So, what's the pecking order for Boston schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Interested in the experience of the kids who are serious students at UMASS Boston. Programs and course offerings seem extensive. There is an honors program. But is it hard to make friends/find your people and have a social community?

It’s a commuter school through and through. I wouldn’t expect any sort of community or peer group to come from the program. If your child is serious about attending, maybe they can live in Savin Hill or Southie where there are tons of young 20 something people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

The state flagship is located in Amherst, several hours away from Boston. UMass Boston is a high quality commuter school.

Several hours?? It’s like 45 minutes 😆

It's about 100 miles west.

+1 I made the mistake of flying into Boston to do business with one of the colleges in Amherst. Had to take a very long, unexpected trip on Greyhound to get there. Valuable lessons learned!

[Anonymous]

Opinions are like a-holes; everybody has one.
Some a-holes are 20 30 years outdated.

Lucky we live in the 21st century, and have much more objective data and information than random a-holes.
First we have the de facto industry standard ranking by USN&WR.
MIT #2 Harvard #3, and the first school of next tier is Tufts #32.
Form that, it's =/less than 5 steps to the next schools - BC #36, BU#41, NU#44
It would be fair to say base on it;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU 

More importantly, here are some major metrics.

- Student Stats by SAT middle 50% (2019-2020)
TU: 1380-1530
BC: 1320 - 1490
BU: 1300 - 1500
NU: 1360 - 1540

- Retention Rate
TU: 95%
BC: 95%
BU: 94% 
NU: 98%

- Graduation Rate
TU: 94% 
BC: 91% 
BU: 89%
NU: 91%

- Salary Outcome
TU: $74K 
BC: $96K 
BU: $81K 
NU: $89K

Selectivity and Competitiveness is also pretty much on par among these schools, Super High, while MIT and Harvard are Super Super High.
I must conclude;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who is local, here is how things tier out in my mind (each row is its own tier, not ranked within each tier) - also, didn't include state schools or schools outside of the metro Boston area:

Harvard/MIT
BC/BU/Tufts/Wellesley/Babson
Northeastern/Bentley/Brandeis
(Deliberate space here)
Anything else you've barely heard of - Suffolk, Merrimack, Curry, Simmons, Lesley, Stonehill, Endicott

* Emerson, Berklee, Wentworth, MCPHS are specialized in my mind so I didn't rank them. I never know where to put Wheaton.

This is about right. I moved away after grad school.

Harvard
MIT
Tufts
Wellesley
Boston College
Babson/Olin
Berklee
Boston University
Brandeis
Northeastern
Wentworth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone from Boston who graduated from one of the schools in everyone’s top tier color me shocked that NE is even on anyone’s list

You must be new here. I was new last year. My oldest is now 14 so we are thinking about college. Over the past 2 decades, Northeastern has somehow gamed itself up the rankings and is a favorite and difficult to get into now. Schools that you and I would not have even considered safeties are now reaches. Out of my own pride, I would not want my kids to go to Northeastern. DH is from Boston and he would be embarrassed if our kid went to Northeastern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Opinions are like a-holes; everybody has one.
Some a-holes are 20 30 years outdated.

Lucky we live in the 21st century, and have much more objective data and information than random a-holes.
First we have the de facto industry standard ranking by USN&WR.
MIT #2 Harvard #3, and the first school of next tier is Tufts #32.
Form that, it's =/less than 5 steps to the next schools - BC #36, BU#41, NU#44
It would be fair to say base on it;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU 

More importantly, here are some major metrics.

- Student Stats by SAT middle 50% (2019-2020)
TU: 1380-1530
BC: 1320 - 1490
BU: 1300 - 1500
NU: 1360 - 1540

- Retention Rate
TU: 95%
BC: 95%
BU: 94% 
NU: 98%

- Graduation Rate
TU: 94% 
BC: 91% 
BU: 89%
NU: 91%

- Salary Outcome
TU: $74K 
BC: $96K 
BU: $81K 
NU: $89K

Selectivity and Competitiveness is also pretty much on par among these schools, Super High, while MIT and Harvard are Super Super High.
I must conclude;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU

I visited them all.
Out of the four 2nd tier schools, Northeastern is the only school actually well integrated with the city, and at the same time has a nice cohesive modern looking campus with good vibe. It's best in CS and Engineering among those schools. No wonder why it's insanely popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Interested in the experience of the kids who are serious students at UMASS Boston. Programs and course offerings seem extensive. There is an honors program. But is it hard to make friends/find your people and have a social community?

It’s a commuter school through and through. I wouldn’t expect any sort of community or peer group to come from the program. If your child is serious about attending, maybe they can live in Savin Hill or Southie where there are tons of young 20 something people.

Nope. It draws a lot of good students from local suburbs. Brand new dorms and D1 sports. I’m not sure of the personal experience there but we’ve had several kids from our well-regarded public go there te last few years and they are still there from what I know. so it can’t be purely non-traditional and commuter students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone from Boston who graduated from one of the schools in everyone’s top tier color me shocked that NE is even on anyone’s list

You must be new here. I was new last year. My oldest is now 14 so we are thinking about college. Over the past 2 decades, Northeastern has somehow gamed itself up the rankings and is a favorite and difficult to get into now. Schools that you and I would not have even considered safeties are now reaches. Out of my own pride, I would not want my kids to go to Northeastern. DH is from Boston and he would be embarrassed if our kid went to Northeastern.

