<p>I got the chance to study in the US for 1 or 2 semesters in 2010/11. There are two options: Boston College or the University of Iowa. I know they are totally different universities. BC is academically better and in a real city (or at least close to) but I heard Iowa City is quite a fun town as well. I want to experience the real American college life + D1 sports. I guess sports are bigger at Iowa but the closeness of big city is a pro for BC. Which of the two would you recommend me? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>No city in Iowa can compare to Boston.</p>
<p>Boston College, no doubt about it.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Boston College or the city surrounding it. I do know that Iowa will give you the college experience that you want. The sports are a huge apect of Iowa, (you will see about 75% of the students supporting the hawks) and the school has >20000 students. I have friends that go there, and they absolutely love it. It definitely is a party school, and ranks as a top party school in princeton reviews rankings. As for the town, from what I’ve heard the college makes up the town (although the town isn’t small, it has a mall, restaurant, anything you would want to do). The nice thing about Iowa, if you want to go out and party, go to clubs/bars, they’re right across the street from the campus. So, if you stay in the dorms or apartments, you can easily walk to the hot spots at night, not worrying about taking a taxi or anything. Iowa is definitely a fun college town, no doubt about it. Exactly what are you studying? </p>
<p>–Since Boston is more academically known, at Iowa you would get a more laid back atmosphere, but there are plenty of intellectually gifted students, and the students that go to college to party.</p>
<p>BC by far.</p>
<p>Boston College has excellent Divsion I sports, as does Iowa. And Iowa City is a highly underrated college town. It is truly a great place to be a student. The city is intellectual, vibrant and hip. It obviously isn’t as big and as busy as Boston, but at the same time, it has a far more collegiate feel than Boston. </p>
<p>Academically, they are both excellent schools. BC is overrated a little and Iowa is way underrated. In academic circles, Iowa is actually as highly regarded as BC. </p>
<p>Finally, BC is a Catholic university. Religion has a presence on campus. As a European, that may be a problem for you, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>I would chose the school that you think would fit your personality better.</p>
<p>BC doesn’t have that strong of a religious presence. Many non-Catholics happily go there without any feeling of religious pressure and so forth.</p>
<p>That said, if you’re from Belgium, you’re probably used to having some Catholic symbolism around - since 3/4 of your population is Catholic.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, France is 90% Catholic but the French are very weary of mixing faith with matters of the state or with education. The Belgians are very much against mixing religion with education too. </p>
<p>And BC is Catholic (Jesuit to be precise). Downplaying this connection isn’t going to do the OP any good if he is opposed to such a presence. Like Georgetown, the Catholic presence at BC is not overwhelming, but it is nevertheless present. There are over 100 Jesuit priests living on Campus. The president of the University is a Jesuit Priest. As president, he has influence over social events. If I recall, he cancelled recent Gay and Lesbian events. When 70% of your student body is Catholic, one cannot deny the Catholic presence.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your replies! More input is always welcome though… I’m aware of BC’s religious affiliation but if it’s not too pushy it shouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>@ shay_888: I’m majoring in History so I think that’s ok for both schools.</p>
<p>Well, if sports is an issue, note the following:</p>
<p>Iowa made it to the Orange Bowl, and dominated.</p>
<p>BC squeaked into the “Emerald” Bowl, and was dominated.</p>
<p>Nuff said.</p>
<p>BC hands down.</p>
<p>Both schools have large (35-40 faculty members) and diverse history depts and that’s a popular major at both schools. Iowa would be a classic midwest college with a broad array of students–most from midwest middleclass backgrounds. BC is more northeatern and has a relatively wealthy somewhat conservative student body. I’s say BC is more pre-professional while Iowa less so. Iowa City is a nice college town but no Boston. Then BC is not really in Boston either but a suburb. I’m not sure how much there is to do around the BC campus while in Iowa City the downtown is right next to campus.
