week is a big week coming up for Boston College, especially outside of the classroom. Our Eagles, led by the likes of Tyrese Rice and Rakim (Rak Attack) Sanders have made it to the NCAA tournament!! Yes, they are coming off a very tough loss to the Blue Devils, but having the opportunity to win a game against a team like Duke is at times a victory in and of itself. We all know that our Eagles are not satisfied with just being in the game, hopefully this translates into a winning streak in the NCAA tournament. Faced with a a difficult first round game against white-hot USC, Boston College has its hand full because even if they were to win that first game, a very good Michigan State team will likely be waiting in the second round. Who knows! Maybe BC will be playin in two weekends! The sky is the limit...

Enough with the sports though: this coming weekend is also the fun and crazy ALC Showdown '09. The showdown consists of cultural and dance groups from campus all coming together in one large show displaying all of their incredible talents. Ranging from Synergy to Sexual Chocolate, the crowd will certainly be pleased with exceptional performances by most. Showdown is a culmination of months of hard work and will not disappoint those who either go to see friends or to just go for sheer entertainment.

Ironically, the BC basketball game and Showdown are a direct conflict. It looks like some people are going to have to make a very tough game time decision.

Talk to all you soon.

Brian

Oh We're Half Way There

Hello Everyone!

Spring break is finally here! I am writing to you from sunny Florida as I am relaxing from a busy spring semester thus far. Although I decided to come home for break, a lot of my friends have decided to spend their break volunteering as part of Boston College's Appalachia Volunteers Program. One of my friends is in New Orleans, rebuilding damaged homes and another friend is in a small town outside of Richmond, Virginia helping struggling families with miscellaneous duties.

This past week I went and declared my CSOM concentration. I have decided (for the time being) to be a Finance and Accounting double concentration with a Philosophy minor. One thing I would urge you to do is to not worry right now about what you want to do. Admissions does not expect that you have your life planned out already. It is perfectly fine to be undeclared. The CSOM core is a great way to sample all of the different business concentrations to see what you really want to pursue. My basic finance class with Professor Hayes has really intrigued me and led me to seek to continue down the finance concentration path.

Fun fact: Finance is the most popular major at BC!

Another thing to keep in mind is that once you come to BC, you are not limited to choosing one specific major within CSOM. I, being someone who did not come into BC with a lot of AP credit am still able to double concentrate in the school of management and pursue a minor in A&S. There are so many great opportunities to pursue outside of CSOM and I feel like a lot of CSOM students do take advantage of pursuing other disciplines.

Father Flannagan, a Jesuit at BC who team-teaches my Philosophy of Community class, always says that sure you will get a great education, but where you really learn a lot and will remember the most is what you do outside the classroom. I strongly agree with his comments. Sure, we are all going to get a nice big diploma come May of our graduation year, but it is what we all do outside of class that really can make your time at BC an amazing experience. As I look at my fellow classmates, that is one thing that I notice, is just how involved we all are. We all spread ourselves thin and spend more hours participating in extracurricular activities than we do in class. In my mind, this is just another defining characteristic of Boston College that makes it a truly great place to be at.

To finish off my post lets talk about some BC basketball! A few weeks ago, we upset a highly ranked Duke basketball team. It was the most exciting basketball game that I have ever been to. All of the students rushed the court at the end of the game (see awesome picture!). It was a scene I will never forget. As the season nears to an end, we are making our final push to make it into the tournament.

As always, GO EAGLES!!

Best,

Scott

Thursday before Spring Break!

Hi again!

So today is the Thursday before we go on Spring Break! The campus libraries have been absolutely packed this past week because of midterms, and everyone is going crazy trying to complete all of their papers/exams before we go on Spring Break on Friday. I only had one midterm this week (in Managerial Accounting) and am looking forward to 3 when I return...ah!

For Spring Break, I'm going to Cancun with a few of my friends from BC. I'm really looking forward to relaxing and being in the sun for a change! It's been quite chilly up here in Boston this past week. For break, a lot of my friends are going on service trips with the Appalachia Volunteers, something that I participated in last year as a freshman. I went to Narrows, Virginia, and got to know the community very well while helping them with any construction/town-wide tasks that needed to be completed. It was an amazing experience and I am jealous of everyone going on Appalachia this year (especially the people going to Narrows)! I made wonderful friendships, had a blast, helped people in need, and learned a lot about myself through Appalachia; I definitely want to go on another trip before I graduate.

Well, that's all for now! Best,

Mary

An Ordinary Tuesday

Hi Everyone,

My name is Mary and I am a sophomore in the Carroll School of Management (CSOM for short) concentrating in Marketing and Finance.

To start off, I'm going to go through my day just to fill you in on what any other weekday is like for me at BC. I only have 2 classes on Tuesday/Thursday; my first is Managerial Accounting and after that I have Basic Finance. Basic Finance is really interesting and I am already starting to learn concepts that big-time financial people use every day at their jobs.

After my classes, I got lunch with some friends and then I babysat for people that live really close to BC, which is great because I can walk there in ten minutes and earn some extra ca$h! Then, I had a meeting for the marketing committee for the BC Arts Festival, which happens for 3 days every Spring and is really exciting and fun! Now, I'm in the computer lab working on a finance assignment...which I should get back to now! Talk to you soon!

-Mary

A Look into Next Fall

Hey everyone,

Well it's my first update for the Carroll School of Management and there is certainly a lot going on in CSOM lately. But we won't begin with what is going on just this week, let's start with what is ahead for the incoming freshman (you guys) to the School of Management.

Next year, as I am sure all of you are well aware of, ALL freshman in CSOM have to take Portico, a sort of hybrid program that is going to replace the Ethics core in the school. Right now the the deans are interviewing potential candidates to teach the class. I had the opportunity to have lunch with one of the candidates today with a couple of fellow classmates and it seems that the deans are going to have their hands full trying to cut down the list of teachers. The man today was very excited about potentially teaching Portico and getting to interact with the students more than in his Ethics class.

Portico was the best class of the first semester. It not only taught ethics to rising freshman in the business, but also introduced all students in the class to the range of concentrations in CSOM. Researching, writing, and presenting assigned projects forced us to become more knowledgeable in the business aspect of our future learning. And the small class size let us form great relationships with each other, despite the heated debates that sometimes arose when dealing with difficult ethical issues. Overall Portico was an awesome class, and I would be very excited if I were a CSOM student of 2013 to be able to experience such a class.

I'll be talking to you guys soon,

Brian Palumbo