<p>The age old dilemma. </p>
<p>Boston College Vs Boston University</p>
<p>Which University is better?
Which is harder to get into?
Which has better Finacial Aid (Non-need)?
Lowest tuition??
More difficult??
Better living??
Better dining?? etc.</p>
<p>You get the point.</p>
<p>I'm planning to major in either Biology/Chemistry/Engineering.</p>
<p>-Ray</p>
<p><a href="http://www.studentsreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.studentsreview.com</a> search for BC or BU. scroll down a little, click on "undergrad detail." they have student reviews from people who went there.</p>
<p>I've visited both schools and I would have to say they are COMPLETELY different atmospheres. </p>
<p>BC is very preppy and homogenous. BU has a lot of sophisticated people, and it's more diverse. </p>
<p>BU is easier to get into. (I think?)</p>
<p>They both have good academics. </p>
<p>BU had awesome housing. Some people live in brownstones which have been converted to dorms. BC I think just has standard dorms. </p>
<p>BU is a city campus, BC is suburban.</p>
<p>BU-lots of diversity, BC-very Catholic</p>
<p>depends if you mind not having a campus</p>
<p>BU is better location; BC has cooler people</p>
<p>^ if preppy, likeminded Catholics are your thing</p>
<p>The age old dilemma. </p>
<p>Boston College Vs Boston University</p>
<p>Which University is better?</p>
<p>Boston College no doubt.
Which is harder to get into?</p>
<p>Boston College is significantly more selective.</p>
<p>Lowest tuition??</p>
<p>BU is more pricey, but only slightly</p>
<p>More difficult??</p>
<p>BC is more academically focused.</p>
<p>Better living??</p>
<p>Depends on what you like. BU is much more involved in the city of Boston but is much less of a college experience. I would prefer BC, others prefer BU. </p>
<p>Better dining?? etc.</p>
<p>I would give the nod to BC.</p>
<p>BU offers significant merit scholarships-- half-tuition is common for accepted students with excellent stats...we're talking 1400 SAT range.
I don't know about the food at BC, but BU's dining service has an excellent reputation. BC is probably more selective, but BU can no longer be considered a safety school. This year I read of one student with great numbers who was rejected because he hadn't taken pre-calculus. As with other top schools, the most successful applicants have taken the most rigorous HS curriculum, especially APs.</p>
<p>BU just opened an incredible new fitness and recreation center on the west campus. There are parts of BU which have a campus feel. It's not as urban as NYU, for example.</p>
<p>I suggest reading the BC and BU forums and checking out live journal sites for both schools.</p>
<p>Half Tuitions?? Never heard of that. What are the chances of getting them?</p>
<p>my friend got 3/4 tuition, 1520 SAT score.</p>
<p>I bet he has GREAT stats too.</p>
<p>Here's a link to BU merit scholarships:</p>
<p>They don't stint on the half-tuition University Scholarships. A good percentage of high-achieving applicants are offered these. I know of some cases where applicants turned down NYU and Tufts for BU, and the scholarship definitely had an impact on their decisions.</p>
<p>Go Terriers!</p>
<p>Yea, the scholarships sadly seem unlikely for me.<br>
That is why I'm looking for a university with a great finacial aid package. It seems BU is more likely to provide this.</p>
<p>BC does offer good financial aid packages because they have a HUGE endowment. BUT not any merit scholarships except the Presidential which only goes to 15 students. Verrrry selective-I know of people who didn't get into BC that got into Duke and Penn-it's a crap shoot, just apply-give it a whirl!</p>
<p>Very, very different schools. BC is a club in Boston, but BU has more of an international reputation.</p>
<p>Visit both. I doubt that many people would fall in love with both schools. You could like both, or find something to like about both, but one will definitely be more your thing than the other. BU is huge, in the city, and has no campus. BC is smaller and outside of the city, on a lovely campus. Both have their share of wealthy students.</p>
<p>My girlfriend was in BUs bio program but switched to IR, because she hated bio (especially intro). Thus, I know a lot about BU, and very little about BC.</p>
<p>BC is by far more difficult to get into, but BU is better in some ways.
BU is huge, for example. With 30K students, you can do almost anything in that university and get a good education in it.
As far as fin. aid, my gf gets half of her aid as need-help, the other half is merit based (she had a strong profile though - BU wasnt her top). Overall, out of the $40K that she is supposed to pay, she paid about $3K. However, her merit scholarship got taken away (she had a 2.98 GPA instead of 3.2 - victim of freshman bio), so now she's paying about half of the tuition, which is a lot.</p>
<p>As far as difficult, depends on which department you're talking about. From what I've seen in BU, the sciences there are extremelly hard. As far as IR goes, I'll be able to tell you that next year.</p>
<p>I can't judge on the dorms, because my gf was in honors dorm, which was amazing. It was a regular house that the university bought. It was about 4 floors, two halves, 4 rooms per floor. The rooms were singles, doubles, and triples. My gf was in a triple. It was reallllly huge, they had a separate walk-in closet that was sometimes used as a second bedroom for guests. They had private one-person bathrooms, which is nice, and the house was always nice and clean and with all the necesseties.</p>
<p>Dining I would give to BU. I ate there many many many times and the food is simply amazing. It's comparable to a very cheap restaurant, so it's not bad. I heard that there's not much variety and that after a year of eating there you get tired of the same food, but going there just once in a while was awesome. Def better than most schools. Plus, they have student centers with more food/snacks, etc etc</p>
<p>Basically, BU has more stuff, because they have more people. But as far as education goes, that's arguable.</p>
<p>The Karabes for the lengthy post!! I appreciate it alot. My only question is did your gf take AP Biology before going to be BU??</p>
<p>BU sounds pretty good. I've heard BC had some pretty bad students and a serious drinking problem. I'm not sure if this is true. I'll be taking a tour to both universities in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>-Ray</p>
<p>yea she did. I mean, my gf suffered from being away from home more than most people do, plus our long distance relationship that year wasn't fun. but i mean, it wasn't just that. ive sat in at some of her lectures and the professors suck. from what i hear the tests are also really hard. usually the median is about 50%</p>
<p>and now that you touched the drinking issue, i want to warn you that pretty much any school in boston drinks. as i said, my gf lived in an honors dorm, but the entire dorm was pretty much drunk every friday and saturday night. they didn't go around killing people, and they usually kept to one room (they're all under legal drinking age), but it's still there. i don't know if its any worse in regular dorms.</p>
<p>but then also, i know that the housing after your freshman year gets even better. my gf's house next year looks amazing.</p>