Does any one have any thoughts on choosing between these two schools?
They are both Jesuit schools in urban areas, but other than that they don’t have much in common.
BC is larger, wealthier, more selective, and has more name recognition (due in part to big-time sports). The Boston area is a very popular college destination. All else being equal, most people would probably pick BC.
The big exceptions here would be engineering or computer science. These are not strengths at BC (in fact, BC doesn’t even have an engineering program), but they are definitely strengths at SCU. SCU attracts some very strong students to these programs; many of the people who apply to Stanford or Berkeley also apply to SCU as a backup. For tech, SCU’s location in Silicon Valley is tough to beat.
Go to Boston College and don’t look back
Whereas the city of Santa Clara is truly suburban, BC’s campus straddles the line separating Boston & Newton (there is no municipality of Chestnut Hill–it’s a neighborhood). There seems to be an endless amount of erroneous info flying around about BC’s location: that it’s “way out in the suburbs” or it’s “30 minutes from Boston.”
These are two regional schools at the end of the day.
If you want to work on the West Coast, especially in the Silicon Valley area, Santa Clara will carry more weight. In the Northeast, BC. Also, STEM is stronger at Santa Clara and has a stronger presence in tech.
Not sure that I would concur, at least for undergrad. Sure, SCU has an Engineering program, and BC does not. And yes, Santa Clara offers strong Masters program in IT. And in that regard, SCU wins handily.
But STEM encompasses more than engineering.
But, take the “M” in STEM, for example. BC had 50 grads in a math major last year, while SCU had 11. Bio majors: BC 233 to SCU 97. Chem & Physics: BC had 49 grads; SCU had 19
Of course, BC has an undergrad population that is 50% larger than Santa Clara so adjust the numbers accordingly.
Regardless, BC has 2.5 x the number of physical science majors with only 1.5x the undergrad population.
In SV, absolutely. But the rest of the “West Coast”? Hardly.
Most of the people who are good at math and physical science don’t actually opt to major in math or physical science. They typically major in engineering or computer science instead. Why? Because it’s relatively easy to find get a good job with a bachelor’s degree in engineering or computer science. In contrast, you won’t readily find a good job as a mathematician, physicist, or chemist with only a bachelor’s degree in these fields.
So the low numbers of undergraduate math and science majors at SCU doesn’t necessarily mean that these programs are weak – it just means that they are less attractive to students than SCU’s strong engineering (including “computer engineering”) alternatives. In fact, the math and science departments at SCU probably have a lot more faculty than you would expect given the low number of majors, because there are literally hundreds of engineering students at SCU that need to take lots of math and science coursework as part of their engineering degree programs.
In the same way, the relatively high numbers of math and physical science majors at BC probably has a lot to do with the fact that these departments don’t have to compete with engineering (which BC doesn’t offer).
On the other hand, I suspect that BC probably does have a stronger orientation towards the health/medical side of STEM (BC has a nursing program, for example). This is consistent with the relatively high number of bio majors at BC (who would be less likely to switch to engineering, even if it was available).
Did anyone say or imply that they were “weak”? I would not denigrate Santa Clara in that way.
The specific point that I was disputing was made by WildestDream when s/he said that “STEM is stronger” at SCU. And I was just pointing out that, IMO, BC’s STEM program is plenty strong in the absence of Engineering in that BC has plenty of non-engineernig STEM majors.
fwiw: plenty of strong math majors also go the Finance route.
I am at BC rn and I would say that BC is not the best in STEM at all- there are less opportunities here I would say. I don`t know about Santa Clara.