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Having had a daughter who attended BU (she was in the top 3% of her hs class and CHOSE NOT to go to an IVY league - pressure cooker). BU is a great research institution. They do not inflate grades, you will have ALOT of programs from which to choose (the most important thing in any school) and depending on your personality, will do well (or not) regardless of any university's prestige.
Like SOO MANY colleges, their advising falls short. You may end up hiring a private career coach at some point in your life if you find yourself not really knowing what you want to do. The tuition and living expenses are high. It is in the Northeast after all, AND it's in the city. To find affordable housing in your upperclass years, you may wind up in the more 'affordable' city of Allston (a slum).
Let cost of tuition be your #1 guide, then academic offerings, then location, in that order.
What this person says ... I live in the Boston area and have had loads of experience with graduates from all of the schools around here. I can tell you - without question - that BU graduates (and particularly those with liberal arts degrees) are some of the more well-educated people I've met. All of this is anecdotal, of course, but they tend to be very articulate, with broad interests, and are very good written communicators.
BC grads, by contrast, are highly overrated in my experience. I've met lots of BC graduates with very mediocre skills and reasoning abilities. The same can be said for Northeastern (a school that has expended a great deal of money successfully getting its position raised in the dubious US News rankings).
Since people here seem to be obsessed with rankings, I think a far more balanced view of BU is presented by The Times World University Ranking, which gives a ranking (again YMMV) much more in line with my own personal experience, placing BU above all of its Boston peers but Harvard and MIT.
BTW: In case any of you are wondering, I didn't attend any Boston college as an undergraduate, so I'd like to think I can be more objective.
A lot of mis-info in this discussion. BU is non-denominational. It is in the top 2% of colleges/universities in terms of Nobel/Pulitzer/Other prize winners on faculty, has a depth of course offerings comparable to other major research unversities (like Northwestern, Michigan, Case Western, NYU, etc), is getting more selective each year, and has one of the most diverse student populations of any university in the world. A very long list of successful alumni include Martin Luther King Jr, Barbara Jordon, William Cohen, and are all over in business, hollywood, politics, medicine, law and just about every where else. What holds back the perception of Boston U is that it is in the same neighborhood as Harvard and MIT. Stick the same school with the same faculty and students in the midwest or somewhere less crowded with universities and there would be no questions of prestige.
As this board has indicated -- with people all over the map -- I think prestige all about one's perception...
I think that BU is a highly reputable school -- maybe not Harvard or MIT, but it's an upper echelon school imho...
Here's where things get weird: I think BU is hurt by it's lack of a traditional campus -- My vague recollection is that BU is urban and modern like NYU with a lot of street-corner buildings and some plazas, but not what Americans consider a traditional campus... down the road, though, you have Boston College, which absolutely does have a traditional campus; with it's large, stone Gothic buildings, it could pass for Oxford or Yale or U. Chicago... a traditional Ivy League or Ivy - like campus...
... And I'll bet that's a large reason why people tend to think BC is more prestigious than BU... yep, it's that superficial ... at least, with a large number of people.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Originally Posted by TheProf
... And I'll bet that's a large reason why people tend to think BC is more prestigious than BU... yep, it's that superficial ... at least, with a large number of people.
Well, I can't speak for now, but one thing is BU was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier to get into than BC. I got into BU. Everyone I knew who applied got into BU. I wasn't a very good student, either, in high school. BC was another thing all together, super competitive. I wasn't even close. (I ended up going to a school outside the area).
Well, I can't speak for now, but one thing is BU was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier to get into than BC. I got into BU. Everyone I knew who applied got into BU. I wasn't a very good student, either, in high school. BC was another thing all together, super competitive. I wasn't even close. (I ended up going to a school outside the area).
But isn't admissions based on popularity? And wouldn't a traditional Gothic, Ivy-looking college be more popular than a hard, urban one ("with no campus") ... at least with American students?
I'd consider it reputable, but not prestigious, like others have said. Certainly nowhere near Harvard or MIT, but head and shoulders above Tufts. BU is significantly stronger than Tufts in the science areas I've considered studying. I'd also put it above BC and Northeastern. How it compares to Brandeis would depend on the field I guess.
But isn't admissions based on popularity? And wouldn't a traditional Gothic, Ivy-looking college be more popular than a hard, urban one ("with no campus") ... at least with American students?
A popularity contest?? Never heard that one before. Students choose colleges for all different reasons - cost, majors, location, etc. Admissions directors choose students based on what they mostly see on paper. Scores, EC's, location, etc.
Having had a daughter who attended BU (she was in the top 3% of her hs class and CHOSE NOT to go to an IVY league - pressure cooker). BU is a great research institution. They do not inflate grades, you will have ALOT of programs from which to choose (the most important thing in any school) and depending on your personality, will do well (or not) regardless of any university's prestige.
Like SOO MANY colleges, their advising falls short. You may end up hiring a private career coach at some point in your life if you find yourself not really knowing what you want to do. The tuition and living expenses are high. It is in the Northeast after all, AND it's in the city. To find affordable housing in your upperclass years, you may wind up in the more 'affordable' city of Allston (a slum).
Let cost of tuition be your #1 guide, then academic offerings, then location, in that order.
With that high BU tuition, its disgraceful their advising falls short. Not acceptable, IMO
A popularity contest?? Never heard that one before. Students choose colleges for all different reasons - cost, majors, location, etc. Admissions directors choose students based on what they mostly see on paper. Scores, EC's, location, etc.
You're right about that, but it is also clear that certain schools score high on popularity lists, the types of which have been in print, and now online, for decades. And while often such popularity is based on academics, which it should be, there are a number of other non-academic factors at play too, like how good a college's sports teams are. I know that the year after my school won a national champion, the admissions office set a record with applications. Coincidence? Not when this consistently happens at mine and other colleges.
So yes, I think that a college with a very attractive campus like Boston College's would have one more selling-point arrow in its quiver as opposed to colleges like BU, NYU, GWU and others which don't have "traditional" attractive campuses... These schools have to work harder in other areas to make themselves desirable -- and oftentimes, like in the case of NYU, they succeed.
As this board has indicated -- with people all over the map -- I think prestige all about one's perception...
I think that BU is a highly reputable school -- maybe not Harvard or MIT, but it's an upper echelon school imho...
Here's where things get weird: I think BU is hurt by it's lack of a traditional campus -- My vague recollection is that BU is urban and modern like NYU with a lot of street-corner buildings and some plazas, but not what Americans consider a traditional campus... down the road, though, you have Boston College, which absolutely does have a traditional campus; with it's large, stone Gothic buildings, it could pass for Oxford or Yale or U. Chicago... a traditional Ivy League or Ivy - like campus...
... And I'll bet that's a large reason why people tend to think BC is more prestigious than BU... yep, it's that superficial ... at least, with a large number of people.
I think the same. I also do not think NYU is all it's cracked up to be.
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At either of these colleges who will be little more than a number. The colleges get their reputations from the city. Big glamorous city - college must be good. That is the thinking of some parents and students.
Colleges such as BU and NYU offer a public education at a private school price.
They attract many first generation students, foreign students, a rejects from better colleges that are less well known.
I'd put University of Miami and Northeastern in that same category.
they have large application pools, because they are famous. So they are more selective. That's about it.
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