<p>Hello all, and congrats to accepted students and parents.
We're trying to decide between BU and North Eastern U. Got into McKim biz school at NEU & College of General Studies at BU, to switch to School of Manag junior & senior years. Older sibling is at BU graduating next month. Thoughts and comments would be helpful. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>OP, with a senior at BU, you know BU better than most of us. How do you see the strenghts and weaknesses of BU? What is it your second child thinks might be better about NEU? Is it a matter of personal interests? Different financial packages? The draw of a formal co-op program? Or something else?</p>
<p>There are a lot of benefits to NEU co-op program. You can find excellent info on the NEU threads (in CC “Colleges” section).</p>
<p>Is it realistic to expect to switch from CGS to business? I think you might want to post on BU board. Many times, programs like CGS, may not allow you to take pre-reqs for business.</p>
<p>I would avoid the CGS at BU.</p>
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<p>Agreed. According to friends and colleagues who attended BU, that’s the college BU uses to admit students they perceive as “remedial admits” for whatever reason. </p>
<p>Not a good thing considering NEU admitted your kid directly into their B-school and it has around the same reputation, especially in the last decade or so as NEU has been climbing in the rankings. </p>
<p>Judging by the BU folks’ description of BU’s CGS, it doesn’t sound very different from my NEU alum friends’ description of AFY, a program which was geared for remedial students who technically didn’t qualify for the regular colleges, but whom NEU felt had potential/had ready tuition dollars*. </p>
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<li>According to my more cynical NEU alum friends…including some AFY alums.</li>
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<p>[Frequently</a> Asked Questions about CGS » General Studies | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cgs/about/faq/]Frequently”>Frequently Asked Questions | General Studies) says:</p>
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<p>[Continuation</a> from CGS to other BU schools and colleges » General Studies | Boston University](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cgs/students/fact-sheets/continuation/]Continuation”>http://www.bu.edu/cgs/students/fact-sheets/continuation/) says:</p>
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<p>UC, that’s fine, but my question was also, will the student have the prereqs such that he or she can expect to graduate in 4 years? I know this is an issue with NYU’s LSP school (which is same princile as BU CGS), with transferring into some majors that have many pre-reqs and sequential courses.</p>
<p>Well, you can post the official line but people that know BU reasonably well know what the CGS is (though often won’t say it in public) and I’ll just reiterate that it would be something to avoid. The Northeastern option, in this case, would be the better one.</p>
<p>From the SMG Curriculum site:</p>
<p>“The required core of the curriculum consists of fourteen courses. The freshman year is made up of the introductory management course “Management as a System” (SMG SM121 and SMG SM122). In the second year, courses are taken in both Financial and Managerial Accounting (SMG AC221 and SMG AC222), Business Statistics (SMG SM221 and SMG SM222), Organizational Behavior (SMG OB221)*, Business Law (SMG LA245) and Charting Your Career Path (SMG SM411).”</p>
<p>These would be courses that regular students would take in their first and second year. How would you squeeze these and the remaining core courses and your electives into two years? That’s kind of a general problem with taking Gen Eds in a two-year program and then transferring into a 4-year program.</p>
<p>BC, thank you. I do think either the NYU LSP program or BU CGS will limit majors. These programs may still be the best choice for some kids (especially those with wealthy parents who want to be able to tell their friends their kids are going to BU or NYU), but this kid has another choice. Certainly at BU, it is going to be tougher to move to the popular majors such as econ or finance which are likely going to require a year of calculus in addition to the actual major courses (and require that year of calculus BEFORE certain major courses, which may be prereqs for other major courses). </p>
<p>My point is that the student in question will have a full choice of majors at NEU and be able to expect to graduate on time. The student who starts at BU CGS will not likely be able to do so.</p>
<p>I think that one could look at the stats too. The CGS stats are: 3.3/1785 compared to 3.7/2005 for BU overall and 3.7/1985 for Northeastern.</p>
<p>BD – here is the “Pathway” from CGS to SMG</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bu.edu/cgs/files/2012/06/XSAMP-SMG.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bu.edu/cgs/files/2012/06/XSAMP-SMG.pdf</a></p>
