Mass students and suitcase schools (Boston, Framingham: house, high school, university)

[Remy11]

Hi Mass friends,
My good friend isn’t on city-data, but when I told her about the site, she asked me to ask this question on her behalf. Her daughter is a junior in high school and will be starting to look at colleges this summer. She plans on going for either IT or business and most likely wants to either go somewhere in Boston—BC, BU, Suffolk, Emerson, Northeastern or one of the following state unis: UCONN, UVM, UNH, URI. My friend lives in Georgetown, so the Boston schools and UNH are relatively close. Her concern is that her daughter will head home on weekends and not get the full college experience if any of these are considered suitcase schools and students vacate on the weekends. I went to UVM and our other friend went to UCONN, so we told her not to worry about those two, but can anyone else speak to any of the others? Also, her daughter doesn’t want to be coming home all the time either, so she asked me to ask as well.
Thanks!

Oh, I just remembered two more local schools she’s interested in: Endicott College and Merrimack College. I told them I had a feeling Salem State was most definitely a big commuter school but wasn’t sure about EC or MC.

[chicagoliz]

Certainly, BC, BU, Northeastern, UNH and probably URI & Emerson are not. (A friend in San Francisco was recently in town visiting Emerson, where her son was just accepted. Another friend from Philadelphia has a son at Northeastern.)

Any schools that have a national and international name/draw won't be schools where the kids leave on weekends. And the flagship campus of any state university will have plenty of kids who are there full time, as well.

[Remy11]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Certainly, BC, BU, Northeastern, UNH and probably URI & Emerson are not. (A friend in San Francisco was recently in town visiting Emerson, where her son was just accepted. Another friend from Philadelphia has a son at Northeastern.)

Any schools that have a national and international name/draw won't be schools where the kids leave on weekends. And the flagship campus of any state university will have plenty of kids who are there full time, as well.

This is true. I think her concern with the Boston/Mass schools is that local kids will possibly leave on weekends, but she also assumes there will be plenty of out-of-staters who stick around.

[mdovell]

A fair anoint of academia is just that. I had plenty of international students but plenty still left on weekends. I don't think you get more of an experience these days as so much is online anyway. In most campuses freshman are not allowed cars but the subways, rail and bus means they'll most certainly leave. Flagship are fine but wear exactly is the experience you want? Staying on campus all the time or being out and about. Keep in mind there is high poverty in academic settings

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Remy11

This is true. I think her concern with the Boston/Mass schools is that local kids will possibly leave on weekends, but she also assumes there will be plenty of out-of-staters who stick around.

The local kid will go home on weekends until they break up with their home town boyfriend/girlfriend. If they don’t have that, it’s hard to imagine that their social life wouldn’t quickly shift to their new college friends.

Of course, if they have a huge roommate conflict, they could easily head home every possible night to avoid it.

[msRB311]

I wouldn’t imagine any of the schools around here would be suitcase schools. Wouldn’t most kids want to stay on campus and do fun things they wouldn’t be able to do at their parents house ?

I would think that going out ever weekend in the Boston area probably does get expensive though. I could see going home once in a while but every weekend seems lame. Plus kids find things to do on campus that doesn’t require spending a lot of money.

The other thing to think of is that people come from all over to go to Boston/MA schools. There’s no way someone is going home every weekend if they’re from NC or FL.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by mdovell

A fair anoint of academia is just that. I had plenty of international students but plenty still left on weekends. I don't think you get more of an experience these days as so much is online anyway. In most campuses freshman are not allowed cars but the subways, rail and bus means they'll most certainly leave. Flagship are fine but wear exactly is the experience you want? Staying on campus all the time or being out and about. Keep in mind there is high poverty in academic settings

Even if classes are online, other things are not. I firmly believe the vast majority of the college experience and what you learn from college takes place outside the classroom, from interacting with the other students and participating in non-class activities (student government, newspaper, sports, inprov/SCA groups -- whatever it is you're into.)

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The local kid will go home on weekends until they break up with their home town boyfriend/girlfriend. If they don’t have that, it’s hard to imagine that their social life wouldn’t quickly shift to their new college friends.

Of course, if they have a huge roommate conflict, they could easily head home every possible night to avoid it.

This is actually one reason why I actually prefer that my kids go to school further away from home. I was at a school where most kids were from other parts of the country but there were a fair number of local kids. One in particular went home all the time -- every weekend, and it was a real disservice to him. If things don't go 100% right at the beginning, it becomes a vicious cycle. The kid goes home every weekend, so has even fewer opportunities to bond with other students and make friends, which makes him lonelier and more inclined to go home at every opportunity, which further cuts into the time they'd be spending on campus activities.

[Boston_Burbs]

I would think the former state colleges (Salem, Framingham, Westfield, etc.) and Umass Boston would be suitcase schools as well as Plymouth, Keene, and Southern Maine.

The small private (Emanuel, Endicott, Laselle, etc.) schools seem to have duped kids from around the country to over pay to go there

[msRB311]

If you decided to go to school anywhere and pay for room and board it's hard to understand why you would leave every weekend to go home unless, as someone else pointed out, you have a significant other at home.

[BostonMike7]

What exactly is the "full college experience" that takes place on the weekends?


My experience was that a decent number of locals will go home, but there were plenty of out-of-state students who don't have that option so you can always find a party. I can assure you from personal experience that BC, BU and Northeastern are not suitcase schools. Lots to do and plenty to socialize with on the weekend.