<p>My daughter is locating to Boston after graduating from U MIAMI and has been fortunate enough to be accepted to both Graduate programs in the School of Ed. She has narrowed it down to these 2 and cannot seem to be able to come to a decision.</p>
<p>I am not sure it will matter much in Grad school but any thoughts from this forum would be welcome.</p>
<p>She is unable to attend either "admitted student " day but met with an advisor from BU and a dean from BC to answer questions when home last week. BU by far was the most helpful and went through her entire sequencing of courses including waiving almost 20 credits which would have been repetative in their initial licensure program. ( BC is more geared toward the degree not initial licensing so # credits is almost equal now)</p>
<p>Not sure how much I buy into the rankings but BU is waaaayyy below BC in the US NEWS School of Education rankings.</p>
<p>Well, as you can see, I love both schools. I went to the School of Education at BU for undergrad and to BC’s Lynch School of Education for my graduate degree. I loved living in Boston. BU has more of the urban feel of Boston, BC has the more traditional college campus feel. They are both good choices and I don’t think she can go wrong at either school. My favor probably leans a little towards BC, but I think it’s more because I was in graduate school, rather than quality of education. I really enjoyed the small classes and intense focus of graduate school. Good luck with her decision. I hope she is aware of how cold it is in Boston in the winter.</p>
<p>You are the “perfect contact”!! My daughter is pursuing a Masters in Ed in Moderate Spec Needs! And yes she is aware of the cold as she was brought up in NE! I am still in shock that she is returning here but feels its the right move for the future.</p>
<p>As a grad school student, I think college will be very different for her but obviously just graduating this is difficult for her to fathom! Her parents didn’t attend grad school so it is hard for us to advise her.</p>
<p>So let me be blunt…after looking up the rankings of BC vs BU in school of ed grad school , BC is ranked considerably higher than BU. I just looked that up last night but since she was accepted by both, I personally have been rooting for BU. Her older sister attend the BC 5 year program at LSOE and has a great job so we have done well with BC but i just pictured this daughter at BU…epsecially after UM.</p>
<p>After her experience last week meeting with an assigned advisor at BU, who took alot of time to go through her program of studies, i was very impressed and felt a close tie with an advisor is a very valuable asset. This advisor has since emailed her a number of times in followup. AT BC, no advisor is assigned and she met with a director of admissions who provided her a name to contact and now is on the 4th person after being shuffled to someone who can answer her questions. </p>
<p>I was going to Private message this along with a few other questions and understand if you prefer to respond via that route.</p>
<p>Did you attend BC immediately after graduating BU or did you take classes while teaching?Did you find social networking in the grad program at BC to be existant? I have told her that Boston is one big college town/social network in itself and she is very outgoing. Not even sure why this concerns her but i guess its just leaving a place she loves and her many college friends.</p>
<p>Did you become an EAGLES sports fan? Unfortunately the sports/spirit aspect of BC has become important to her but another posted did point out…will a Hurricane fan really cheer for BC…she thinks she will!</p>
<p>Daughter will be a full time student and will take the MTEL this summer and fall for initial licensure since FL won’t transfer since she has no teaching experience.
Thanks again for the quick response!</p>
<p>If your D enjoyed the social aspects of the sports scene at Miami, she’ll love BC. Sure, it’s another ACC school, but they play in different divisions so she can still root for both (except when they go head-to-head).</p>
<p>In the Education sector, prestige is (extremely?) important. For the same money, go with the higher ranked school.</p>
<p>D is graduating in May with Masters in Moderate Special Needs from BC. She is a part of the five year program. Her BA is in elementary education. I am also a teacher, so although I do not have special ed background, I do understand the ins and outs of the process and have been very impressed with the BC grad program. My D has been taught well and is equipped to enter the job market (just not sure if there is a market this year!!). Is your D going to be a fulltime student? If so, does she know that she needs to have a job (aide/assistant) for the school year? This was the one piece that my D found to be very frustrating last year. There did seem to be a lack of communication at times, but the courses themselves were excellent.
