BC or Holy Cross for liberal arts

<p>BC is rated by US News as #31 for National Universities and Holy Cross is ranked #25 for National liberal arts colleges. I know about the size and location differences but for liberal arts programs they seem pretty much the same .</p>

<p>they are both excellent for liberal arts. Being larger, BC would have more course offerings, but that is not necessarily better.</p>

<p>according to last year’s post, you “chose” Holy Cross. What is the purpose of your post tonite?</p>

<p>I got asked the questions several times about which might be better for liberal arts BC or Holy Cross when i was back in Virginia for Thanksgiving. I am on a panel at my prep school for graduating seniors over the Christmas Break. While i chose Holy Cross i didn’t know if there would be useful thoughts on those academic programs from a BC perspective other than size, location and number of liberal arts courses. BC being #31 US News National University versus Holy Cross #25 National Liberal Arts Colleges seem pretty close. When it gets to National Universities Georgetown #21 and Notre Dame #18 then the choice gets clearer.</p>

<p>IMO, the size difference is controlling: LAC vs. mid-sized Uni. Then potential major interest.</p>

<p>HC fantastic alumni network with an alumni giving rate of 55% most years among the best in the country</p>

<p>digger:</p>

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<p>When you say “then the choice gets clearer”, what criteria are you using?</p>

<p>Well, i would say like manyapplicants US News is a pretty important ranking in terms of the quality of school. It is for undergraduate programs THE benchmark most often quoted and used. They put lots of time invertigating schools and their programs and have really fined tuned their rankings over the years.</p>

<p>^^that’s assuming that your interests align well with USNews’. :)</p>

<p>At a certain point, it becomes more about fit and intended major. While Georgetown maybe higher ranked than BC, their philosophy departments are ranked the same. So if Phil was of interest… Or take a look-see at Chem: BC is rated quite a few spots higher than GU.</p>

<p>digger:
I was afraid you’d say your decisions were based on the raw numbers from USNews.<br>
Yes, it is a data point, but there is so much more to college selection than numbers that are 5-10 points apart on a weekly magazine’s rankings.</p>

<p>OK. What i think i’ve heard you say that for liberal arts BC at #31 US News National Universities and Holy Cross #25 US News National Liberal Arts Colleges are pretty much on a par and one would make a choice based on the courses offered in the particular areas of the liberal arts which they would like to study. BC being much larger could be expected to offer a broader curriculum but the rigor of the two schools is very comparable.</p>

<p>I’m sorry, but this entire thread is just inaccurate and misleading.</p>

<p>I think the main point of stickiness is the difference in rankings and acceptance rates between LACs and National Universities. For instance, the acceptance rate at BC varies from 25-28% (pre-essay vs. post-essay). Holy Cross is 33.5%. Admittedly, that’s a difference of only 5-7%. In addition, Holy Cross is ranked #25 on the LAC list vs. BC’s #31 rank on the National list. Holy Cross, from that viewpoint, seems substantially stronger than not just BC, but UMich, Tufts, W&M, and so on.</p>

<p>However, Boston College is stronger school than Holy Cross and not by a negligible amount. The students that BC competes for, by in large, are much different students academically than those applying to HC. Many choose BC over schools like Notre Dame, Cornell, Tufts, UVA, USC (very common), and so forth.</p>

<p>One of the most illustrative statistics is that roughly 70% of the cross-admits at both schools choose to attend BC ([Compare</a> Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=“Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.”>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)).</p>

<p>That being said, HC is certainly a good school and, like BC, has improved its reputation substantially over the last decade. However, you cannot compare LACs to National Universities. It is much harder to rank well on the National list because you are competing with well-funded research universities. As an exercise in critical thinking, let us imagine that Holy Cross moved from the LAC list to the National list. Where would it fall in comparison to BC? In addition, let us imagine that BC moved to the LAC list. Where would it fall in comparison to Holy Cross? I’d wager the two would be fairly far apart (at least a half dozen rankings from each other) if they were both on the same list.</p>

