Trying to compare Boston Colleges for DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BC doesn't work if you're not Catholic (we're not);
Tufts doesn't work if hour kid wants to be in the city (it's in the burbs on a hill - FWIW, my kid thought Tufts would be #1, but after visiting, didn't like the vibe);
BU doesn't have much of a campus (full city college);
NEU has the best of all - city campus (inbetween 2 T-stops), excellent Econ (my kid is an Econ major at NEU), but I'm not going to lie, this is our third kid, and their admin is a hot mess. Billing is a disaster, always late and always wrong, and housing is a joke (your kid doesn't find out whete they'll live until mid-July if you're lucky, but possibly as late as mid-August). Makes planning difficult

Why do you say BC doesn’t work if not Catholic? It’s my Jewish nephew’s first choice. Seems better than some Pro-Hamas campuses.

Your Jewish nephew might want to really think about it.

With 70% of the student body Catholic, it will be hard to relate if he doesn't share that experience. Obviously someone is going to say their Jewish friend, etc loves it and the students don't go to Mass, etc. But the reality is that they have been to Mass, went to a Catholic high School, want to raise their kids Catholic, etc. and it is a Catholic school regardless of the fact that it is a Jesuit Catholic school.

Brandeis is close to BC and was founded by a Jewish organization after WW2. It’s about half Jewish but that doesn’t mean that non-Jewish people would feel out of place. Same with BC and Catholics.

Brandeis used to be about half Jewish, now 35%. Still a high percentage, but not 50%

[Anonymous]

The last Common Data Set BC posted is from 21-22. Does anyone know when a more recent one will be released?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The last Common Data Set BC posted is from 21-22. Does anyone know when a more recent one will be released?

No, though you can find some data for fall 2023 (what would be in the 23-24 CDS) here https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=boston+college&s=all&id=164924#admsns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why southerners want to go to a very cold city. For that matter, I doubt students from India are clamoring to go to a place that would require them to buy a whole new wardrobe, icluding winter jackets and boots.

this could be why Harvard & MIT have so much trouble recruiting applicants

[Anonymous]

With so many wonderful warm weather schools, I still don't see the attraction of Boston. There was a podcast of an admission's counselor where he said his goal to make all these international students realize that there are great schools that aren't just in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. He was even saying that schools like Univ of Alabama are getting on the radar of smart, value shopping students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in Notre Dame which is known for one of the best 'school spirit' and a kid in Northeastern.

Sure Northeastern's 'school spirit' can't be compared to schools like ND, but better thing about Northeastern is that you get little bit of everything in a diverse environment at one of the best locations.

This is the whitest group of men I've seen in a Looooong Time.

Hockey, what did you expect?

The team actually has an excellent Black kid coming this fall as a freshman. He's a really good player. I'd expect he'll get some ice time as a freshman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BC doesn't work if you're not Catholic (we're not);
Tufts doesn't work if hour kid wants to be in the city (it's in the burbs on a hill - FWIW, my kid thought Tufts would be #1, but after visiting, didn't like the vibe);
BU doesn't have much of a campus (full city college);
NEU has the best of all - city campus (inbetween 2 T-stops), excellent Econ (my kid is an Econ major at NEU), but I'm not going to lie, this is our third kid, and their admin is a hot mess. Billing is a disaster, always late and always wrong, and housing is a joke (your kid doesn't find out whete they'll live until mid-July if you're lucky, but possibly as late as mid-August). Makes planning difficult

Why do you say BC doesn’t work if not Catholic? It’s my Jewish nephew’s first choice. Seems better than some Pro-Hamas campuses.

Your Jewish nephew might want to really think about it.

With 70% of the student body Catholic, it will be hard to relate if he doesn't share that experience. Obviously someone is going to say their Jewish friend, etc loves it and the students don't go to Mass, etc. But the reality is that they have been to Mass, went to a Catholic high School, want to raise their kids Catholic, etc. and it is a Catholic school regardless of the fact that it is a Jesuit Catholic school.

Brandeis is close to BC and was founded by a Jewish organization after WW2. It’s about half Jewish but that doesn’t mean that non-Jewish people would feel out of place. Same with BC and Catholics.

Brandeis used to be about half Jewish, now 35%. Still a high percentage, but not 50%

On a good traffic day, Brandeis is 45 minutes from BC; not close at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BC doesn't work if you're not Catholic (we're not);
Tufts doesn't work if hour kid wants to be in the city (it's in the burbs on a hill - FWIW, my kid thought Tufts would be #1, but after visiting, didn't like the vibe);
BU doesn't have much of a campus (full city college);
NEU has the best of all - city campus (inbetween 2 T-stops), excellent Econ (my kid is an Econ major at NEU), but I'm not going to lie, this is our third kid, and their admin is a hot mess. Billing is a disaster, always late and always wrong, and housing is a joke (your kid doesn't find out whete they'll live until mid-July if you're lucky, but possibly as late as mid-August). Makes planning difficult

Why do you say BC doesn’t work if not Catholic? It’s my Jewish nephew’s first choice. Seems better than some Pro-Hamas campuses.

