Boston U, Boston College - Questions (Brookline, Harvard: apartment, to rent, hotels)

[Stockholmaren]

I was wondering if anybody has any input on or experience of Boston University and Boston College. I’m in the process of applying to their respective MBA programs, so I would really appreciate to hear what you think of those schools, how the campuses are like, where you can find housing (probably a 1-bedroom apartment for my wife and myself), and so forth. Thanks!

[smarty]

Originally Posted by Stockholmaren

I was wondering if anybody has any input on or experience of Boston University and Boston College. I’m in the process of applying to their respective MBA programs, so I would really appreciate to hear what you think of those schools, how the campuses are like, where you can find housing (probably a 1-bedroom apartment for my wife and myself), and so forth. Thanks!

Boston U and Boston College less than 3 miles apart. Yet the campus is very different. BU is basically Urban (city) with above ground subway going across the campus and BC is suburban with a reservoir near it. BU is a big school with 16K undergrad and 10Kgrad. BC is much smaller 9K undergrad and 4K grad. BC is a more competitive school because it is a smaller school with many people applying (catholic based like Notre Dame).

BC is most famous for studying law (their grad seems to have taken over all the law firms and judge position). Of course, when Doug Flutie won the bowl game in the 80s, donations and application went up dramatically. BU has to cancel their football program. However, BU has a great hockey program.

For MBA, BU seems to have a very small edge over BC. It really depends on what MBA you are going for. Babson, Bentley, Harvard, MIT all have TOP MBA programs. You know they are ranked and you can find out more about their programs. Just check your local library, princeton review, college board or US News.

Housing is not easy. My last check 4 years ago for a 2 bedroom apartment starts $1800 in that area. You have to realized that within that few square miles, there are 6+ colleges and 100+K students, another 30+K teachers/grad students and ??K of support staff. Nothing is cheap right around there. Colleges are charging kids $12+K per year for room+board. That is 2-3 kids sharing a dorm room for 9 months. If you are to look for an apartment, do it in May/June when people graduate and leave. If you look in the last week of August, GOOD luck. Listing come out and it is gone within 30 minutes. People overpay $100-200 of the asking rent just to get a place to live. Colleges over book dorms. BU regularly put 100+ students in hotels during first 2-3 weeks in September and hope to sort out who did not show up.

[Stockholmaren]

Thank you Smarty for your response, that helps me get a better idea of the different schools. I wouldn't have Babson and Bentley in the same category as MIT and Harvard, but I know those are pretty decent schools as well, but a lot depends on the type of MBA. I hope to find one where you can combine IT with something like finance/management science that also have some international opportunities.

Sounds like you need to get started early with the housing though, that's also good to know. When I visited BU they mentioned Brookline as an area where many of their students live, what do you think of that area?

[smarty]

Brookline is nice. Safe town. Higher rent. No overnight offstreet parking (you have to rent a parking space or rent with parking space).

The subway "green B" line goes through BU outbound to BC on Commonwealth Ave. The "green C" line goes through Brookline to BC. Just check the MAP and the MBTA (subway) map.

When you come visit. Try the subway and see if you can deal with it. You can check out both school.

[hocine]

[my nam is Hocine , Ineed some information About financial aid to complet my studys in umb.