@bbfan1927 Nowhere did I say I thought the student who answered my question was insensitive. I didn’t think that in the least. I thought they were being honest. They clearly have mostly Catholic friends and so to them that answer made sense. Nothing wrong with that. As far as the religious part goes, I don’t see BC as super religious either but to have someone of that denomination tell me that BC is a school that all kids of different religions will feel comfortable in isn’t super helpful even if well intended. I wasn’t worried in the least that anyone would try to force Catholicism down my son’t throat or try to convert him lol. What I did worry about was feeling left out maybe on a Sunday evening when lots of kids go to the big Mass that I heard about from several kids. Or when a bunch of his friends went on a retreat. That kind of stuff gave me pause. The cafeteria part was a joke which is why I included the LOL. I did find it depressing but that certainly wouldn’t be a huge influence in my decision. As far as the rest of your post goes, unfortunately, it was edited before I read it. I will say if I had heard anything like the stuff you posted here I most likely would have left the tour.
FWIW my son liked BC and that’s good enough for me. I didn’t object to him applying there, that’s not how I operate. He had his application ready to go for RD if he had not gotten accepted ED elsewhere to a school I think will be a much better fit than BC would have been.
@privatebanker This was not our first trip to BC. My husband grew up blocks from BC. We’ve been to football and basketball games and my son has a brunch for an organization he attends each year there. I had hopes that I would feel more comfortable with my son applying there then I did and it just didn’t go that way.
@bluebayou Thank you for your thoughtful reply. We had an excellent guide who was able to answer my question in a more satisfactory way. I don’t fault any of these kids and didn’t find anything inappropriate in the response from the panel.
OP when considering these 2 schools I do think it’s worth thinking about the diversity on campus. I certainly think it’s something to consider. They are both fantastic schools and have much to offer.
@PengsPhils NEU actually started this application year with a required supplement in the common app. You couldn’t submit your app without it. They changed it close to the deadline. My son and most of his friends had it written and ready to go. My son’s college counselor told him he could still upload it if he wanted but he chose not to.
Just to add fuel to the fire…
https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/boston/boston-colleges-ranked-by-obnoxiousness
@elderwood That ranking is validated by a few posters on this thread.
I would also say that our visit to BC did include lunch at Eagle’s so all was not lost 
@collegemom9 Again that was an unintended result, not a supplement. It was intended to be optional but it seems someone in admissions checked the wrong box or something, so it was removed.
@PengsPhils ok. The point we are both making remains the same. NEU does not have a supplement anymore.
@bbfan1927 Yes, BC is making big strides in trying to diversify the student body, and their admitted student pool this year is testament to that. (Though we’ll have to see how that translates to enrolled students)
But when you say that BC is about the same in terms of diversity as any other top NE school, well that is really not true at all.
Harvard, MIT, Brown, Amherst, Williams, Tufts… are all much more diverse than BC.
@TomSrOfBoston As an experienced poster, you probably realize that CC brings out a few extreme defenders of any school. FWIW, I’ve seen the same on the NEU board and to a lesser degree the McGill board. I have kids currently deciding amongst all three.
Both of my kids looked at NEU,BC, BU, and Tufts. They felt that BC was the most traditional of the 3 and offered a classic college experience. . They felt that NEU and Tufts were both schools looking to change with the times and were just more “hip” places. Instead of liking classic schools with storied histories, my kids both liked schools with a vision for the future.
I am glad I did not see whatever the mods felt like the needed to edit it out from some posts.
BC does seem to be making strides around diversity (through admissions), but they are still having issues on campus of non-white students feeling unsupported and unsafe. I am white and cis-gendered, but potential students and parents taking a longer and more nuanced view on BC given past rankings of large race-class divides, racial epithets and what has been viewed as an supportive administration makes them smart. I am not saying that this is who BC is (it isnt), or even a large number of students (they aren’t), but it it something that BC seems to be working through. Below are articles of incidents, but also students trying to work through it:
http://bcheights.com/2019/02/25/student-organizations-partake-in-theraceagainstracism/
http://bcheights.com/2017/10/08/students-discuss-race-class-sexuality-bc-lets-get-real/
@bbfan1927 I understand that you are impassioned about BC. It is a great school with a lot going for it. You should be enjoying this start to your college career. Enjoy the things that BC has to offer rather than here on College Confidential. And when you do feel like you can help a student out, please tell them about your experience or how you chose colleges. But also keep in mind that you don’t attend these other schools, you aren’t an expert to say BC beats X school in every situation. Enjoy life, go experience things!
