notre dame vs BC

[Anonymous]

ND is the academic capital of American Catholicism in terms of religiosity. BC is for the smart Irish-American who goes to Mass for Christmas and wants to experience New England campus culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an impression for how they would be for a Catholic-lite family? We have been to both Georgetown and Holy Cross this Summer, and our tour guide at Holy Cross had never been to mass. Student life seems largely secular. We are planning on visiting BC, but we’re going back and forth on Notre Dame. DH visited in the late 90s and said it felt much more practicing than the others and thinks it has likely become more so over the years. Thanks for any recent impressions.

ND has separate sex dorms and curfews for opposite sex visitors. It’s definitely more religious but students can practice as they choose.
In terms of symbolism, Students at both schools may wear crosses, Christmas lights and trees (where permitted), Ashes for Ash Wednesday and Easter baskets goodies will be sent from home.

curfew at ND is midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends. can you sleep over at bc? I personally find this concern overrated - you live with a roommate, 2am is really late enough for any visitor. Sex is not limited to overnight hours if that's the concern.

Devils advocate, if everyone is an adult, able to convey their boundaries to their roommate, and navigate intimate relations on their own, why is an opposite curfew required at all in 2024?

Because even when you communicate, boundaries aren’t always respected. I agree in a hall of singles, sure. But it’s a single room w two beds. You’re either kicking out someone who is paying for that room - or you’re very weirdly sleeping w a romantic partner within an arms reach of your roommate.

Do colleges still require you to be a student to get into dorms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has this been asked a million times? I searched and didn't see it.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on kids and culture (have had plenty of family in both), but I'm interested in two things:

selectivity - is one a much harder admit than another?
and reputation in the business and government world - they have engaged alumni networks, but is one thought of as more prestigious. I think ND was but not sure anymore.

Thanks

ND (13% admit rate) has the edge over BC (17%), although BC has become much more difficult to get into over the past few years. Notre Dame has slightly better stats, but the difference is not huge, and the gap appears to be closing. This means BC's reputation is rising. ND currently has the edge in terms of selectivity and reputation, but not by a huge margin, and BC appears to be gaining ground.

[Anonymous]

13 vs 17 is a huge gap.

It’s a little like saying Williams at 8% or UPenn at 7% is only slightly harder. It’s a much harder admit.

[Anonymous]

Success rates are similar at both schools with an edge to ND. ND is more conservative, more Catholic and to many less fun. BC location > ND. Both business s hoops on the top 20 of IB placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has this been asked a million times? I searched and didn't see it.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on kids and culture (have had plenty of family in both), but I'm interested in two things:

selectivity - is one a much harder admit than another?
and reputation in the business and government world - they have engaged alumni networks, but is one thought of as more prestigious. I think ND was but not sure anymore.

Thanks

ND (13% admit rate) has the edge over BC (17%), although BC has become much more difficult to get into over the past few years. Notre Dame has slightly better stats, but the difference is not huge, and the gap appears to be closing. This means BC's reputation is rising. ND currently has the edge in terms of selectivity and reputation, but not by a huge margin, and BC appears to be gaining ground.

Interesting. My kid got into ND but not BC (waitlist, which I believe is a polite rejection at BC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has this been asked a million times? I searched and didn't see it.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on kids and culture (have had plenty of family in both), but I'm interested in two things:

selectivity - is one a much harder admit than another?
and reputation in the business and government world - they have engaged alumni networks, but is one thought of as more prestigious. I think ND was but not sure anymore.

Thanks

ND (13% admit rate) has the edge over BC (17%), although BC has become much more difficult to get into over the past few years. Notre Dame has slightly better stats, but the difference is not huge, and the gap appears to be closing. This means BC's reputation is rising. ND currently has the edge in terms of selectivity and reputation, but not by a huge margin, and BC appears to be gaining ground.

BC has ED, which lowers admit rate. ND does not. ND also has better yield. The difference is greater than you think…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an impression for how they would be for a Catholic-lite family? We have been to both Georgetown and Holy Cross this Summer, and our tour guide at Holy Cross had never been to mass. Student life seems largely secular. We are planning on visiting BC, but we’re going back and forth on Notre Dame. DH visited in the late 90s and said it felt much more practicing than the others and thinks it has likely become more so over the years. Thanks for any recent impressions.

Lots of Catholic-lite students at BC. A small portion of students attend mass weekly on Sunday nights. The vast majority do not attend.

Kids who go to mass go Saturday 5:30. Not Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame is a significantly more prestigious school than Boston College. And a much tougher admit.

Agree completely, not even close

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13 vs 17 is a huge gap.

It’s a little like saying Williams at 8% or UPenn at 7% is only slightly harder. It’s a much harder admit.

UPenn is 5.4% , Williams 7.4%, but your point is taken. Admit rate is not a good comparison of selectivity and eventual matriculated peer set without context. Just look at Northeastern. or Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has this been asked a million times? I searched and didn't see it.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on kids and culture (have had plenty of family in both), but I'm interested in two things:

selectivity - is one a much harder admit than another?
and reputation in the business and government world - they have engaged alumni networks, but is one thought of as more prestigious. I think ND was but not sure anymore.