<p>Note that summer school at BU (6 credits) is “recommended” (and without it, moving from CGS to SMG does not work for accounting or MIS majors) and that for all majors, with or without summer, placement into Calculus (without a math class before that) is critical. As they note, without 2 solid years of HS math, this program is likely not going to work.</p>
<p>Also, student MUST earn B- or better in SM299 (Management as a System:Intensive)</p>
<p>All of this being said, if for whatever reason, my kid was planning on going from CGS to SMG, I would note that Calc could be taken externally, and would see if kid could get permission to take Calc at local CC before Freshman year at BU.</p>
<p>I have an undergrad degree from BU and will very shortly have a grad degree from Northeastern. I must admit I am slightly partial to BU just because of it being my first love and I had many great experiences going there as an undergrad. There are great things about both schools, but I think this case definitely Northeastern! I think the Northeastern experience will be better than BU because of CGS, plus the coop program is nice.</p>
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<p>As someone who grew up not too far from NYU and having known countless folks who worked/attended, it still astounds me that NYU even has an LSP program for those “not qualified” for CAS or other divisions. This is underscored by my reading about someone on these forums who was accepted to an elite Seven Sisters college and yet, was “only qualified for LSP”. </p>
<p>Just under 2 decades ago, all those LSP admits would not only have been easily admitted to CAS, but probably given some measly scholarships as well. </p>
<p>The OP’s situation is weirder as even 2 decades ago, there didn’t seem to be much difference between BU and NEU to justify considering BU CGS over NEU’s undergrad B-school. </p>
<p>NEU’s rise within the last decade makes that justification more untenable.</p>
<p>Cobrat – 20 years ago is not today. That’s life. I stand by what I said, LPS and CGS kids at NYS and BU respectively will likely have majors restricted, especially in business.</p>
<p>NYU gets a lot of advantages from having LPS. I think those kids are a VERY large number of kids, most of whom are full pay. Employers are getting wary of non-Stern, Tisch kids (less likely to come through LSP). I also think that there SAT/GPA stats do NOT go into USNWR data. No, I am not surprised they keep the program.</p>
<p>This is one of those thread with near universal agreement, at least by insiders.</p>
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<p>No kidding. It pads their wallet and helps keep their acceptance rate low for select programs making them look selective. And if these kids drop off after 1-2 years, probably won’t reflect poorly on their matriculation data either.</p>
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<p>My point was NYU implemented LSP sometime in the '00s as a way for them to show some “eliteiness cred” for CAS and other non-Stern undergrad colleges by showing they can consider students to CAS and other non-Stern schools as “remedial students”…including some admitted to elite LACs/universities like the elite Seven Sisters colleges that were considered heads and shoulders above NYU CAS 20 years ago. </p>
<p>Then again, they didn’t really need LSP 20 years ago because in a manner of speaking, CAS or Steinhardt(Ed school) served the same roles for NYU trying to screen students from Stern or Tisch.</p>
<p>Wow!! Had a full sched so just able to check back. Thanks to all for contributing. </p>
<p>I’ll reply to some individually but let me say to all I think BU is a great school, nothing but good to say about it. Eldest has been there 4 years, graduating in May from SMG, and job hunting in finance, a few offers so far (fingers crossed).</p>
<p>Her biggest peeve, she arrived with some credits and should have been granted upperclassman housing sophomore year and wasn’t. She has been there in a city we have no close family/friends and has grown and blossomed. BU has easy access to everything, airport, Bolt bus to NY/NJ, food and entertainment. It is a real city school, not for one looking for a traditional college campus, you really are let go in the city to make what you want of it. </p>
<p>Also great international diversity there. SMG is tough. Professors are hit and miss. Students know how to play the registration game and know the “good” classes to get into, so it is a race for those.</p>
<p>I think she sort of wants to “blaze her own trail” to an extent, but she is coming out of IB, so she feels she deserves more than CGS, if I could put it that way. Financially, they’re about the same. NEU co-ops are very interesting, esp the International business options, I’m a bit concerned about the near whole year scheduling after freshman year though.
BU SMG will either make or break you (good for some, maybe not for others). Both student bodies interact pretty much as they’re in the same vicinity of town.</p>