<p>So… Boston College and Brandeis University are two similarly ranked colleges that are both in Boston. What are the similarities and differences (admissions, environment, social life, types of students, popular majors, housing, etc.)?</p>
<p>Speaking from a completely bias view point, Brandeis students might be more academically focused than BC students overall, but Brandeis seems bland and boring. There is nothing to do on campus. I have a few friends from high school who attended the school and almost every weekend they always went to my place at BC or other friends at BU to party and have fun. One girl transferred immediately after the first semester. You really have nothing else to do except studying. Student body wise, BC students are a lot more attractive, but more socially conservative than Brandeis. If you’re an attractive girl, you will be treated as a goddess as Brandeis. At BC, you’ll be one of the endless parades of beautiful people. Brandeis students, however, are more charming and nice and less focused on the superficial things in life.</p>
<p>Admissions wise, I’m pretty sure it’s relatively the same standard for both school. If you can get into one school, you should be able to get into the other. Oh, BC food is better than Brandeis. But if you’re into Kosher, Brandeis can’t be beaten. And finally, with BC, you’re only a train ride from the rest of Boston and its college community. Brandeis has weekend buses that bring you to Harvard Square, but I don’t know of other means beside having your own car to go to Boston.</p>
<p>Reddune, I can’t add anything to what you wrote. But it does bring to mind a question: I agree with you wholeheartedly about the comparative attractiveness of women at BC, and I am wondering, since BC does not do applicant interviews, there is no way they can accurately screen applicants for looks, so how does it end up that the population is, on the whole, better looking than average? And why does this same phenomenon not apply so much to the guys? Because I gotta tell you that when I was doing my tour back a couple of years ago, the high-caliber of the women on the BC campus stood out as compared to just about every other school I had toured. (Of course, I never looked at any schools below the Mason-Dixon line).</p>
<p>I suspect the “raw material” is largely the same at all schools. But if a particular campus has a culture where no one rolls out of bed and goes to class in pjs, where no one wears sweats except to work out, where working out is a popular activity, where most of the women take time to do their hair and put on some makeup (because everyone else is doing it and they don’t want to look bad by comparison)…you’re going to have a campus where people are fit, well-dressed, and well-groomed. And that gives the illusion that the student body is more attractive than at another school where dressing well and wearing makeup are not considered important (or even considered a sign of shallowness/lack of dedication to study).</p>
<p>Wuggroe, not exactly. BC admits a ton of student athletes- kids who have shown both academic and social excellence in high school. This ultimately results in a healthy looking student body because students here value their bodies as much as their grades.</p>
<p>*And that gives the illusion that the student body is more attractive than at another school where **dressing well and wearing makeup **are not considered important (or even considered a sign of shallowness/lack of dedication to study). *</p>
<p>That’s an ad hominem stretch, wuggroe. Your claim that taking care of oneself is mutually exclusive from academic rigor sounds like pretty a weak argument, especially in light of the fact that BC and Brandeis are virtually tied on the US New college rankings (#34 vs #31) and BC was ranked last month by Forbes as #16 in the nation overall (Brandeis came in at #39). </p>
<p>I tend to agree more with Zenbadabing’s take on this: I many times feel like a slovenly hobo compared to many of my classmates, so in the end that compels me to hit the ellipticals a bit harder, tune back on the carbs a bit, or maybe take the stairs instead of waiting for the shuttle. Maybe more than I would have if I had perhaps gone to another school. Or maybe not. Who knows, but trust me on this: There is a ton of very smart people all around me here, many of them scary smart. Based on your simplistic stereotyping, I think you have been watching too many John Hughes films. Or, maybe you’re just so damn good-looking that you just don’t care. :-)</p>
<p>DukeofEarl, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. My post was intended as a light-hearted rumination about how a school could develop a reputation as having an attractive student body. That’s all!</p>
<p>Oh man, wuggroe, sorry, no offense taken, although I did think you were serious so that is my reading more into it than necessary. I actually meant to put a 
after the John Hughes comment. No worries – I did not mean to put you back on your heels on this. Peace.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to an earier discussion on this subject that is a bit more even-handed than this thread thus far:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/660439-bc-vs-brandeis.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/660439-bc-vs-brandeis.html</a></p>