Thanks

ND (13% admit rate) has the edge over BC (17%), although BC has become much more difficult to get into over the past few years. Notre Dame has slightly better stats, but the difference is not huge, and the gap appears to be closing. This means BC's reputation is rising. ND currently has the edge in terms of selectivity and reputation, but not by a huge margin, and BC appears to be gaining ground.

BC has ED, which lowers admit rate. ND does not. ND also has better yield. The difference is greater than you think…

True. And BC only recently implemented ED to replace EA. Like the last 3 years. Before that acceptance rate was in the high 20s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an impression for how they would be for a Catholic-lite family? We have been to both Georgetown and Holy Cross this Summer, and our tour guide at Holy Cross had never been to mass. Student life seems largely secular. We are planning on visiting BC, but we’re going back and forth on Notre Dame. DH visited in the late 90s and said it felt much more practicing than the others and thinks it has likely become more so over the years. Thanks for any recent impressions.

ND has separate sex dorms and curfews for opposite sex visitors. It’s definitely more religious but students can practice as they choose.
In terms of symbolism, Students at both schools may wear crosses, Christmas lights and trees (where permitted), Ashes for Ash Wednesday and Easter baskets goodies will be sent from home.

curfew at ND is midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends. can you sleep over at bc? I personally find this concern overrated - you live with a roommate, 2am is really late enough for any visitor. Sex is not limited to overnight hours if that's the concern.

Devils advocate, if everyone is an adult, able to convey their boundaries to their roommate, and navigate intimate relations on their own, why is an opposite curfew required at all in 2024?

Because even when you communicate, boundaries aren’t always respected. I agree in a hall of singles, sure. But it’s a single room w two beds. You’re either kicking out someone who is paying for that room - or you’re very weirdly sleeping w a romantic partner within an arms reach of your roommate.

Do colleges still require you to be a student to get into dorms?

Lol didn't you engage in any fun experiments with your roommates? The best stuff happened after midnight, so yeah the ND rule is a bit patriarchal and a killjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an impression for how they would be for a Catholic-lite family? We have been to both Georgetown and Holy Cross this Summer, and our tour guide at Holy Cross had never been to mass. Student life seems largely secular. We are planning on visiting BC, but we’re going back and forth on Notre Dame. DH visited in the late 90s and said it felt much more practicing than the others and thinks it has likely become more so over the years. Thanks for any recent impressions.

ND has separate sex dorms and curfews for opposite sex visitors. It’s definitely more religious but students can practice as they choose.
In terms of symbolism, Students at both schools may wear crosses, Christmas lights and trees (where permitted), Ashes for Ash Wednesday and Easter baskets goodies will be sent from home.

curfew at ND is midnight on weekdays and 2am on weekends. can you sleep over at bc? I personally find this concern overrated - you live with a roommate, 2am is really late enough for any visitor. Sex is not limited to overnight hours if that's the concern.

Devils advocate, if everyone is an adult, able to convey their boundaries to their roommate, and navigate intimate relations on their own, why is an opposite curfew required at all in 2024?

Because even when you communicate, boundaries aren’t always respected. I agree in a hall of singles, sure. But it’s a single room w two beds. You’re either kicking out someone who is paying for that room - or you’re very weirdly sleeping w a romantic partner within an arms reach of your roommate.

Do colleges still require you to be a student to get into dorms?

At DC's college as long as someone has an ID, you can go into any of the dorms. Colleges stopped policing the kids a long while back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:13 vs 17 is a huge gap.

It’s a little like saying Williams at 8% or UPenn at 7% is only slightly harder. It’s a much harder admit.

UPenn is 5.4% , Williams 7.4%, but your point is taken. Admit rate is not a good comparison of selectivity and eventual matriculated peer set without context. Just look at Northeastern. or Tulane.

Yes but no. selectivity is a function of admit rate + student stats + yield.
Eventual matriculated peer set is not significantly lower for schools like Northeastern because top level schools(T20ish) can't admit all the top level students. Ton of those high stat students overflow to schools like Northeastern and BC. However, we would say they are less selective because they usually have lesser yield. UChicago while a top 10 school is still considered less selective than Harvard mainly because of lesser yield. Many high stat students also bypass the lottery, and go for ED to UChicago.

Anyways for similar reasons, ND is surely a level up on selectivity and prestige than BC, but not too significant in eventual matriculated peer set.

[Anonymous]

For admissions/level of student:

1. Georgetown
2. Notre Dame
3. BC

People who say 1 and 2 about the same, but only looking at admissions rate when we all know applications themselves are self-selective. Look, for example, at median SAT scores. Georgetown's are higher even though they REQUIRE test scores. Meaning, the true average would be much, much higher.

Notre Dame and BC are much closer when you break down the numbers. It does come down to personal preference. BC is Jesuit and will have more left-leaning Catholics and non-Catholics than ND.