Accepted Jan 2013. What do you think?

<p>Well, I'm an international student that has just been accepted at UofR for the January enrollment as a Cognitive Science major. I was also accepted at BU for psychology and I'm waiting my McGill and UofToronto acceptances for Cognitive science in a while. While my options will pretty much be BU-UofR-McGill-UofT, I prefer studying in the US and that leaves me with the BU vs UofR. One the one hand UofR is academically superior to BU. Also, UofR has a Cognitive science major and department that I prefer. One the other hand, If I choose Rochester i get a 4 month delay. In addition, Boston feels a much more interesting city and I think I'll be happier with life at BU, even though I won't be studying CogScie, but psychology (if I choose BU i ll consider getting a double major in psych/CompScie). I'm really really confused right now.</p>

<p>same situation, I would hate waiting till next yr to enroll…</p>

<p>Since their main problem is housing space (isn’t it?), do you think it is reasonable to suggest to enroll at fall, like everybody else, but to live off campus for the first 4 months?</p>

<p>I have emailed my admission counselor asking him what can I do… I guess I will have to wait for his reply. And apparently they just built a new dorm i think, so I am not sure what exactly their concerns are …</p>

<p>@ metaxa13 Freshmen and sophomores are not allowed to live off-campus unless they live with their parents. No exceptions.</p>

<p>Spring admission is based upon the fact that there are typically X students who do not return for the second semester of their freshman year. So those departures open up space in the dorms for spring admits.</p>

<p>Historically UR takes few to no students off the waitlist. In fact in the recent past, too many admitted students have enrolled leading to a shortage of dorm space. ( And resulted in doubles made into triples, or floor lounges turned into 5 person bunk rooms. School really wants to avoid that happening since it causes all sorts of headaches for everyone.)</p>

<p>The new dorm will ease some of the housing issues, but it’s also likely that UR will simply accept more students for fall admission to fill those beds.</p>

<p>I had a kid at BU and have one at UR. If one school fits you well, odds are the other won’t. BU is very large research university while UR is small research university. There are smaller universities but they barely qualify as research universities. UR actually gets more in external funding than BU in total, but both have extreme strong points: UR in optics, BU in biomedical engineering. BU is divided into colleges, while UR really isn’t. In terms of campus, UR is more like McGill, having a real campus - though not a huge hill - while BU is more like the massive UT but without the big lawn and with a river. I’d seriously consider what you want to study. In terms of life, a few months is meaningless. You shouldn’t be in such a hurry. </p>

<p>At least weather isn’t an issue. </p>

<p>The new dorm, btw, is 150 rooms and will not house freshmen.</p>

<p>@metaxa13</p>

<p>If you’re concerned about being behind academically with a spring admission, you should take a look at the suggested/sample course schedules for BCS (assuming you’re going to do BCS and not neuroscience–which is also offered thru the BCS dept.)</p>

<p>[BCS</a> Undergraduate Program: Example B.S. Course Schedules](<a href=“http://www.bcs.rochester.edu/undergrad/BSschedule.html]BCS”>Example BS Course Schedule : Undergraduate Programs : Brain and Cognitive Sciences : University of Rochester)</p>

<p>You’ll have a bit of bottleneck since 3 of the courses typically take as freshmen are only offered in the fall. (Bio 110 or 112, Chem 131 and BCS 110) But BCS 111 does not require any of those as pre-reqs so you can move on in the spring.</p>

<p>Bio 110, Chem 131 are both offered during the summer if you want to use that time to catch-up, but you could also simply triple up on your sciences during fall of your sophomore year and not be behind. Also the BCS dept will allow use of AP credits for Chem 131. (Not sure if BCS allows Bio AP credit. Some depts accept it; some don’t.)</p>

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<p>This would be key to me. Studying what I wanted to study would win easily over a 4 month delay. Four months flies by pretty quickly. An education lasts a lifetime. If both schools offered what you wanted, then all the rest would come into the equation (for me).</p>

<p>Best of luck wherever you choose.</p>