For the original poster - BC and NU and both great schools and I do not think you can make a wrong decision. I attended NU a decade ago now, so consider me as a source somewhat biased (I also attended Harvard for grad school). The campuses are different aesthetics (although that wouldn’t be the top reasons I would choose a school). Northeastern is ranked #44 in US News and BC is ranked #38, which isnt a significant different (NU has higher SAT/ACT scores). Northeastern is BC’s 2nd most common cross-admit so there are a lot of students choosing between these two schools. I can’t speak to the social scene at BC, but I can tell you that although you might not see certain friends for 6 months while on co-op, or a dialogue, or study abroad - the sheer number of friends and connections youll make by exploring means that youll have friends around the country (and world). In my experience, I did not feel like I lost anything from choosing NU over a more traditional college experience. @kdmt1998
Hi Everyone, I am the original OP, poster. I thought I should come back and report on the decision. My daughter chose Northeastern. It was a tough choice! My brother went to BC, my dad went to BU. She chose Northeastern for a few reasons. She is a STEM major and felt the STEM program at NU was stronger. She is very interested in global and felt the global program at NU was stronger and finally she was sold on the COOP. She is not 100% positive what she wants to do and felt the COOP could help her decide rather than spend four years not really sure. Finally, She got almost $100K in merit aid from NU and nothing from BC. We could not justify the cost difference as we have two younger ones. And finally, she came from a small high school that was very clicky and was worried it would be a repeat at BC. Of course, we have no idea but that was what she went with. In the end, she can always transfer if she hates it! Nothing is cemented… My two cents. Thank you everyone for responding. Very open, helpful and honest.
@kdmt1998 I think she made a great choice! Congratulations!
Awesome. My d is at BC (who loves it) and I think you made a 100% smart and great decision.
Congrats. See you in the 2020 Beanpot!
A great college at a big discount is never a bad choice. 'Grats.
@kdmt1998
Would you mind sharing her stats? You can pm me if preferred. We are applying this coming fall to both BC and NEU and my DS is STEM focused a well.
No problem! My DS stats. 4.4 weighted GPA. I know that can vary among schools. To help clarify, she has never had anything below an A. She has been in all honors classes, with 3 AP classes last year and 4 this year. She got a 1540 on her SAT (790 math 750 ER) and a 34 on her ACT. We did not submit her ACT though. She tennis captain, varsity soccer, plays cello, treasurer of environmental club, librarian of orchestra, on grant committees. She also worked two jobs from 9th grade on, one in the after school program for elementary school. I think her common app essay was sincere and she had good teacher recs I think. We tried for merit at BU, BC and NEU, but only got merit aid from NEU. She is also 3rd in her class ranking out of 160 kids. Public school as well. I hope this helps.
@kdmt1998
Thank you so much - that helps a lot. We are applying to the same 3 as well:)
@kdmt1998 Congrats to your daughter. Both are great schools, and either one would have been an excellent choice. $100k is $100k though! 
Boston College is a meets full need school. It offers only 15 Gabelli scholarships per year. These are unbelievably competitive and require interviews etc. They are invitation only.
There are no merit scholarships available at all.
But they are very good at meeting need as they define it using a css profile. The big difference is they do count home equity. I believe to avoid having people take money available for college and hide it there. Not everyone agrees. I personally do agree. I could have paid down mortgage more aggressively and not bothered with the 529 plan. Seems reasonable.
If you run the NPC and are very accurate with your inputs you will get a very realistic idea of costs before spending anytime on an application.