Hi everyone! I am currently narrowing down my college list and wanted to decide between applying to Boston Uni or Northeastern. I am pre-law so the most affordable option would be great (My family is middle class so we won’t get a lot of financial aid). I am also planning on studying political science. If anyone could help me decide/give me their opinion/experiences that would be great! Here’s a pro/cons list:
Boston University:
Pros
-Diverse
-Good study abroad program
-more of a “traditional” school compared to Northeastern
-better reputation in New England
Cons:
-grade deflation
-big student population
-less of a traditional campus
Northeastern Uni:
Pros
-co-op program (love this!)
-I like the concentrations for the poli sci major
-more of a traditional campus
Cons
-less diverse
-more international students
-I’ve heard the social life is average
I would say that they have a similar reputation, and Northeastern has an amazing study abroad program.
I personally prefer Northeastern and decided to apply there over BU, but you might as well apply to both if you can afford the extra money.
I also don’t understand why you are choosing between them at the application stage rather than seeing if you get into both (you don’t provide stats so hard to know how competitive you are) and if so, which ones offers you better aid, seeing as that is an important factor. Other than these two, where are you applying?
(Fwiw, when my daughter was looking for something in the politics related area BU made her application shortlist, NEU didn’t, but her reasoning may not be yours.)
To me Northeastern has at least as strong a reputation as BU, and possibly marginally stronger.
I do not understand why “more international students” would be a negative. I personally enjoyed meeting international students when I was in university.
For us, these were by far the two most expensive universities that either daughter was accepted to (there are of course others that would have cost as much that we did not apply to). I was not and still am not convinced that either was worth what it would have cost us to attend.
I’d caution that the issue of grade deflation at BU is more pressing than you might think! I figured it would be no big deal, and was looking forward to the challenge, but it’s actually pretty bad. BU constantly gets ranked as having the hardest finals in the country, and there was a sign from the school itself in the dining hall just before I left offering mental health services (non existent) because 73% of terriers said their mental health suffered due to academics.
Other things to consider: BU students tend to be more wealthy than NEU. NEU is much more generous with scholarship money, and middle-class student to middle-class student, I found it impossible to fit in with the wealth of BU students, most of whom come from LA or NYC area. Def a very cliquey school. BU’s gen ed program (the “HUB”) is notoriously vague and difficult to navigate.
All in all, I’d go with NEU. All my friends who went there are very happy