DP here. This is how most people currently feel about BU. I am given the impression that BU's spread out campus, and lack of speciality (Communications??) offends applicants. So much has changed in Boston in the last 30 years. Roxbury and Charlestown (just two examples) are now desirable and pricey (they used to not be desirable, at all), and rankings are not what people consider when applying to college. It is so easy and common to get on a plane and see the campuses in person. A wonder more people don't do just that, as it heeds such different results than merely Googling a college. Northeastern has always been strong in Engineering and Business, so if you are not looking for those majors I could see you considering other colleges.

Just as real estate changes dramatically over the decades, so do other lifestyle and education considerations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Interested in the experience of the kids who are serious students at UMASS Boston. Programs and course offerings seem extensive. There is an honors program. But is it hard to make friends/find your people and have a social community?

It’s a commuter school through and through. I wouldn’t expect any sort of community or peer group to come from the program. If your child is serious about attending, maybe they can live in Savin Hill or Southie where there are tons of young 20 something people.

Nope. It draws a lot of good students from local suburbs. Brand new dorms and D1 sports. I’m not sure of the personal experience there but we’ve had several kids from our well-regarded public go there te last few years and they are still there from what I know. so it can’t be purely non-traditional and commuter students.

It seems that there is some projection from certain posters, leading to incorrect information on these boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMass Amherst is THREE Hours from Boston. It is located in Western Massachusetts. The Googled answers here (the majority) are obvious, but you didn't even bother to Google on this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opinions are like a-holes; everybody has one.
Some a-holes are 20 30 years outdated.

Lucky we live in the 21st century, and have much more objective data and information than random a-holes.
First we have the de facto industry standard ranking by USN&WR.
MIT #2 Harvard #3, and the first school of next tier is Tufts #32.
Form that, it's =/less than 5 steps to the next schools - BC #36, BU#41, NU#44
It would be fair to say base on it;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU 

More importantly, here are some major metrics.

- Student Stats by SAT middle 50% (2019-2020)
TU: 1380-1530
BC: 1320 - 1490
BU: 1300 - 1500
NU: 1360 - 1540

- Retention Rate
TU: 95%
BC: 95%
BU: 94% 
NU: 98%

- Graduation Rate
TU: 94% 
BC: 91% 
BU: 89%
NU: 91%

- Salary Outcome
TU: $74K 
BC: $96K 
BU: $81K 
NU: $89K

Selectivity and Competitiveness is also pretty much on par among these schools, Super High, while MIT and Harvard are Super Super High.
I must conclude;

MIT/Harvard
Tufts/BC/BU/NU

I visited them all.
Out of the four 2nd tier schools, Northeastern is the only school actually well integrated with the city, and at the same time has a nice cohesive modern looking campus with good vibe. It's best in CS and Engineering among those schools. No wonder why it's insanely popular.

+1

Many posters are basing their opinions on incorrect and inaccurate second, and even third hand information, at best. Such a big investment - people should really be doing their own homework, and visiting each school in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMass Amherst is THREE Hours from Boston. It is located in Western Massachusetts. The Googled answers here (the majority) are obvious, but you didn't even bother to Google on this one.

"in the center of Massachusetts" is like in the middle of nowhere
LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Interested in the experience of the kids who are serious students at UMASS Boston. Programs and course offerings seem extensive. There is an honors program. But is it hard to make friends/find your people and have a social community?

It’s a commuter school through and through. I wouldn’t expect any sort of community or peer group to come from the program. If your child is serious about attending, maybe they can live in Savin Hill or Southie where there are tons of young 20 something people.

Nope. It draws a lot of good students from local suburbs. Brand new dorms and D1 sports. I’m not sure of the personal experience there but we’ve had several kids from our well-regarded public go there te last few years and they are still there from what I know. so it can’t be purely non-traditional and commuter students.

UMB is D3. Anything else you say can’t be trusted if you can’t get that right.


https://www.umb.edu/athletics/about#:~:text=UMass%20Boston%20is%20a%20Division,the%20National%20Collegiate%20Athletic%20Association.

[Anonymous]

Not sure I understand the point of these posts. Even DCUM knows better than to heed college application information from an anonymous board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I understand the point of these posts. Even DCUM knows better than to heed college application information from an anonymous board.

We got this after 5 pages

- Student Stats by SAT middle 50% (2019-2020)
TU: 1380-1530
BC: 1320 - 1490
BU: 1300 - 1500
NU: 1360 - 1540

- Retention Rate
TU: 95%
BC: 95%
BU: 94%
NU: 98%

- Graduation Rate
TU: 94%
BC: 91%
BU: 89%
NU: 91%

- Salary Outcome
TU: $74K
BC: $96K
BU: $81K
NU: $89K