Boston College Vs Boston University (association, rankings, catholics)

[Whatsnext75]

Northeastern seems so blah.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

Northeastern seems so blah.

I think that's the old reputation, but old or new, the people there seem to get good jobs and excel, those that come from engineering/computer/project management backgrounds.

But even in the early to mid 2000s, the people I knew that went there were those going back to school, that dropped out of places like the SUNY system because they partied too hard, or whatever, and were getting their lives together.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

Northeastern has a 28% acceptance rate. That means that 72% of people who apply to it get rejected. I'd hardly call that a safety school. It's only a safety school when compared to the Ivy League.

Also Northeastern has gotten remarkably more prestigious in a relatively short period of time. I'd consider it on par with a school like BU. In fact its campus is a good bit nicer than BU's campus.

This is an article on Northeasterns rise due to gaming the rankings (though I don't believe that this is the only reason). Northeastern also has a better location than BC and a nicer campus compared to BU (sandwiched between two highways).
How Northeastern University Gamed the College Rankings

I'd agree on all of the above. I'd also add that the co-op program has been a real differentiator for Northeastern.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

well, according to the latest US news:
BC # 31
BU and Northeastern are tied at # 39

you can slice and dice further based on selectivity, SAT scores, etc but these are pretty darn close .... and close to the top of the pile of ~300 national universities.

(The use/abuse of rankings is a whole other question)

Fixed that for you.

Have you read the Boston Magazine article about how Northeastern's president gamed the US News rankings? They hired this guy for the sole purpose of turning around their rankings in the 1990's. He came up with the clever idea to concentrate on a single list - "the list" that all guidance counselors and high school seniors swear by. Year by year he implemented changes that directly affected Northeastern's US News ranking. For example one criteria is selectivity. They boosted their selectivity by sending out free application waivers to thousands of students who weren't academically qualified. This increased the # of applicants and decreased their acceptance rate to a ridiculously low rate. They did tricks like this every year and over time their rankings increased. Now that they've been in the top 50 for a while they are attracting genuinely smart students so they don't need to play these tricks anymore. The article goes into detail about other tactics they used back in the late 90's and 2000's. It's really amazing how far they've come though. I remember this stupid jock ranked in the bottom half my graduating class who went to Northeastern. It was considered a joke in the 90's. Fast forward 20 years and one of my neighbors turned down Brown to go to Northeastern.

EDIT: Oops, I see someone else already linked that Boston Magazine article. It's an interesting read, check it out!

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Fixed that for you.

Have you read the Boston Magazine article about how Northeastern's president gamed the US News rankings? They hired this guy for the sole purpose of turning around their rankings in the 1990's. He came up with the clever idea to concentrate on a single list - "the list" that all guidance counselors and high school seniors swear by. Year by year he implemented changes that directly affected Northeastern's US News ranking. For example one criteria is selectivity. They boosted their selectivity by sending out free application waivers to thousands of students who weren't academically qualified. This increased the # of applicants and decreased their acceptance rate to a ridiculously low rate. They did tricks like this every year and over time their rankings increased. Now that they've been in the top 50 for a while they are attracting genuinely smart students so they don't need to play these tricks anymore. The article goes into detail about other tactics they used back in the late 90's and 2000's. It's really amazing how far they've come though. I remember this stupid jock ranked in the bottom half my graduating class who went to Northeastern. It was considered a joke in the 90's. Fast forward 20 years and one of my neighbors turned down Brown to go to Northeastern.

EDIT: Oops, I see someone else already linked that Boston Magazine article. It's an interesting read, check it out!

Yea, the 'science' of ranking is interesting to say the least.


I didn't go to NEU but have hired graduates from there and have been very impressed - as others have said, the co-op program is excellent and a great differentiator.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

Yea, the 'science' of ranking is interesting to say the least.


I didn't go to NEU but have hired graduates from there and have been very impressed - as others have said, the co-op program is excellent and a great differentiator.

Just saw this posted for BU

[sandsonik]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

BU a safety school??? Maybe for those who have applied exclusively to Ivies.

Ding, ding!


It's had that reputation for years - a good university for people who were rejected by their first choice Ivy.

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by yaeger07

It seems like more BC grads stay local after graduation. BU is hugely international.

Thats because everywhere but the US University means higher education and college means the equiv of a certificate program.

I am BC affiliated, but I think more highly of BU because it's more progressive (it's not hard to be more progressive than BC...).

Progressive? Like crying rooms, no freedom of speech, teaching that the constitution is outdated, teaching that calling a person a man because they have a penis makes you a horrible person?

KEEP IT!

[bostonguy1960]

When one types in "acceptance rate," Northeastern University edges BC and BU! I just learned of this recently.

Kind of surprising despite the seemingly giant strides NU has made?

As a 1982 BU Liberal Arts grad, I think BC then and now is more prestigious and selective, locally and regionally, than BU. Just my opinion.

Some are jealous of BC because I've heard they've been nominated at some point in the past as having one of the best looking student bodies! They are attractive, at least to me.



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[pikabike]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

I'd argue that to many people in the country, and the world, BC and BU are relatively irrelevant.

Yes, tough to admit for us in the region and especially for alums, right?

Sort of like Georgia Tech and University of Georgia, Arizona State University and University of Arizona, University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, Oregon State University and University of Oregon, Washington State University and University of Washington, etc.

Even a college freshman at BU from another part of America had never heard of our esteemed Berklee College of Music; of course he thought I meant University of California at Berkeley.

One professional lady I encountered seemed confused. She was here for an appointment at the BU Medical Center campus. I somehow mentioned BC and all the area colleges just in conversation.

She then asked, "Oh, has BC changed their name to BU?"

Wow...but how would she know? She's not from the area or the region.

Most Bostonians couldn't tell you the sports teams' nicknames of BC and BU never mind name an athlete or coach.

Until the mid-80s when Doug Flutie launched BC to new "Heights" in the national college sports universe, I don't think BU or BC then, and even now, resonates in the national college sports consciousness. Not necessarily a negative...Do Tufts, NYU or Columbia, for instance, fret that they don't have powerhouse sports programs?

I even had a taxi passenger years ago assume that BU is a STATE school. No, it's private, as are BC and Northeastern.

As mentioned by another poster, the word "college" doesn't always equate to higher ed in some countries. Cambridge College, Boston College and the local Quincy College kind of sound vague and of equal quality to a foreigner visiting Boston for the first time.

Even MIT, believe it or not, is not well known to most Americans, and they don't know it's in Cambridge. I've had this conversation with MIT students or their parents; their neighbors back in small-town Nebraska have no idea about MIT unless you travel in those circles!



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I agree. Outside of New England and maybe even the northeast generally, BC and BU are generally not well-recognized. If you move out of the area, this becomes clear. It also becomes clear that each region has its "name" institutions that are likewise not well-known elsewhere, except by professionals in fields for which that institution has earned a high niche. Colorado School of Mines and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology are good examples.

When I lived in the Boston area, BC instantly brought to mind two things: Catholic boys and football. BU was the commuter school, or rather, schools. At that time, BU (which was already huge and had the nickname of Big and Ugly) had a lot of students who were NYC Jews, as well as a healthy percentage of international students already. It was also a university with a wider age range than BC, considered a commuter school even though there were some dorms.

Also, in the western US, the prestigious schools tend to be state universities, not private ones. I loved this different attitude when I moved there and wished I had grown up there instead.