<p>These people aren't saying BU academics are bad, its just not as good as the others</p>
<p>i know. I don't think its bad. I don't think I have ever met anyone who went there and was unhappy about it. I just wish i had some specifics as to why it is ranked so much lower than all the others he applied to. and I guess I would like some validation for myself as to why going to the other schools is worth $67,000. Ya know what I mean.</p>
<p>I've read on some other threads that BU's ranking is partly due to the methodology used by USN&WR (or as I've heard it called, "Useless News & World Distort.") BU is a very large school and the school must accept about 16,000 applicants in order to fill its freshman class. I think the yield is about 25%; that is of every four accepted students, only one will enroll. The College of General Studies may also be dragging it down. Those whose stats are lower than the normal BU applicant are offered admission to CGS, essentially a two year general education program, very structured. After two years CGS students transfer into CAS, Managment, Communication, or one of the other schools.</p>
<p>Read the posts by Ryanbis in the BU Forum. He's a graduating senior in the management school and has been very generous answering questions and describing the program.</p>
<p>You don't have to apologize to anybody if you go to BU...it's not THAT sort of "bad." It suffers from several things that make it an easy target:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The urban non-campus and hideous architecture of the buildings it does have.</p></li>
<li><p>It's the universal "safety" school for people who want a respectable degree and want to go to college in a vibrant big city. Since it is few people's #1 choice, the people who go there tend to be not-so-thrilled with being there, and that lack of enthusiasm spills over to many other aspects of the school (endowment, alumni giving %, etc.). </p></li>
<li><p>In any other city it wouldn't look bad, but in the middle of a group photo with its siblings Harvard, MIT, Brandeis, Wellesley, Tufts, and BC, it looks pretty shabby. And it's not like it can hide from the competition...MIT is right across the river, & the trolley line which bears BC's name runs the length of BU.</p></li>
<li><p>It used to have a viable athletic dept. But they dumped football, and now only hockey gets any attention. And they have in the past been notorious for stocking the team with Canadians, so even that sport fails to garner any local support except for students.</p></li>
<li><p>Speaking of little local support, even in Eastern Massachusetts it's sort of an afterthought. It's thought to be dominated by slicksters from NY/NJ/Connecticut. Furthermore, BC has the sports; Northeastern has the Co-op; HarvardMITWellesleyTuftsBrandeis have the more spectacular academics. So what does BU have? Solid academics and almost literally nothing else.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If the grad placement isn't good, the network is weak at best, its not undergrad focused, and yet the grad schools aren't top, its the recipe for an average school.</p>
<p>I think BU is fine academically. Not quite as strong as the other schools, but certainly not weak or bad. I personally just don't like BU's setting. It is not as pleasant and collegiate as the other schools your son is considering. Is it worth spending an extra $70,000 to attend one of the other three schools? That depends on your personal situation. Also, a word of caution; if your son intends to major in Business, he will have to apply to Ross once at Michigan...and there are no guarantees that he will get in.</p>
<p>Yeah but as you have often expressed, you don;t need Ross to get a top job in business. BU is at a lower level, does that mean you can't be successful? Of course not.</p>
<p>I am not saying one needs to graduate from Ross Slipper. I personally didn't and I did fine. Most of my fellow Econ majors did fine too. But some people want to major in Business.</p>