So it depends what you want.</p>
<p>Tough call, can’t go wrong with either. BC has a decent sports scene but nothing compared to the classic american college feel at Iowa:</p>
<p><a href=“http://bigten-online.com/kinnick.jpg[/url]”>http://bigten-online.com/kinnick.jpg</a></p>
![http://bigten-online.com/kinnick.jpg[/url]](http://bigten-online.com/kinnick.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>I’d lean towards Iowa IF you are going to be there during the fall semester which is when football season is in place. Football is HUGE at Iowa.</p>
<p>Besides, you can always visit Boston for two or three days or so. You won’t be able to recreate the feel of going to a Big Ten school.</p>
<p>If you go to Iowa during football season, the level of support for the college team goes way beyond the University. You will find people all over Iowa City and Cedar Rapids and other towns decked out in the University colors. When they go to a bowl game, the eastern part of Iowa goes crazy. You won’t find that level of support for college football at BC, or any other college I know of in the northeastern part of the country. </p>
<p>I you plan to attend during the football season, and you want the extreme college football experience, you should select Iowa. </p>
<p>If it were me, I would pick BC because Boston is a great college town. Also, you don’t need a car at BC because it is next to the “T” (subway). University of Iowa probably has a bus system around its large campus, but a car would be nice to have.</p>
<p>Congratulations on having such great choices!</p>
<p>I have a bachelor’s degree from B.C. and went to Iowa for grad school for a while. Some points to clarify here.</p>
<p>BC’s campus straddles the Boston/Newton city lines. So part of the campus is in Newton, and part is in the city of Boston. So it’s wrong to characterize it as “way out in the suburbs” as many have done on CollegeConfidential. There is a trolley line right across the street from the campus, so getting into the center of Boston is very easy.</p>
<p>While the athletic scene at Iowa is slightly more frantic than at BC, I doubt if someone from another country would sense anything tangibly different. A football game with a stadium packed with 45,000 people isn’t noticibly different from one ith 65,000 spectators. Likewise, a basketball game with 8500 spectators isn’t much different from with 12,000. ACC/Big 10…not a significant difference. Boston College is huge in ice hockey; Iowa is huge in wrestling…</p>
<p>Iowa City is indeed a sweet college town, but if you’re going to spend only a few months to a year in the U.S., your time would be better spent roaming Boston and taking occasional side trips to New York City (and Wash DC, Phiadelphia, etc).</p>
<p>The U of Iowa is much more serious academically than the stereotypical Midwestern “Animal House” school, so the academics there are good, and probably closer to BC than people would think. One advantage of BC is the possibility to visit and go to a party at Harvard and M.I.T. (it’s fairly common for people at BC to have a friend going to Harvard, M.I.T., or other Boston-area colleges).</p>
<p>Almost zero religious presence at BC unless you look for it. A lot of the Jesuits on the faculty have studied in Belgium (Louvain).</p>
<p>B.C. would definitely be my choice.</p>
<p>
Equally important, Boston is relatively close to other major cities on the east coast – NYC, Philly, DC.</p>
<p>As an exchange student, one’s goal is usually to see as much of the host country as possible. This would be considerably easier at BC.</p>
<p>I cast my vote for Boston College.</p>
<p>EDIT: It appears I cross-posted with Schmaltz’s edits.</p>
<p>BC was not dominated in the Emerald Bowl. ;)</p>
<p>…And BC has an awesome Hockey tradition.</p>
<p>*And BC is Catholic (Jesuit to be precise). Downplaying this connection isn’t going to do the OP any good if he is opposed to such a presence. Like Georgetown, the Catholic presence at BC is not overwhelming, but it is nevertheless present. *</p>
<p>Gee, BC is Catholic? Jesuit? I had no idea. I need to tell my family members who go there. 
</p>
<p>My point was that there isn’t a strong presence on the campus. Yes, there will be Catholic symbolism around; yes there will be Jesuit priests teaching some classes, but a student can go there and not feel any kind of Catholic pressure. Jesuits just aren’t that way. They are quite the laid-back group.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter that 70% of the student body is Catholic. On most campuses, a greater percentage belongs to some Christian faith. What matters is that in a typical class lecture, Catholicism wouldn’t even come up.</p>
<p>“I need to tell my family members who go there.”</p>
<p>Don’t worry mom2collegekids, I will have my own family members who currently attend BC tell yours! Seriously though, I am quite familiar with the Jesuits. I am Catholic myself and I attended a Jesuit boarding school in the DC area for two years. My father and sister are alums of Georgetown. When I was admitted into Geogetown many moons ago, my father made sure to tell me that Georgetown has strong religious affilitations and that it played a part on campus life. BC is not different. Denying it is pointless. </p>
<p>And 70% Catholic is a big deal considering that Catholics make up less than 25% of the total US population. There is a reason why the majority of students chose to attend BC. To say that religion is non-existant on the BC campus is inaccurate. I never claimed that religion was overwhelming, but it is clearly there.</p>