<p>ok, I’ll bite.</p>

<p>What exactly is misleading? Inaccurate?</p>

<p>btw: as a biz student, may I assume that you have taken Stats by now? If so, what did you learn about the value of self-reported ‘data’ (aka anecdotes)? (And then think long and hard about sourcing parchment in the future.)</p>

<p>BostonCollege17 while BC is great and all, it doesn’t hold a candle to ND, Cornell, Tufts, UVA, of USC. Even though that’s not what the focus is, you’re intensely bias. I can guess why bc of your username. Boston College may have slight more name recognition than HC, but not because it’s way better. It’s just a little smaller and a little less known overall. It also really depends who you’re asking. Some people, like BostonCollege17, say BC has more recognition than Tufts, when absolutely no one I know would ever say that. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If HC is really where you want to go, you’re not missing the prestige factor whatsoever.</p>

<p>Bias? I chose BC over Georgetown as well as some of the aforementioned schools. Admittedly, I’m in the business school which is just as strong or stronger than Gtown’s, but many of my A&S friends also chose BC over those schools. You’d be surprised for how many geographic location (Boston is nearly unbeatable), Jesuit culture, D1 sports, non-cutthroat students, and gorgeous BC girls, among many other factors, combine into the perfect college experience. Not everyone cares about a few slots on the US News ranking. For many here, fit and culture is incredibly important. Students come away having a lot of BC pride and become extraordinarily successful alumni. Our endowment is one of the largest in the nation for a reason (substantially larger than Gtown’s).</p>

<p>ND, Gtown, and Holy Cross have been the top Catholic schools for over 175 years! Schools like BC, BU, and Notheastern were commuter schools for most of that time but have make transitions in the last 25 years. The rise in US News for Northeastern is amazing. From academic reputation HC has 1 Nobel Prize winner, 5 Rhodes Scholars, 3 current Supreme Court Justice affiliations(INCLUDING 1 alum). Believe the much larger school, Boston College has only 2 Rhodes(and those were in the last 10 years). With alumni giving rates of 55-56% Holy Cross dominates the BC rate of 25%. As a liberal arts school HC competes mainly with the likes of Colgate, Bucknell, Colby, Bowdoin, URichmond etc. Also for a relatively small school(<3000 students), Holy Cross fields 25-26 Div1 sports and recently HC hockey team beat BC 5-4 at BC. HC also has an NCAA basketball title, NIT TITLE, NCAA BASEBALL title though most were over 50 years ago-so yes HC has an amazing sports tradition.</p>

<p>I find it interesting to say that the US News ranking for National Universities is much more difficult than the US News ranking for National Liberal Arts Colleges and therefore conclude that BC USNews #31 National University is higher ranked than Holy Cross #25 US News National Liberal Arts College. Is it harder to get into Princeton and Harvard #1 &2 US News National Universities than Williams and Amherst #1 & 2 National liberal arts colleges? I sincerely doubt it. In fact I would think the opposite. Many fewer spaces.</p>

<p>Actually, if you were to follow the logic of Boston College17 who states you cannot compare National University rankings to Liberal Arts rankings because they are much harder and therefore Boston College #31 US News National University is much higher ranked than Holy Cross #25 US News National Liberal Arts College. So if this was true than University of Pennsylvania #7 US News National University is far superior to Williams and Amherst #1 & 2 on the US News National Liberal Atrs ranking which is not true.</p>

<p>BostonCollege17, I did not even mention Georgetown in my post at all so you sure jumped the gun on that one. Let’s just stick to writing posts useful to the original poster</p>

<p>Holy Cross is a much better school than BC. BC gets way more applications. I don’t think the two are actually comparable. BC is a great school and probably has a better overall experience, but when it comes to pure academics Holy Cross is superior.</p>

<p>^^I hope you realize that you posted on a thread almost two years old. </p>

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<p>Other than sheer speculation, (and perhaps your experiences from 20-30 years ago), what do you base that claim on, Ace?</p>