<p>Looking forward to (probably) going to NU in the fall! But quick question:</p>
<p>Looking at all the colleges in Boston, I was wondering if there's some degree of... elitism? discrimination? among the students of various colleges (e.g. Harvard students looking down on MIT students who look down on Tufts students who look down on BU students who look down on NU students...oh god, ARE WE AT THE BOTTOM?! OH GOD)(although I made all that up based on UNWR rankings cuz that's all I have to go on...)</p>
<p>And if you're wondering why this worries me, blame The Social Network, with this little exchange:</p>
<p>Erica Albright: I have to go study.
Mark Zuckerberg: You don't have to study.
Erica Albright: [Exasperated and angry] Why do you keep saying I don't have to study?
Mark Zuckerberg: Because you go to BU!
Erica Albright: [Erica stares at him, furious]
Mark Zuckerberg: Do you want to get some food?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it. There are going to be people who really care about this kind of thing, and people who realize its juvenile and don’t care where you go to school. </p>
<p>Also, NU is definitely not at the bottom, in any case… (SCHOOL PRIDE… though also supported by the massive rankings increases we have had over the last few years, and the sheer number of applicants we have each year).</p>
<p>rofl. this is funny. I worried about this coming to school too, and then when i got here, i realized no one at all gives a crap what school you go to unless you live outside the city (i.e. harvard, mit, tufts, bc brandeis etc). In the city theres so many schools you dont know about and you will meet people from all of them… I have friends at MassArt, Emmanuel, Lasell, so many from Suffolk and Emerson… IN the city, we are personally as i believe, the best school. NU has a lower acceptance rate than BU, and while we aren’t nearly as prestigious as the outer-city schools, they dont have location on their side. Mostly you forget about them, and never have i ever felt overshadowed by any other school. Of course, you won’t fully understand this until you go to NU for a year and realize that chosing a college is only a big deal in high school and once you’re here you’re all family. Boston is very welcoming.</p>
<p>I agree with Lauren’s description. Also, remember that there are many many more colleges than those big name ones, and the people you’ll run into most are the ones closer to NU. I’ve had roommates from Simmons, Emmanuel, Emerson, and MIT. There are snobs everywhere but those people are probably staying on their campus being snobs – I’ve never ever heard an exchange like the one quoted in real life. People around here are really really friendly.</p>
<p>Having two daughter’s that have gone ( and still go ) to Boston schools , they tell me about the funy remarks made about all of the schools…it is done in a sort of tongue in cheek way , and not snobby in any way…more like funny stereotypes.
They have friends from a lot of the area schools too , so no worries about eliteism</p>
<p>Eh, there isn’t really that elitism. There are definitely stereotypes, but like lje said, they’re usually pretty tounge-in-cheek. I’ve never met someone from another boston school that was a snob about my going to northeastern, I don’t think anyone really cares.</p>
<p>You can sometimes run into MIT and Harvard guys at the Northeastern bars (Symph 8, Our House) trying to pick up hot NU girls… at least we’ve got that going for us?</p>
<p>I majored in engineering at Tufts in the 1980s. I can assure you that Harvard and MIT students did not look down on us. They never gave us a thought! (and neither did the other Boston students…)</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone is saying, once you are in Boston you will realize nobody actually thinks about that sort of thing too much. </p>
<p>They only time I’ve really experienced it would be at sporting events like the beanpot, the BC kids will always do a “safety school” chant at the BU kids, and sometimes at us, but all in good fun i suppose. Sometimes we like to beat them to it and just do a safety school chant at them as a joke, even though we know its not true. </p>
<p>But i think people tend to forget the schools outside Boston really exist, because once you get to Northeastern you will realize that schools like BC, Tufts, Bentley, and to a lesser extend Harvard and MIT are not really even in “Boston”. The kids you will see the most are all the other schools near Northeastern, Wentworth, MassArt, Mass Pharmacy, Simmons, Emmanuel. I think the fact that so many kids go to school in Boston is more a sense of pride and community rather than which school is better.</p>
