Boston University Academy, or BUA, as we like to call it, is where I went to high school. I created this page both for people who want to know more about the high school that I went to, and for people who might be interested in attending, or more likely, having your son or daughter attend. Either way, you might want to take a look at their webpage as well.

I was a member of the class of 2000 whose twenty-one members comprise the fourth graduating class to have enrolled for all four years of high school. Although BUA is a private school, it is unlike most private schools in that it does not make money. I say that with a great deal of pride, in fact, because BUA accepts the very best students from the greater Boston area without any regard to financial need. For BU, this subsidization of academic excellence is a drop in the bucket in the budget of the third largest private university in the United States. The school itself is located right in the middle of the Boston University campus, on Commonwealth Avenue, next door to the student union building. Our teachers are a mix of experienced, master high school teachers (many with PhDs) and all-but-dissertation graduate students at Boston University. In the freshman and sophomore years we took all of our classes at the academy building; in ninth grade the curriculum was ancient Greek or Latin (I took Greek), physics, mathematics, English, and ancient history. In tenth grade we continued with Greek or Latin, took chemistry, mathematics, British literature, and European history. In eleventh grade, mathematics, American literature, and American history classes remain at the academy, but we took a science (generally biology) and a foreign language (students can continue with Greek or Latin, as I did, or elect from any of the modern languages offered at BU, from Arabic to Zulu). Some people tend to be skeptical about this part, but we took classes at the university, with university students; they were not just "university-level" classes, professors did not come to our school building, and they were not special sections with only high school students! In senior year, we took all four classes at Boston University, just like freshmen at BU. We also had to complete a 8,000+ word senior thesis, under the guidance of a professor at BU. Our school library was the Mugar Memorial Library at BU, with some 2.1 million volumes and 3.7 million microform equivalents. We ate lunch in the cafeteria at the George Sherman Union cafeteria, and used the university's athletic centers and sports fields for physical education class. Classes were extremely rigorous, and grade inflation was not to be found, which, combined with classical training and an embrace of modern technology, produced great students, and a really wonderful experience!

Because I enjoyed BUA so much, I want to recommend it to interested students and their parents. Not every school is right for every student, but if anything I described above seems exciting, I encourage you to look into it further. While I've stayed in touch with my alma mater, and visit often, a number of things have changed from the days when I actually went there. For one, they've added an eighth grade (although still more than two-thirds of the ninth grade class enter as freshmen), and the majority of the teachers, including the headmaster, have changed since I was a student. They're reevaluating some aspects of the curriculum, and redefining the nature of BUA's relationship with Boston University. To be honest, not all of these changes are for the better, and grade inflation seems to be creeping into the grading system, in the hopes of improving students' college prospects. BUA has no need, however, to worry, because the SAT scores of BUA graduates have been the highest in the entire state of Massachusetts for many years, and graduates are accepted into the top colleges; alumni currently attend schools such as Harvard, MIT, Yale, Oxford, Brown, Dartmouth, Stanford, U Penn, Cornell, Brandeis, Wellesley, and, of course, BU. From personal experience and knowing fellow alumni very well, I can certify that no one was "screwed" by the tough grading standards of the academy. It's certainly true that not everyone will get into their "dream" school; however, if you really are good enough, and you get rejected from Princeton or Yale, you'll get into Harvard or Stanford. BUA, or any other school for that matter, isn't a magical entity that will ensure admission to an Ivy-League school. Work hard, participate in extra-curricular activites that interest you, and be genuinely engaged with your academic studies, and admission to the college that's right for you will come as a side benefit, not as a goal.

I'd be happy to answer and questions about BUA that you might have, and provide more detail about my perspective concerning this really unique school, whether you're an interested student, or the partent of one. Feel free to contact me.