I also have found that the school system I teach in is very pro BC for hiring. We don’t seem to have many BU grads, but our buildings are filled with BC-educated teachers. The program is very well respected. If your daughter plans to stay in the Boston area, I think the degree from BC looks better on her resume, imho.</p>
<p>First, I graduated from BC in 1982, so it has been quite a while. I assume that there have been changes. That said, I am suprised that BC didn’t have someone specific for her to talk with right away. When you got to the 4th person, were your questions answered? My experience at BC was great and personal. I was in a very small and specific Masters program for Education of the Blind and Visually Impaired. As I mentioned earlier I tend to favor BC over BU. I really liked both places, but when I walked onto the BC campus I felt like I was home. I’m not giving you an answer based on academics, but rather on emotion. </p>
<p>I worked for a year after graduating from BU. I went to BC full time and was done in a year and a half. After that I worked as a teacher and continued to work with a couple of professors doing research. Socially I did not need to rely on my fellow grad students to fill my calendar. I had already lived in Boston for 5 years and had lots of friends. We were a fun group of students though and did do things together outside of classes. The age range in my program was large (23-40?). At 23, I was the youngest. </p>
<p>When I was at BC I believe Doug Flutie was a sophomore. I never made it to a game, but I did scream two years later at the “Hail Mary” pass. I was cheering for BC Hockey last night and so glad they won! I loved going to Red Sox and Celtic games. Back then you could get bleacher tickets for the Sox on the day of the game. What a blast!</p>
<p>I hope I answered your questions. Feel free to pick my brain further. Good luck with her decision.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the contructive and insightful reponses. As my older daughter said yesterday…"I am not getting it…what IS the decision??..keep in mind she is a double Eagle herself!</p>
<p>D will be going full time. She does understand she’ll need to find something during the day. Her largest concerns right now are with this decision and where/with whom to live.I am not sure how easy it will be to find a position in a school system during the day with all of the budget cuts that are going on but she knows she can probably find something volunteering if all else fails.</p>
<p>Dogwood: Did BC help find this type of position for its students? was there at least a job postings site or are they on their own? My older D is also a 5 year BC grad in her second year of a teaching job she loves in a district right outside of Boston. She still lives in Brookline and may even move downtown next year. ( i have told her thats the wrong direction:) ) She had great placements at BC through undergrad except for one year in a magnet school in Boston with a retiring teacher. In her 5th year, she even had a stipend for the year and 1/2 year counted toward her practicum…this came from the placement in her 4th year. She loved BC but these two girls are like night and day personality wise. While trying not to sway her decision, I think we are both a little blown away by this run around at BC regarding the program and what if any of younger D’s current courses will waive a requirement. The contact and rapport with BU have gone way beyond either of our expectations so it is tending to color the picture a certain unexpected way.
Your comment regarding BC grads hired in the Boston area is echoed by her sister…I do think the BC rep is there. Good luck to your “graduate to be” in landing a teaching position. Older D has been very fortunate but all the budget adjustments/cuts don’t bode well for new grads!</p>
<p>BUBC: She’ll be going in as a 22yo…and knows the class makeup with be varied and older. I think this does concern her but it will be that way in any grad program in education . While the best scenario probably would have been to remain in Florida , teach and then relocate…i support this decision since ultimately New England is where she wants to settle ( if at 21 one really knows that). She won’t be that far from home and all but one of her highschool friends whom she remains close to will stay in NE. She has a few friends in Boston and i am sure as jobs fall into place or law school decisions, she’ll hear of more. I think the friend thing has her concerned though it baffles me since she has made several decisions in life striking out on her own and succeeded. I think it is all apprehension about " life’s next phase" but I do have confidence that she’ll be happy once in place!</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, in responding to these comments, I think I feel D’s dilemma. I think if BC had shown the interest that BU’s assigned advisor had, this decison would be made. But since that didn’t happen initially and we are now dragging this out with BC, it is making the decison more difficult. Since D works during the day, her contact though this BC maze after meeting with the director of grad admissions has been via email. The latest contact she was referred did not respond immediately and perhaps is looking at D’s transcript in order to respond…optimistic aren’t I?</p>
<p>I am thinking of suggesting she call the BC director and explain exactly what has transpired since that meeting. She met with him prior to the BU meeting when she was home on break.
I am not sure what that might accomplish but thinking maybe she needs to do that. Bad idea??</p>
<p>Again many thanks for your thoughts!</p>
<p>I would definitely have her call the director she met with previously. She should also mention how helpful BU has been answering all her questions.</p>
<p>My D found a much better response when she would show up at the office to get answers. What you have described is not that uncommon at BC, IMO. You tend to get passed around and they seem to do things on the fly. It is a large program and it is important that you keep up to date with information and your own situation and what you need.
My D found her spot this year on her own, but I do believe there are listings thru the school. My D might have branched out on her own because she needed a paying job and the listings at BC were more internship type positions (not 100% sure of that though). I guess you just need to be sure that the spot you get will be approved. We had a very bad experience with that, but fortunately it worked out for my D.
I do want to stress that even though I think the administrative part of things needs some fine tuning, I am very impressed with the program and think your D will have an exceptional year. My D would be like your older D. She would be wondering why there is any discussion! It would be BC all the way. She loves being a double Eagle.</p>
<p>Dogwood:
When you say your daughter found her 5th year spot on her own, i assume you mean a full time position of which 1/2 was used for the practicum requirement?</p>
<p>Still no decision…but i had a little epiphany today when i pulled out the BU program worksheet to scan to her…many of their classes are 4 credits…which i find odd. So one taking 3 courses…makes you “fulltime” and paying FULL TUITION not per credit. that is a $20,000 SEMESTER cost difference. Not for every semester but JEEZ!</p>
<p>She did finally get an answer from someone at BC regarding possible waiving of courses she already has taken at the undergrad level. The offer was to look at the overlap once she was ready to sign up for her semester at BC. In looking at the way both schools have thier program of studies set up, there is ALOT of overlap in the BU 52 credit sequence and maybe 2 courses in the BC 34 credit sequence. The need to look at that ahead of time at BU definitely was necessary and now i see less so at BC.</p>
<p>OOOPS…just realized i did that math all wrong. It would be $19,000+ a semester at BU for full time vs the per credit fee at BC…so a difference of $5,000 or so depending on the new fees for 2010-11. phew…</p>
<p>kkp1094 - Yes, she found a full time SPED aide position that satisfies the requirements for her program and she receives a regular paycheck, so her job is counting as her student teaching. That is a real plus of the program.</p>