Your Jewish nephew might want to really think about it.

With 70% of the student body Catholic, it will be hard to relate if he doesn't share that experience. Obviously someone is going to say their Jewish friend, etc loves it and the students don't go to Mass, etc. But the reality is that they have been to Mass, went to a Catholic high School, want to raise their kids Catholic, etc. and it is a Catholic school regardless of the fact that it is a Jesuit Catholic school.

Brandeis is close to BC and was founded by a Jewish organization after WW2. It’s about half Jewish but that doesn’t mean that non-Jewish people would feel out of place. Same with BC and Catholics.

Brandeis used to be about half Jewish, now 35%. Still a high percentage, but not 50%

On a good traffic day, Brandeis is 45 minutes from BC; not close at all.

It's 16 minutes right now.

[Anonymous]

While not in Boston proper, WPI has a very good math department. It doesn't get as much attention of the other schools, but it is a very well respected tech college less than an hour from Boston. For econ, they have a very mathy econ major.

[Anonymous]

No to WPI (check the suicide rate).

Some kids want nothing to do with southern schools and don't like the heat and humidity. And no, there are no cities like NYC or Boston in the south

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BC doesn't work if you're not Catholic (we're not);
Tufts doesn't work if hour kid wants to be in the city (it's in the burbs on a hill - FWIW, my kid thought Tufts would be #1, but after visiting, didn't like the vibe);
BU doesn't have much of a campus (full city college);
NEU has the best of all - city campus (inbetween 2 T-stops), excellent Econ (my kid is an Econ major at NEU), but I'm not going to lie, this is our third kid, and their admin is a hot mess. Billing is a disaster, always late and always wrong, and housing is a joke (your kid doesn't find out whete they'll live until mid-July if you're lucky, but possibly as late as mid-August). Makes planning difficult

Why do you say BC doesn’t work if not Catholic? It’s my Jewish nephew’s first choice. Seems better than some Pro-Hamas campuses.

Your Jewish nephew might want to really think about it.

With 70% of the student body Catholic, it will be hard to relate if he doesn't share that experience. Obviously someone is going to say their Jewish friend, etc loves it and the students don't go to Mass, etc. But the reality is that they have been to Mass, went to a Catholic high School, want to raise their kids Catholic, etc. and it is a Catholic school regardless of the fact that it is a Jesuit Catholic school.

Brandeis is close to BC and was founded by a Jewish organization after WW2. It’s about half Jewish but that doesn’t mean that non-Jewish people would feel out of place. Same with BC and Catholics.

Brandeis used to be about half Jewish, now 35%. Still a high percentage, but not 50%

On a good traffic day, Brandeis is 45 minutes from BC; not close at all.

No way. It doesn’t take that long. And Brandeis has shuttles going everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With so many wonderful warm weather schools, I still don't see the attraction of Boston. There was a podcast of an admission's counselor where he said his goal to make all these international students realize that there are great schools that aren't just in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. He was even saying that schools like Univ of Alabama are getting on the radar of smart, value shopping students.

So you've said. Some kids prefer the wonderful cold weather schools. Imagine that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No to WPI (check the suicide rate).

Some kids want nothing to do with southern schools and don't like the heat and humidity. And no, there are no cities like NYC or Boston in the south

Not to mention torrential downpours, flooding, hurricanes, bugs, alligators, guns, MAGAS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No to WPI (check the suicide rate).

Some kids want nothing to do with southern schools and don't like the heat and humidity. And no, there are no cities like NYC or Boston in the south

The WPI suicides were clustered around the pandemic where many students felt isolated from one another. I admit that what happened was outside of the statistical norm, but whenever you have very STEM-oriented tech schools, you have a particular type of student. WPI has addressed this issue and then some. For the OP, they specifically mentioned math or economics as a course of study. WPI can hold its own with any of the Boston schools. Obviously it is not MIT, but no college is MIT. If the OP flies or drives up to the area, then it is worth a look. It is only 45 minutes away and gives them a chance to see outside of the 128 beltway. At the same time they can easily see Holy Cross, and if female, Wellesley College. Plus Babson is right along that route.

[Anonymous]

BC's campus and culture obviously fits the parochial school pipeline stereotype, but you don't have to be Catholic to attend. Just be aware that an awful lot of its students came from feeder catholic schools, and at a lot of these schools, sports and partying were pretty big deals. The OP may be looking at that.

Northeastern's campus is a nice compromise from BU's disconnected one and BC's more suburban one. Out of all these schools, school spirit would be hardest to find at BU, and that's just because it is so diverse. All these schools attract students from all over the world, not just from all over the US, so you'll get a true multicultural vibe.

The OP didn't mention the career goals of their child, but that should factor into the equation. Economics as a pre-professional degree entry point? Math for Wall Street? BC is the best for getting into finance, with NEU and BU behind it. Northeastern has a very strong quant reputation if you are looking for a combination of math and econ. Tufts isn't known for that type of career. Of the four, BC gives out the least amount of merit aid. Run the NPC and see what grant aid they'll offer, although when we did it, each of the colleges were within a few thousand dollars of one another.