<p>Yeah, to be honest no one really cares about Harvard and MIT, at least not at Northeastern. For one, neither of them are in Boston- which most people take seriously. MIT is big on frats, but it’s mainly BU that fawns all over them (because the frats are on the Boston side of the river, near BU). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single Harvard student other than on Harvard’s campus when I went to go see a play once… Like everyone kind of jokes that they are snobs and stuff, but no one actually cares.</p>
<p>I agree a lot with the other schools too. Like Northeastern will view themselves (usually, but not always) above the smaller ones like Simmons, Wentworth, etc, but I think it’s mainly because people tend to KNOW we exist, whereas Wentworth is a lot smaller and less commonly known.</p>
<p>As for BC and BU… Well… Northeastern and BU think BC isn’t in Boston and its stuck up. BU and BC act like Northeastern is a safety commuter school (it’s not) with a bad hockey team. And BC and Northeastern think BU is a joke school full of rich idiots who tried and failed to get into Harvard. But everyone admits that BC’s campus is beautiful, that BU has some really good grad schools, and that Northeastern has a great co-op system. But you mainly encounter other people during hockey season… so unless you have friends there, you usually rag on them for fun.</p>
<p>The one thing I’ve noticed (as ANYONE will tell you) is that people might not care so much about which school you go to, but they care that it’s in Boston. Like you’re not going to school in some tiny town for UMass or in woodsy New Hampshire or (I shudder to imagine it) UVM. Nearly everyone that goes to school in Boston cares that they are in the city.</p>
<p>I think serious discrimination against anyone’s education has become kind of obsolete and ridiculous, so if you make the most of wherever you go, you’ll have a great time. Nobody knows your unique situation; maybe you got into Harvard but BU gave you tons of money, or maybe your boyfriend/girlfriend was going to NU at the time and you wanted to too, or you wanted to be in the heart of the city rather than a T stop away from it. I know a kid who got into MIT and three Ivies, but opted for a college with an average ACT score of 23 so he could live with his best friends. Especially with the economy and rising tuition prices, going to a school just for its reputation is not always feasible anymore.</p>
<p>Particularly in Boston, I know plenty of people from BU who date people at MIT, Harvard, etc. and there’s never an air of superiority or anything. That’s actually one of the things that’s great about such varied schools in such a concentrated area. :)</p>
<p>As a student at BU in the mid '70s, I find this conversation so interesting because when I was there, there definitely was a pecking order and BU was near the bottom. Northeastern pretty much did not even exist in the eyes of us or the other “big” schools. It was always joked that "girls went to BU for their M.R.S. degrees and to get a Harvard or MIT husband. (can you imagine that!!! It sounds so horrible today).</p>
<p>So when I saw the Social Network, the dialog that the OP quoted rang true to me. But reading other comments here makes me wonder if the writers of that movie were actually just dating themselves by characterizing BU in the way they did. BTW I saw the movie in a theater in Harvard Sq and everyone in the audience roared when “Zuckerberg” dissed BU!</p>
<p>Well keep in mind that we’re all from Northeastern. So I’m sure BC, BU, and Northeastern might feel differently about the “pecking order” than maybe Harvard or MIT. People are usually proud of the school they got into, and obviously that pride can turn into arrogance and mocking sometimes. I don’t really think they were dating themselves, I think they just saw it as an opportunity to show what a jerk he was in a way that was kind of stereotypical.</p>
<p>But come finals, I’ve never heard a single person say something like “BU doesn’t need to study” (or anything like that about Northeastern). And when we’re studying, no one thinks to themselves “oh at least I’m not at MIT, because its so hard there”. Although I admit there is mocking between majors. It’s not uncommon to see an engineering student laugh at a comm major who is stressed over finals, or to have a physics major whine about how easy it is to get an A in business- but that’s at every school.</p>
<p>Oh, and I totally laughed at that too, as did most of the theater- and I was at the theater in Boston Commons.</p>